A touch, not so gentle

Wrestling is a special sport. One of the oldest olymptic disciplines, recommended in Islam for physical training, and through decades after the Second World War due to the physical proximity between men advanced to the gay fetish sport number one. Wrestling is also special because it is a combat sport where injury to the opponent is not intended. Collateral damage does occur, of course. Wrestling is all in all quite painful.
The photos were taken over a period of several months at the ASV Heros in Dortmund, one of the most traditional wrestling clubs in Germany, which today is far from emulating former glory.
The strong physical closeness, which is strongly associated with homoeroticism, as well as the effort and contact with the sweat of others, which one cannot escape in wrestling, are exciting motifs.
In this context, physical closeness, which is commonly connoted as homoerotic, is at odds with patriarchal patterns that continue to exist, which I had the idea were reflected in the strongly Muslim character of the club members.