Stuff My Stocking

It's Christmas Eve tonight, which means only one thing - gifts! (Okay, it might also mean the birth of Jesus, but that's beside the point.) There are few things as exciting as racing into the living room tonight or on Christmas morning to see what Santa has left in the stocking.

Unless, of course, it's the stocking itself that's the gift. I must admit that the men-in-stockings fetish rarely does it for me, especially if they're too frilly or girly. But with the right man, and the right stocking, my cock gets hard in seconds. So instead of doing a post of men and twinks wearing Santa hats, I decided to go for something different this year - pics of stockings from two Lucas Entertainment videos, Pantyhos and Men In Stockings, as well as a selection of pics featuring sexy male feet clad in dress socks. As a bonus, there's a short teaser for a hot guy called Gary Buchanan enjoying his hot feet clad in sheer socks. Who says stockings can't be manly!?

 

Lumberjack Appreciation Post

Maybe it's the harsh Quebec winters, or maybe it's just that cold is best countered with the manliest of men to cuddle with. Either way, this winter has been marked for me by a brand new fetish - lumberjacks. Quite frankly, what is there not to love? These guys will roll out of bed at the crack of dawn, pull on their long johns or overalls (do they even wear anything underneath?) and go chop some wood before the cold and their throbbing dicks direct them back inside for a nice long roll in the sheets.

Forget skiing or escaping to warmer corners of the world. Get me a cabin in the woods, a lumberjack... and some lube!

A Fresh Start

Only three posts into my new blog, Between Us Guys, I have decided to change hosts, switching from Wordpress to Blogger. Why? There's a number of reasons.

Firstly, I didn't want to take any risks with Wordpress.com, as I heard that they do not allow adult material on their blogs. By adult material, I mean porn, and I am sure that I have had (and will have in the future) a pic or two that would fall squarely into this category. Secondly, it seems that the vast majority of the blogs I read are hosted on Blogger as well, which should probably mean easier networking and commenting. Right?

(Just FYI, all the blog posts have been moved here, as well as the comments they got.)

Either way, I invite you to please update your RSS readers, bookmarks, or whatever else you use to keep track of blogs you read. Also, let me know if you'd like to exchange links for blogroll, or if you'd like to collaborate in any other way. As always, do leave feedback - I love comments, as well as email and even Skype (just ask me for the addy)!

Welcome to the new and improved Between Us Guys! Stay excellent!

Live and Let Fuck (Raw)

At least since Marcel Mauss, anthropologists have understood gift exchange as a way of making and consolidating relationships, and it is no different with H.I.V. In the idiom of bareback subculture, H.I.V. is the gift that keeps on giving.

- Tim Dean

The quote above was taken from Tim Dean's recent post for The New Yorker, titled "For Some, H.I.V. Is Embraced, Not Avoided," a post meant to sparkle a debate within the larger context of posts written under the slogan "How Will AIDS Be Eradicated." Dean, a professor of English at the State University of New York at Buffalo, has done research in the field, and has recently published a book titled Unlimited Intimacy: Reflections on the Subculture of Barebacking. His article seems to shed light on a population of gay men who do not regard HIV with the stigma normally associated with it in the larger culture but choose to eroticize it, and particularly how unprotected sex, even (for some, especially) when it includes a POZ person, creates a space of intimacy and connection.

Pretty unsurprising stuff, I'd say. Certainly, throughout my web surfing I've come across countless barebacking and POZ-centric blogs and communities, where people found meaning in, and got off to, "breeding," "gift-giving," and "seeding." It is certainly not a highly visible staple of gay culture, but I find it unsurprising simply because of its transgressive qualities. In a general climate where queerness has rapidly become normalized, even hetero-normalized (look no further than the recent TV show The New Normal for a good example), which results in a queerness that is sanitized, de-eroticized and, in a manner of speaking, censored for the purposes of the mainstream. And while I certainly do see barebacking and particularly "gift-giving" as an extreme response, its position is more than obvious.

