Ron: How did you first hear about Bears, Ed?
Ed (Mexico): In 1995, when I first discovered the Internet, I
used to surf the Web a lot and came across pictures of hairy gay guys called
"Bears." I barely understood what "Bear" meant, but then I discovered the
Bearcodes and Bear subclassifications and all that, and I identified with
that. Although to many purists I'm not a real Bear because I'm not very
hairy, I consider Beardom to be more about attitude than looks.
Ron: The "hairier-than-thou" attitude is quite troubled. Glen, please tell
us about your genesis as a Bear.
Glen (South Africa): I have identified myself as Bear ever since
I've known about them. I only came out four years back when I met my
husbear, who was living in a gay commune house - six large hairy men in one
house! That was when I first heard of Bears. Husbear and I started
IbhayiBears in Port Elizabeth two years back because we love the idea. There
are not too many "out" Bears in South Africa, but, as "Bear" is a relatively
unknown term here, things are changing slowly.
Ron: Terrific - we'll more deeply examine the Bear scene in each
location shortly. Justin?
Justin (United Kingdom): About four years ago, I became aware of
Bears when I typed "hairy men" into a search engine. At the time, I lived in
Manchester, England, which has a large gay community and a thriving Bear
movement, as does London. My peers confirmed my Bear status, although I'm
not the hairiest man on the planet.
Ron: Like who is? No hands raised here, I think.
Justin (U.K.): I live in Wales now, which has a lot of small isolated
communities, so our task here is to get people together in this part of the
country. The U.K. Bear scene as a whole, however, is very different to the
Bear scene in Wales.
Ron: Very good. Go ahead, Mali.
Mali (Turkey): My story is the same as Eduardo and Justin's. I
first encountered Bears while looking for hairy gay pictures on the Internet
in 1997. At first, the word "Bear" seemed a joke to me. Then I reached the
Resources for Bears Website. I was kinda shocked that day. I spent many
hours on those pages. Day by day, I learned more about Bears, I understood
that this was what I'd always wanted and had always been. I identified
myself as a Bear and decided to become part of the Bear movement. In 1998,
we started a little group here with five friends.
Ron: Marcelo, was your initial contact with Bears also from the
Internet?
Marcelo (Argentina): I have identified with the Bear phenomenon
ever since 1995, when I first got Internet access. My initial contact with
the Bear movement was from the Internet also. Before that, I knew of certain
gay masculine stereotypes, but the word "Bear" was unknown to me.
Ron: Can you be more specific about which masculine types you
mean?
Marcelo (Arg.): Well, I consider myself a Bear, both in physical
appearance and in attitude. I had a very focused attraction to Bearish guys
since I was very little, of course without being aware of any classification
whatsoever. Anyway, as far as my teenage sexual desires were concerned, they
always were focused on people with beards or moustaches, and hairy and
stocky men. My first sexual contact was at the age of twelve, with a bald,
very hairy guy. Everything was consensual, though there was no penetration.
It was great for me! You get an idea from where I have a sexual attraction
for hairy men! I started dating guys at twenty-one, but I didn't really come
out of the closet to my parents until I was thirty-one.
Ron: An interesting bit of personal history! Seumas, how did you come to
Beardom?
Seumas (Australia): My coming out as a Bear was a little different
to most. When I was about eighteen, and getting into the gay subculture, I
never did seem to fit in the mainstream gay culture. I ended up spending
those young adult years hanging out with a group of lesbians. They noticed
my fur and the fact I started growing a beard, and they referred to me as
"their little Bear."
Ron: How long ago was that?
Seumas (Aus.): My self-identification as a Bear happened about 1994, when I
discovered the Bear community out there. Not knowing how to get involved, I
went and started up a club, Harbour City Bears, in 1995 with a couple of
guys here in Sydney ‹ although I was living in Canberra, the national
capital, about 350km away.
Ron: Woody, how do you relate to Bearness and being a Bear?
Woody (Japan): I'm a Bear in my own way, I guess. I feel that
most Bears relate better to hairy men, larger men. I'm not small but not
hairy and I think that most Bears shy away from that. I've known about the
Bear thing for many years now and have always had an attraction to them even
years before that.
Ron: I want to take an extra moment here to ask about your experience as
an American in Japan. Do you feel accepted by Japanese Bears?
Woody (Jap.): I have been in almost every situation in Japan. Where I'm not
accepted, it's because of a language barrier. Japanese men are very shy and
want to please people. If they cannot communicate with someone, then they
cannot please them. So, since we cannot talk, they are quiet and standoffish
to me. With the ones who do speak English, and with my limited Japanese, we
do very nicely.
Ron: As bars in Japan are very specialized, there are specific Bear-bars,
correct?
Woody (Jap.): Yes. There's Snuggle Bear, Bear Tracks, and other
Bear-bars without the name influence.
Ron: Thank you, Woody. Last but not least, Xavi.
Xavi (Spain): When I came out, I joined the gay association of
Barcelona. In 1996, in the library of Casal Lambda, where I worked, I found
a copy of Bear magazine, and was shocked. I'd always liked that kind of guy
and I easily fit that description myself. I joined the Internet in 1997 at
college, just before the big Spanish gay explosion of 199899. The second
word I searched for was "Bears" and from then on, I have been a lot on the
Net. We founded a Bearclub in the city in January by placing an ad, and
twenty people responded.
Ron: It's fascinating to note how significant the Internet has been in the
formation of many of our panelists' initial Bear identifications, as well as
the formation of their local communities.
Click here for
participant's biographies.
Excerpted from the complete article in Bears on Bears: Interviews &
Discussions, by Ron Jackson Suresha (Alyson Publications, 2002).
Copyright (c) 2002 by Ron Jackson Suresha, all rights reserved.
