"How did Bear become synonymous with any old chubby homosexual?"... that is the question editor-in-chief Steven Wolfe asks in his latest editorial in BEAR magazine (website - articles - TubeBear), issue #69. It brings up the age-old question of '...What is a Bear?...', and in this case, Wolfe is going about it the other way, asking '...What isn't a Bear?...'.

Wolfe goes on to say that "porn studios like BearFilms and CyberBears have spent years flooding the market with chub porn that seems to be allergic to Bears who are physically fit"... and Wolfe wants to see Bear media to be "prouder, more masculine, sexy, iconic, unapologetically unshaven - and non-sizeist".

Unfortunately for Wolfe, the response to his editorial has been less than favourable. If this LiveJournal entry is any indication as to how people are responding to Wolfe's words, then Wolfe's definition of Bear does not seem aligned with many others.

I decided to get in touch with BEAR Magazine and they are quite aware that this editorial was definitely going to stir something up, favourable or not. They also stated that in their upcoming February issue #70, they have a guest editorial who writes an opposing response to that of #69.

Below is the actual editorial written by Steven Wolfe:

JABBA THE BEAR I AM NOT

How did 'Bear' become synonymous with any old chubby homosexual? It was not always so. The defining days of the Bear Movement in the 1990s featured plenty of medium to large size men. XXXL was not presumed; it was the exception. The presumption of BEAR=FAT also does not reflect the reality of today’s Bear Movement - only an unfortunate gradual usurpation of the BEAR label over time in the Jungian gay collective unconscious.

However, we can’t kid ourselves any longer. The co-opting of the Bear identity is real...

Part of the cause of the lamentable pendulum swing from Bear to chub is the result of the content of our self-labeled media. Porn studios like BearFilms and CyberBears have spent years flooding the market with chub porn that seems to be allergic to Bears who are physically fit. If the medium is the message, this was a detour way off the scales.

We take a different point of view, and fortunately, the market recognizes that chubs have not completely absorbed Bears. We want Bear media to be prouder, and more masculine... in production choices for our porn lines Butch Bear®, BEAR® and Backroom Films®... we relentlessly deliver underrepresented Bear images of what we want to see: tight, hairy, thrusting meaty muscle instead of jiggly cottage cheese.

Perhaps Yoda said it best, 'Size matters not.'... Like Yoda, we believe in aiming for better and not necessarily bigger. So help me Obi-Wan Jack Radcliffe and deliver fit-Bear DVDs, and BEAR® t-shirts and bumper stickers to all my Bear brothers this holiday season - and may the real Bear Force be with you always.