DARKROOM DYNAMICS: A Guide to Creative Darkroom Techniques

JOCKSTRAPS + CPAPS (ELDER CARE)

image: generative ai +ee Glitché app

One interesting thing about backrooms in bars–something that might be surprising to some folks–is that there are typically a few pretty old guys there. Like, not Daddys but really old guys. I’m bad at guessing ages but definitely over 60 and probably by a good chunk of years. The kind of old where I sometimes think, “I hope they don’t fall over and hurt themselves.”

Some of them are older couples that come together and stay out of the way and watch; others are dressed up in gear and dance or mingle. Sometimes they are pushy or “hands-y” but mostly not. They come for the same community that attracts us all and I like that there is a level of respect and interaction they get in these spaces. I like that the younger guys dance with them and I like that the elders even get fucked sometimes if that is what they are looking for. 

It’s maybe helpful to contextualize this in LGBTQIA+ history and remember that they are guys who lived through the height of the AIDS crisis. They probably saw nearly all their friends die, they lived in fear of dying themselves, and there are not too many elders left. So, I love that they are loved to a degree in these spaces and I love that they come to them. I try to say hello and make sure they feel seen. I am not always interested in their advances because engagement of any sort can be interpreted as consent in these spaces but I make sure they feel welcome.

I am not the most informed person on this topic so it is probably better to seek out better sources if this is something you are interested in learning more about. I will add a few links below to related articles/resources that I found helpful and maybe you will as well.

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Sappho, spelled (in the dialect spoken by the poet) Psappho, (born c. 610, Lesbos, Greece — died c. 570 BCE). A lyric poet greatly admired in all ages for the beauty of her writing style.

Her language contains elements from Aeolic vernacular and poetic tradition, with traces of epic vocabulary familiar to readers of Homer. She has the ability to judge critically her own ecstasies and grief, and her emotions lose nothing of their force by being recollected in tranquillity.

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