Tom of Finland: The man, the myth, the homoerotic legend

Tom of Finland was a Finnish artist widely known for his homoerotic artwork. His drawings of gay hypermasculinity and sexuality created a community for fetish culture. LGBTQ+ fashion, entertainment, and pop culture channel his creative vision across various platforms.

However, who Tom of Finland was, and how he came to be, remains a mystery for many. Let’s journey back to discover the man behind the bulging pen strokes. His artistic influence lives on in modern celebrations of sex between men.

Who was Tom of Finland?

Tom of Finland was born Touko Laaksonen on May 8, 1920 in a small village on the southwest coast of Finland. He was known by the name “Tom” among all – family, friends, lovers, and fans. This was also the name he used to sign his secret gay drawings to protect his identity.  

Throughout his lifetime, Tom fixated on the sculpted contours of muscular bodies, especially the ones accentuated by tight uniforms and the creases of well-endowed bulges. In addition, he found the rugged sensuality of leather, mustaches, and masculine strength alluring.

Growing up in the countryside exposed the artist to the ruggedness of farmers and loggers. After serving in an anti-aircraft unit in Helsinki, he went on to study advertising at university. During his time in the military, he found himself drawn to the raw, sweaty masculinity of construction workers, sailors, and police officers at the city ports.

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Tom of Finland not only pushed the boundaries of homoerotic art and censorship in the 1950s and 60s, but his images became intertwined with gay culture and the gay aesthetic of the 1970s until present day.

As a lieutenant, he finally got to act on his insatiable libido with fellow (and invading) soldiers patrolling the Eastern Front during World War II. The temporary blackouts of the streets transpired as the dark concrete cruising grounds of his fantasies. 

These themes permeated Tom of Finland’s art and served as the unashamed foundation of his future legacy. It all began with Tom’s “dirty drawings,” which he created privately while working as a commercial artist, unsuspecting that they would one day resonate with gay men worldwide. 

His iconic artwork and drawing style

The art world dismissed Tom of Finland as a raunchy illustrator as they were more preoccupied with fruit bowls than erect leader-clad musclemen. He wasn’t afraid to put his gay desire on paper and sketched the men of his fantasies, inspired by his own encounters. Then he made them drunk with testosterone.

During the 1970s, after the decriminalization of nude male art, Tom held exhibitions across major queer cities and became a celebrated figure in the gay community. It wasn’t until the late stages of his career that the beau monde began to recognize his revolutionary vision for masculine sexuality. 

Like most of the greats, Tom reached the peak of his fame and acclaim when his soul entered the eternal leather bar that is heaven. 

Tom’s most famous artwork is essentially a commemoration of everything that turned him on: from the sharp angles of combat boots and military caps to the sexual clash of working-class and authoritative figures. 

Not to mention he depicted the male anatomy with a very optimistic view.

Tom’s artistic vision was said to embrace the ideology of a man “who was always just as willing to get his hole plowed as he was to do the plowing.” The rarest but most joyous of gay breeds: a power verse. 

Gay horny subject matter aside, Tom was a masterful draftsman. He took pen and paper to the heights Michelangelo achieved with sculpting. And both artists honed on the glory of the muscular male body, if not the glorification.

Tom of Finland’s influence on LGBTQ+ culture

In the face of rampant homophobia, Tom of Finland blazed a trail for gay men to reclaim their identity. He turned hetero stereotypes – hypermasculine ideals weaponized against gayness – into a cock-loving frenzy. 

His renderings of leather-clad and uniformed muscle men in various states of undress or a homoerotic context became a symbol of the emerging gay leather subculture in the 20th century. 

Today, you can’t enter a fetish gay bar anywhere without seeing Tom’s cultural fingerprints. His mission to showcase sex between men as just that – manly – enabled future generations to embrace the manliness of their boners.   

Beyond lust, he empowered camaraderie and pride among gay men. He inspired them to create public spaces to find community – and cruising. 

The gay leathermen and fetish community that continues to exist, albeit facilitated by online culture, owe part of their liberation to Tom’s willingness to face the condemnation of taking those desires out of the cage. 

Tom of Finland was the Andy Warhol of gay sex; queer artists worldwide still pay tribute to the homoerotic legend.

“Peter Berlin, Kenneth Anger, Joe Dallesandro, Jeff Stryker, Jim Morrison, James Bidgood, John Rechy, even Elvis and James Dean. None of them could have existed without Tom Of Finland’s art coming first,” filmmaker John Waters told the New York Times.

The Tom of Finland Foundation continues to celebrate the artist

Tom of Finland is famous and will always be celebrated because he turned gay sex into an artistic genre.

The Tom of Finland Foundation was established in 1984, seven years before the artist’s passing. The foundation looks to preserve, protect, and celebrate his legacy as the master of homoerotic art and his vast collection of works. It continues to live up to its mission. 

In 2014, the Finnish postal service released three postage stamps based on one of Tom’s most famous drawings. A “nipple, shapely buttocks, and a muscular, mustachioed man smoking a cigarette” cemented him as one of the most impactful artists who ever lived. 

In 2017, award-winning filmmaker Dome Karukoski brought Tom of Finland to the big screen. The 90th Academy Awards selected the film as the Finnish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film.

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Yes sir.

The entertainment industry touts the artist, who is spotted in high-profile collaborations like Nicopanda and Hood By Air. However, what sticks the most is the remembrance of the gay community, who embrace his equal energy and lust.

The country of Finland even memorializes him with a custom emoji that they published among a set of 55 other iconic Finnish items.

Tom walked so gay men could run

A century ago, and even in some places today, polite society relegated out gay men to its shadows. Tom of Finland proclaimed gay pleasure a muse worthy of artistic capture and idolization. 

He didn’t just validate our sexual existence – he made it aspirational.

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