Hook-up culture generally is pretty shallow.
Apps are designed to be a kind of internet-shopping-dating-experience, where you go by looks rather than personality.
You’ve only got a few seconds to lure someone in before they swipe left. Looks are what make people give you a chance to explain yourself.
And all dating apps have an element of ‘looks first’ about them, it’s an attitude especially endemic in the LGBTQ community.
Apps like Grindr and Scruff are often unforgiving and prone to body-shaming.
Men list what they don’t want in their bios – ‘no fats, no hairy, no old’ are not uncommon.
Which is why one Lisbon-based photographer has been photographing nude dudes to challenge the community’s hyper-selective culture.
Adam Moco’s project Bare, which has been ongoing since 2013, explores body image through a series of male photographs, showing the wide variety of LGBTQ bodies available.
‘Representing a wide array of subjects in exposed states, the project embodies the vulnerability and beauty of embracing one’s Bare self,’ the project’s website reads.
The men have all been recruited through hookup apps to meet, be photographed and establish friendships with Adam.
‘The “hookups” range in duration and transpire in the subject’s personal space. By relying solely on natural and available light, Moco aims to create an open atmosphere whereby the subject’s unique personality is illuminated.’
And the result is really beautiful:
MORE : There’s now a ‘Fat Lads’ calendar to celebrate the naked male form
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