As the AIDS epidemic ravaged the community, masturbation parties at local bathhouses became a safe means to participate in sexual activities without sharing bodily fluids. Although many gay men enjoyed the experience, others did not. One such person attests to this disdain in a letter to Advocate Men’s sexpert in this March 1986 issue (which has been broken into two parts), where he decries the act as juvenile and the sexpert counters with a lengthy list of its benefits. Included in the second half of this edition (see the first half here) are photospreads of models Brent Gunter and Gus Turk, cartoons by Donelan and Rex, a showcase Peter Callaghan’s photography, the short story “Burr” (about the eroticism of two cousins sharing a bed), and the poem “Where’s the Men’s Room?”
As the AIDs epidemic ravaged the community, masturbation parties at local bathhouses became a safe means to participate in sexual activities without sharing bodily fluids. Although many gay men enjoyed the experience, others did not. One such person attests to this disdain in a letter to Advocate Men’s sexpert in this March 1986 issue (which has been broken into two parts), where he decries the act as juvenile and the sexpert counters with a lengthy list of its benefits. Also included in the first have of this edition are photospreads of models Chad Douglas and Steve Ericson, the short stories “The Concert” (where the narrator pines over a classical violinist) and “Send in the Clowns” (about a young man’s sexual encounter with a clown while taking his cousin to the circus), and a showcase of the photography at the American Dreams Studio.
As theorists like Richard Fung, Bruce Henderson, and Bryan Pitts argue, homoeroticism tends to eroticize ethnicity by incorporating many of the stereotypes seen in mainstream society: Africans are often represented as aggressive, hypersexual tops with oversized penises, Asians are repeatedly depicted as docile and feminine bottoms, and Hispanics are habitually cast as assertive, temperamental lovers. Two short stories in the March 1984 issue of Honcho (which has been broken into two parts), in turn, serve to illustrate these points, with “Daddy’s Boy” and “Fuck Buddies” utilizing the image of the carnal, hotblooded Mediterranean Greek and Italian to propel the tales’ sexual tones. Included in the second half (see the first half here) are the short stories “Married Meat” (about sex at a laundromat) and “Fishing Pole” (about a man’s fishing trip to overcome the grief of a breakup which leads to a sexual salve), photospreads titled “Command Performance,” “Country Cum to Town,” “Cue Stick,” “Fringe Benefits,” and “Solo Session,” and an Alex cartoon.
