Wild Card - Cool Stuff To Buy: Cruising
Playguy, June 2001
A decade ago, in the heady days of activist
groups such as ACT UP and Queer Nation, securing the protection of gay
peoples sexual freedoms was seen as the basis for securing other gay
rights. But the last decade has seen the diverison of the mainstream
gay movement toward normalizing gay people (the campaigns to allow
gays to serve openly in the military and for the recognition of gay marriage).
As a result, the struggle to secure basic
sexual freedom (like the repeal of sodomy laws and the protection of
gay sexual meeting places) has flagged markedly. In the rage for normalizaion
thats swept certain segments of the gay community, its not unusual
for gay groups in towns and campuses across North America to work hand
in glove with vice cops to flush the fairies from local rest rooms and
parks.
What a shift from the spirit of sexual freedom
that infused the original gay liberation movement!
Guys who believe in exercising our right to
consort sexually with other guys will welcome the appearance of Cruising,
a zine thats the creation of Michael V. Smith of Vancouver, Canada.
Not that this is a political tract (although its appearance now is a
political act). Michael is an observant student of life and lust and
an offbeat smutmeister. In the second issue of his zine, the Park issue,
Michael brings together pieces that celebrate this turf thats served
as the meeting ground for guys like us for generations.
In the hot, funny and useful opening section,
Michael annotates classic porn photos while he gives good advice on precautions
you can take to protect yourself, your money and your body parts before
you take that walk in the woods.
Billeh Nickerson furnishes a steamy visual
poem. In Brians pagelong piece, a string of addictions inflect the
writers disposition to cruising. Lunch recounts a wild night with a
Gay Pride pickup. A photo story culminates with Miss Cookie playing a
very fulfilled human bridge between two burly hunks in the wild.
You can cut out paper guys and dolls and dress
them up for a night of cruising. But the hottest piece in the mag is
by Michael himself. His fevered account of a threepart fuck that starts
in the park and ends in his bedroom gets the Playguy award for the hottest
prose weve read this month.
(Next issue: Bathrooms. Ooh! We gotta go!)
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