SPEAKING OF MIRRORS | |
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Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the hunkiest of all?
Since ancient times, the mirror has held fascination. It's a gleaming gateway to another world, one that seems so very much like this one, but ... well, not. | |
| And when it comes to sex, mirrors reflect a number of things. At the most basic level, the mirror is where we learn how we look, and it's where we practice looking like ourselves, only sexier. It's a rare gay guy who hasn't posed in front of the looking glass, trying out sultry facial expressions, flexing his muscles, rearranging his basket. The mirror's where we check for signs of a belly, whether we need a haircut, how that new shirt looks with those nicely worn jeans. It is, in fact, the testing ground for sex appeal. |
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But for some of us, the mirror is more. It's a shiny sex toy, a window
on our
own lust.
Sometimes it can be a glittering sex partner. One devoted wanker says, "I like to set aside a nice, long time to masturbate. I set everything up - lube, poppers, paper towels - in front of my full-length mirror. Then I sit down and watch myself getting off, look at my hand working my erection, my face as I get close. It may sound narcissistic, but I don't care. I think it's just so much fun." More commonly, perhaps, Mr. Mirror's a guest at parties of two or more. The stereotypical whorehouse bedroom has mirrors on the ceiling, and you know you've met someone serious about sex when you discover his bed is surrounded by mirrors. The reflection adds another dimension, a nonexistent spectator that creates erotic tension between what the fucking looks like out there and what it feels like in here. It also, conveniently, enables a guy to see what his partner looks like full-length without having to hop out of bed. For many couples, watching themselves in a mirror is like starring in their own porn flick. Some prefer the mirror across the room, providing an overall look at the action, while others position the mirror nearby, providing close-up views; it's an easy way a bottom can actually watch his arse getting fucked. Available everywhere, innocent-seeming, mirrors are democratic sex toys for all, a way to indulge whatever we are, be it secret voyeur or horny showoff. Or both. Not everyone is enthusiastic, though: one man complains, "I just find mirrors distracting. I end up thinking about what a hairy butt I've got." Mirrors can add a special dimension to kink scenes, too. One nasty top has his bottom watch himself in a mirror, the better to bear witness to his own bondage and humiliation. "It just makes the drama more intense for us both," says the handsome top. And it can be a clothing fetishist's best friend; it may feel great to dress up in a leather harness or a taffeta ball gown, but actually seeing oneself in the mirror, horny and transformed, is the bright-red cherry on the yummy sundae of perversion. In a sense, of course, gay sex always involves mirrors in a way straight sex doesn't; we're lusting after someone who is in some ways a reflection of ourselves - another man, another penis, like ourselves, but different. This interplay between sameness and otherness adds a special dimension to queer sex, which is, like a mirror, a joining between two worlds.
Simon SheppardSan Francisco artist and activist Simon Sheppard is best known for his contributions to the erotic literary scene. He wrote hundreds of stories that appeared in S/M magazines; erotic anthologies; and over twenty editions of Best Gay Erotica and Best American Erotica. His Sextalk column has appeared on OutUK for more than 20 years. You can find out more about Simon Sheppard in this OutUK feature and tribute, or take a look at some of his many books that are still available:
Looking for something very sexy and just as smart? Man on Man collects the best and hottest gay sex writing by Simon, who is also co-editor of Rough Stuff: Tales of Gay Men, Sex, and Power as well as a collection of gay erotica called Hotter Than Hell. In KINKORAMA : Dispatches from the Front Lines of Perversion he takes readers behind the unmarked doors and black vinyl curtains that lead to the sometimes shocking, often hilarious, relentlessly arousing scenarios of extreme sex. There are also stories of bears in Tales from the Bear Cult: Beat Bear Stories from the Best Magazines. | |
