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In
the
gay
TV
series
“Queer
as
Folk”
(2000-2005),
gay
friends
Brian,
Michael,
Emmett,
Ted
and
Ben
spent
much
of
their
time
in
their
Pittsburgh
gay
gym,
where
they
worked
out,
talked
about
their
lives,
socialized
and
(in
the
case
of
Brian)
cruised.
The
gym
in
“Queer
as
Folk”
encapsulated
gay
life
much
more
accurately
than
did
the
mythical
sex-Mecca
Babylon.
In
fact,
it
could
be
said
that
the
gym
has
more
influence
on
urban
gay
male
life
than
anything
else
in
our
culture
except
the
gay
rights
movement
and
AIDS.
During
the
past
20
years,
working
out
and
acquiring
a
muscular
body
have
become
major
components
of
many
gay
men’s
lives.
Because
of
the
gym,
the
gay
male
physical
ideal
changed
from
slim,
youthful
and
androgynous
to
hard,
muscular
and
masculine.
Gay
gym
culture
influences
the
way
we
look,
the
way
we
dress,
our
aesthetic
and
erotic
sense,
our
sexual
activities
and
our
social
calendar.
Furthermore,
thanks
to
our
role
as
social
trendsetters,
the
gym
has
also
become
a
major
part
of
mainstream
culture.
The
gym’s
influence
on
gay
men’s
lives
is
the
theme
of
Erick
Alvarez’s
new
book,
“Muscle
Boys:
Gay
Gym
Culture.”
Alvarez,
who
now
lives
in
South
Florida,
brings
his
many
years
of
experience
as
a
personal
trainer
to
the
book.
“I
worked
with
a
lot
of
gay
male
clients,
and
I
realized
that
even
though
gay
gym
culture
was
becoming
more
and
more
prevalent,
it
was
greatly
misunderstood,”
Alvarez
says.
“My
goals
in
writing
‘Muscle
Boys’
were
to
demystify
gym
culture
by
presenting
it
up
close
and
unbiased,
and
also
to
begin
a
dialogue
about
a
topic
that
is
becoming
more
and
more
important
in
modern
gay
life.”
As
research
for
the
book,
Alvarez
conducted
a
worldwide,
online
survey
of
almost
6,000
gay
and
bisexual
men
and
interviewed
hundreds
of
them.
The
result
is
an
in-depth
study
of
gay
gym
culture
that
encompasses
such
gay
subgroups
as
athletes,
muscle
boys,
circuit
boys,
poz
jocks,
muscle
bears
and
muscle
daddies.
How
extensive
is
the
gym
in
gay
male
life?
“The
larger
and
more
urban
the
community,
the
more
extensive
gym
membership
becomes,”
Alvarez
says.
“In
cities
like
San
Francisco,
New
York
and
Los
Angeles,
gym
memberships
are
held
by
a
huge
percentage
of
the
gay
population.”
In
South
Florida,
Fort
Lauderdale
falls
somewhere
in
the
middle
and
Miami
is
in
the
upper
half
of
the
scale
of
gay
gym
culture,
Alvarez
says.
Alvarez
does
not
think
that
the
gay
gym
would
ever
replace
the
gay
bar
(or
the
Internet)
as
gay
men’s
main
social
venue.
Even
men
who
socialize
at
the
gym
also
socialize
in
bars
and
other
gathering
spots,
he
points
out.
In
“Muscle
Boys,”
Alvarez
outlines
the
differences
between
“gay
gyms”
and
“straight
gyms,”
They
include
the
greater
amount
of
socialization
that
goes
in
the
gay
gyms
as
well
as
the
greater
level
of
comfort
and
acceptance
that
gay
gyms
provide
to
their
clients.
Differences
do
not
extent
to
the
workout
itself.
Both
straight
and
gay
men
seek
to
develop
the
same
body
parts:
pecs,
abs,
lats,
shoulders
and
arms.
In
fact,
most
straight
muscle
men
deliberately
resemble
gay
muscle
men,
which,
Alvarez
assures
us,
is
the
result
of
the
gay
influence.
“Gay
gym
culture
now
sets
the
standard
for
the
ideal
male
body,”
Alvarez
says.
“For
the
first
time
in
modern
history,
straight
men
are
beginning
to
look
up
to
gay
men
as
the
athletic
ideal.
This
is
important
because
it
narrows
the
gap
between
gay
and
straight.”
But
one
difference
that
remains
is
the
amount
of
skin
exposed
at
a
gay
gym
compared
to
the
more
modest
norms
at
straight
gym.
Male
nudity
has
been
a
facet
of
gay
gym
culture
since
Classical
Greece.
Many
modern
gyms,
however,
now
have
more
conservative
dress
codes,
and
recent
fashions
for
both
swim
suits
and
workout
shorts
are
longer.
"America
has
always
been
uncomfortable
with
nudity,”
Alvarez
says.
“But
we’re
becoming
more
relaxed
about
it,
and
it’s
becoming
more
acceptable
both
in
the
media
and
on
the
street.”
In
fact,
Alvarez
views
nudity
and
fashion
as
intertwined.
“While
it’s
true
that
workout
shorts
are
now
longer,
it
is
also
fashionable
for
shorts
and
jeans
to
drop
much
lower
below
the
waist
than
has
been
acceptable
before,”
he
notes.
“When
short-shorts
were
in
fashion,
they
revealed
the
tights;
now
longer
shorts
are
in,
but
often
drop
so
low
that
they
...
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