Crude Boys Oil Wrestling in the Castro

Gay men slathered in canola oil staged a series of wrestling matches in the Castro this afternoon to raise money for gulf wildlife relief. "How noble is that?" one man commented, as he watched the spectacle from across the street. "It's not just gratuitous nudity," another bystander noted. "It's cool." Dressed only in their underwear, pairs of well-muscled men took turns pouring vegetable oil over each other and then grappling together on top of a large mattress covered with a plastic sheet. ("Always use protection!" the announcer noted.) Volunteers took turns commenting on the matches through a large bullhorn and asking for cash donations from the crowd. There were about thirty bystanders by three o'clock, a few of them tanned and completely naked, in good Castro fashion, except for clusters of leaves adorning their genitals. The "Crude Boys Oil Wrestling"t matches, part of this week's Faetopia queer ecology exhibit on crude oil dependence, were raising money for The Florida Wild Mammal Association, organizer Kyle DeVries said. The wrestling will continue until 6 p.m. on Sunday. Photos and text byLois Beckett.