The stigma surrounding HIV and AIDS that Dean mentions is more than apparent in the comment section of his article. It is, at times, a violent reaction to Dean's piece, and an obvious case of "shoot the messenger" mentality. Certainly, HIV is a virus and AIDS is a disease that has been deadly and that is incurable; but the commenters attitude towards it reveal a deeper fear and loathing, directed not only at the disease, but also at the diseased. How else could one explain such a vehement reply to the author of the article, who has but pointed in the direction of a subculture?

And after all, who's to say that all should fear the disease? The debate surrounding the article essentializes the gay man as one who is responsible and smart - in other words, one who wears condoms and fears the gay disease, as it is subtextually coded (one commenter even goes as far as to say that when he fucks a woman raw, the "deadliness" of a disease is lower since it's straight sex - an argument so stupid it should require no further comment). To hell with that, I say. I have the right to any disease I may expose myself to if I so choose. And while HIV and AIDS is not something I'm necessarily adding to my to-do list anytime soon, I reserve the right to fuck however I want with another informed, consenting adult. Similarly, I have no need for behavioural moralism. We are our own models of sex and living, and to those who will only fuck bareback and who get off on breeding and being bred and seeding and being seeded - you do you.

Naked and at leisure, Pt. 2

 

If you've read my post about my experiences at the YMCA that I can only dub as revelatory and out-of-this-world hot, you'll know that I was quite excited to set foot in the Halifax YMCA again, and this time with more time on my hands to do some swimming creeping around the shower/sauna/whirlpool/lockers. So sue me - I'm a horny guy and I get my education where I find it.

Anyways, there we were in the locker room again, and after a quick change, my friend sashayed away towards the gym that is on an entirely different floor. Perfect. Off went my clothes and as I was pulling on my swimming briefs, I noticed the jock guy from last time putting his clothes on a couple of lockers down from mine. Hello, jock guy. He really was hot - all blonde hair and big feet and a perfect ass, with just a tiny bit of baby fat for good measure. But time was not my friend, so I made my way over to the showers and through to the swimming pool, which turned out to be closed still. Nice, more time in the facilities.

Quickly getting rid of my swimwear, I made my way over to the dry sauna, where an older guy was sitting across from me and sort-of-but-not-really stroking his dick - it was definitely not 100% flaccid, but he was sort of hiding it with his hand, so it was hard to tell if he was flirting or if he was just having a seizure. Anyway, soon enough a hot guy I remembered from the day before entered. He must have been in his early 40s, on the stocky side (not fat, but he did have a delicious gut and his chest was covered in thin hair - yumm) and he recognized me. So we had a little chat - his name was R. and he does this or that, which means he travels a lot for work, blah blah... Now, I am not a modest person, which means that I was sitting on my towel spread eagle and fully on display, while R. had his towel covering one thigh and the majority of his crotch area. Bullshit. I did, however, see him naked in the showers later, and it was a nice sight indeed - not a huge dick by any measure, but it looked good on him, especially with his big butt I really wanted to lick the sweat out of.

There wasn't much happening though, and seeing how the whirlpool was way too hot for any sane person to go in, and the company wasn't really great (a dude or two in the steam room, not too chatty or friendly, plus a younger guy hanging by the whirlpool with his towel on), I went for a swim and actually had a nice workout. After the swim, I made my way back around the sauna and the showers before finally getting dressed. This is when R. approached me again and asked me if I wanted to go for a drink. Oh, how I wish I could - he looked really sexy again, and plus if we hooked up, he looked like he would be pretty open-minded and fun in bed. But alas, I had plans with my friend and I am never the one to blow people off. So I politely declined, but if I do see him again, I'll make sure to mention that drink again.

Today, I'm taking a break from the Y - my muscles are a little sore from all that damn swimming, plus I'd like to spend some time reading other people's blogs. There's some really good ones out there! I should also take a break from the excitement that the YMCA provided - both times I was there were so fucking hot, and probably because it is not explicitly a gay hook-up place, but it does have a lot of such potential. Moreover, I like that it's a men's club of sorts, and how I wished that I had had an opportunity to visit a place like that before. I'm sure that it would have helped with the lack of a father figure/men models in my life. Whatever, 24 is still a good age to discover it and get a good steam.

