Bournemouth

[fingertrouble]

Firstly:



Had a lot of fun on Studland Beach...got quite prawned on my back. Not that kind of fun of old, seems the clamp down and prissy queens have put paid to that...

Decided to stay over in Bournemouth so I can get to Weymouth in the morning. Settled into into the hotel, that's where it got weird. It' 'Bourne Free', Bournemouth's idea of Pride. I say that with full scorn - really in a place that with my likes should be a wonderland, it really is dead...or strange. They've made a lot of places wristband only, so if you didn't knopw about it you're shut out.

But the main places are open but weird - Bournemouth is like Brighton but with the counter culture taken out - what's left is a rather obvious and unfriendly blob of whistles, drag acts, kids and round cleanshaven men in Fred Perry. Oh and gigantic photos of Lionel Blair advertising retirement homes. So seaside weird/waryness but with not much else. Oh I fancied going to a sauna. It was closed.

Long and the short of it ,it's like Palm Springs but without the cool factor, constant weather and sex in pools. If you're gay, avoid staying here. The hotel is having a dub night (oh goody wonder if the subbass will travel) but that's as radical as it gets.

I described it on Twitter as end of the pier - plus 50 feet.

Tomorrow is Weymouth to Lulworth Cove or more, a long walk...I look forward to getting a walk in away from these people...events like this make me wonder if I am gay at all - yes I like the cock but I have nothing in common with these people.

Posted via LjBeetle

Comments

[maxauburn.livejournal.com]

"events like this make me wonder if I am gay at all - yes I like the cock but I have nothing in common with these people."

This is how I feel, too.

[albear-garni.livejournal.com]

So, is "Studland" the *official* name of the place?

[fingertrouble.livejournal.com]

Yes...the official name. Appropriately named sometimes. One of the few official NT naturist beaches.

[fargonrob.livejournal.com]

We often forget that there is a difference between Being Gay and Gay Culture (some call it camp).

That was actually a major basis for the Bear movement. Guys that didn't fit into gay culture, just regular fellas that happen to be gay. That was coopted by the GenX bears who didn't start their own thing but wanted in and brought the camp and culture with them without finding who they were and what they were getting into because the bears accepted people as who they were. Then by media sources that wanted to make a buck of the bear thing so they needed to main stream it and a lot of us have been left behind.

I say fuck them. I am still a bear, I am a gay man, I am proud of who I am and know I am not perfect or some stereotype ideal and I don't care. I am me, an individual, and that is a hell of a lot harder to be in this world of conformists than accepting some made up image or role I am supposed to fit in so I can be easily cataloged and merchandised to. I will take what I want from this world and leave the rest for them that want it.

See, REAL BEARS accept others for who they are, and they learn to accept themselves with all the faults, dreams and hopes intact.

-I am gonna cross post this, but, dude, You have a lot in common, it's just that folks forget that as humans we all share some common things, we love, hate, fear, want, lust, and a list of other things that may not come from a media stream we are fed almost all of our waking hours. For those that abandon who they are for what they are told they should be, they are the lost and will be the forgotten for they have left nothing of themselves to this world.

[fingertrouble.livejournal.com]

True, although in a strange way I'm officially GenX or slightly too young for it (the ones who are about mid-late 20s now are actually GenY) so I could be classed as GenX, but the term popped up years after I came into thee bear scene, when I was around 30 and described those 20 somethings who felt they didn't fit in, wanted to dye their beard blue, do 'alternative' things. I had nothing to do with them, totally pompous and cliquey I called them the alt.alt.alt bears like the newsgroups (which they never experienced) - they just wanted to be 'different' SO hard and not be like the older bears (strange cos these people weren't around when me and my friend were the youngest at the events by 20 years, we loved the culture - and was sad to see it die or move on).

I suppose I was jealous since they cruised in the wake of what we'd done, flounced in as if they owned it, and didn't give us a second look, even though they were previously going to twink events I guess...but the strange desire to form a pack and look different was weird.

[fargonrob.livejournal.com]

LJ ate my replys.

What I actually had a problem with was that bears were based on acceptance, that was used against us in the take over, and then that acceptance of different folks was removed in many areas. In a lot of clubs larger guys are shunned, if you don't fit the mold, it is just like being in the twink/main gay culture.

[fingertrouble.livejournal.com]

Also I find it interesting that the very event - Pride - that's supposed to bring us all together does the opposite - it highlights the difference and rampant rampaging capitalism and age/culture divides even more.

[fargonrob.livejournal.com]

The capitalism shows we are an economic force.

To me, I saw more acceptance of the differences at pride, sure they were shown but accepted. Do the twinks still shun a lot of others, yea, but ya know what, I accept that.

The way I see it, marketing is also acceptance, and any biggotry has shown companies that there IS a backlash. To me, that's ok. Not like I pay attention to stuff I don't need. But I do like the reuseable grocery bags I got from a grocery store chain this year. I like the name, see on the side of the bags it says "I love my Cub". Cub foods, I can deal with that.