Hey Tops! Bottoms make the world go around.

By Bruce J. Little

I got a worrying message in my inbox the other day. In it, a guy admitted that he had gone to his first invite only group sex party (he called it a “groeps woeps”.) He complained about the fact that there were very few guys that enjoyed “receiving”during sex, so things got a bit much when the guys started playing “spin-the-bottom” with the few guys who enjoy “taking it” that were there. When he asked why some of the other guys didn’t bottom, to make things more equal, they laughed and made it sound as though bottoming was beneath them. One guy said “Bottoms are hoes, I would never!” to which another replied “Two bottoms don’t make a right!”.

It’s silly that so many guys calling themselves Tops can be so rude or judgmental about guys that prefer to bottom. Fam, let’s get real here - a Top needs a Bottom to be a Top.
You can’t be a Top all by yourself, bra!

Making people friend of mine once told eel bad about themselves or judging them creates something dangerous known as 'stigma'. Making guys feel ashamed of being a Bottom is dumb and is going to make them want to go into hiding, and if you are a Top that means you’re going to get a helluva lot less ass, ‘cos all the Bottoms will be avoiding your judgmental ass. Dissing Bottoms will leave you playing by yourself – duh!

Bottoms are dope yo! A good Bottom can give you an amazing ride (pardon the expression), and like anything in life, it’s a skill that can be improved on. Some guys are expert Bottoms and can make you feel things you’ve only ever dreamed of. Imagine missing out on that experience because you spoke trash about Bottoms.

Another thing bottoms are not self cleaning and lubricatining like a Mini Cooper. Bottoms are doing all the prep not just for themself but also for you. So, take good care of the Bottoms out there. Make sure that they feel safe and respected. Look after your Bottom or Versatile lovers. Use a condom, and use plenty of water-based lube. You don’t want your Bottom to be in any pain because a Bottom that is enjoying himself will help you to enjoy yourself even more too.

Bottom-shaming is childish. Bottoms deserve a lot more respect because Bottoming can make you more vulnerable to HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), especially if no condoms are being used. And, even if the Bottom is on PrEP, he can still get one of the other STIs, so a Bottom has more at risk than you do. R.E.S.P.E.C.T! Try and minimise these risks for the Bottom/s in your life. They are giving you a soft, warm place to enjoy yourself, the least you can do is to make them feel more safe and comfortable.

And, maybe you’ve been a bitch about Bottoms because secretly you’ve been fantasising about being one yourself. You’ll be surprised! Give it a bash, and you might open yourself up to a lifetime of pleasure that you would otherwise be missing out on. We are men who like to have sex with men. We need to not have limited and dangerous views such as being the one being penetrated makes you the “woman”, and that it is “bad”or “embarrassing”to be seen as behaving similarly to a woman. It’s 2017! Woman are powerful and they “run the world”and hello! Haven’t you heard of Power Bottoms? Plently of strong, empowered, intelligent and successful men identify as Bottoms. We would all be lucky to be like them.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Bottoms make the world go around.

Bruce J. Little is a contributing writer for Anova Health Institute. These are his views, which may or may not be those of Anova and its affiliates. If you’d like to write for us, send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

BELOW HER MOUTH is now in cinemas

BELOW HER MOUTH is a bold, uninhibited drama that begins with a passionate weekend affair between two women. Dallas, who works installing roofs, and Jasmine, a fashion editor, share a powerful
and immediate connection that inevitably derails both of their lives. The film stars Canadian actress, Natalie Krill and Swedish model, Erika Linder. Made entirely by women,
BELOW HER MOUTH is written by Stephanie Fabrizi and directed by April Mullen and produced by Melissa Coghlan
The all-woman crew is led by cinematographer Maya Bankovic (THE RAINBOW KID), production designer, Faye Mullen (88), editor, Michelle Szemberg (NATASHA) and award-winning wardrobe stylist, Zeina Esmail.

SYNOPSIS
Dallas (Linder) makes her living in a rough trade, shingling roofs for a living while turning over female lovers in her personal life—until she encounters self-assured and successful fashion editor, Jasmine (Krill). From the moment their eyes meet, the two women are inexplicably drawn to one another. Their connection is powerful and immediate, drawing them into a passionate love affair. Jasmine sees through Dallas’s charm and recognizes her philandering ways, but that creates only a small obstacle for Dallas, the bigger obstacle: Jasmine's fiancé, Rile.

