Horse, I think they're seen as campy today. But back when I was young, there really was no easily accessible gay porn as it was illegal until the 70s. So your only option for arousal was hoping there would be a man with one of the girls in your father's Penthouse magazine. TofF was arousing because, in many cases, it was the ONLY access a young gay person had to anything remotely acknowledging what they were feeling. It was presented as beefcake back then, which was legal. It was homoerotic, but not overtly gay.
Different times...before that, everyone relied on the underwear section of the Sears catalog.
Art has a double face, of expression and illusion.