Naked and at leisure

There are fewer places more curious, titillating and entertaining for a young maleperson who hasn't grown up in North America than the hallowed halls of a YMCA men's locker room.

Naturally, the one thing I knew about the YMCA before I stepped into one my first time, this past September, was that damn song of which we shall not speak again. There also may have been a faint recollection of something I read, or something someone told me, about YMCAs being almost institutionalized cruising areas, places where closeted gay guys got their rocks off during... Whatever decade.

Clearly, things must be different today, especially in places like Montreal or Halifax, where an honest-to-god gay sauna, complete with porn screens, swings and condom dispensers, is never too far away. The gay saunas or bathhouses thus seem to stand in stark opposition to most honest-to-god gyms, where changing rooms are places most men run through, showers are obligatory and coy, and nudity is contained, at least to a degree.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I first stepped into a YMCA and found it occupying a sweet spot between the gay sauna and the gym, a spot so sweet, in fact, that I couldn't wait to go again.

The first time was in Montreal, and I was fresh off the proverbial boat, spending my first week in Canada with a friend who flew down to visit me from Halifax. He is an intellectual through and through, and also the kind of person who cares about such concepts as gluten, yoga and organic. He also has a "plus" membership of some sort, which not only allowed me to go as a guest (a nice perk, but this is not that kind of a review), as well as access to the exclusive locker room that includes a sauna, a TV lounge and, well, showers and lockers. The whole experience was on the uneventful side - the swimming pool itself is co-ed, of course, and the locker room area didn't have a huge number of guys at the time. The dry sauna was empty and the steam was out-of-order. In fact, the whole place looked a little rundown. However, there was a faint sense of community that I felt here, inspired I'm sure by the guy lounging in the TV room in just his towel, or the somewhat intimate and privacy-challenged shower and bathroom areas.

Fast forward to yesterday, when I find myself going to the YMCA again, with the same friend, although this time in Halifax. The winter break has really felt wonderful, and I've been getting lots of sleep and good food, and now my friend decided it was time to challenge ourselves a little. Sure. So this YCMA looks a lot more rundown compared to the Montreal one, but the staff is nicer, and we get our towels and it's off to the "plus" membership locker room.

The difference hit me almost instantaneously. Firstly, there are a lot more guys, and the vast majority of them naked at that. My locker was right by one occupied by a jock-type guy, probably in his mid-20s, naked and at leisure. In fact, the whole place could be described in those terms. In fact, my friend's typical get-up-and-go attitude seemed weirdly out of place here, especially compared to how well it otherwise fits this fast and effective society. The locker rooms opened into an area with a dry sauna, a steam room, a whirlpool (!) and the showers. After sprinting through all of these and splashing ourselves with the mandatory shower, we made our way down a series of seriously rundown and, more importantly, non-heated hallways to the swimming pool.

Now, I like swimming as much as the next guy, but the siren call of that locker room was way stronger than my love for swimming, which was why I excused myself after a while to go "check out the whirlpool." The swimming gear went off as soon as I stepped back into the shower area, as well as my flip flops - there is something about footwear that makes you feel not as naked. Between the dry sauna, the steam room, the whirlpool and the showers, I was amazed at the level of intimacy, friendliness and sheer, unobstructed masculinity that was on display there. While the majority of the guys were older (45+) and I was surely the youngest one, there were also a couple of guys in late 20s and 30s. I had a nice little chat with a nice older dude in the dry sauna (something about it being hot, imagine), and I spent some time watching a dude in his forties shaving in the buff at the little sink in the steam room. Then I had a little time in the whirlpool, where an older dude told me to be careful about the jets, because I could give myself an enema (!), after which I gave myself a quick rinse and went back to the swimming pool.

I'm sorry, but this is a revelation.

We are probably hitting the YMCA again today, and my friend mentioned that he would be going to the gym, which should leave me with an hour and a half to kill on my own in the swimming pool and the jacuzzi. In other words, time to get naked and homosocial, not to mention get inspiration for this, my new blog. See you until the next post!

-Nik