This 1960s video about a “Men’s Gym” might as well be an advertisement for a gay bathhouse
absurdly homoerotic 1950s workout video, and 1965 British weightlifting video that’s filled with singlets and gay sexual imagery.
But those provocative reels are just appetizers for the main course: “1960s Men’s Gym.”And no, we don’t think that’s code for “bathhouse,” though the “Men’s Gym” certainly has all of the amenities, complete with a steamy sauna.
But more on that in a bit. Sauna trips are earned! First, you’ve gotta get rubbed down and shaken up, remember?The video from British Pathé, a well-known newsreel archive of 85,000 films, is ostensibly an instructional video on how to workout at the gym.
But the homoeroticism is hard to miss, beginning with the fact there are no women. (This is a “Men’s Gym,” after all.)Fittingly, one of the first men viewers see is a muscular blonde doing squats.
