GLR November-December 2022

Mind Geek (Pornhub, Xtube, and others) deflates consumers’ sexual imaginations and their capacity to experience new pleasures and form new desires. This is because they feed users a limited range of pornography based on the keywords they use, geographic location, and private algorithms, leaving most online porn boring, with the same tropes and scenes re peated over and over again. Alexander Monea, an Assistant Professor serving jointly in George Mason’s English and Cultural Studies Departments, ends The Digital Closet with two sets of proposed solutions to the problem of the heteronormativity: one “revisionist,” such as developing better mechanisms for adjudicating what should be censored; the other “revolutionary,” like making social media platforms public utilities. In both cases he is “advocat

ing for more varieties of pornography, rather than more total content, so that the porn that exists and is readily available to people might be more diverse, representative, and imagina tive, allowing people more freedom to explore their erotic de sires. On the other hand, I’m advocating for fewer people to face the negative ramifications of the mainstream heteroporn industry and online sex work.” Monea admits that parts of this well-researched book, par ticularly the section dealing with coding, may be slow going for many readers. For the most part, The Digital Closet is written in such a way that a general audience can grasp the author’s message and share his concern about what results they are not seeing when using search engines, and what is being blocked and censored as they surf the web.

When Selfies Told a Story

U NLIKE TODAY, taking photo graphs in the past was a way to preserve the most treasured moments in one’s life. Before the smartphone made it possible to take pictures of what you ate for lunch, you had to be vigilant when choosing to press the shutter button to get the perfect shot lest it go to waste. Every photograph was ar ranged not only to capture the moment but

Batt and Green highlight features of some of the photos that provide clues about the depth of the two men’s commitment to one another. For example: “while it wasn’t uncommon for men to wear rings, [Len and Cub] are often seen wearing them to gether, usually on their ring fingers, and after his time with Cub, Len is not pictured with a ring again.” Len was born in 1891 to an affluent

S TEPHEN H EMRICK

LEN & CUB A Queer History by Meredith J. Batt & Dusty Green Goose Lane Editions 192 pages, $24.95

to tell a story about the subjects. In Len & Cub , authors Mered ith J. Batt and Dusty Green have assembled a large number of photographs that tell the unfolding story of Leonard Olive Keith (1891–1950) and Joseph Austin Coates (1899–1965)— the “Len” and “Cub” of the book’s title. Growing up together in Havelock, a rural town in New Brunswick, Canada, in the early 20th century, Len and Cub were the subjects of numerous photographs that were collected and saved and then later discovered by one John Corey. They’re now housed in the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick (PANB) thanks to Corey’s gift of the collection. Len was the amateur photographer who made a point of documenting their love affair from beginning to end. The photographs depict what is clearly an intimate relationship between two men at a time when homosexuality was illegal and condemned and usually hidden in the closet. We learn a lot about Len and Cub as individuals and about their relationship, which included a lot of hugging and holding and flirting, even when they’re engaged in ostensibly manly pursuits. Batt and Green observe that “their time together is catalogued by Len’s photos, which show that the two shared a mutual love of the outdoors, animals, and adventure.” There are dozens of photos of the two men arm-in-arm, whether on hunting and canoe trips or riding in the automobile that Len would borrow from his father. What’s more, there’s no need to look for covert signs or symbols of their affection, which is un mistakable in one photo after another.

family—his father owned a match factory and a gristmill—and was eight years older than Cub, who was raised on a nearby farm. On reaching their twenties, Len would go on to open and run a garage—his passions included both cars and photogra phy—while Cub would buy a farm of his own. Given the difficulty of taking photos in those days, as well as the taboo nature of their content, the question arises: how

Stephen Hemrick is the publisher of this magazine. 40

Len (L.) and Cub (R.). Photo by Leonard Olive Keith (Len).

The G & LR