HIM Magazine No.15 (English)

Lifestyle 10
Safe place, boundless lust
or last refuge?
IN THE
DARK
Opinions differ on the word
“darkroom” - reactions among
friends could hardly be more
different. For some, most of
whom have never visited such a
place of darkness until now, the
darkroom is a mixture of wicked
atrium of hell on the direct way
to all the venereal diseases of
the world coupled with lustful
fantasies that flash before their
inner eye for a split second. But
they do not allow themselves to
give in to them. If one inquires
more concretely, a greedy
curiosity often hides behind it,
what really happens in the dark
rooms among all the strange men.
For others, it is a place beyond
social boundaries and norms,
where we are thrown back on our
animalistic lust and can forget
everything else for a moment, the
everyday life, the stress, all the
worries, needs and fears.
Opinions differ on the word “darkroom”
- reactions among friends could hardly
be more different. For some, most of
whom have never visited such a place
of darkness until now, the darkroom is a
mixture of wicked atrium of hell on the
direct way to all the venereal diseases of
the world coupled with lustful fantasies
that flash before their inner eye for a split
second. But they do not allow themselves
to give in to them. If one inquires more
concretely, a greedy curiosity often hides
behind it, what really happens in the dark
rooms among all the strange men. For others,
it is a place beyond social boundaries
and norms, where we are thrown back on
our animalistic lust and can forget everything
else for a moment, the everyday life,
the stress, all the worries, needs and fears.
Still others sense many dangers in the
darkroom, as director Rosa von Praunheim,
for example, also addressed in his
eponymous film drama when he tells
of the true case that shook the Berlin
gay community in 2012. At that time, a
gay man administered knockout drops
to other guys, including in darkrooms -
three men died as a result. And indeed, a
darkroom can also pose a certain danger,
because neither are the other men known
to you, nor do you know what exactly
awaits you in the dark. But why does the
dark room nevertheless not lose its fascination
until today?