Homoerotic Archaeology: Honcho (April 1978), Part One

Friday, April 2, 2021

Honcho (April 1978), Part One

Born in Brooklyn in 1940 and obtaining a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Bard College in 1962, Arthur Tress spent the first decade of his photographic career documenting the tribal groups of the Dogons, Eskimos, Lapps, and Mayans and working with the United States government to chronicle ethnic poverty. His studies of Mircea Eliade's and Carl Jung's theories fed Tress’ fascination with the surreal in the 1970s and prompted him to undertake a three-year photographic project of male erotic fantasy which culminated into the publication of Facing Up in 1980. The April 1978 issue of Honcho (which has been broken into two parts) features many of the images taken for this project. In the first half, Tress’ photographs are paired with an article about the impact of physical and psychological health on sexuality. Also included in this first half are the short story “Honcho Threesome” (about a threeway between a construction worker, a gas station attendant, and a state trooper) and an exposé on Edward Koch, the mayor of New York City who launched discrimination campaigns against homosexuals in the metropolis’ fire and police departments.

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What is Homoerotic Archaeology?

In 2016, I discovered several discarded boxes at an estate sale. Under their flimsy flaps were hundreds of well-worn issues of homoerotic magazines from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. I purchased them out of mild intrigue and, as I perused their pages, I was startled to realize that something commonly disregarded as pornographic smut earnestly chronicled the evolution of gay culture: the social and sexual liberation of the 1970s, the crushing devastation from AIDS during the 1980s, and the gradual strengthening of the community in the 1990s. As a gay man, I was touched by the subtle narrative these publications told. As a historian, I was motivated to digitally preserve their content. And, as an educator, I was driven to create a platform to share that information freely with others interested in the progression of gay society. Homoerotic Archaeology is that venue. Here you will find the advertisements, articles, short stories, and (of course) pictures found in these magazines lovingly preserved and presented for future generations of gay men to enjoy and study.

Why Preserve Homoerotica?

As early as the 1970s, scholars such as June Rook have stressed the need to preserve homosexual history in an effort to combat repression and establish a cultural background for future generations. Much of the preservation process admirably focuses on the substantial works of homosexual artists and thinkers; however, it sadly ignores other elements quintessential to the community’s history, particularly homoerotica. Although frequently labeled obscene filth, homoerotica has, just like the significant creations of artists and thinkers, been a prevalent part of the group’s culture and has played an integral role in shaping identities and perceptions (consider how influential Tom of Finland’s hypermasculinity has been in molding the body ideals of modern gay men). Due to this factor, the conservation of homoerotica is just as essential as the preservation of major artistic and theoretical homosexual works.