The leather harness adorns gay men at circuit parties and emboldens them at fetish bars; it’s a symbol of BDSM culture and a statement for fashion. It’s impossible to wield the garment without strapping on a history of queer resilience and kinky pleasure.
Buckle up as Queerty rides to the origins of leather harnesses in the LGBTQ+ community and the world.
What is a leather harness?
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A leather harness is a bondage-inspired garment made of leather straps and metal buckles, typically worn across the chest and sometimes the torso.
Unlike crop tops or jockstraps, the harness originated with gay culture – it’s dubbed the “gay uniform,” a sultry armor of sorts for all special occasions.
It’s the animal ears to our Halloweens and the fishnet stockings to our raves. Queer culture’s infatuation with the leather harness can be attributed to one factor: it was designed to make men look hot.
The history of the gay leather harness
The tale of the harness, like much of BDSM and queer culture, has been passed like folklore because the world once made no space for it.
The underground nature of its evolution into the zeitgeist means modern historians have had to piece together its lineage.
An archivist and collections librarian at the Leather Archives & Museum in Chicago told IN that leather harnesses appear in their earliest bar photos, dating back to the mid-1970s, and notice increased frequency into the ’80s.
Another former archivist from the Leather Archives & Museum told HypeBeast harnesses only began decorating the torsos of contestants for the annual leatherman contest Mr. International Leather by 1983.
Regarding retail, A Taste of Leather in San Francisco is credited as the first “in-bar” leather shop in 1967. However, harnesses weren’t displayed in their catalogs until the early 1970s.
Based on these timelines, it’s safe to assume this was the era in which the harness gripped gay culture. It wouldn’t be until the 2000s that it permeated runways in fashion. Leave it to the gays to always do it first.
What is the purpose of a harness in gay culture, BDSM, and kink?
To understand the foundational role of the leather harness in society, study the roots of leather culture.
The Leather Archives express it best: “Leather is a style, an identity, a community, and a subculture that celebrates kink, fetish, BDSM, and sex.”
Leather was reappropriated as a symbol of queer masculinity during a period of mass homophobia. Gay men wore biker jackets and boots as a way to resist societal emasculation, as captured by Finnish artist Touko Valio Laaksonen (Tom of Finland). His illustrations immortalized the gay leather-clad muscle men who arose as a reaction to biker culture post-World War II.
But the leather harness stems explicitly from the function of fetish. In a bondage context, it can be used for suspension, restraint, and being able to pull on someone or lead them. The straps tighten on the skin, bulging the outline of your muscles. Some people find this pressure on their body tantalizing, perhaps buckling the harness an inch tighter than needed.
Kink is an “unconventional sexual taste or behavior,” and many people – gay or straight – identify with the erotic nature of leather, from straight men to gay puppy dogs.
According to Leatherpedia, it’s “organized around sexual activities that involve leather garments, such as leather jackets, vests, boots, chaps, harnesses, or other items. Wearing leather garments is one way that participants in this culture self-consciously distinguish themselves from mainstream sexual cultures.”
The harness has decorated fetish and leather bars ever since.
So how did Timothée Chalamet end up harnessed-up at the Golden Globes?
Straight culture makes gay prude again
As can be expected, straight people rip off gay culture, but we’re not upset about it, even if harnesses are used as charm bracelets for tuxes. Especially when it’s Michael B. Jordan, though we prefer sans suit and in Calvins. The fashion industry is helmed by the greatest of gay minds (and fearless hetero females), so it shouldn’t be a surprise their creations trickle down to dress stardom.
We should also celebrate the fact powerful straight men are no longer turned off by queer-inspired clothing, even if they’re oblivious to the tribute they’re serving. Though Chamalet eventually distanced himself from the “sex dungeons,” as a friend informed him harnesses were from, lol. He just thought it was a look.
No one wears a harness like a gay man, so let’s grab on to some of the hottest queer folks sporting the fetish gear.
Adan Rippon knows how to take control of a situation
adam rippon wearing a harness on the oscars red carpet is a MOOD pic.twitter.com/ZnDwTlGga2
— David Mack (@davidmackau) March 4, 2018
Ok, sorry, we were going to do a celeb listicle, but we can’t stand to see the harness tarnished with cloth any longer. JK!
Puppy love
Gays who harness together stay together
Tighten your belt for the pleasure of gay culture
Cheers to Hilary Duff for succeeding in getting straight men to wear a gay top as a pin. As Esquire’s Murray Clark writes, “It suggests that we’re [straight men] no longer susceptible to the reductive avoidance of anything considered ‘gay.’ We’re even wearing it.”
But if you’re trying to be a gay icon, we suggest honoring culture. From Elle author Eric Thomas: “If you’re going to wear a harness and you are a celeb I thirst after, please have the decency to wear said harness over your bare chest.”
And avoid praising anyone as kinky for harnessing up; it’s only the door handle to the pathway of kink, which has no destination except what feels good. But the morals are your own.
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I’ve known various gay and straight men (usually bikers) who were very much into black leather clothing and accessories as a symbol of uber-masculinity. The connection between leather and maleness seems deeply embedded in the psyche.
That being said, I’ve never had the same response to leather. Despite finding Tom of Finland drawings very sexy, leather itself triggers zero erotic reaction. Clothing that does carry an erotic charge for me: fitted jeans, boots, tighty-whities, boxers, jockstraps.