Seeing Your Friends' Dicks: Inside Detroit’s Most Private Men’s Club

For a decade, an underground group of men has gathered to explore intimacy without penetration — reshaping how connection and consent can look

Published: January 16, 2026 | Last Updated: January 16, 2026

The latent homoeroticism in male friendship is having a moment. In early 2025, comedian and artist Jordan Firstman's music video "I Wanna See My Friends Dicks" went viral, turning curiosity about male bodies into a campy celebration of bro-love. But in Detroit, a group has been exploring this territory seriously — and privately — for a decade.

Motor City Jacks is part of a nationwide network of "Jack clubs" where men gather for mutual masturbation and non-penetrative intimacy. The rules are clear: no oral sex, no penetration. What happens within those boundaries is up to members to discover.

“We’re easy and low-hanging fruit,” said current leadership team member Gerald in an interview with Pride Source (he asked his last name be redacted for privacy). “I think we attract a group of people that like to play with rules. You’re restricted to learning how to get someone off without blowing them,” he said.

Gerald said Jacks gives their members a “sandbox” and says “get creative.” Whether it’s through learning how a fellow member gets off from being “touched on the nape of their neck” or other “different levels of intimacy” all of this “takes away a lot of pressure from sex parties.”

“You don’t have to be hard, you don’t have to get off,” he said.

His affirmations of their low-stakes encounters follows suit on their website, which states Jacks is “a community that honors mutual respect, discretion and consent, ensuring a comfortable experience for all members” during circle jerk and group masturbation sessions. The site’s FAQs confront the legality of the organization and the rules of play, all to calm the nervousness of potential members. One posted FAQ reads: “I do not identify as gay, will I fit in?” Jacks responds that masturbation isn’t tied to orientation — the group simply consists of men who enjoy self pleasure alongside other men. “Nearly 40% of members identify as straight or bisexual,” they claim on the website.

Members of Motor City Jacks. Courtesy photo

A Detroit outpost of the Jacks' network throughout the U.S., Motor City Jacks began gathering unofficially in 2014 and formally established the organization in 2015. They're celebrating their 10th anniversary in 2026 — a year later than the calendar would suggest, since they suspended operations for a full year during Covid. “I made a friend on ‘the Facebook of masturbation,’” Detroit-based Drake Collins told Pride Source, referencing BateWorld — a digital platform that touts itself as “the biggest masturbation community online for men.” Collins recalled gathering an intimate group of ’baters in a hotel room, inspired by the connective tissues of non-penetrative brotherly socializing. He recognized the value of in-person connection over the stagnation of video chats, seeing how the safety of solo play could translate into a group setting.

“We didn’t have the official ground rules then,” said Collins. Although it was always a masturbation-only scene, “it was all very interactive” and the space “set aside a unique place beyond the typical bathhouse, public environment where many people will try to push further.” Collins noted various layers of intimacy: “You have the folks that wear the red wrist band that watch other people and don’t touch other people, all the way to people stroking each other and making out. It runs the gamut for everybody, even for the same people from session to session.” Additionally, Collins affirmed the group’s role in supporting straight men: “It’s not considered sex, so it’s different in their own sexual expression.”

When Collins first launched Motor City Jacks, he recalled the group being met with unsavory attention. On the day of one event, Collins said a hotel cancelled on them and banned them from returning. There was also the time a member had called into the podcast “Dave & Chuck the Freak Podcast" to talk about the group. “We had several members very anxious about this,” said Collins about the episode’s acknowledgement of their activities. The podcasters regularly cover and mock indecent occurrences in Detroit, whether it’s public sex charges or callers tuning in to report indiscretions they’ve experienced or witnessed. At the time, Collins thought about calling in: “They read through the website [on air].” He described the hosts as “hopeless straight guys [who] don’t understand the rules.” His response to members fearing a police raid or getting caught after this episode? “Nothing we do is illegal!”

The paradox has always been tricky: Motor City Jacks needs to recruit new members and build community, yet discretion is essential for protecting both out and closeted men. The leadership has learned to navigate this tension, being simultaneously cautious and bold about what they do.

“I’m very vocal about [Motor City Jacks] in any social setting,” said Collins. Along with this individual promotion in social networks, the club is on BlueSky, BateWorld and many other adult connection websites. Yet their most advantageous communication is their mailing list: “We have 1000s of people, and now I have visibility to see where everyone's IP addresses are from, and fortunately or unfortunately, it's people all over the world that get our emails,” said Gerald, who took over from Collins in 2020. Along with longtime regulars, “it’s often just curious people in general,” said Gerald.

Collins retired from the leadership of Motor City Jacks after a long succession process. With his focus on graduate school and other life commitments, he sought to carefully transition management of the group to someone else. Of course, there was fear in the group falling apart without Collins. “He put it in good hands, if I can toot my own horn,” said Gerald, who’d only been to Jacks once and noted that Collins’ was purposeful in preserving his legacy.

Since taking over, Gerald's goal has been to make Jacks "a household name" and to ensure "potential members didn't view it as a seedy or scary event." That mission comes into focus with their upcoming 10th anniversary party on Feb. 22 in Detroit. Gerald described the upcoming celebration as “incorporating all the great themes of brotherhood, including a cum-shot contest, tighty whities, toys and more.” This is all “to showcase what Jacks is all about, and join the feral fraternity / ‘bate brotherhood.’”

With the party and year ahead, Jacks is pushing for the progressive success of their group play activities. Some goals as they forge ahead: to create excitement for younger members, bring in new fetish activities to continue their adaptable nature and always keep a multifaceted approach. “Gerald just asked me if I’d lead a wrestling group,” said Collins of the group’s motivation to extend beyond regular masturbation sessions.

Part of their new approach is outreach across the country as well: “We’re so inspired by all the other ‘bate clubs, leaders all over the world, and hoping that we get representation [from them] at the event,” said Gerald. Their February event is a “new-member recruitment drive.” Their goal, of course, is to remain at their roots: “We’re reclusive in a lot of ways,” said Gerald, but that is part of their strength: “That we do it in real life is the differentiator.”

Wherever and however gay sex is shaped by the modern world, this private club underscores the essential nature of sexual connection. Our shared queer history is steeped in the need for succession and continuity. Motor City Jacks carries that legacy forward. Their message is simple: seeing our friends’ dicks is part of how we survive.