ABOUT THE FILM
BELOW HER MOUTH is about that moment when you unexpectedly meet another person and the path of your life changes completely. It thin-slices life so that all the raw emotions, the intimacy and the friendship that generate from that meeting are explored with authenticity.
The story begins with Jasmine, a woman who is happy with her life. She has built the path she wishes to walk along, and she is moving forward in the direction of her choosing. And then she meets Dallas, a woman who is the diametrical opposite – a rebel without a cause, following no prescribed path except that of impulse and urge.
“That meeting sparks a flame in Jasmine,” said Producer, Melissa Coghlan. “She thinks, ‘I can either stay on the path I was on, which is what I know and where I feel comfortable and safe or I can follow my heart and follow this passion to see where it leads me.’ That choice is a scary place and that’s the story of Dallas and Jasmine. Dallas is accustomed to repeating the same patterns over and over again. She is a modern day female Casanova who collects lovers, but does not suffer from a guilty conscience. And then you have Jasmine, who’s engaged to a great guy. Together, they make the picture perfect couple. When these two women cross paths, choices have to be made.”
BELOW HER MOUTH is not about sexuality or gender,” Coghlan continued. “It’s not a coming-out story. It is a love story. It’s about how you could meet somebody and in a blink of an eye, fall for them and forget about your entire life.” Coghlan and first-time screenwriter Stephanie Fabrizi had noticed that in many of the films they had seen representing two women in a relationship often felt like it had been shot from a male perspective, or male point of view. They wanted to correct that by offering a different, fresher and more informed viewpoint.

Music Bear Raises Up The Static

By Casey Arasa

Rapper Music Bear Tony Banks describes himself as a gay, black man with the fun of Missy Elliot, the swag of LL Cool J and the dance moves of Heavy D.

Born in Brooklyn in the early 80’s, he grew up during the golden era of hip-hop. Early on in his musical journey, Music Bear dreamed of being a vocalist. He sang in church and wrote R&B songs and poetry. As he matured, he found himself gravitating towards hip-hop.

Despite the misogyny and homophobia that exists in hip-hop, he believes that at its core, hip-hop is love. He calls it soulful, empowering, fun, beautiful and caring. It’s the music industry that prizes money and cars and labels women as hoes that he blames. “Hate is a learned behavior. No one is born homophobic but when hip-hop artists spread that message to millions of people, it catches on and after being around for a few decades, it’s hard to break away from.”

“However, not impossible,” he adds. Music Bear is hoping to inspire change in the culture by staying true to who he is as a gay man and an artist. In his upcoming album, “Yes Homo,” he tackles issues like love, lust, partying, the state of hip-hop and police brutality. It’s meant to be a full depiction of what it means to be a black, gay, male, hip-hop artist in 2017.

His first single, “Static,” is out now. We spoke to him from his New York home.

What is like to be gay and black today?
To be black and gay in hip-hop today is as hard as it was in the 80’s, but things are changing. The next generation won’t care so much about who you sleep with. The young kids in the hip-hop community today are making superstars out of gender-bending artists and it’s very exciting. Everyone has a story to tell. I’m telling mine and I’m just so glad someone is listening.

Have you experienced racism in the gay community?
You can’t escape racism in 2017. It’s just easier to be more bold about it hiding behind a keyboard like in the gay apps. I’ve been called the N-word, Monkey, and more, and I’ve seen screen grabs of others conversations. It still occurs in the bars too. We have to continue to bring these issues and discussions to light in order to grow as a community of minorities.

Afghanistan: Men have sex with boys, deny it’s paedophilia

In Afghanistan, as part of an illegal but traditional practice, men recruit young boys, luring them with gifts and money with the intention of having sex with them. They do it under the guise of a disgusting old sexual traditional practice called “bacha bazi” (boy play).
The practice has been widely discussed — for example, in The New York Times, Newsweek and The Daily Mail. Further coverage comes in a video documentary titled ‘They don’t just dance’ that is now available online through RTDoc – an English-language documentary channel created by Russia’s government-backed media company RT.
The documentary shows how under-aged boys are recruited and taught how to dance like women in parties organized by rich folks, who then later select their favorite boy for sex.
In Afghanistan, this is not viewed as homosexuality, even though there are strict laws prohibiting the act.

TOILET DOT WHEN?

By Bruce J. Little

Gay guys have been getting their groove on in toilets for ages. In fact, the unofficial homo history books will testify that our gay ancestors also found it convenient. Nowadays, guys are ‘outchea’ following this tradition, but now they’re using technology to organize it first.

New hookup sites in Mzansi, like www.toilet.wen.ru, www.toilet.cf and www.mahalatoilet.mobi have brought getting laid in the loo into the 21st century.

They have chatrooms we can use to connect with other gay and bisexual guys in our area, but before we can jump for our smartphones to arrange a quick ‘summin summin’ there are some risks involved we need to get schooled on first.

These websites or apps can be downloaded onto your phone and have chatrooms for almost everybody. They say they can help you to find places near you where you can do more than just ‘kak’. Toilet.wen.cf says that more than 4000 000 people have downloaded their app. You can connect with other peeps from KZN, Gauteng, Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Freestate, North West and Northern Cape in cities, lokshins, rural areas and even Universities and Colleges. You can also chat and in whatever language you prefer when using your smooth pick-up lines.

There are chatrooms for straight people as well as the gay community.
There’s one for guys who want to swap MXIT, BBM or WhatsApp contact details
Guys who just want to have a one-night-stand
Guys who want to meet in a nearby toilet or someplace similar
Guys who want long-term relationships and even chatrooms for guys that are HIV-positive and want to vibe with other guys that are positive

These websites say they promote freedom of speech, so the language can be quite rude because you can say what you want. They also say on their splash page that everyone has a right to privacy so your information is private, and you remain anonymous because people can’t see who posted your message. This is great to keep on the down-low, but the problem is that you never really know who you are talking to.