My Date Must Be a Boy

Rock Island, Fall 1973

When I was growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, heterosexual desire was assumed a constant, a universal of human experience.  Same-sex desire was not mentioned because  there was nothing to mention.

It's not that it didn't exist; we knew about lots of things that didn't exist, like elves and unicorns.  It could not be conceived of.

It wasn't just a certainty that no boy on Earth had ever longed for the touch of another boy, not once in the history of the world.

We were unable to even imagine the possibility.

Boys who obviously longed for boys?

They were looking for a buddy or a role model.  Nothing else could be imagined.

Boys who obviously didn't care for girls?

They were shy, or immature, or hadn't found the right girl yet. 

There was no possibility, not in anyone's imagination, that they may care for boys.

Boys who were derided as "fairies" and "fags"?

Their interest in art and ballet, their inability to catch a ball, obviously represented deficient masculinity, but they desired girls as heartily as every other boy.

Desire for the same sex was simply beyond the boundaries of our imagination.

It was easier to conceive of hobbits.









But there were hints, mysteries to mull over, to contemplate like zen koans, to puzzle out like cryptograms.

Men on tv or in movies who cared for each other, fought for each other, and walked side by side into the future.

Men who didn't marry, who lived alone or with other men.

Men who hugged.

Boys smiled at me, or touched me on the shoulder.

The sight of a muscular frame that filled me with inexplicable joy.

Small subtle signs.

Through the looking glass.
Take the red pill.
With a bit of a mind flip, you're into the time slip.







Sometime in junior high, I read an one-page story in an Archie comic book.  Big Ethel's friends criticize her for being indiscriminate, accuse her of accepting dates with anyone, anytime, anywhere.

On the contrary, Ethel says, she has very exacting standards.
1. Her date must be a boy.
2. He must be breathing.
3. He must be a slow runner (so she can catch him as he's fleeing in terror).

It was just a throwaway joke with the punch line of "slow runner."  But I was mesmerized.  There was something -- a logical fallacy -- a paradox -- a hint.

Slowly it dawned on me: Ethel has a rule about dating only boys.

Such a rule is necessary only if there are other groups of people whom she could date.

Does she only date teenage boys, and not adult men?

Or only date boys, and not girls?

Could a girl date a girl?
Could a boy date a boy?

It's not raining upstairs.

Mark Brandon the Actor/Mark Brandon the Porn Star

I'm trying to figure out if the Mark Brandon who is currently starring in the Archie comics Riverdale series is the same Mark Brandon who did "gay for pay" porn in the early 1990s.  They certainly look alike, with the same hair, the same eyebrows, and the same mouth (give or take 30 years).

Mark Brandon the porn star was active from 1991 to 1995, appearing in such magazines as Advocate Men and Inches, and in the porn movies Close Shave 3, Dynastud 2, Rock Hard 2, Dial S for Sex, and Morning Ritual.  Apparently he only appeared in heterosexual and solo j/o scenes.

He looks to be in his 30s, so I'm going to guess a birthday in about 1955.

Here he has darker hair.

Mark Brandon the actor was born in 1951 in Long Beach.  He was working as a fireman when he started auditioning for commercials.  His first screen role was on a 1983 episode of Mama's Family, playing an orderly in a nursing home opposite Harvey Korman.  If he was 23 years old, he would be born about 1960.

During the 1980s, his acting was sporadic: episodes of Santa Barbara, Throb, Dynasty, Unsub, and Danger Bay, mostly under the Mark High.

I have found no pictures of Mark from that era.  We'll have to make do with recent ones.

Between 1991 and 1995, he has six tv and movie appearances: news anchor, presenter, narrator, master of ceremonies, uncredited, and "Marty Spencer" on an episode of Robin's Hoods.  All as Mark High.

Those jobs couldn't have paid very well.  Did Mark take a "jump to the left" and agree to be filmed aroused, as long as he didn't have to actually make it with a guy?

The world wants to know.

By the way, these days he does mostly Hallmark "inspirational movies."  He's married, and has a son.

Mark Brandon the actor, I mean.

Archie Andrews Naked

Want to see Archie naked?

Not K. J. Apa, who plays the teen-angst version of the venerable comic character on Riverdale.

The comic book character himself, an icon of our childhood, our preteen image of what being a teenager would be like.















During my childhood in the 1960s and 1970s, the  comics generally presented Archie with a nondescript physique, while lavishing attention on pinup models Betty and Veronica. 

But there were exceptions, and during the 1990s and 2000s, bodies by Michelangelo became the new normal in the Archie universe.

Fan artists on Deviantart.com and Rule 34 have obligingly produced some images of Archie naked. Usually he's having hetero sex, but there are a few with him alone.

Or with Jughead.

Sometimes they take panels from actual comic books, and add a penis.  That's the easiest method, but because the comic panels are quite small, the results are hard to see.  

And the physiques tend to be nondescript.

And the Archie of the comic books is usually depicted as 16 years old.  That means that nudity is ok, but arousal and sexual positions are illegal.

Better to draw your own, to give him a physique.

And make sure he's 18.