Some men who are attracted to other men, are also attracted to women. For others, these feelings don't start until later in life. There are confidential services you can contact if you feel concerned, such as Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800.įor some men, feelings that they are attracted to people of the same sex emerge when they are quite young and continue into adulthood. Take your time to explore your sexuality and what being gay might mean to you.If you think you might be gay, it’s important that you: There is no test or questionnaire you can complete that will answer this question for you. Although there is no right or wrong answer to the question, a possible reason suggested by researchers is that we are born with our sexual orientation. There is no real explanation as to why some men are gay and others are not. There are gay men in every culture and every country.This can often cause feelings of isolation for young men who are gay and make them scared to show their sexuality. There is a lot of pressure from society for young men to be heterosexual or ‘straight’. Men who go on to describe themselves as ‘same-sex attracted’ or ‘gay’ have a strong physical and emotional attraction to men that they don’t usually feel for women. This is often a normal part of exploring their sexuality. Note: “McInturff, Steve Book, Delaware O.About gay male sexualityMany men report that they had experiences with people of the same sex when they were young. Photo strip, undated, 35 x 27 mm, provenance: US, (image courtesy of the Nini-Treadwell Collection © “Loving” by 5 Continents Editions) Photograph, 1951, 121 x 83 mm, note: “1951” “Davis & J.C.” (image courtesy of the Nini-Treadwell Collection © “Loving” by 5 Continents Editions) Photograph, Undated, 96 x 67 mm (image courtesy of the Nini-Treadwell Collection © “Loving” by 5 Continents Editions) Cabinet card, circa 1880, 167 x 109 mm, provenance: US, The book, Loving: A Photographic History of Men in Love 1850s-1950s (5 Continents Editions), is available online. When we see them as connected, we feel more whole, and that’s what love is about for many of us anyway. Seeing ourselves in the past is as much about being certain of our present and, dare I say, our future. What do images of men in love during a time when it was illegal tell us? What are we looking for in the faces of these people who dared to challenge the mores of their time to seek solace together? Flipping through the book, it wasn’t that I felt that I learned a great deal about being LGBTQ, but what gave me comfort was the feeling that we’re not going anywhere. While the majority of the images hail from the United States and are of predominantly white men, there are images from Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, France, Germany, Japan, Latvia, and the United Kingdom among the cache. The collection belongs to Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell, a married couple who has accumulated over 2,800 photographs of “men in love” during the course of two decades. In Loving: A Photographic History of Men in Love 1850s–1950s, hundreds of images tell the story of love and affection between men, with some clearly in love and others hinting at more than just friendship. Hunter” (image courtesy of the Nini-Treadwell Collection © “Loving” by 5 Continents Editions)Ī beautiful group of photographs that spans a century (1850–1950) is part of a new book that offers a visual glimpse of what life may have been like for those men, who went against the law to find love in one another’s arms. Postcard, circa 1910, 90 x 141 mm, note on front: “E.