Finding Johannesburg’s gay Leathermen 1983–2006

Abstract

Leathermen communities have been documented in the Global North since the 1970s. In this article, I introduce, for the first time, the gay leathermen of Johannesburg to scholars of alternative sexualities. I argue that the leathermen subculture was brought ashore by global flows of culture in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as by international travellers in the 1970s, but is hidden in furtive gay and lesbian communities. A definable local subculture emerged between 1983 and 2000, and in 2001 leathermen coalesced around Metropolis, a bar in downtown Johannesburg. Drawing data from Exit, South Africa’s longest running gay newspaper, as well as the owners of Metropolis, I map the development of the leathermen subculture between 1983–2006. I argue that their BDSM (bondage, discipline, sadism, masochism) ethos and their public sex in leather bars are met by resistance and harassment from conservative elements in the gay and lesbian community, as well as police and public health officials.