Ivy League Posture Photos - Part 66

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

This is Yale freshman H. K. on October 7, 1953.

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

This is Yale freshman Edwin L. Johnson on October 7, 1953.

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

This is Yale freshman G. J. on October 8, 1953.

Supposedly, by examining the angles formed by connecting the points where the pins touched the body, certain posture problems could be detected.  If posture problems were detected, the student had to attend remedial posture sessions, and a second posture photo was taken.

This is Yale freshman Peter W. Johnson on November 11, 1953.

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

This is Yale freshman Edwin Snell Weaver on March 5, 1951.

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

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 39

Arthur Harris

Arthur (Art) Harris (1933-2003) was a bodybuilder in the 1950s.  He won the Mr. National Capital contest in 1955.

People today are surprised that, despite his physique, he only scored 8th in the 1959 AAU Mr. America contest.  It's because racial discrimination was rampant.  The first black man to win the contest was Chris Dickerson in 1970.  This photo is by Al Urban, who appreciated Harris' physique.

A back view by Al Urban.

I got the next two photos from Vintage Muscle Men.  Thanks, Jerry!  They are also by Al Urban.  Here Harris holds a staff.

We close with him brandishing a sword.

Events - Part 87

Twister at Folsom Street Fair 2011

Each September, the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco caters to the gay leather/BDSM crowd.  Many of the fair-goers are naked.

The Steamworks gym and bathhouse hosts a public outdoor game of Twister at Folsom.  Above, some of the Steamworks employees wearing jockstraps in 2011, ready for a game.

Other fair-goers are also ready to play Twister, like this guy giving a "Folsom handshake" to his naked friend.

For those not familiar with it, Twister is a game played on a large mat of colored circles.  After spinning the wheel, the announcer calls out the next move, which will be to put a hand or foot on a particular color, e.g. "left hand on green."

After a while, the players get tangled together, which is the point of the game.

At Folsom, where the players aren't wearing much, it can result in some interesting encounters, like this one ...

and this one ...

and some guys take advantage of that.

I don't think the announcer said "left hand on dick."

But after a while, some players pay less attention to the game and more attention to each other.

Ads - Part 85

 Suistudio

Suistudio is a Dutch brand of custom-tailored clothing for women.  They had come under fire for a marketing campaign featuring nearly-nude women, so in 2017 they turned things around with a series of ads featuring nude men, called their "Not Dressing Men" campaign.

They showed male rear nudity in the ads, but concealed frontal nudity.

Note that the female model is wearing a different outfit in each photo, because that's what they're selling, though our eyes may be elsewhere.

A different female model with, I think, the same male model.

She seems to be wearing the same outfit in this photo and the previous one.

Now she is wearing a white blouse and different pants.  He continues to be free.

Hiking - Part 87

 Old River Valley, Denmark

Carsten Fischer, who lives in northern Denmark, took this hike that he identified only as "old river valley", presumably near where he lives.  Above, stripping before the hike.

He stripped down to just shoes and socks.  I think that's the old river in the background.

Setting out into the river valley.

A boardwalk somewhere along the route.

A shadow of Carsten.

This was from a different hike, but I had to include it.  Carsten getting close to nature.

Back to the old river valley hike.  Something to sit on.

That feels good.

And a shower feels good after the hike is over.

Weighing In - Part 87

Shootboxing Weigh-In

The video above shows an unashamed black fighter weighing in.  Oddly, he strips off his shorts but leaves on his socks.  None of the websites carrying this video listed the fighter's name, or even mentioned the date or place of the fight.

However, the sponsors' names in the background tell us something.  Que Sera Japon has been a corporate sponsor of shootboxing events in Japan.  Shootboxing is a combat sport combining kickboxing and wrestling.  Que Sera Japon sponsored events in 2015 and 2016 in Tokyo, which may have been when and where this weigh-in happened.

Poem of the Day - Part 87

 It's Raining, It's Pouring

Another classic nursery rhyme.

It's raining, it's pouring,

The old man is snoring.

He went to bed and bumped his head

And couldn't get up in the morning.