who are you growing for?

[falseyedee]

on another board, a guy posted some pix and expressed his uncertainty if he was going to lean down, or continue bulking. there was the expected spate of responses saying, "lean down!" or "go for the mass!" on yet another board, a guy recently posted about his progress and the ambivalence he felt about feeling both good about his progress but objectified by others...but he was going to keep going because his fantasy about his body was becoming a reality. it was followed by a bunch of posts, including one from me, saying, "keep it up!"

these two posts got me thinking about the weirdness of having all these strangers egging you on to keep getting bigger. they don't know you and yet they seem to have a vested interest in your muscle growth. it's a weird kind of voyeurism/exhibitionism which may or, in many cases, may not involve pictures of the person who's working out.

our own marco's posts kind of addressed the weirdness of the web support as well as the real life encounters with people who were only about his muscle.

i think in this situation it would be easy to lose sight of who you're growing for. do you feel obligated to post pictures for your "fans"? do you feel obligated to keep growing for them? how does that make you feel, in control? used? proud? objectified? all of the above?

so i'm starting to kick around a story idea about that weirdness. the protagonist has a deep desire to get big and starts training for it. as he progresses, being big isn't what he thought it would be: it's both cooler and problematic.

i'd appreciate any insight, personal annecdotes, thoughts on this subject.

[glammaman2000]

...I don't feel any responsibility to post pics(currently training for the Montreal Games,things are going pretty well).I PROMISE to post pics of the finished product,whatever it is.As to your questions;I DO feel more in control&prouder!Objectified?Sometimes it's cool,sometimes not.Depends on the situation.Used?Don't allow it.Too old for that.I am currently very happy in love with my buddy.It's for both of us.

[nolanspice]

False,

I LOVE that idea for a story! On another thread on this site, I posted a response regarding the lack of humour in some of these stories. There's the whole drama of growing and morphing but other than a few "holy shits" from the intended, he's suddenly perfectly fine with it all. I tend to look at things a bit more realistically in the sense of gaining all this size and being initially uncomfortable because of the awkwardness and/or clumsiness of the result.

Recently, the Texzilla stories, especially his Spice series, have infused humour but since these guys are all "gifted," they don't really bat an eye. His recent "Transition" anthology have the guys accepting their weeklong changes (one day for one guy), but they were programmed to do it.

I like Braun's "The Haven" spin-off from the Journal because in both stories, Geoff (in the Journal) and brother Sean (in the Haven), the guys are awkward and unsure of themselves initially in their newfound capabilities. Sean, especially, because you see him going through all this change seemingly in such short order. He meets his now-boyfriend that he's still getting to know, finds his brother, gets transformed, discovers he can transform others, still trying to maintain a "monogamous relationship" in this compound while harnessing his libido. Braun writes him, and the other characters, so well that you see his awkwardness. You almost sense that Sean is going through a second puberty. There's also humour as well as pathos.

I applaud your idea becauselike in real life, when someone undergoes a major physical transformation (weight loss, bodybuilding, etc.), people who never thought would be talking to you are. It's that "I still feellike the fat kid class" syndrome when you've metamorphosed (sp?) into a hot bodied swan.

I can't wait to see what you come up with. I'm thinking about a similar plotline for a story.

-j!-