I just got done reading a profoundly interesting in depth article in the latest issue of Out magazine about just how big the website Manhunt has become and some looks at the effects it has had on gay male society, both good and bad, but mostly bad.

Some of the points that stood out to me was just how large its become. In the U.S. alone now, over 1 MILLION members with 400,000 site visitors on any given month. The Manhunt company ( based in Mass.) bring in at least $ 2.4 million a month, almost $30 MILLION a year. The author did an excellent job of going deep in the background of how the company works and how the site has changed gay urban social life. He was wondering if it had changed gay politics as well. It has. Michael Gross pointed out that so many political victories and legal reforms, hate crime bill, don't ask don't tell, etc. etc. have remained beyond our grasp, he quoted a fashion photographer from Texas who said, " I think its because so many of us spend so much time online doing things that make us feel ashed of ourselves."

The writer pointed out that during the '80's we had the gentrification of gay hoods, but also saw the demise of many gay bars, businesses and social groups. " Post gay socail life grew mixed, and the physical drive that defines us as being gay, the drive to have sex with each other increasingly found vent online."

Manhunt is now going global. Currently there are over 100 countries in which Manhunt is available, and they have recently expanded into China, and India. Foreign memberships are now up to 600,000 members, and they add about 30,000 new members a week.

This kind of blew me away: " Manhunts annual income from memberships alone, is roughly the same as the total amount of indivdual contributions to this countrys' two biggest gay political groups, the H.R.C., and the NGLTF."

The writer pointed out that the former Mayor of Spokane ( Jim West-now deceased), and the chairman of the school board in Virginia, lost their office after their Manhunt profiles we made public. That was news to me about West, because my understanding was that it was gay.com, not Manhunt where it was found out about him.

A professor at New York U talked about Manhunt and suggested Manhunt " was the symptom. It does well because we don't know how to relate to each other, and we don't know how to take care of ourselves."

It was mentioned how gay urban life has always been a meatmarket, and cruising, it was argued, has always been a form of consumption. A Mr. Basile, one of the founders of Manhunt said he wanted the site to be " like an e-bay for men," where users could find anything they wanted.

The writer also talked about the psychological disassociation thats characteristic of online social life. He said "decoupling sex from emotion is a fools errand, and Manhunt seems to be the fullest expression of this project. " Its hard to see how it could go any further."

The seemingly endless stream of available men on Manhunt is according to Marketing Director Henricks, " addictive, like a slot machine. You keep hitting next, to see another screen of profiles, thinking your going to get lucky 7's."

It was said this drive lies at the core of appeal of online cruising. Psychologist Alan Downs ( author of The Velvet Rage-Overcoming the pain of growing up gay in a straight mans world) said of online cruising and Manhunt " every time you log on, you never know what you will find. Thats why it expands to fill a persons time."

How vulnerable are Manhunt users to its addictive quality was described when marketing director Henricks said, " we are the second stickiest website in America." The first just happens to belong to a gambling website called pogo.com. It was pointed out the average length of time spent on Manhunt was 40 minutes, thats twice the amount of time spent on my space or facebook.

I have included just a small chunk here of some of the more interesting aspects of this article. I found I could identify with many and much of the findings that have come about so far. There was one positive mention of online crusing and Manhunt, and that was to mention that in very small cities and towns, where there is little to no gay life, Manhunt is a tool in meeting new people, but the overall tone was that we are spending far too much time on Manhunt, and less on other things including friendships..LIke almost all other gay men, I have spent a fair amount of time on gay related websites, including Manhunt, but recently have made the decision not too spend as much time on them as I have in the past......

I found this a really interesting article.

Thanks for sharing Tom. I have found that I also spend too much time on the internet chasing tail. At different times I've used manhunt, adam4adam, out personals, and gay.com; I don't think technology is bad, it's how we use it. I've met some really cool guys a few I even stayed friends with after dating via online connections. And when I go back to Ohio where people aren't going to be in a gay bar, it's a nice way to meet. Even though it can be an obsessive situation, I think it's also entertaining, especially if you have had a long day at work and don't feel like heading out or you don't drink alcohol and would like to meet gay dudes away from the bars. And often the pictures are pretty cool.

