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LordODiscipline -> RE: Old guard (8/21/2005 2:07:40 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: PetiteBlonde
What is old guard?
There are two different defintions of the "Old Guard" that are
prevalent as applied to leather -
1. They were the beginnings of who we are today.
A splintered and nationally fractional element that became known
as 'leather', groups of gay men (and, minorly women) who
formed 'clubs' or community gathering places in order to have a place
where they might congregate and find commonality in a time where it
was exceptionally tough for homosexuals to gather and/or associate.
Often considered to encompass a time period from 1948 through 1972
(there is no definitive time, just certain happenings that are
considered the cornerstones by historians), the idea of such clubs
spread across the nation with certain publications' advertisement of
they through loose reporting, and, the migration of peoples from place
to place during this period's demographic movements.
Often (but, not always) they were associated with motorcyles and the
clubs that formed around these conveyances at the times suggested.
They were not called by that name during the period to which this name
refers; they were tagged with the moniker years (early 1980's)
afterwards in an effort to tag the older people in leather as 'passe'
in an attempt to wrest political power of larger groups from their
hands <ref: "The Leatherman's Handbook - Silver Jubilee Edition
forward>.
In the years following this failed attempt, various writers took up
the cause of these "ancients" - turning the phrase about (Drummer
Magazine was instrumental in this effort), and, making it a 'badge of
honor' to be associated with , rather than one of elderly denegration.
It was only after the advent of the internet's information bending
ability that this became thought of as a cohesive and uniform group of
people - rather than the disparate and diverse groups, isolated from
one another by the space of America and as varied in their rules and
means of society as any other.
2. It refers to a sub-set of the modern leather scene (self defined
this way since about 2001), and/or, it refers to the utilization of
strict rules of decorum in which a power exchange relational dynamic
is maintained.
Often considered by it's adherents to be a 'strictly formally
regulated dynamic', they often tout themselves as the harbingers and
bastions of the <definition #1> 'Old Guard' It is often <and
incorrectly> stated that the rules that are followed (as outlined by
Baldwin and Bean, et al, and as evolved through the years over the
internet and/or in real life) were common and adherent among all
the "Old Guard".
In the last two years, some people have attempted to redefine the term
to indicate the <same> style of dynamic without attribution to the
gays of yesteryear; stating that "Old Guard" has been about long
before among heterosexual or pansexual insitutions that have yet to be
correctly documented to allow proof of the allegation.
~J
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