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Ercole
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In a recent thread, SSAlexss expressed his horror and disappointment at learning that the great Arnold posed nude.
But nude photography was always part of bodybuilding -- at least until Joe Weider started discouraging it so he could make more money by selling bodybuilding as a squeaky-clean G-rated sport to naive young guys like -- well, like SSAlexss.
Weider made a fortune by creating a phony image for our sport, pretending NONE of the pros had ever posed nude, used AS, or done anything else that would shock my elderly Aunt Mabel.
Weider's calculated lies made him a multi-millionaire , but the truth remains ... tons of the greats posed nude. And why not? The Greek statues that inspired the sport are all nude. Michelangelo's David is nude. In the original Olympics all the athletes competed in the nude. Even the musclemen Michelangelo painted for the Pope's private Sistine Chapel were nude.
I get no special thrill from seeing a dick or a butt in a bodybuilding picture, but I also don't see why it's so critical to cover up those parts when you're showing everything else. Nude pictures are not pornography. They can be very artistic.
Pros that I know have posed nude include:
Mr. Olympia Arnold Schwarzenegger
Mr. Olympia Chris Dickerson
Rick Wayne (probably the best writer on bodybuilding ever)
Bob Birdsong
Jim Morris
Bob Paris
Bruce Patterson (he's totally straight but he markets nude pix and videos on his website)
Eugene Sandow (the first great bodybuilder)
Who else has done it?
Not that it really matters, but I'm trying to make the point that nude photos were no big deal in bodybuilding until Weider banned his athletes from doing them, in order to rake in more money from naive or Puritanical fans.
Bodybuilding is NOT a gay sport. Most bodybuilders are straight. But gays, like nude photography, have been there from the beginning.
I would go so far as to say there probably would be no sport of bodybuilding if gay men hadn't invented it, just as there probably would be no Miss America contest if straight men hadn't invented it. That doesn't make Miss America a straight man!
Hey, if Thomas Edison had been gay, that wouldn't mean turning on the lights makes you gay. In the same way, there may be lots of gays in bodybuilding, but that doesn't mean picking up a dumbell or honing your physique makes you any less straight.
To repeat, most bodybuilders are straight -- but as a gay man I resent people who like to pretend we're some kind of predator infiltrating the sport. We were there from the start and contributed hugely to its development, both as athletes, promoters (who do you think started Gold's gym?), and fans.
Most of us are straight. Some are gay. Some are in-between. Who cares! We can all train together, compete together, and get along without cutting each other down.
As George says,
Yours In Sport, Ercole
But nude photography was always part of bodybuilding -- at least until Joe Weider started discouraging it so he could make more money by selling bodybuilding as a squeaky-clean G-rated sport to naive young guys like -- well, like SSAlexss.
Weider made a fortune by creating a phony image for our sport, pretending NONE of the pros had ever posed nude, used AS, or done anything else that would shock my elderly Aunt Mabel.
Weider's calculated lies made him a multi-millionaire , but the truth remains ... tons of the greats posed nude. And why not? The Greek statues that inspired the sport are all nude. Michelangelo's David is nude. In the original Olympics all the athletes competed in the nude. Even the musclemen Michelangelo painted for the Pope's private Sistine Chapel were nude.
I get no special thrill from seeing a dick or a butt in a bodybuilding picture, but I also don't see why it's so critical to cover up those parts when you're showing everything else. Nude pictures are not pornography. They can be very artistic.
Pros that I know have posed nude include:
Mr. Olympia Arnold Schwarzenegger
Mr. Olympia Chris Dickerson
Rick Wayne (probably the best writer on bodybuilding ever)
Bob Birdsong
Jim Morris
Bob Paris
Bruce Patterson (he's totally straight but he markets nude pix and videos on his website)
Eugene Sandow (the first great bodybuilder)
Who else has done it?
Not that it really matters, but I'm trying to make the point that nude photos were no big deal in bodybuilding until Weider banned his athletes from doing them, in order to rake in more money from naive or Puritanical fans.
Bodybuilding is NOT a gay sport. Most bodybuilders are straight. But gays, like nude photography, have been there from the beginning.
I would go so far as to say there probably would be no sport of bodybuilding if gay men hadn't invented it, just as there probably would be no Miss America contest if straight men hadn't invented it. That doesn't make Miss America a straight man!
Hey, if Thomas Edison had been gay, that wouldn't mean turning on the lights makes you gay. In the same way, there may be lots of gays in bodybuilding, but that doesn't mean picking up a dumbell or honing your physique makes you any less straight.
To repeat, most bodybuilders are straight -- but as a gay man I resent people who like to pretend we're some kind of predator infiltrating the sport. We were there from the start and contributed hugely to its development, both as athletes, promoters (who do you think started Gold's gym?), and fans.
Most of us are straight. Some are gay. Some are in-between. Who cares! We can all train together, compete together, and get along without cutting each other down.
As George says,
Yours In Sport, Ercole
