Gay porn dispute is heating up
Everyone masturbates. Now with the Internet, there’s something to literally provide different strokes for different folks. However, people are quick to hop on a soapbox and attack porn and erotica based on morality. Porn is able to show people what they like and give them a greater understanding of sex.
However, in the realm of adult entertainment, gay porn is unique. The lion’s share of gay porn stars identify as straight. This sends some very mixed messages about consent, attractiveness and sexual orientation. The movement toward and demand for bareback porn encourages risky behavior and sometimes even fetishizes HIV transmission. Bear in mind, this isn’t a call-to-arms against gay porn, but it’s good to be mindful of our consumption and its repercussions.
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It’s counter-intuitive that the bulk of gay porn stars aren’t gay. Isn’t the whole point to watch hot guys getting it on? Shouldn’t their actual enjoyment be part of the process? Instead, it seems like what makes them hot is that they’re straight. The straight obsession is strange. It’s the ultimate want for what you can’t have. But in porn, this unrequited attraction comes to a happy ending. The coach, best friend or handyman are all secretly dying for dick. Watching heterosexually identified men blowing each other, getting fucked and losing their “virginity” seems gratifying on some level. Whether wish fulfillment, emotional processing or honoring some unrequited sexual attraction, it’s helped make gay porn a booming business. Sites like Sean Cody, Corbin Fisher and Broke Straight Boys are built around recruiting straight men into gay sex. Stars like Cody Cummings make a successful living off of toeing the line. Gay men anxiously await to see what they’ll do next. Even mainstream straight porn actors make the switch for more money.
The problem is that this encourages unhealthy expectations of sexuality. Sure, some men may be closeted, but that doesn’t mean that all straight-identified men are dying to go to the guy-on-guy area of pound town. It encourages gay men to sexualize straight guys who are clearly not emotionally available and may potentially respond with violence. It also is the reverse side of homophobia. In the same way high school bullies accuse men of being gay, gay men analyze straight men for some sort of weak point to prove that they like men. Sexuality is complex and personal; even if someone might have an attraction, it doesn’t mean that they’re interested in you.
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Having the sexual attractiveness of “straight men” super-charged by their being unavailable warps expectations of what it means to be attractive. It’s strange that you may have not played sports when you were younger given the “Lord of the Flies” climate of the playground, but suddenly you’re expected to have a body like an athlete. There’s also pressure to “butch up” in the bedroom. You’re meant to drop your voice a few octaves or put on an act to match porn stars who are actually putting on an act. Reinforcing this view that “straight is great” only reinforces the homophobia. If gay men are demonizing, gender policing and shaming gay men for acting a certain way, the implication is that it’s wrong.
This only thing proven by the whole straight-porn obsession is that there are disenfranchised young straight men all over the United States that need money. They’re willing to make a change that will affect their entire lives to help their families. For example, Sean Cody actor Robert Marucci was temporarily expelled from high school because he was bullied over his time in the adult industry. There’s nothing wrong with doing porn, but should someone not old enough to drink make a decision that defines their life? Given the insanely long shelflife of Internet porn, will this affect him when he’s 30 or 40 years old? It affects tons of heterosexual men, and is this blurry line of consent a turn on? More sites are creeping up that capitalize on the fantasy of blurry consent. Straight men, lured into gay porn with money.
Despite the debate over bill AB 1576 requiring condoms in porn, there still is a growing number of gay porn producers moving toward bareback porn. Sean Cody, Corbin Fisher, Lucas Entertainment and smaller studios have all started making bareback videos. The obvious appeal is you can’t be as free with unsafe sex in your daily life if you’re concerned with sexual safety. However, scientists often discuss how the “mirror neuron system” relates to porn consumption. It’s the part of your brain that makes you want to simulate something you see other humans do. Watching two healthy, athletic, sexy gentlemen have unprotected sex without reprisal may lower your inhibitions in your personal life. There is also a growing fetish of HIV-conversion. It may seem strange to get-off imagining HIV-negative men contracting the virus on video, but that’s the premise of the Treasure Island Media film, “Viral Loads.” To each his own, whatever gets you off is your business, but this can become a public health issue. If some men are lulled into a sense of complacency about unsafe sex while others get turned on by the idea of giving HIV to someone, it’s obvious what would happen when they meet.
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A recent German study said the part of the brain associated with feeling rewards is smaller in people who consume a lot of porn. This makes sense. People often use ecology and animal behavior to make the argument men aren’t hardwired for monogamy. But aren’t male creatures often meant to court and chase their mates? If it’s instantly provided, like with porn, there’s orgasmic release without satisfaction. Porn is easily accessible via our televisions, computers and phones. The gay community has also extended that to actual sex partners. Now you can meet someone on a hookup site, chat line or app. But is it satisfying? It seems like the thrill of the chase becomes a solitary activity with men chasing disembodied torsos, penises and holes like some sort of warped anatomical video game.
The reason this porn debate is so important is that there is a thin line between gay porn and gay “culture.” Gay porn stars become celebrities and even mainstream actors. Gay films also face a pressure to sex it up. The challenge with this sex-obsessed subculture of gay men is there is a thin line between sex positivity and sex addiction. Gay sex addicts have trouble diagnosing their addiction if everyone around them is having sex. It’s hard to establish healthy boundaries and worthwhile relationships if sex is so out in the open. Like with any addiction, some sex can inevitably become about “chasing the dragon” with people pushing themselves further and further to chase that high. Shouldn’t fisting be something shared between two loving individuals rather than something just casually done?
In all seriousness, this is not a manifesto against porn or gay porn specifically. It can be difficult to find a satisfying relationship, so jerking off isn’t the worst thing in the world. If a cute guy wants to pay for college by doing porn, let him. But like with most things in our society, too much of a good thing can be bad. Like your mom used to say, too much television will rot your brain.
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In this case, if you watch too much porn, it may warp your understanding of attraction, sexual orientation and sexy health habits. It also may literally warp the part of your brain that feels satisfied. This is not to say that anything in porn should necessarily change, but we as individuals should make more thoughtful choices and be mindful of how the porn we’re consuming may shape how we see the world, and furthermore, how those changes may affect others.
