It’s our history | 1994 | Tom ain’t just S&M

Untitled, 1985, Graphite on paper, © Tom of Finland Foundation

A longtime fan presents his view of a kinder, gentler Tom of Finland

Untitled (From the Athletic Model Guild “Men of the Forests of Finland” series), 1957, Graphite on paper, © Tom of Finland Foundation

There was a new song by the Fabulous Twilights that I just had to have, so I had gotten on my bike and peddled the two miles to the record store. It was the summer of 1962, very hot and humid and I was a mere thirteen years of age. On my return home I caught a glimpse of several magazines thrown by the roadside. I braked and noticed nudity as I dismounted. Shaking, I picked up a torn, dirty copy of Physique Pictorial dated Spring 1957. I held in my trembling hands my first Tom of Finland work (left). I fanned the pages and saw men in posing straps. I quickly closed the book. My heart was in my throat and my penis trying in vain to get out of my pants. I knew I must have been blushing as I scraped up all the issues and put them in my bag. I kept the magazines in the woods behind my house, buried in a small metal chest I got at the five & dime.

My first impression of Tom’s work was the boyish, muscular and lifelike images he portrayed. As a teenage boy, I knew nothing of sado/masochism — I knew nothing of homosexuality — all I knew was that these big beautiful men were everything I wanted, and wanted to be.

So my adolescence began with Tom of Finland, his Boy Logger embedded in my memory. I can’t thank Tom for my homosexuality, but I can thank him for letting me know that there were others out there just like me and they weren’t just boys. Since I became involved with the Tom of Finland Foundation, many of my friends have reacted to my enthusiasm for Tom’s art with comments such as: “I’m not into S&M”, “That’s too weird for me”, and worst of all, “No pain and degradation for me, thank you!”

As I grew up, learning more about myself and the wonderful drawings of Tom, I found that, for me, he always depicted the male form in the truest sense of masculinity. Like Tom, the men I was first attracted to were in uniform because everyone, even the milkman, wore a uniform in the ’40s and ’50s. Leather boots were what men wore every day, especially in rural America. By the time I was an adult, my reaction to leather was that it was strictly a masculine material. Women wore furs; men wore leather.

Due to the proliferation of the sort of images found in The Wild One and Rebel Without A Cause, leather has acquired a bad name in the eyes of the general public. No longer just basic protection, leather today equates to mean, tough, motorcycled men – hence sado/masochism.

Tom in his earlier work was clearly more interested in creating masculine images than in portraying sex. The fashions change, the dicks grow larger, but the men in Tom’s drawings stay happy, proud and very friendly.

A closer look at the two men at the right: Note the expressions on their faces and the warmth of their touch. This is in no way masochistic or sadistic. Of course, we do have the proverbial leather and boots, but as mentioned earlier, those are Tom’s symbol of manhood, not of cruelty.

Tom has drawn his share of work that fits this genre (for instance the newly re-issued “Kake and the Sadists”). I don’t mean to deny that. However, throughout his career, Tom’s art has encompassed so much more than S&M imagery, and that is what so few people seem to be aware of.

So when friends try to give you the story that they cannot appreciate Tom’s work because they are not into S&M, you can set them straight by showing them a more accurate portrait of Tom’s warm, friendly and always happy gay male. Thank God for Tom’s obsession with men!

Published: 27th January 2022

Categorised in: History