Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 2015)
LOVE & SEX ISSUE “He met a bunch of friends online on GROWLr, and body and how I looked.” Part of that confidence, he says, towards a balding, bearded and bespectacled man that a bunch of other people in town that had just moved to came from losing a couple pounds, growing a beard and just walked in the door. “Mr. Oregon Cub, Jason Clow. He Eugene, and there was no place to meet,” says Vince getting tattoos “all over my body.” came down from Portland.” Mays, who stepped in to help coordinate the event after But, he notes, “I’m always going to have a big belly. Clow won the 2014 title from Portland’s Oregon Bear his departure. “They decided they were going to, once a I’m always going to put down a 16-oz ribeye steak like organization, which crowns an annual Mr. Oregon Bear month, have an event.” (GROWLr is the self-proclaimed nobody’s fucking business. That’s who I am.” The bears and Mr. Oregon Cub. Herein lies the nuance: A “cub” is a “Gay Bear Social Network” app, in the same vein as and otters and cubs around him nod in agreement. younger bear, and that’s only the beginning. Grindr and Tinder.) “A bear can look at themselves in the mirror butt naked “Bear is kind of a standard. I’m a bear,” Collins What started as a group of four or five people has and know that they’re sexy,” he continues. explains, leaning back in his barstool and pointing to his blossomed to anywhere from 25 to 75 per Bear Bar A cub to his right, who prefers to only use his nickname boyfriend and friend next to him. “These two over here Takeover, rotating to watering holes like Jameson’s, Cody, adds, “That’s a big part of why I started identifying are ‘otters,’ so they’re small and furry.” Cowfish, Falling Sky Pour House, Good Times as a bear … I had just moved to Eugene. I was so and Oakshire Brewing, and, typically, part of the welcomed with open arms. This is the group I need drink proceeds of each event go to HIV Alliance. ‘I’M KIND OF OF THE BELIEF THAT EVERYBODY to be in.” I ask Mays — a tall, strapping guy with a That openness, they say, extends to sex as well. HAS A KINK, THEY JUST HAVEN’T smartly trimmed ginger beard and handlebar “It seems like a higher percentage of bears are mustache (like a Viking who grooms) — why into fetish and kink, for whatever reason,” Collins FOUND IT YET. BEARS GO OUT AND FIND IT, the event has become so popular, bringing many says, pointing to a prominence of leather and bears out of the woods, so to speak? “Bears bondage. “I’m kind of the belief that everybody has LIKE SWIPING SALMON FROM A RIVER, are typically a little lazier,” he explains. “We a kink, they just haven’t found it yet.” He continues, EXCEPT INSTEAD OF SALMON IT’S COCK.’ don’t stay up until all hours disco-ing.” The bar “Bears go out and find it, like swiping salmon from takeover is in the evening, he adds, and “it’s easy a river, except instead of salmon it’s cock.” — MARSHALL COLLINS, EUGENE BEAR to get to. We try to make it easy.” But more so than hookups or romance, all the Mays, a customer loyalty specialist for bears I ask that night say they come to the bar Symantec, stands next to his partner of 17 years, Brian takeover foremost for the company and conversation. Together they tick off more subcategories: “polar Haimbach, the head of the Lane Community College’s “Personally, I just want to be with my community,” bears” — bears that are older with gray or white hair; theater department; they moved to Eugene from South says Walter Rosenthal, the business planning director for “daddy bears,” or older bears that prefer cubs for partners; Carolina a couple years ago. HIV Alliance. Rosenthal is hesitant to pick a bear label, and “grizzly bears,” or dominant bears of extreme stature “It’s just awesome,” Haimbach says of the event. “It saying he’s still feeling it out. “I have spent most of my or hairiness. The list — “musclebear,” “black bear,” “bear just quickly grew,” adding that “once a month is enough adult life focused on my career and I’m relaxing a little hunter,” “panda bear,” “ewok” — goes on on and on. for me.” on that and want to get back into socializing. I want to be This wide net of identities and appearances is why Mays says that it’s also about inclusivity. “Everyone part of a gay community. Eugene needs a gay community.” many, including Collins, are drawn to the community. is invited,” he says, adding that in bear circles, men of all This is one Goldilocks that thinks the bears are just “For me, I’ve always been a big guy,” he says, adding ages and sizes are welcome. “We are not the Abercrombie right. ♥ that as a teen he felt like he didn’t fit the mainstream gay & Fitch model group. We’re not the perfect-body, shaved, culture that the media projects. “It wasn’t until my mid- to To find about the next Eugene Bear Bar Takeover, or for more information, contact eugenebearbartakeover@gmail.com. make-ourselves-look-perfect group.” He pauses and nods late-20s that I really started to feel comfortable with my COUPON 55 SILVER LN. 654-0603 686-9598 COUPONS GOOD UNTIL FEBRUARY 26 TH , 2015 11AM-MIDNIGHT SUN-THU 11 AM -10PM DAILY 11AM-1AM FRI-SAT SERVING DELICIOUS NEW YORK PIZZA BY THE SLICE AND BY THE WHOLE PIZZA PIE DELIVERY AVAILABLE FROM OUR CAMPUS LOCATION THROUGH HUNGRYDUCKS.COM 2.00 OFF ANY 18” LARGE $ ® FREE LARGE SODA W/ PURCHASE OF 2 SLICES COUPON COUPON COUPON SY'S NEW YORK PIZZA 1211 ALDER gemstone beads & specimens 1027 Willamette • (541) 683-5903 Traditional Greek & Indian Food 992 Willamette Eugene | 343-9661 Celebrate With Us This Valentine's Day eugeneweekly.com • February 12, 2015 13
