Dr McGlynn's report – entitled Bearspace – is the largest ever study of the UK's community of 'Bears', a term referring to big and hairy gay men who typically present in a more 'masculine' way, and who make up one of the UK's largest gay male subcultures. This groundbreaking research explores the experiences of fat gay, bi and queer (GBQ) men in spaces used and created by Bear communities in the UK, drawing on data from focus groups, interviews and Nick's own observations.
As well as seeking to address a huge gap in research into the UK Bear community generally, Dr McGlynn's study was driven by a contrast between his own positive experiences in Bear Spaces and other evidence which reported these as sometimes rejecting or excluding fat men.
, Senior Lecturer in University of 91快活林's School of Applied Sciences, as well as its Centre for Transforming Sexuality and Gender, said: “As a Bear myself, I started this project in 2018 because what I was hearing and reading about Bears didn’t always ring true to me. I’d always felt at ease with my body – my saggy lower belly, my skinny arms, my flabby arse – in Bear spaces... So I was surprised to encounter scholarship about Bears which described them as rejecting or excluding fat men.”