Queer n There	Queer n There Archive

Fall looms in the northern hemisphere, and prudent minds are planning now to root around closets for galoshes, mackintoshes, slickers and other safeguards against inclemency. Bolder souls, however, are happy to don rubber to hell with the forecast.

"I was just at the West Coast Rubber in Palm Springs over Labor Day. We're talking 100 degrees and there were guys out there in full gear," fetish chronicler Tim Brough tells The Guide. "They're really devoted to rubber and the way it makes you feel. Part of the turn-on for some is how much you sweat."

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West Coast Rubber -- described by organizers as "a full weekend of rubber and gear fun with pervy rubber freaks from around the world" -- opened this fall's North American rubber calendar.

Meteorology may be more cooperative for donning a second skin in New York come October 12 to 14 for Mr. East Coast Rubber. It's brought to you by the Renegades, a fun 'n' friendly New York group which maintains an impressive schedule of fetish play events where ice is perpetually broken. Mr. East Coast Rubber opens with a free Friday night "Meet and Greet" at the NYC Eagle (554 West 28th Street). On Saturday, October 13, the doors open at the Eagle at 10 p.m., with the contest beginning at 11:30 sharp. Browse to Nyrenegades.com for more info on this event and the sponsor's regular play parties.

A fall chill in the air brings special sensations to the rubber-clad. "The thing with latex," says Mr. East Coast Rubber impresario Dana Windsor, "is that it has virtually no insulating quality -- it takes on the conditions that are around it. So if you're in a cold room, you're going to be cold; if you're in a hot room, you're going to be hot."

Some aver a guy decked in rubber is hot no matter what. But can putting on gear really make a man cold-bloodedly reptilian?

That thought gives a frisson to those who segue from wearing rubber into high-stakes fetish scenes -- think gas masks with the valves shut or muscle-crushing full-body constriction.

But in reality rubberwear opens itself to a range of meanings and themes.

"There are people," notes Brough, "who find the erotic turn-on in the really intense industrial gear -- the rubber macs, the haz-mat material, the heavy-duty diving suits, the pressure suits."

And then there are colorful party balloons, whose erotic possibilities were plumbed in the 2005 porn video Buster's Rubber Romp.

"I like to blow balloons up until they are full and tight and hard and about to burst," declares Buster on Bustersworld.com. "At the point a balloon gets so big that it is overinflated and pear shaped, my heart begins to race, and I find the fear of the balloon exploding an exhillerating rush."

"[I]solated bits of this esoteric mishmash manage to be potent," opined Guide reviewer Giacomo Tramontagna about Buster's Romp.

But forget about asphyxiation and explosions. There's simply looking good. "A really muscular chest and a pair of good arms out of a rubber tank top," Brough muses, "you might as well just paint it on."

All themes rubbery will unfurl in Chicago at Mr. International Rubber (MIR), November 9 to 11. Now into its second decade, the event traces its roots to a Mr. Vulcan title first bestowed by the Boston Leather Knights in 1992. This year's MIR gets under way Friday November 9, noon to 5pm, with a rubber vendor's market at Chicago Cell Block (3702 North Halsted), followed by a cocktail party 7 to 10 p.m., and a welcome party 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. Saturday brings more parties at Cell Block, leading up the MIR contest at Circuit (3641 North Halsted Street). To register, browse to Mirubber.com, call 773-665-8064, or e-mail info@mirubber.com.

Other upcoming events include Mates Leather Weekend in Provincetown September 28 to 30, with a notable rubber component. The 17th annual Rubbout in Vancouver runs April 11 to 13, 2008. And keep an eye on Midwestrubber.org for their 2008 schedule. Tim Brough's newly published Skin Tight is a history of the rubber scene, available at your local gay bookstore, or browse to Timbrough.com. Timbrough.com.

Author Profile:  Bill Andriette
Bill Andriette is features editor of The Guide
Email:	theguide@guidemag.com