Worldwide Roar Association – Formerly The Warwick Rowers – Are Back with Sexy 2022 Calendar

The Warwick Rowers are back, but under a new moniker. They are now the Worldwide Roar Association and are back with a 2022 calendar that is every bit as sexy as last year's.

In 2009 the Warwick Rowers – a British university rowing club – introduced a calendar of naked male rowers. It came because of a chance encounter between a straight athlete and an LGBT photographer. For 10 years, the project grew in popularity. With the support and encouragement of leading celebrities, politicians and activists, including Sir Ian McKellen, Stephen Fry, Kylie Minogue and many more, WR went on to become one of the leading voices in the "straight ally" movement.

Over the years, the calendar's success has been overwhelming, leading to films, digital downloads, art prints, clothing and luxurious coffee table books to the range of products available on the website.

In 2014, the growing sales funded the establishment of registered charity Sport Allies, which works to make sport a more inclusive environment for everyone. The Worldwide Roar remains the charity's key funder, as part of a continuing commitment to promoting inclusion through sport.

The WR story has been covered by the New York Times, the London Times, the Daily Mail, Good Morning America, The Jonathan Ross Show, Sunrise Australia, Good Morning Britain, What Happens Next, Heat magazine, Billboard magazine, The Advocate, Out, Gay Times, Attitude, DNA and many other tv and print media, as well as Buzzfeed, Huffington Post and countless other digital media outlets.

And with their new name, they are back with a new calendar for 2022. Out photographer Angus Malcolm once again took the shots. Like previous editions, the proceeds raised through sales of the calendar will help�Sport Allies, an association that produces digital campaigns to promote inclusion in sport

But why did the Warwick Rowers morph into the Worldwide Roar? Project founder and creative director, Angus Malcolm, explained on group's website:??"We started Warwick Rowers to challenge homophobia. But research at Sport Allies (the registered charity that now receives all WR profits) shows that homophobia is part of a bigger problem: hegemonic, heteronormative masculinity. I know that's a bit of a mouthful, but what it boils down to is that economically-privileged straight white men still get a different deal to everybody else. That has got to change. Of course we need to keep challenging homophobia and promoting LGBT rights, but we also need to address gender inequality and structural racism.

"Part of what perpetuates hegemonic masculinity is the lack of diversity in leadership in most areas of our society. We could not stand in front of the world as one small group with a relatively similar lived experience and ask the world to take advice from us. That's exactly what's been going on for much of history, and we don't want to be a part of that.

"We started from an authentic desire as a very small group of men who wanted to tackle the homophobia in sporting culture, which by the way remains a problem. But we have been on a journey of our own, and we have come to see that truly healthy versions of masculinity MUST embrace a broader range of more diverse perspectives. In particular, we must hear the voices of BIPOC, queer and trans communities. We could only do that by becoming the Worldwide Roar, so that men from all lived experiences could come together and share new ways to experience life as men."

Check out these pics from WR's IG, including pics from the 2022 calendar:??