Organization, Specialization, and Desires in the Big Men's Movement: Preliminary Research in the Study of Subculture-Formation

Abstract

Histories and dynamics of the big men's movement are examined, largely through the methodology of studying the publications that have shaped and contextualized the movement. Themes and subjects addressed include the history of the big men's movement, the recontextualization of masculinity as shaped by gay men since the 1970s, relationships between the big men's movement and the bear subculture, HIV/AIDS, the role of the internet and cyberspace, social class, the counter-gauge of lesbian and feminist body politics, and models of desire structuring representations of fat men within the big men's magazine media. The essay focuses largely on political organizing and mobilization within the United States.