Letters to the Editor	Letters Archive

Supports jailed activists

Thanks for your wonderful editorial Terrorizing Dissent [January 2002]. It is important that we maintain our civil liberties in these times of fear, hysteria and propaganda.

Although I agree with ACT UP's stance on AIDS, the issue here-- as you stated in your article-- is protecting our rights of expression and free speech.

Terry Dobbin
terrydobbin@hotmail.com
Toronto, Ontario

View our poll archive

Bathhouse history

Congrats to Blanche Poubelle on Bathhouse Rules [February 2002].

As far as the timeline of such places go here is what I have heard/been told in my travels:

The Eberhard in New York City goes back to the 50s; One of the places in LA-- can't remember the name-- small, side street, went back to the 20s; I saw a photo somewhere of hot nude men hanging around in this huge bathhouse in St. Petersburg, Russia, in the late 1800s, and it looked like everyone was fairly chummy-- I got the distinct impression they had it goin' on there.

Don't take this as gospel, it's just buzz I've heard on the spot here and there. Write on,

T. Forte
tforte2000@hotmail.com

On-line reader

Your on-line service is just great. I used to buy your magazine, but now I can read every thing on the web. Thanks!

Clive
via the Internet

Sorry to lose a paying customer, but happy you're reading on-line!

USA gay life "full of party"

Gay life in Indonesia is not like in USA or Thailand. Most in Muslim country gay life are offends, but thank God, my country not like Afghanistan or Iran.

But I have bad experience. I got fired from my job because my boss and some staff in my office at 1997 already knew that I am gay guy from my love letter and some gay porn picture. I really sad about that but I can't did anything.

I have a very good couple penpals from Australia. I knew his address from my friend's chain letter. After that I sent him a letter and he's very welcome guy. He became my very good penpal, and one day he sent me your blank personal ad. I sent my personal to you, and wonderful, my personal ad appeared on The Guide!

I know gay life style in USA are more attractive and very colorful and I think full of party, is that right? What I like in The Guide? Cover, party pictures, Matt Mathrani, Mitzel, sex stories. But too many personal ad from Ghana. Sorry, I said too much nothing.

an Indonesian reader
adithya@woodstock.com

Fuck war!

How many hours have passed for it to have occurred a billion times that one Rectumite Male (Straight Man) has threatened to sodomize another Rectumite Male in his expletive or anger-carrying speech?

Examples are: Fuck you. I'm gonna fuck your ass. I'm gonna get your ass. Up yours. Sit on it. I'm gonna ride your ass. I'm gonna ride your tail. Screw you. Also: You can buy my ass. Get off my back. You're fuckin with me. I got screwed.

These are not just threats to sodomize, but to hurt or even kill. (For a Rectumite, to be sodomized is to be murdered, that is: turned into a woman.) Since the pudding is in the proof (I see it this way), it can be surmised that perhaps the first act of murder in this world was an act of sodomy; as in: Two males were sodomizing. One died in the act. The other one concluded that the act itself was an act of murder.

How many millions of Rectumites in this world have been murdered by other Rectumites since first act of murder? Can one conclude from the overwhelming evidence that, since they can't fuck each other, they have to kill each other? Or that: Where there is taboo, there is a murderer?

Leland Mellott
Mount Vernon, Washington
mellott@fidalgo.com

Your vocabulary and logic are novel, but it's probably a valid point that much male/male violence is displaced sexual attraction, another reason it makes sense for those with a well-developed gay sensibility to run the world; why kill beautiful soldier boys when you could lick and fuck them instead?

Clone The Guide!

Your magazine is one of best, especially because your editorials and articles bring awareness of-- and speak out against-- the injustices, the ridiculousness, and the neurotic stupidity of prudes who meddle into the private lives of citizens here and abroad.

