For me there's nothing sexier than guys in jockstraps having sex, or wrestling, or flexing their muscles and showing off. The jockstrap is a total symbol of Masculinity. It comes from the sweaty, macho world of gymnasiums, locker rooms and fraternities. It's the only part of a man's wardrobe that hasn't been appropriated by high fashion or women. Therefore it fits perfectly into my fetish universe.

The first time I photographed someone with a jockstrap over his face was a couple of years ago when I was working on my "Wigger" series (published in PREF no. 9 in 2005). The model was my boyfriend Brian who shares my jockstrap fetish. He was kneeling on the floor with his neck stretched out, wearing nothing but two jockstraps and a bunch or wristbands, and looked like a muzzled dog. The name of the series comes from that very first photo.

Since then, the whole thing has turned into an ongoing project and every time I shoot someone new I let them play with jockstraps and be as experimental as they want. The way they style themselves is also the way they express their characters, personalities and sexuality. It's like a ritual, an initiation into a secret fetish cult. The Cult of the Jockstrap Dogs. It's always personal and always sexy.
Slava Mogutin, March 2005

Yaroslav "Slava" Mogutin was born on 12 April 1974 in Kemerovo, Siberia. When he was 18 and had moved to Moscow, he wrote literary reviews for the press, and then interviewed for Moscow's most popular daily newspapers and magazines. While at it, he published a few essays. The first one, "How I used to shoplift in Paris," dedicated to Jean Genet opened the doors of a few publishers in search of new talent. As censorship knew a providential respite, Mogutin took advantage of this brief improvement and imposed himself as the first gay journalist and writer in post-Perestroika Russia. Now he lives and works in New York City.

A hardcover collection of Slava Mogutin's photography in scheduled to be published this fall by Powerhouse Books (www.powerhousebooks.com)

For more info please visit www.slavamogutin.com