But at the end of the day, I think that you have to decide where to put your time. I come to Outsports a lot because it gives me a sense of community. I don't think there ever was a gay culture to be destroyed. Just because we were forced through oppression to historically bond together doesn't mean we have a shared destiny or anything. If people weren't killed physically, economically, and spiritually for being gay, I don't think any of us would be relating in the way we are today. In terms of political parties, HRC didn't support Transgender protection in the recent employment discrimination ban before Congress and in the past have supported dodgy politicians who weren't for the greater good in my opinion so I would never support them anyway. But some people would rather march, write their Congressional rep, and be involved instead of giving money.

P.S. - I must admit the payoff for chasing tail online is pretty huge though. Where else can you find a hottie, release stress, and be home in time for Sportscenter?

I'm not sure I'd give as much credence to Manhunt.net or other on-line hookup sites as destroyers of gay culture as the article seems to.

The biggest destroyer of gay culture was/is AIDS. Gay-owned businesses closed as their owners and clientele died off during the 80's and 90's. Here in San Francisco Polk Street has lost almost all its gay establishments. South of Market has about a third as many establishments as it had in 1980, the Castro about half. There are no bath houses left because the City's Department of Public Health closed them as an AIDS prevention.

The rise of the Internet during the mid 90's just happened to coincide with demise of gay culture due to the AIDS holocaust.

Puschkin:

As horrible as the AIDS crisis has been and still is to the gay community in terms of loss of life, resources, an entire generation, there are some who say that the face and fearlessness brought on by a population looking at their own mortality lead to social changes and improvements faster that they would have happened without HIV/AIDS. Rather than have to die to get social changes I prefer society evolve without a holocaust to motivate them. Honestly, I don't know if this is true.

This is very complicated to respond to such a sensitive subject, and I personally can't say one way or the other how I understand the cultural significance of this holocaust. I am echoing what I have read/heard from other people. It does seem to have made a ripple in the social fabric of America at least. I am however, not an expert.


Now as for manhunt.............why is there no place on a profile to select "SMOKER" or "NON-SMOKER"? The currently biggest "social networking" site online and they can't even have those options?! Is big tobacco behind this?.............lets get the conspiracy theories going!

Best,

Drew

Thanks for the heads up about the article, hockeyTom. There have been some good comment made already. Puschkin, you raise a very important point. The advent of AIDS certainly led to the closing of many gay establishments, but Erstegeiger's rejoinder that it accelerated a process that had already begun is very apt. To add to the discussion, perhaps it's also part of a larger process where gay life is evolving in part becoming more mainstream and therefore settling down, yet still holding onto its countercultural aspects. I imagine the seventies and early eighties as this very exuberant time to be gay as it was the first decade or so of the gay liberation movement. AIDS shattered the illusion that nothing could spoil you. That so many had to die in order for a struggle for acceptance to move forward is true tragedy. We went from "We're here, we're Queer, get used to it!" through a bitter struggle for funding for this modern-day plague to advocacy for parity with straights in marriage rights. On-line hook-ups may be the way to explore the extra-ordinariness of being gay, when the direction of the movement is to claim ordinariness. To draw a crude analogy, it's like wanting the house with the white picket fence, but still yearning for that naughty bit on the side. Just some thoughts...

What the real effect of the loss of all those people to AIDS on the progress of gay culture has had cannot be known. I just think the writer of the article mentioned is giving Manhunt, et al., too much credit.

The bar scene is still alive and well, and I know there are those who frequent bars, and have on-line profiles. I guess they are covering as many bases as possible. I may be a bit weird here (I heard that. Watch it!) but I have never tried to connect on-line, and don't have a profile on any of the hookup sites. I prefer to see how people carry themselves, interact with their environment and the like before I approach them. I can't do that on-line.

Like Dogbert said as he was sitting at the keyboard, "On the Internet no one knows you're a dog."

Some good and interesting points Pushkin. You have to be in the slim minority if you don't have your profile on some gay hookup/dating site, but I like how you worded your approach in checking other guys out.... This was just a fraction of some of the talking points that came from this article. It covered about 8-9 pages. The next item on Manhunt that will be used to describe yourself, and you could have seen it coming is you'll be able to post your dick size, and its girth. The guys who run the site said they realize there will alot of guys who will be less than truthful with those descriptions. Oh, the Doogie Hauser interview was really good as well....there were alot of good articles in this edition. Neil Patrick Harris was on the cover. Hot man.

men lie about penis size on hook up sites?

OMG LOL

The actual article, which might be worth reading.