Nasty Pigs & Sodomy Gods
The fleeting intimacy of David Lauterstein
A Substack-exclusive interview with Nasty Pig founder and CEO David Lauterstein, for his new book Sodomy Gods.
The Nasty Pig brand is ubiquitous with The Gays™. It’s become shorthand for sex-positivity and kink. Usually, when I see an OnlyFans model with their legs in the air, they’re wearing Nasty Pig socks. In the era of PrEP, “no loads refused,” and rainbow capitalism, it can be a little difficult to understand how groundbreaking Nasty Pig was when it burst onto the scene. Still reeling from the AIDS crisis, there was so much shame around Gay sexuality that to declare yourself a “Nasty Pig” was a very bold statement. While the brand has grown into a behemoth, it’s still managed to retain this edge.
CEO David Lauterstein has just published his memoir on the creation of Nasty Pig and a very specific era of NYC. I recently caught up with David to ask a couple of questions about Sodomy Gods.
You just published a memoir, Sodomy Gods. What a name! What is a piece of trivia, or dirty story or embarrassing event that did not make it to the book but that you wish had?
Sodomy Gods is the love story of how Nasty Pig came to be. It’s the story of the love between my husband Frederick Kearney and me, our love of fashion, and our shared love of our community.
The memoir covers my life from 1993-1996(ish). Everything I wanted to say about that time period is already in the book! That being said, there’s almost thirty more years of trivia, dirty tales, and - most importantly - love stories to come.
Gay sex is always in flux because of medical, legal, political and culture shifts. What do you see as the most important changes to Gay and Queer sex from when NP started to now?
When Nasty Pig started, it was a response to the AIDS epidemic. So many of our queer ancestors had been dying, and our community had developed a strong sense of shame around our sexuality. Nasty Pig was a rallying cry to allow gay men to own their sexuality through clothing and products that made them feel sexy and empowered.
Today, we have so many more genders and sexualities being represented. It is truly incredible how younger generations are moving culture forward by authentically being themselves. When society changes, there is always a backlash- we see conservatives using our progress as a way to galvanize those who are not part of our movement around unfounded fears. But we are necessary to the fabric of society and we stand as examples of new ways to live, to be joyous, and to love.
What do you predict will be the biggest changes to Gay and Queer sex 10 years from now?
I can’t predict the future, but I hope that more gay and queer people take time to reflect on the gift our sex can truly be. Yes we can all fuck wildly and do whatever we want, but I think it’s a true blessing that we can meet each other, get naked in the moment, and connect in ways that our straight counterparts haven’t been able to access like we do. We often make friends through sex, we close deals through sex, we find joy through sex.
I call this energy “fleeting intimacy” - we can meet, get vulnerable, connect, then disappear from each other - only to meet again a couple of years later and get right back into that same space. More intimacy would be great. I may be known for championing sex positivity, but in the deepest parts of my psyche, I am a champion for love.
A taste of Nasty Pig’s campaigns
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