Bear Tracks: The Eclectic Origins of Bear Spirituality
This column is intended to serve as an introduction to the emergence of bear spirituality, and not a promotion of…
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Bear History
Bear Tracks: Hairy Bears
In Western cultures beards and body hair have long been regarded as a mark of masculine virility. In Japanese culture,…
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Bear Tracks: Transbears
Trans pioneer Lou Sullivan was arguably the first transman to publicly identify as gay. He and I worked together long-distance…
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Bear Tracks: Fat Bears & the History of Girth and Mirth
Historically, gay men have stigmatized other gay men for being ugly, being old, having a small cock, or being fat….
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Bear Tracks: Theoretical Bears
Gay liberation and, later, queer nationalism, took as its radical starting point our agency as gay men and lesbians to…
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Bear Tracks: The Rise of Bear Images in the Mass Media
There is an interesting strategy for inclusion in American mass media today, summed up in the catch phrase, “If you…
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The Bear Flag: Craig Byrnes and the International Bear Brotherhood Flag
Les K Wright delves into the history and development of the bear flag. Of himself, Craig has said, “I’m not…
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Bear Tracks: Bears Come to Europe
Although extinct for centuries in Europe, the bear is deeply engrained in every European culture. It has a long pedigree…
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Bear Tracks: Bears Down Under
If you were to ask an Ozzie or a Kiwi about bears (the animal) in Australia or New Zealand, they…
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Bear Tracks: The cultural Influence of BEAR Magazine
In 1987 I came across a photocopied ‘zine in a gay bookstore in San Francisco. Popular in the 1980s, zines…
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Les K. Wright is Looking for Contributors for The Bear Book III
What began as a predominantly American gay white cisgender male identity and community has grown and transformed substantially since the…
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Bear Tracks: Cybearspace, Personal Ads and the Bear Code
Once upon a time, for a long time before the advent of the Digital Age, gay men placed personal ads…
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The Mythical Black Bear
“The Mythical Black Bear” is an intriguing part of the Bear community, where identity, culture, and history intersect. Though sometimes…
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Bear Tracks: The Mythic Bear Clan
Bears are found all over the northern hemisphere and native peoples have ascribed a variety of attributes and powers to…
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Bear Tracks: The Life and Work of Leathersex Pioneer Jack Fritscher
Jack Fritscher (b. 1939; PhD, 1967) is best known for his pioneering role in the leathersex community. His presence and…
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Bear Tracks: Crawford Barton and the Golden Age of Gay Awakening
In my last column I talked about the clarion call that went out from gay San Francisco in the 1970s….
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Bear Tracks: Origins of Bear Culture Part 2 – The Genius of Place
San Francisco is a magical place, a peninsula surrounded on three sides by water and one by the imagination. Since…
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Bear Tracks: The Murky Origins of Bear Culture Part 1
**Editor’s Note** Bear World Magazine is honored and thrilled to be working with Bear historian Les K Wright who has…
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MAGNANIMOUS – The Homoerotic Bear Short Film
Last year we covered a sensual and hot video called MASS: C19H28O2, the first in a trilogy of hot and homoerotic…
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