Welcome
Welcome to The Unashamed Male, featuring men not ashamed to be naked. Regular posts will start on January 1, with a few bonus posts before then, but here's a sneak preview of coming attractions:
We'll show athletes from the era when photographers were welcome in locker rooms and the athletes didn't feel the need to cover up. This is Hank Greenberg of the Detroit Tigers having a beer to celebrate winning the 1945 World Series. Photo by LIFE magazine photographer Scherschel. There was a gentleman's agreement that frontal nudity photos would not be published, and this never was, but the huge LIFE photo archive of unpublished photos is now available to us.
We'll show soldiers in and out of combat zones who didn't have the luxury of privacy, but they didn't care, because they were just around other guys. This is a rare color photo from World War II depicting U.S soldiers on a Pacific island. This photo by LIFE photographer Frank Scherschel was actually published in LIFE's June 7, 1943 issue. Although male frontal nudity was never published, family magazines like LIFE had no problem with rear nudity. How have we become so prudish?
We'll show works by artists old and new that you may not have encountered. This is Fruits of the Poison Orchard, 2014, by Polish artist Juliusz Lewandowski. This isn't a porn blog, but hey, in art, anything goes.
We'll feature photographers old and new who you may not know. This is I could not see to see, 1994, by John Dugdale, an amazing photographer who produced his best work after going almost totally blind.
If you hated history in school, we're here to make it more interesting. This is a statue of the Roman emperor Caligula. Who knew the evil emperor was such a looker?
And if you think you hate poetry, we might even change your mind about that. Consider this poem:
The Dog
by Ogden Nash
The truth I do not stretch or shove
When I state that the dog is full of love.
I’ve also found, by actual test,
A wet dog is the lovingest.
Plus guys who are unashamed to be naked in public, like these guys at the 2011 World Naked Bike Ride in San Francisco. Apparently, the girls didn't quite understand the meaning of "naked," but the guys sure did.
Plus much more. So stay tuned.