Classic Homoerotic Images - 1

 It's hard to believe that this image of Kent Strom by the photographer Stan of Sweden is over 50 years old. For me it reeks of the erotic and yet it's perfectly decent, not even a suggestive lump in his trunks. 

The model has a striking face and a beautifully muscled body but his underlying 'heroic' pose here is relatively mundane, beefcake stuff. However the photographer has artfully enhanced the classic tapered torso effect using a slight twist in the body and clever shadowing of the upper buttock. It creates a forward thrusting body line which is neatly finished by the shape of the model's trunks disappearing between his legs.

The same skill in lighting draws attention to the model's plentiful, blond, body hair which was (and is still) usually shaved off for photos. It does appear to have been trimmed around the lower abdomen and to some extent it's washed out by glare, but the faint, stubble-like traces that remain visible are actually sexier than a bush would be. Similarly, that front thigh hair is oh, so sexy and the photographer has somehow contrived to make it disappear at the very edges of the trunks so that the modest pouch appears to glow from within from it's hidden delights.  

The trunks themselves also enhance the model's torso shape, they are relatively skimpy for the era with a plunging waistline and arched leg openings that skirt across the top of the buttocks (tactfully shaded at the rear). The laced up sides are possibly the most overtly suggestive element of all but appear to be tightly knotted for the sake of decency. The shaping of the front of the pouch is similarly restrained and hidden by the dark colour but a solitary break in the outline gives enough idea of substance within which would fit neatly into a cupped hand.

A final, scarcely noticeable stroke of genius on the part of the photographer is the inclusion of lighter coloured triangles at the bottom corners of the picture. These accentuate the tapering of the body and draw the eye downwards. It's almost as through the model is trapped within a vase-like shape, a faintly mitchmen-esque association.

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It's a measure of the homoerotic impact of this image that it was used as the basis of a much more explicit image by the great, gay artist, 'Rex'.

Rex - Harness

Rex stripped the model naked and gave him a more striking 'crest' of head hair. He also equipped him with nipple rings and a leather harness. The usual ring at the meeting point of the straps was replaced by an emphatic gay triangle which gives a clue to the dating of the image in the early days of 'gay liberation'. 

Sanitised versions of the image were widely used in gay print advertisements 

See more Rex at mitchmen blog

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There are many images by Stan of Sweden on the net but they are usually not labelled well enough to find easily and many are ignored anyway by search engines because they are too old. Homobilia has a small collection of images by Stan with other interesting examples of his photographic skill and subtle sense of the erotic.