Tom of Finland: Pioneer of queer sexual power

Just as the burgeoning gay rights movement began to gain momentum in the United States in the 1960s, one Finnish illustrator captured the community’s newfound self-confidence in his work: Touko Laaksonen’s pornographic drawings of hypermasculine motorcyclists, cowboys and sailors put an end to age -old stereotyped representation of the homosexual man as an effeminate dandy.

His illustrations featured extremely masculine types displaying their hardened bodies in tight leather clothing, celebrating sex with other men.

Laaksonen, who went by the pseudonym Tom of Finland after his European homeland, launched an aesthetic revolution in the gay scene: “When he started designing, there were no real role models for gay men”, Richard Villani, creative director of Tom of Finland Foundation told DW. “More than anything, Tom wanted to give queer men a positive idea of ​​their sexuality.”

After the Stonewall riots of 1969, his muscle-man sketches reached a tipping point, providing long-needed icons that embodied the idea that love between men was completely acceptable.

Leather scene hero

Even more than 30 years after his death, Tom’s rebellious spirit still fascinates.

Tom of Finland Arts and Culture Festival 2023 is held in Berlin, on the site of a former women’s prison in the locality of Lichterfelde, from 12 to 14 May. The festival, taking place for the 29th time this year, will bring together artists, galleries and patrons from around the world, as well as many fans of the gay pioneer.

Villani, who organizes the three-day celebration, knows there’s something magical about the illustrator’s sex-positive messages: “It’s about joy, fun and laughter. All the characters in his pictures are having fun together.”

At the age of 50, Tom already made a living with his erotic images, traveling between Europe and the United States, living in Los Angeles for six months until his death in 1991.

He left his mark on both continents and inspired entire subcultures.

“He was the father of leather,” says Villani of the artist, who developed his fascination with uniforms as a young World War II officer. “Then he noticed how beautiful leather looked in his sketches. And all of a sudden he was painting these leather uniforms and boots. He was painting, he was living and he was enjoying leather.”

It should be mentioned that a controversial aspect of some of his works is that they included references to Nazi uniforms; but the artist, who obviously feared no taboos, explained during his lifetime that although he detested Nazi ideology, he felt the clothes were “the sexiest”. Later in his career, he completely rejected these works.

To this day, “leather lovers” and “muscle hunks” are an integral part of the gay scene. They keep Tom of Finland fantasies alive in bars, fetish circles or gay pride marches.

Revolution or toxic obsession with beauty?

Tom’s drawings testify to the fight for equality. The cult of the muscular body arises from the fact that gay men have always had to compensate for prejudice about their supposed femininity, says Christopher Conner, a sociologist at the University of Missouri, Columbia, who researches ideals of beauty in the American LGBTQ community. Some gay men respond to this bias by wanting to be the manliest guy there is, adds Conner.

However, it is often completely impossible to live up to these ideals. According to Conner, many factors are decisive, starting with his own social background: “You have to be able to afford the proper training in the gym and also the right diet. You also have to know what exercises you need to build the right muscles , because resistance training alone is not enough for this particular build.”

Many gay men suffer from pathological dissatisfaction with their own bodies. This poor self-image is “the result of a society that treats us like inferiors,” says Conner.

While Tom of Finland undoubtedly provided great liberating role models for his own community, do his designs perhaps reflect a toxic pursuit of ideals of beauty?

The context of the artwork’s creation needs to be understood when discussing this question: “It’s important to interpret Tom in complex ways and be aware of the limitations of his art,” says João Laia, chief curator at the Kiasma Museum in Helsinki, Finland, who currently oversees the largest retrospective of Tom’s art to date.

“It is also necessary to recognize the revolutionary potential of this art at the time of its creation”, he adds.

Tom’s goal was to create an antithesis to the classic female gay male prejudice. “His images of him excited the gays who realized that there was another way to represent them”, highlights Laia.

Above all, his later works are rich with body-positive messages: “In the 1980s and 1990s, the HIV pandemic made many people so thin and weak that depictions of healthy, muscular men had an empowering effect. ” Tom artistically challenged the stigma of being gay with AIDS, argues Laia.

Tom from Finland: Still a model

Laia is convinced that queer communities are still drawing strength from iconic works to this day: “With the resurgence of conservative attitudes and narratives, it’s important to highlight how Tom supported the pursuit of freedom, fun and liveliness outside of normalized identities.”

Sociologist Conner, who takes a critical stance on the hype surrounding depictions of full-bodied gay men, also recognizes the value of Tom’s works. Especially in the current context, he says, with US states increasingly passing laws that limit the rights of LGBTQ people, “I feel very differently about that. Tom of Finland’s photos are very sexy and promiscuous. They show that it’s okay to express your wishes, your feelings.”

Villani, Conner and Laia agree that Tom’s works, which have evolved over his nearly 60-year career, have been powerful creations in response to a very specific social zeitgeist, from the gay liberation movement to the AIDS pandemic, to resistance to renewed anti-LGBTQ movements, Tom was a figurehead whose legacy continues to be reinterpreted.

This is also in the spirit of Villani and the Tom of Finland Foundation: “My aim with the Festival of Arts and Culture is to pave the way for a new generation of queer and erotic artists and, in doing so, create networks in new cities and communities around the world”.

This article was originally written in German.