Nut : Gay & Black Glossary

YouTube has a genre of nostalgia they term vintage aimed at gay males. It shows sepia still photos from 1860 to 1950, before many of us were born. These handsome young men are now dead. Of course, none of the young men are overweight. Most are nicely muscled from manual work. Food was scarce back then. Almost none of the men are decorated with tattoos or piercings. They did not affect gay dress or eyebrows shaping.

The people who compile these videos don’t show what the homophobia was like. They play romantic music over what was not necessarily a romantic or even gay situation. By inserting photos of straights between obviously gay photos, they give the impression that gay males used to gather for skinny dipping in massive numbers. Sometimes the photos are fakes. They are contemporary and photoshopped to sepia tones on fine grain film. The earnings, piercings and scruffy beards usually give them away.