Sex for Sale~Prostitution, Pornography and the Sex Industry (17 page)

JOE A. THOMAS

submissive, and “degraded,” and was thus merely a stand-in for a woman. In this way (the argument goes) gay pornography merely reproduced heterosexual norms of violence and sexism.68 Convincing arguments have been made against this position.69 Gay men may easily identify with both performers in a sex scene; and the performers themselves do not always adhere to such rigid role identification. When performers slip easily between the roles of penetrator and penetrated, even within a single scene, the identification of the penetrated as subordinate and oppressed becomes purely syntactical and without relevance to social realities. While the straight porn industry has been criticized as exploitative of women, the lack of female performers in gay male porn argues against a simple extrapolation from straight to gay pornography. In fact, the pornographic depiction of a forbidden gay sexuality serves to subvert, rather than emulate, the highly gendered strictures of straight culture. Carl Stychin makes a strong argument for the liberatory potential of gay pornography, and he takes issue with the sweeping claims of the feminist critique of porn, which “when extended to gay porn, completely fail[s] to consider the basic differences and needs of a culturally and socially marginalized sexuality, and in fact mimics the traditional patriarchal views of sex and eroticism.”70

The casual acceptance of pornography into gay life also creates something of a political conundrum: when right-wing religious extremists are continually defining gays primarily in terms of radical sexual practices (such as in the “documentary”
The Gay Agenda
), does the popularity and broad acceptance of pornography play into the hands of right-wing religious extremists? To some degree, it probably does; but this negative should be balanced with the positive value of having one’s own sexual identity—rejected and stigmatized by the status quo—validated by seeing it played out in front of one’s very eyes. Public displays of same-sex affection like those enjoyed by heterosexuals are dangerous and generally forbidden for gays. Whereas the mass media constantly and openly affirm heterosexual identity, gay pornography is one of the few venues for seeing gay sexuality presented in a positive light.

N OTE S

My thanks to Butch Harris of Mannet.com, Harker Davis at AVN, and the contributors to the discussion forums at Atkol.com.

1. Jeffrey Escoffier, “Gay for Pay: Straight Men and the Making of Gay Pornography,”
Qualitative Sociology
26 (Winter 2003): 531–555, at p. 534. The high estimates of porn sales have been questioned recently;
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GAY MALE PORNOGRAPHY SINCE STONEWALL

a more conservative estimate is $1 billion; Brian Braiker, “Hard Times for the Porn Industry,”
Newsweek
(February 7, 2007).

2. Mickey Skee, “Tricks of the Trade,”
Frontiers
16 (August 22, 1997): 43.

3. Richard Dyer, “Male Gay Porn: Coming to Terms,”
Jump Cut
30 (1985): 28.

4. One study showed that 57% of gay porn magazines in the 1980s featured scenes from videos. David Duncan, “Trends in Gay Pornographic Magazines: 1960–1984,”
Social Science Research
73 (1989): 97.

5. Thomas Waugh, “Homoerotic Representation in the Stag Film, 1920–1940: Imagining an Audience,”
Wide Angle
14 (April 1992): 4–19.

6. Thomas Waugh,
Hard to Imagine: Gay Male Eroticism in Photography and
Film from Their Beginnings to Stonewall
, New York: Columbia University Press, 1996, p. 359.

7. Richard Dyer,
See It: Studies on Lesbian and Gay Film
, London and New York: Routledge, 1990, p. 171.

8. John D’Emilio and Estelle B. Freedman,
Intimate Matters: A History of
Sexuality in America
, New York: Harper & Row, 1988, p. 287.

9. George Csicsery, ed.,
The Sex Industry
, New York: New American Library, 1973, p. 197.

10. John R. Burger,
One-Handed Histories: The Eroto-Politics of Gay Male Video
Pornography
, New York: Harrington Park Press, 1995, p. 14.

11. Kenneth Turan and Stephen F. Zito,
Sinema: American Pornographic Films
and the People Who Make Them
, New York: Praeger, 1974, pp. ix, 141–143.

12. Turan and Zito,
Sinema,
p. 191.

13. Dennis Altman,
The Homosexualization of America
, Boston: Beacon Press, 1982, p. 88.

14. Frederick Lane III,
Obscene Profits: The Entrepreneurs of Pornography in the
Cyber Age
, New York: Routledge, 2000, p. 33.

15. Duncan, “Trends in Gay Pornographic Magazines,” p. 96.

16. Burger,
One-Handed Histories,
p. 25.

17. Jamoo,
The Films of Kristen Bjorn
. Laguna Hills, CA: Companion Press, 1997, pp. 22, 37; Dave Kinnick,
Sorry I Asked: Intimate Interviews with
Gay Porn’s Rank and File
, New York: Masquerade Books, 1993, p. 58.

