"Be Masculine" Explores What Defines Gay Male Masculinity (NSFW)
Photos by Erik Carter
It's the 21st century and a lot has changed in terms of understanding gender roles in today's society. Specifically, many are still learning such roles in the LGBTQ community, and it's beautiful to see more people accepting others for who they are as individuals. With this, New York photography Erik Carter has a project in the works titled, "Be Masculine", which explores what defines gay male masculinity. Through portraits and interviews, he's seeking to push boundaries to start a larger conversation about what masculinity means today.
In an exclusive interview with the Huffington Post, Carter elaborates on the current and future ambition for the project as a whole. And all in all, he wants to reveal that masculinity is not as simple as it's standard definition, and can actually be defined differently from individual perspectives.
The photos below are the first set of the ongoing project, and consists of men who live in New York City who identify as gay. Each intimate portrait shows diversity, and definitely broadens the narrow view of what many consider to be "masculine". Take a look and let us know what you think, also find more on Carter's Tumblr and Instagram.
[Via HuffingtonPost]
Intimate Photos That Challenge Sexual Identity
Photos by Chloe Aftel
In light of marriage equality, gender identity is new topic to many people, and an evolving culture refusing to define themselves as strictly male or female. In a shoot commissioned by San Francisco Magazine, photographer Chloe Aftel began an ongoing series titled, "Agender". The series is a set of intimate photos that challenge sexual identity, and beautifully sheds light on the complexities of the genderqueer and neutrois communities.
The theme for this photo series was sparked by a tragic act of violence, after Sasha Fleischman, an 18-year-old San Franciscan who identifies as agender, was brutally set on fire by a fellow student while sleeping on a bus in November of 2013. The cruel and unfortunate incident prompted a small, but nationwide discussion in mainstream media regarding gender binaries and transgender identities. Thus leading Aftel to Fleischman's home to photograph the new icon of America's genderqueer youth.
In hopes to raise awareness of this diverse and often-overlooked community, San Francisco magazine published Aftel's photos, and the portraits are beautifully intriguing. Some of Aftel's subjects identify themselves as gender-fluid (with a fluctuating gender identity), some as gender-queer (a more general term for any gender identity other than male or female), some as agender (those who do not identify with any gender), and some as transgender (self-identification as woman, man, neither or both).
Check out the following photos, including one of Sasha, and find more of Chloe Aftel's work here.
[Via PolicyMic]
Photos of Romanticized Same-Sex Love Around the World by Braden Summers
Photos by Braden Summers
In the aftermath of Valentine's day, think of the majority of major advertisements you've seen about love... We see the same portrayals of romance solely of a man and woman. Whether it's in that loving gaze, at dinner, dancing in the rain, kissing gently or anything else that embraces that old fairy tale type love, it's rare to see any representation of romanticized same-sex love.
It is all too often that the LGBTQ community is misrepresented romantically in mainstream media, and more often portrayed in overly sexualized images. If not that, in foreign countries any gay, lesbian, transgender, or queer of any kind is hardly presented at all. With this in mind, New York-based photographer Braden Summers was inspired to create a series titled, All Love Is Equal, to illustrate his vision of a same-sex fairy tale love. What started with a fund through a Kickstarter campaign, Summers sought out subjects in Paris before traveling to England, India, Lebanon, South Africa, Brazil and the U.S. that shatters any misconceptions and stereotypes.
The project proved a success as the following images, through six different countries, prove that no matter where you are, love is equal. Check out more of his work here.
[Via Policy Mic]
