taking advantage of today's good internet connection . . .

[kindkit]

. . . to say that I probably ought to be ashamed that my main reaction to these photos of British gay rights pioneers is, "damn, people were ugly in the 1970s."

Seriously. It's not just the, er, experimental clothes or the hideous stringy hippie hair. Their faces are lumpy and weird, even allowing for a bad camera and terrible lighting.

And this was the era when people were having lots of sex, all the time! I don't understand.

Comments

[lilacsigil]

I don't know, they look like regular people to me! Though the beards don't help.

[tree_and_leaf]

The beards are pretty disastrous. But other than that, I think they just look odd because of the harsh overhead lighting combined poor use of flash. They... look like a pretty normal selection of British people to me, and having just come back from the States, I don't think we are actually any more hideous than Americans.

[kindkit]

Yes you are! Americans are perfect and beautiful and blessed by God! LAND OF THE FREE AND SEXY! USA USA USA!

Okay, maybe not.

As for the photos, maybe it is just the trifecta of bad grooming, bad fashion, and bad photography that makes them look like a horror movie about a hill tribe of mutant cannibals. My reaction was probably not helped by the fact that this particular Tumblr usually depicts attractive people from less scruffy eras, creating a painful contrast.