So it’s not a mere desire to get off that fuels the fan-shipping of presumably straight characters, often referred to as “slash”. There’s a story being told here, in Tom of Finland’s illustration for Physique Pictorial in 1963. “This is a world we recognise, but without the boundaries on our desires.” This recognition of Laaksonen’s world, of situating his characters within a milieu we recognise and within which we can imagine stories, while perhaps not key to Laaksonen’s art, nevertheless contributes immensely to our appreciation of it. In their essay in Out in Culture: Gay, Lesbian and Queer Essays on Popular Culture, artist Nayland Blake discusses Laaksonen’s work in loving detail: “Narrative opens up the image,” they claim.
Laaksonen’s artistic world isn’t just one of balls, butts, and dicks, but of leather bikers, gay police officers, and dominant, uniformed soldiers, of the erotic potential of the before and the after. I think about the works of seminal pornographic artist Touko Valio Laaksonen, better known as Tom of Finland, whose explicit drawings of muscle-bound leather-men helped shape how we view gayness and masculinity in society today. But it’s not just about that is it? While hot-and-heavy porn is all very well for a quick fix, it’s the human narratives behind the sex that provide the most satisfying stimulation.