“Wrestling is the number one sport in Senegal,” queer photographer Ernst Coppejans says. “Champions are worshiped and treated like movie stars.”
We first fell in love with Coppejans’ work when we saw his series Gay Escorts, featuring stunning images of male sex workers in Amsterdam.
Coppejans lives and works in Amsterdam, but his photography has taken him over the world, including to a small village in the West African country of Senegal, where he says young men spend hours each week training to be professional letteurs (wrestlers).
“Many Senegalese boys train fanatically to make their dream [of] becoming a famous lutteur come true,” Coppejans explains. “During a month I portrayed the boys from the small village Yene who gather on the beach, every day at the end of the afternoon, to train together.”
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Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Scroll down to see images from Coppegans’ Lutteurs series, and see more of his award-winning work on his website.
Published for one-time use only with permission from Ernst Coppejans. Photographs may not be saved, copied or republished on any other website.
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ApolloDionysus
They look so brutish, violent and animalistic. I need to book a flight right now! 😛
money718
Perfection. Sigh………..
DarkZephyr
Dear God those are beautiful men. Wow.
jwtraveler
@ApolloDionysus: “brutish, violent and animalistic”
Not too r@cist, huh?
Sorry, I used the dreaded “r” word in my first post, so it might be blocked.
Ladbrook
I wonder if they know they are being ogled by homos on a gay website back in the US. 😉
Captain Obvious
@ApolloDionysus: You are too dumb for words.
jwtraveler
@Ladbrook: You mean like the billions of women who are ogled by men everywhere, all the time.
dave lopes
Oh yeahhhhh…that’s what i am talking about…lol
Deep dark black skin over a toned body drives me crazy.
trilingual1946
These men aren’t brutes. They’re strivers! They are also stunningly handsome! At least from all the photos I’ve seen, Senegalese men are the most beautiful in Africa! Guess I’ll need to buy my own plane ticket to visit the country sometime soon!
jason smeds
These are real men, and not the weedy left-wing types you see in New York or London. Wrestling is a form of virillity and is thus unsuitable for gay men who have no interest in being virile.
polarisfashion
@jason smeds: I used to have a FB and me and him would wrestle as a form of foreplay. We had fun, we would wrestle and whoever got pinned had to shed an article of clothing. We would wrestle another round and again whoever got pinned lost another piece of clothing. I usually was the one naked first but I enjoyed every moment of it.
NoCagada
@jason smeds: “I’M NOT ONE OF THOSE HOMOSEXUALS!”
Yes, son…we know
jwtraveler
@jason smeds: Thanks for another amusingly bizarre comment.
maxxbot
@jason smeds: ” Wrestling is a form of virillity and is thus unsuitable for gay men who have no interest in being virile.”
LOL I wrestled for 10 years you moron am more “virile” than you will ever be.
1copaseticsoul
I came for the ignorant comments. Thanks for not disappointing… lol & smdh
Simply gorgeous men but black men are not a fetish.
dave lopes
@1copaseticsoul: Actually, anything and anyone can be a fetish to someone.
Billy Budd
The most beautiful black men in the world come from Sudan. The sudanese wrestlers are GODS. Please check the books with the NUBA, by Leni Riefenstahl.
dave lopes
@Billy Budd: Beautiful Book of photography.
Also check the blog Afrobangala for black african men galore with a few blacks from other places thrown in.
There is a crossdresser who often posts pictures of her adventures with african soccer players and athletes. Their faces partly obstructed for privacy.
CCTR
Sexy photos!
stanhope
Oh that’s right, it’s February Black History Month. The one time of year that Black men are sexy here. Soon the commercial break will be over and we can return to blonde, buffed and tom daly. I can breathe again.
EverybodySayLove
@stanhope: I get the sarcasm, and I agree that we only see stories like this around this time of year, which really is unfortunate, BUT…I’m so glad that it’s at least getting a mention! There truly needs to be more exposure. There’s beauty in EVERYONE, and it needs to be given more airtime.
My concerns: do the subjects of the photos know that their photos give many males around the world pleasure? How does this square with their country’s attitudes towards GLBT folk? With their attitudes?
EverybodySayLove
@ApolloDionysus: Looks like I’m the only one that gets what you’re saying…and I hear ya there!! LOL
dave lopes
@EverybodySayLove: Why should it be a concern that their photos give many males around the world pleasure.
Straight men are not that dumb.
Those physically fit are quite aware of male admiration sexual and otherwise.
You would be shocked at the amount of male to male flirting that goes on in these societies.
Kangol
@EverybodySayLove: I also got that @ApolloDionysus: was being ironic.
These men are stunning.