Massive Goods and Sausages and Bears, Oh My!

What could be a better way to close out Pride month than partying with queer bears of color at The Standard, High Line Biergarten, with a cameo from Takeru Kobayashi, the Coney Island hot dog eating champ? Nothing!

In conjunction with the five-year anniversary of Massive Goods, a lifestyle brand that boldly celebrates the canon of LGBTQ Japanese manga artists, friends and collaborators came to The Standard, Biergarten in droves to support expansive gender and sexuality rights. While partygoers sipped on Standard Brauhauses and munched on sausages, they talked to Standard Culture about the importance of the brand and what it means to them.

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Massive is about showing a new generation of Asian gays that it’s possible to be visible, trendy, and popular all at the same time. When Massive first started, we wanted to bring Japanese bara gay art to a more Western audience. The first people who were buying it were Asian gays who were seeing themselves outside of what was mainstream gay, so we made that concept the underline of our company, deciding to photograph only Asian models and showing people what it looks and feels like to be us. Moving forward, we want to be even more overt and unapologetic about who we are.

Even though I’m a cis female, I think it’s amazing to be strong, confident, and open in your sexuality. Massive reflects Japanese culture and the S&M vibe makes it stand out. If you look at New York City from a distance with a magnifying glass, it looks like everything is mixed, but if you take a closer look, the Asian-American experience is not really exposed. It’s about Asian queer visibility. As time goes by, the new generations should look at history and examine the people who have fought for our rights—that liberation is hard won. Massive is about being here, being queer, and being proud. And I mean, that drawstring shibari bag is everything!

I love that The Standard Biergarten is hosting all this gayness! It’s very important for queer persons of color and API (Asian Pacific Islander) because there is still so much repression when it comes to queerness. There needs to be an open forum where queerness can be celebrated in a fun and casual way. It’s about the human experience and community-building.

It’s important to have different modes of beauty and attraction out there. The more representation we have, the more empowered we feel. Massive executes that in a really confident way. It’s more important now than ever to support each other as a community.

Massive celebrates Japanese culture in so many ways. It dispels the concept of community being relegated to sexual fetishism. We are here. We want to represent positive Asian LGBTQ role models and show that we are powerful, strong, and have allure. We don’t want to be marginalized anymore.

This was my first time modeling for Massive, and it was fun showing my ass! I think it’s a brand that celebrates identity and expression for our community.

Living in an era of progressive regression, it’s important that we talk about male masculinity and sexuality. Massive represents hyper-masculinity and an “in your face” queer identity.

At the core, Massive is about inclusivity, love, and self-love. It’s about expression and being comfortable in your own skin.