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Perhaps as a result, the leather community that emerged from the motorcycle clubs also became the practical and symbolic location for gay men’s open exploration of kink and S&M. To that end, gay motorcycle culture also reflected some men’s disaffection with the coexistent gay cultures more organized around high culture, popular culture (especially musical theater), and/or camp style. The 1953 film The Wild One, starring Marlon Brando wearing jeans, a T-shirt, a leather jacket, and Muir cap, played on pop-cultural fascination with the Hollister “riot” and promoted an image of masculine independence that resonated with some gay men who were dissatisfied with a culture that stereotyped gay men as effeminate. These gay clubs, like the clubs of straight motorcycle culture in general, reflected a disaffection with the mainstream culture of post-World War II America, a disaffection whose notoriety - and therefore appeal - expanded after the sensationalized news coverage of the Hollister “riot” of 1947. The article inspired many gay leathermen to move there. The article opened with a two-page spread of the mural of life-size leathermen in the Tool Box which had been painted by Chuck Arnett in 1962, and described San Francisco as “The Gay Capital of America”.
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The June 1964 Paul Welch Life magazine article “Homosexuality In America” was the first time a national American publication reported on gay issues Life ‘s photographer was referred to the gay male leather bar called the Tool Box for the article by gay activist Hal Call, who had long worked to dispel the myth that all gay men were effeminate. The first gay leather bar, the Gold Coast bar, opened in Chicago in 1958 it was founded by Chuck Renslow and his romantic partner Dom Orejudos. Leather Clubs for gay men started in Amsterdam and Berlin in the 1950s, and in Sydney from 1970. Early San Francisco clubs included the Warlocks and the California Motor Club, while early clubs in Sydney included the South Pacific Motor Club (SPMC). Early gay leather bars were subcultural versions of the motorcycle club with pioneering gay motorcycle clubs including the Satyrs, established in Los Angeles in 1954 Oedipus, also established in Los Angeles in 1958, and the New York Motorbike Club. Gay male leather culture has existed since the late 1940s, when it likely grew out of post-WWII biker culture. But some do not associate their leather lifestyle with BDSM, and simply enjoy the sensory experience of leather. Many people associate leather culture with BDSM practices. Male enthusiasts are often called “leathermen”, and female enthusiasts are often called “leatherwomen” all are often called “leatherfolk” and “members of the leather community”. Leather culture is most visible in gay communities and most often associated with gay men, but it is also reflected in various ways in the lesbian, bisexual, and straight worlds. Wearing leather garments is one way that participants in this culture self-consciously distinguish themselves from mainstream sexual cultures. Leather culture is practices and styles of dress organized around sexual activities that involve leather garments, such as leather jackets, vests, boots, chaps, harnesses, or other items.