A Golden Age of Bears?: Archived origins and development of the gay/bi/queer men's 'Bear' phenomenon

Gay/bisexual/queer (GBQ) men who are fatter, hairier, older, and more masculine than popular imaginings of GBQ men are often characterised as Bears. From US origins in the early 1980s, as of the mid-2020s Bear identities, spaces, communities, and media exist globally. But Bear as a phenomenon remains under-researched and ignored in queer and wider sexualities scholarship.

Furthermore Bear has been challenged by rising tensions relating to bodies, racism, and gender; and by recent critical scholarship disputing Bear as an identity. Central to these challenges are questions of what Bear was, is, and should be.

This project will enhance understanding of these challenges by investigating the development of Bear during its supposed 'Golden Age' (1980s to early 2000s). The funded project comprises primary research at an unexplored, at-risk archive of Bear historical materials held at Cornell University (USA), in collaboration with the archive's inceptor and a community oral history project.