Performers - Part 93

Sting

Sting is the alias of English musician Gordon Sumner, born in 1951.  He was the lead singer for the rock band the Police.  He never performed naked, but there are a few nude photos of him on the beach or by a pool, presumably taken by paparazzi.

He also posed for some photographers.  The shot above was taken by Michel Comte in 1994.  Sting looks like he might be nude, but you can't tell.

But there's no doubt in a set of photos taken in the California desert in 1985 by Annie Leibovitz, including the shot above ... 

and this rear view that will end our post today.

Photographers - Part 93

 Guglielmo Plüschow

Guglielmo Plüschow (1852-1930) was a German photographer who moved to Italy in 1870 and changed his name from Wilhelm to Guglielmo.  He became known for his nude photos of local youths.

Vincenzo Galdi, 1890.  Plüschow was gay.  Galdi was a favorite model and seems to have been Plüschow's lover.  Galdi later became a photographer in his own right.

Male Nude Seated on Leopard Skin, 1890s.

A Sicilian Boy Posing Naked Outdoors, c. 1900.  This might be Galdi.  Although he's called a Sicilian boy, and Galdi was from Naples, at one time all of southern Italy, including Naples, was part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Curly-Haired Boy From Behind Playing a Fife, 1900s.  This looks like the same model as the previous photo.

An Old Man and a Youth, 1900-1907.

An undated photo called A Sicilian Boy, Posing Naked Outdoors by a Doorway, Taormina, Sicily.

Naked Man Before a Black Brocade Cloth, 1900-1907.

We end with Naked Algerian Boy Leaning on a Black Cloth, 1904-1907.  Plüschow and Galdi traveled to Algeria in 1904, where they lived and worked for three years.  In 1907 the parents of some of Plüschow's young models complained to authorities that he had had anal sex with their sons.  Plüschow was convicted and imprisoned for three years.  When he was released, Plüschow left Algeria and moved to Berlin.

Note that this youth was circumcised, as most Muslims are, whereas the Italians were uncircumcised.

Calendars - Part 94

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Protests - Part 93

Aston Villa Streaker

A streaker ran across the field at the football (soccer) match between the Aston Villa and Manchester City teams in England on Feb. 12, 2012.  Normally, streaking is just exhibitionism, but this streaker was also a protester.

Aston Villa Football Club is a team based in Aston, which is a part of Birmingham, England.  Alex McLeish had been manager of the rival Birmingham City team.  Then he quit and was appointed manager of the Aston Villa team.  Loyal Aston fans protested, including this streaker.  Written across his chest is "McLeish Out" (it's faint and hard to see).

The streaker was Sam Gorman, 23.  Here's a rear view of him kicking up his heels.  He definitely wanted to be noticed.

He even did a handstand on the field.

Then he was caught ...

and taken off the field.

Aston Villa lost the game.  That year, under manager Alex McLeish, they had their worst season ever.  At the end of the season, McLeish was fired.  So the streaker did eventually get what he wanted.

Ivy League Posture Photos - Part 72

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 eight more Yale students that I had the opportunity to acquire.

Yale freshman Cuyler R. McGinley II on Oct. 7, 1953.

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

Yale freshman Burton Foote Hatheway on Oct. 8, 1948.

Photos taken before the fall of 1952 show only a side view.

Yale freshman Charles Franklin Schnedl, Jr. on Oct. 7, 1948.

Note the strange pins stuck to each student's back and chest.  The pins were stuck on at specific points for later posture analysis.

Yale freshman Frederick Carl Wuest on Oct. 8, 1948.

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

Yale freshman H.H. on Oct. 7, 1948.

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

Yale freshman John Cornelius Harrington, Jr. on Oct. 7, 1948.

Freshmen were told to report to Yale's Payne Whitney Gymnasium, and once there, they were told to strip.  The photography and analysis of the photos was conducted by the staff of the gymnasium.

Yale freshman Morton William Wivchar on Oct. 13, 1948.

Nobody outside the gymnasium staff saw the photos.  The photos were not published for other students to see.

Yale freshman Theodore Edmundson Brown Wood on Oct. 7, 1948.

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.

*          *          *

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.

Ads - Part 91

Webcargo

This amusing commercial for Webcargo, a company that handled confidential file transmission, was created by Montreal ad agency BleuBlancRouge and shown on Canadian TV in 2007.  It features another part of the anatomy substituting for the face, claiming that the company can save your ass.

Weighing In - Part 93

Carl Frampton

Carl Frampton, born in 1987, is a boxer from Northern Ireland who competed from 2009 to 2021.  Above, we see him weighing in naked on Aug. 17, 2018, the day before his fight with Australian boxer Luke Jackson, defending his interim WBO featherweight title.  The guys holding up the modesty cloth held it a bit too high, giving photographers an unobstructed view, although Frampton covered himself with his hands.

Here's a view captured by another photographer.

Although we didn't get a full frontal view, Frampton released a video that included this rear view of him weighing himself before the match.  He was one pound over the limit, and he had to work it off before the official weighing.

Frampton won this match.  His career record is 28 wins and 3 losses.