Unfortunately, there are not enough other editors who are as courageous and outspoken as you. If there were, perhaps more people would feel inspired and encouraged to actively oppose those unconscionable acts of social and governmental suppression and harassment which occur all too often, even in supposedly "free" and democratic countries.

R.W.
roywagner@home.com

Guide seems 'seedy'

The Guide lacks balance and seems seedy. It focuses too much on promiscuity. Casual seductive pics, sex-tourism, and articles as where to find strippers-- far more prominent than romantic pics or articles on healthier lifestyles.

Quality pursuits including monogamy are becoming "politically incorrect"-- portrayed as tired and boring. Sex is like sugar-- tasty, empty calories. The only healthy diet of sex is as part of a nutritious meal called love. Treating each other as sex-objects undermines one's depth of character.

The Guide caters to genetic male sexual predisposition to hunt, objectify and obsess-- rather than helping us evolve more balanced goals. Men and women are different both physically and mentally: men have measurably higher hunting, task-oriented intensity and visualization skills-- women have measurably higher nurturing, endurance and communication skills. Gays seem to carry on the childish "hunt and score" action with sexplay without appreciating the benefits of nurture/communicate which women do so well.

I imagine lesbians more often prefer a romantic candle-light dinner or one-on-one camping trip than strip-tease bars and Internet porn. These stereotypes are not meant to hold anyone back, but to sensitize The Guide to a need for more balanced content.

Joel Hazlett
phosfyre@hotmail.com

Thanks for the feedback-- glad you're reading The Guide. We are interested in a more balanced presentation-- that's why we're trying to counter the viewpoint, ubiquitous in virtually all the straight and much of the gay press, that sex is inherently freighted with cataclysmic dangers that need to be tightly reined in with social prohibitions and laws. Instead of arbitrary rules about the gender or age or race or marital status or number of our sexual partners, sex can be viewed as part of life that can be handled by the sensible concerns and standards we value in other human interactions: honesty, compassion, and love.

Shocked!

I am totally shocked at the filth that you have e-mailed to me... but shall look forward to having a wank when the next issue arrives in the post!

John
scotsgay@drink.demon.co.uk

Appreciates histories

Love the Sex Histories. Got it off twice. Thanks.

S.W.
sauli@rcn.com

As happy as a pig...

To eat shit from the ass of a man or woman, young or old, is the most beautiful thing in the world!

solforico@libero.it

Trust you enjoyed Exploring Coprophilia: A Lot to Digest.

Wants to complete collection

I own several of Boyd McDonald's books. However, there are some I have never seen on the shelves of any bookstore. Are you aware of any place, any bookstore or web site, that might have all or most of his books?

R. R.
via the Internet

Several of Boyd's earliest books are out of print. Gay Sunshine Press (www.gaysunshine.com) put out a number of volumes before Fidelity Publishing (parent of The Guide) took over and published the three final volumes Boyd McDonald compiled. Various other publishers, which are no longer around, did the earliest volumes. You've probably tried Amazon and BN.com. You might try www.bookfinder.com and other used book sites. Various gay archive sites-- the Cornell University Human Sexuality Collection, the Canadian Gay and Lesbian Archives in Toronto, Homodok in Amsterdam-- might help you get the complete list of titles, and they may also have copies of the rare "Manhattan Review of Unnatural Acts" that preceded the books.

Loves Boyd

"Sex Histories" is the best segment of the whole magazine! It's written in a unique style like a friend relating to you what happened to them. Is there a book with a collection of his "histories"?

Tell the writer how much his efforts are enjoyed and why can't we know who he is?

arnieinfla@aol.com

All of [editor] Boyd McDonald's sources are published anonymously. But all are real reports from real men-- we've seen the letters ourselves. Boyd McDonald died in 1993, but he had created a large body of work from which we're still culling for the magazine.

Montreal strippers 'fine'

Just wanted to say that your magazine is the best. I am from Montreal and I must say that the strippers are hot and fine. I know most of them and they can put on a show.

Stevie
Montreal, Quebec