The room is dark and perhaps intimidating, and men in chaps sit on stools around a bar with a friendly (and usually shirtless) guy slings drinks. Located on Halsted Street, the bartenders here have seen people of all kinds walk through the door, from the macho mustaches to the giggling girls wandering in from next door Kit Kat. However, the Cell Block is probably the softest approach to the leather world. With its dark fa'ade and daunting name, you might hesitate going in. One of Chicago's well-known leather bars is the Cell Block. Just leather in all shapes and sizes: everything from a simple leather jacket to a full-on leather outfit. (In fact, many conjecture that the leather world emerged from the biker culture in the late 1940s.) There are no Harleys involved here though. If you're unfamiliar with this scene, think of the stereotypical biker bar.
There are entire subcultures dedicated to expressions of masculinity and the body 'anti-image.' Take, for example, the leather culture. If you think all gay men are lisping, fashion-conscious, and limp-wristed, you'd be sorely mistaken.
