National Condom Month

National Condom Month

February is National Condom Month.  It's a reminder to be prepared.

As a public service, here's a video by Brent Corrigan on how to use a condom ... and he doesn't just tell you, he shows you.

Protests - Part 81

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Ivy League Posture Photos - Part 60

Ivy League Posture Photos

Yale started taking nude photos of incoming freshmen in 1919 as part of a program to detect and correct posture problems.  The Yale photos have erroneously been associated with William Sheldon, a psychologist at Harvard and author of Nazi-like eugenic theories who used Harvard nude posture photos to illustrate his theory of somatypes.  The Yale program predates Sheldon, and, as far as I can tell, the Yale photos were never connected to Sheldon's work.

Here are posture photos of ten more Yale students that I had the opportunity to acquire.

This is Yale freshman John M. Kohler, Jr. on October 16, 1953.

In 1952, Yale installed an apparatus using mirrors to photograph the front, rear, side and top view.

This is Yale freshman Ogden R. Conkey on October 16, 1953.

Note the strange pins stuck to each student's back and chest.

This is Yale freshman P. C. on October 16, 1953.

The pins were stuck on at specific points for later posture analysis.

This is Yale freshman Charles Bailey Davidson on December 11, 1951.

Photos taken before 1952 show only a side view.

This is Yale freshman David Bernath McBrayer on January 13, 1951.

Supposedly, by examining the angles formed by connecting the points where the pins touched the body, certain posture problems could be detected.

This is Yale freshman Edward L. Chainski on February 1, 1951.

If posture problems were detected, the student had to attend remedial posture sessions, and a second posture photo was taken.

This is Yale freshman John Garrett Kolakowski on January 12, 1951.

The photography and analysis of the photos was conducted by the staff of Yale's Payne Whitney Gymnasium.

This is Yale freshman Robert George Kleckner, Jr. on March 5, 1951.

Nobody outside the gymnasium staff saw the photos.

This is Yale freshman Roger Clinton Evans on March 5, 1951.

The photos were not published for other students to see.

This is Yale freshman William Rockefeller McAlpin, Jr. on February 1, 1951.

The posture photo program was discontinued in the 1960s, and later, most of the photos were burned.  However, some of the photos escaped burning, including the photos that I have been showing in this series.

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Note: some of my followers consider these photos an invasion of privacy for the students.  To protect the privacy of the students, I redact the names of students who may still be alive.  I only publish the names of students who have died.  Legally, the right to privacy does not extend beyond death, i.e. it does not extend to spouses and relatives of the deceased person.

I consider these photos to be a historical record of the time.  Almost all of the Ivy League posture photos were burned when their existence became widely known.  In my opinion, that was akin to book-burning of books that someone claimed were obscene.  These photos are not obscene.  They should be celebrated, not hidden away.

Bodybuilders - Part 33b

Deriaz Brothers, part 2

Yesterday we looked at Adrien Deriaz.  Today we look at his six brothers who were all born in Switzerland in the late 1800s and then moved to France to become strongmen and wrestlers.

Maurice Deriaz (1885-1974) was one of the most famous of the brothers.  Above, he does the one-armed "clean and jerk" with a 228 pound weight, setting a new record.  He was also a wrestler, beating 44 opponents in a row to win a Greco-Roman wrestling tournament.

Above, Maurice in a photo by Deruchin.  I got the photo from Vintage Muscle Men (thanks, Jerry).

Maurice was a favorite model for Gustave Courtois, as I reported in an earlier post about that artist, and the strongman and artist may have been lovers.  Above, Maurice was the model for Paradise Lost by Courtois.

The other famous Deriaz brother was the oldest brother, Emile (1879-1939), above.  He could perform a standing broad jump of more than 10 feet.

Emile set a record of 193 pounds in the one hand swing weightlifting event.

Photos of the other brothers are scarce.  Above, Jules Deriaz.  The photo was labeled "Jules Deriaz, leveur de poids" (weightlifter).

Octave Deriaz.  The caption means "champion of light weights."

Above, brothers Ulysse (at left) and Maurice (at right) with Ulysse's son Samson.  I got this from Vintage Muscle Men (thanks, Jerry).

There was a seventh brother, Florian.  I was unable to find any photos or information about him.

We end with some photos that Paul Richer took of Adrien Deriaz (at right) and two of his brothers.  The brothers were not identified, but the one at left looks like Octave, and the one in the center looks like Maurice.

And here is Paul Richer's rear view of the three Deriaz brothers.  Photo from Vintage Muscle Men (thanks, Jerry).

Bodybuilders - Part 33a

Deriaz Brothers, part 1

The Deriaz brothers were a family of seven brothers born in Switzerland in the late 1800s who moved to France and made names for themselves as strongmen and wrestlers.

Adrien Deriaz, seen above on the cover of La Culture Physique magazine, 1906, was not the most famous of the brothers, but he seems to have posed for the most nude photos.

Here he is in a 1905 issue of the same magazine.

Adrien won the Wrestling Championship of France in 1906.  In the one-armed clean and jerk (a weightlifting event) he could lift 223 pounds.

I don't know who took this photo of Adrien in 1899, but the result is very pleasing.

Adrien Deriaz in a photo by Joseph Rosmond, Paris, c. 1915.

The photographer here is identified only as M.F., Paris.

Paul Richer, who took the photos in my series of athletes in the 1900 Olympics, also took several photos of Adrien Deriaz.  This one is called "Adrian Deriaz as the Barberini Faun", with Adrien copying the languid pose of that ancient sculpture.

Richer also took some photos of Adrien, at right above, with his brothers.  The brother at left was not named, but it might be Maurice.

More photos of Maurice and the other Deriaz brothers tomorrow.

Ads - Part 79

Danish Skin Care

This 2002 skin care commercial was put out by Apotekerne Danmark, the Danish Pharmaceutical Association.  Apparently set in a locker room, a good-looking blond guy is applying some kind of cream or lotion to his skin.  He sees a little nerdy guy strip naked – we get to see his butt.  I didn't understand the blond guy's reaction – I thought he was gay – until a reader pointed out that the nerdy guy is apparently very well-endowed (the blond guy looks at him and then looks down at himself).  After this, the narrator tells us that the body's largest organ is the skin, and apparently "largest organ" is a sly reference to the nerdy guy's large organ.  A bit of humor from the maker of the commercial.

Hiking - Part 80

Black Combe, Cumbria, England

Above is A.J. in the hilly Lake District in Cumbria, northwestern England.  He decided to hike naked up to the top of Black Combe, for a distance of 2.6 miles and an elevation gain of 1880 feet.

Starting the hike.

Continuing up the hill.

Climbing up.

Near the top.  A.J.'s photos make the trail look worse than it is.  There is a trail all the way to the top.  The trail is not well marked in places, but it does not require climbing over rocks.

At the trig at the summit.  A trig is a triangulation station that was used for surveying before GPS became available.

The view from the top.  That's the Irish Sea to the west.