18. Jamoo,
The Films of Kristen Bjorn
, pp. 17–19.

19. Marc Mann, “The ‘Daddy’ Genre in Gay Porn,” paper presented at the World Pornography Conference, Los Angeles, 1998. Marc Mann is both a performer in “daddy” niche market videos and the proprietor of Video Horizons in Laguna Beach, California. He reports that the products featuring young eastern European men are his best sellers and renters.

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JOE A. THOMAS

20. Mickey Skee,
Bad Boys on Video: Interviews with Gay Adult Stars,
Laguna Hills, CA: Companion Press, 1998, pp. 206–216.

21. Burger,
One-Handed Histories,
p. 25.

22. Burger,
One Handed Histories,
pp. 27–28.

23. Camille Paglia,
Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily
Dickinson
, New York: Vintage, 1991.

24. Susie Bright,
Susie Bright’s Sexual Reality: A Virtual Sex World Reader
, Pittsburgh: Cleis Press, 1992; Susie Bright,
Susie Bright’s Sexwise
, Pittsburgh: Cleis Press, 1995; Susie Bright,
Susie Bright’s Sexual State of
the Union
, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997.

25. Pat Califia,
The Advocate Adviser
, Boston: Alyson Publications, 1991.

26. Wyatt Buchanan, “Hub of All That’s Hot,”
San Francisco Chronicle
(February 23, 2007): E-1.

27. Lane,
Obscene Profits
, pp. 54–77, 121–48, describes the early history and rapid expansion of Internet porn.

28. Nina Hartley’s comments were made at a panel discussion at the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, Los Angeles, November 13, 1998.

29. James Williams, “Gay Porn for a Specific Audience: Mature and Uncut Men,” paper presented at the World Pornography Conference, Los Angeles, 1998. Williams is the owner of Altomar Productions.

30. Moore, Parker, “You Don’t Know Dick,”
Unzipped
(October 2001).

http://www.unzipped.net/features/0103/U0103_features_wadd.asp, accessed October 9, 2008.

31. Gregory A. Freeman, “In Search of Death,”
Rolling Stone
(February 6, 2003): 44–49.

32. Madeleine Holt, “HIV Scandal in Gay Porn Industry,” BBC2 Television, March 4, 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/727

7000.stm, accessed 11 October 2008.

33. Douglas Sadownick,
Sex Between Men: An Intimate History of the Sex Lives
of Gay Men Postwar to Present
, San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1996, p. 190.

34. Skee,
Bad Boys on Video,
pp. 173, 181, 193.

35. Chi Chi LaRue [Larry Paciotti] with John Erich,
Making It Big: Sex Stars,
Porn Films, and Me
, Los Angeles: Alyson Books, 1997.

36. Hal Rubenstein, “Bye-Bye Barbie: Ken Ryker Comes Out (And We Don’t Mean to Play),”
Genre
(October 1998): 38–41, 74–75.

37. David Groff, “Letter From New York: Fallen Idol,”
Out
(June 1998): 43–50; Eric Gutierrez, “Porn Again: Life After Skin Flicks,”
Out
(July 1997): 64–68, 105; Dan Levy, “Falcon Rising,”
Out
(July 1996): 73–75, 106–107.

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38. Awards for gay videos were initially presented along with straight at the annual AVN Awards starting in 1986. Producers started a separate show for gay awards in 1998, which is ongoing.

39. Skee, “Tricks of the Trade,” p. 43.

40. Jeffrey Escoffier, “Porn Star/Stripper/Escort: Economic and Sexual Dynamics in a Sex Work Career,”
Journal of Homosexuality
53 (2007): 173–200, at pp. 190–192.

41. Some documentary evidence does support this assertion, in addition to the anecdotal evidence. For instance, in the free Texas gay weekly
This
Week in Texas,
the issue of October 15–21, 1982, featured 61 bar ads, none of which mentioned male dancers. In the July 24–30, 1998 issue, almost half mentioned male dancers, although the total number of bar ads had diminished to 20.

42. In Ronnie Larsen’s 1997 documentary film
Shooting Porn,
a number of performers explained that video rarely paid the bills, but rather established a reputation for them to build on as escorts and dancers.

43. Jeffrey Escoffier, “Porn Star/Stripper/Escort,” p. 181; Gary Indiana,

“Making X: A Day in the Life of Hollywood’s Sex Factory,”
Village Voice
38 (August 24, 1993): 30; Minuk, “Sex, Guys, and Videotapes,” p. 20; Skee, “Tricks of the Trade,” p. 43.

44. Escoffier, “Gay for Pay,” analyzes the extensive use of heterosexual men in gay porn.

45. Escoffier, “Porn Star/Stripper/Escort,” p. 186.

46. “Working Stiffs,”
Unzipped
13 (October 1998): 13–27.

