James Bidgood revolutionized gay male erotic imagery by taking the pulp and glamour aesthetic of the 40s and 50s and applying it to male erotic fantasies, like no one before. From a NYC tenement in the 60s, he created photographs, like the one above using vibrant colors and exaggerated props and costumes to celebrate homosexuality. His works were first published in underground magazines, and he was also the “Anonymous” maker of the film Pink Narcissus (1971), an explosion of colorful eroticism that stands the test of time. The 82 year-old gay icon lives in New York City and is still working. This fantastic text was just posted on his Facebook timeline:
“I was a woman three shows and approximately nine hours a night when Christine Jorgensen first hit the news. I was at the time a female impersonator working at The Club 82. I and I think most of the rest of the cast pondered if perhaps we might follow Miss Jorgensen’s example. I really enjoyed wearing lavish costumes and seeming way movie star glamorous… maybe even beautiful and singing with a band and audiences applauding and real girls waiting on line for a table with their hot guinea goofer boyfriends glaring at us with envy as we rushed past them on the way to make an entrance. I loved wearing high heels. I found them empowering like cowboy boots although I doubt at the time I knew what the word empowering even meant.
But being a girl was and is really a chore. Between getting out of bed in the morning to stepping out the front door…women have so many parts to pull in lift up glue on hook up and paint over that its really amazing they ever get out of the house on time if at all. A man only has to ‘shit, shower and shave’ as the old saying goes…and well, hopefully, brush his teeth.
Women are really getting screwed all the time and not by their hubby. It costs way more to keep up appearances not to mention all that embarrassing messiness once a month and those don’t throw it in the toilet bowl signs to further ones humiliation. Imagine how many toilets would be constantly over flowing if men were asked to be so considerate. And if that were not injustice enough…they only get paid 80 or 85 % of what men earn even though products for women generally cost twice as much and more than those for men.
Well, getting back to why I started writing this… I also liked and I still do like having a penis…. minimal as it might have been and even though there is less to boast about these days. I’d always heard the elderly become like children. So far, I’ve seen no indication of that occurring other than with regard to my privates. Every time I touch myself I suffer feelings of guilt for being a pedophile! I loved working in drag but what I really loved was working on stage and getting made up and dressed up and orchestras and overtures and curtains opening and the patrons clapping their hands to greet you. I loved being an entertainer and being in the show biz.
So why Bruce, or anyone, would want the change is more than I can fathom. He is already in show business. But I believe in the science, whether I exactly understand the desire or not. I was always too poor and too lazy to be a female. If however, there had been an operation at the time to make one more of a man… my ears might have pricked up! Even in my photography I consider more to be better than less.
Although, I really liked wearing those shoes!”
You can see more of Bidgood’s work at his New York gallery, Clamp Art, here…. and watch a clip from Pink Narcissus, not exactly “safe for work” depending on where you work.
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