Tom of Finland
Bad Gays10 Helmi

Tom of Finland

Subscribe to Extra Bad Gays on Apple Podcasts or Patreon to support our work, get monthly bonus episodes, and join our community of listeners!

Live from Helsinki, we close out our season with Tom of Finland, the man who advertised the concept of gay masculinity to gays becoming men. Originally his illustrations were controversial because of his graphic depictions of gay sex, of sodomy and cocksucking and fisting in a pre-liberation, pre-internet age. Today, things have changed so much you can buy Tom branded products in department stores like Selfridges, and books of his drawings in Barnes and Noble. But at the same time, his representations of Black men and of Nazi aesthetics have drawn new criticisms, even while the fisting and piss and cock-sucking have become perfect home decorations. And the influence of his work on gay male sex cultures, on ideals of queer masculinities, and especially on leather scenes, remains enormous and contested.

----more----

SOURCES:

F. Valentine Hooven III, Tom Of Finland: His Life And Times (St. Martin's, 1992)

Arnie Kantrowitz, Swastika Toys, in Leatherfolk, edited by Mark Thompson, pp. 193–209.

Hunter Scott, “Facing Sameness: Reconsidering the Radicality of Tom of Finland.” InVisible Culture 36, https://doi.org/10.47761/494a02f6.262a8f58.

Carta Monir, "Morally Erect," Lux Magazine, https://lux-magazine.com/article/tom-of-finland/

https://worldcrunch.com/in-the-news/tom-of-finland-double-life-of-the-gay-icon-who-changed-a-nation/

https://www.myhelsinki.fi/visit/lgbtqia-in-helsinki/tom-of-finlands-helsinki/

https://kunstkritikk.com/the-cult-of-iconified-homosexuality/

Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien, downloaded from WFMU's Free Music Archive and distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicsdesigner.

Jaksot(133)

TRAILER: Extra Bad Gays - The Sex We Cannot Have

TRAILER: Extra Bad Gays - The Sex We Cannot Have

This month, it's all about a fantastic reader question about the sex we cannot have. What do we learn from it? How do we think about it? What can it teach us? Please keep sending your Gaggony Guncles ...

7 Touko 20255min

Special Episode: Alexander von Humboldt (with Michael Huldt)

Special Episode: Alexander von Humboldt (with Michael Huldt)

Today we welcome Michael Huldt, host of Worm From Home, an environmental history podcast focused on East London, to discuss the German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt. Born in Berlin in 1769, he wou...

30 Huhti 20251h 18min

TRAILER: Extra Bad Gays Gaggony Guncles

TRAILER: Extra Bad Gays Gaggony Guncles

Subscribers to our monthly "extra" show get to hear advice segments that we, (hopefully) charmingly refer to as the Gaggony Guncles. Here's last month's sample–for one or two juicy questions and thoug...

10 Huhti 202511min

Jacques de Molay

Jacques de Molay

Today’s subject, Jacques de Molay, was the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, or to give them their full title, the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon. Ever since their...

11 Maalis 202551min

TRAILER–Extra Bad Gays February 2025: German Elections and How To Sauna

TRAILER–Extra Bad Gays February 2025: German Elections and How To Sauna

This month, we begin with a conversation about the just-occurred German elections. The far right made gains: but the elections offer a ray of hope for the Left, and a conclusive disproving of the "ant...

28 Helmi 202512min

Adele Spitzeder

Adele Spitzeder

Adele Spitzeder, born into operatic royalty, washed up when she tried a career on the stage: so instead, she started accepting bank deposits for 10% monthly interest, and paying old customers with new...

19 Helmi 20251h

Anne Lister

Anne Lister

She was an industrialist, a lesbian, a landlord, a traveler, a businesswoman, a womanizer, a butch, a snob, a pioneer of gay marriage, a Tory. She was the original Tory girlboss, and19th century Engli...

11 Helmi 20251h 7min

Larry Kramer

Larry Kramer

Today we profile Larry Kramer, the writer and AIDS activist. Kramer took space, took credit, operated in the world with tremendous privilege, and was somewhere between actively and passively misogynis...

5 Helmi 20251h 10min

Suosittua kategoriassa Historia

olipa-kerran-otsikko
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
mayday-fi
huijarit
mystista
rss-ikiuni
tsunami
totuus-vai-salaliitto
konginkangas
sotaa-ja-historiaa-podi
rss-i-dont-like-mondays-2
rss-sattuu-sita-suomessakin
rouva-diktaattori
apinan-vuosi
rss-subjektiivinen-todistaja
rss-kirkon-ihmeellisimmat-tarinat
historian-nurkkapoyta
tiedetta-ja-sirkushuveja-vanhojen-aikojen-podcast
rss-peter-peter
rss-historian-pitka-oppimaara