47. Scott Seomin, “Infomercial for a Hustler,”
Icon
(July 1997): 14–16; Indiana, “Making X,” p. 30.

48. Seomin, “Infomercial,” p. 15. Blake echoed this sentiment in Ronnie Larsen’s film
Making Porn
.

49. See Sharon Abbott’s chapter in this volume.

50. The local newspapers have acknowledged San Francisco’s new status as the capital of gay porn: see Buchanan, “Hub of All That’s Hot.”

51. James Spada,
The Spada Report: The Newest Survey of Gay Male Sexuality
, New York: New American Library, 1979, p. 135.

52. Austin Foxxe, “That Type of Guy,”
Frontiers
16 (August 22, 1997): 65–68.

53. Scott J. Duggan and Donald R. McCreary, “Body Image, Eating Disorders, and the Drive for Muscularity in Gay and Heterosexual Men: The Influence of Media Images,” in Todd Morrison, ed.,
Eclectic Views on
Gay Male Pornography: Pornucopia
, Binghamton, NY: Harrington Park Press, 2004, pp. 51–52

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54. Chelsey Johnson, “Dicks ‘n’ Dykes,”
Out
(March 2001): 68–73.

55. Morrison,
Pornucopia
, p. 204.

56. Benjamin Scuglia, “Sex Pigs: Why Porn is Like Sausage, or The Truth is That—Behind the Scenes—Porn is Not Very Sexy,” in Morrison, ed.,
Pornucopia
, p. 187.

57. Michael Warner,
The Trouble with Normal: Sex, Politics, and the Ethics of
Queer Life
, New York: Free Press, 1999, pp. 149–193.

58. Michael Bronski,
Culture Clash: The Making of Gay Sensibility
, Boston: South End Press, 1984, pp. 165–166.

59. Richard Dyer, “A Conversation About Pornography,” in Simon Shepherd and Mick Wallis, eds.,
Coming on Strong: Gay Politics and Culture
, London: Unwin Hyman, 1989, p. 210.

60. Charles Isherwood,
Wonder Bread and Ecstasy: The Life and Death of Joey
Stefano
, Los Angeles: Alyson Publications, 1996, p. 62.

61. Joe A. Thomas, “Notes on the New Camp: Gay Pornographic Video,” in James Elias, et al., eds.,
Porn 101: Eroticism, Pornography, and the First
Amendment
, Amherst, MA: Prometheus, 1999.

62. Bradley Moseley-Williams, “The Porn Boy Next Door,”
Icon
(July 1997): 27.

63. Robert Hofler, “The Men of Koo Koo Roo,”
Buzz
9 (January 1998): 65.

64. Producer and director Ronnie Larsen has made a cottage industry creating dramas and documentaries about the gay porn industry. His play
Making Porn
opened in Los Angeles in 1994 and toured nationally. He followed up with a documentary film in 1997,
Shooting Porn
. German director Jochen Hick’s 1998 film,
Sex/Life in LA,
and its sequel,
Cycles of
Porn: Sex/Life in LA 2
from 2005 documented several socioeconomic levels of gay sex work in Los Angeles; they made the rounds of all the major gay film festivals.

65. Richard Dyer, “Idol Thoughts: Orgasm and Self-Reflexivity in Gay Porn,”
Critical Quarterly
36 (1994): 1–54. Dyer gives an extensive list of films about making porn films, as well as an extensive analysis of this trend.

66. Daniel Harris,
The Rise and Fall of Gay Culture
, New York: Hyperion, 1997, pp. 124-–128; Michelangelo Signorile,
Life Outside—The Signorile
Report on Gay Men: Sex, Drugs, Muscles, and the Passages of Life
, New York: HarperCollins, 1997, pp. 145–146. Harris excoriates contemporary porn and compares it unfavorably with pornography from the seventies.

Signorile points out the elevated status of porn stars and their ideal physiques and connects it to gay men’s use (abuse in Signorile’s mind) of steroids and plastic surgery. They echo their condemnation in Hofler,

“The Men of Koo Koo Roo,” p. 78.

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67. Duggan and McCreary, “Body Image,” p. 53; Todd Morrison, Melanie Morrison, and Becky Bradley, “Correlates of Gay Men’s Self-Reported Exposure to Pornography,”
International Journal of Sexual Health
19

(2007): 33–43.

68. John Stoltenberg, “Gays and the Propornography Movement: Having the Hots for Sex Discrimination,” in Michael Kimmel, ed.,
Men Confront
Pornography
, New York: Meridian Books, 1991; Christopher Kendall,

“Real Dominant, Real Fun: Gay Male Pornography and the Pursuit of Masculinity,”
Saskatchewan Law Review
57 (1993): 21–58; Christopher Kendall,
Gay Male Pornography: An Issue of Sex Discrimination
, Vancouver: UBC Press, 2004. Kendall makes unreasonable claims about the industry as a whole based on very limited examples of unusual sadomasochistic porn.