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A while back, I was asking for ideas on topics for blog posts. A regular reader suggested, “why don’t you write about your first experiences in boots and leather?”<\/p>\nA while back, I was asking for ideas on topics for blog posts. A regular reader suggested, “why don’t you write about your first experiences in boots and leather?”<\/p>\n
Well, here goes…
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\n… First — the boots. I really have no “first experiences” other than I always wore boots instead of shoes since I was a tyke. Growing up half-years on an Oklahoma horse ranch led to that. I just wore boots. That’s it. <\/p>\n
Back home the other half-year in Maryland where kids of those days wore dorky little leather shoes and then by the time I was in junior high school, wore sneakers — most of my peers laughed and poked fun at me as a “misplaced cowboy.” They made other taunts as well. I have forgotten what they said. But kids were kids and often cruel. My family just surrounded me with love for their quirky “little bother.” (spelling is intentional — and a family joke.)<\/p>\n
As this is purely a G-rated plain vanilla blog, my musings about “first-experiences with leather” may not be what some people may expect from a gay guy who emerged tentatively on the leather scene during the height of the 1980s AIDS crisis.<\/p>\n
I also liked how I looked. I found other men so attired attractive, too. In fact, that’s how I met the man who is my heart and lifemate, my spousely soulmate. But that’s another story for another time.<\/p>\n Wearing “full leather” made me feel more secure, more confident, and more masculine. Growing up as the awkward little kid with Mr. Graceful and athletic-scholarship-earning jock twin brother had something to do with that. Wearing leather (which began in my mid-20s, not earlier), increased my self-perception of confidence and made me feel more secure. Or shall I say, “less insecure.”<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/BHD1984-01-300x233.jpg?resize=300%2C233\")
Back then, I was already an avid motorcycle rider. A leather jacket, tall boots, and chaps were de rigueur<\/em>. Then I found lighter weight jackets that fit like a shirt. I loved the feeling of leather — all leather — on my body. <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/BHDR11-114x300.jpg?resize=114%2C300\")
Face it, most if not all gay men felt insecure as they came to full realization of their sexual orientation whilst living in a world that was, at the time, oppressive if not downright hostile toward “gay anything.” The popularity of the Village People<\/em> at the time and their campy routines on TV and stage was also hard to live with when other guys would ask me, “so are you like “them?” Are you gay?”<\/p>\n
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By the time I was in my mid-30s, I was more secure and confident as a man. I was fully “out” to my family. I had met my man and was in a secure and committed relationship. And I wore leather often and regularly. Just because.<\/p>\n