couple of very interesting articles on the life of gay men, the circuit scene and its history, and so forth from the los angeles based gay mag, frontiers:

If the pressure to be beautiful and thin is harmful to women's self-images, the pressure to be beautiful and buffed has done at least as much damage to gay men.

No matter how visible or tolerated we are in the mainstream, there's still a part of us that feels like deviants, and we still need that special, sanctified place where we can come together and be collectively reminded that if our love is wrong--like the president and the pope are always telling us--then who cares about being right?