Homoerotic Archaeology: In Touch (April 1998), Part One

Friday, April 11, 2025

In Touch (April 1998), Part One

In a 1999 interview for Manshots, adult performer Tommy Cruise (who is featured in this April 1998 issue of In Touch) discusses his disdain for working with gay-for-pay models, stating the process “is not very enjoyable” and many actors “don’t even want me touching them.” In fact, Cruise is not alone in his sentiments. As Benjamin Scuglia, who has documented gay pornography for Inside Porn Magazine since 1995, explains, many gay porn performers have confessed to him their contempt for working with gay-for-pay actors, with one relating to him an incident on set where the performer balanced a straight porn magazine on his head while receiving a blow job. Along with photos of Cruise, the first half of this issue of In Touch (which has been broken into two parts) contains the short stories “Gaining Face” (a humorous tale about the narrator’s attempts to grow a bread to be more attractive) and “Opportunities” (where a male escort takes the reader throughout his evening of tricks) and spreads of models Tommy Hart and Emilio Sands.

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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.