Gay pornography
Encyclopedia
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
between men with the primary goal of sexual arousal
Sexual arousal
Sexual arousal, or sexual excitement, is the arousal of sexual desire, during or in anticipation of sexual activity. Things that precipitate human sexual arousal are called erotic stimuli, or colloquially known as turn-ons. There are many potential stimuli, both physical or mental, which can cause...
in its audience. There is also a tradition, and continuing considerable output, of lesbian pornography.
Although pornography
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
has usually represented the heterosexual orientation of the dominant culture, explicit gay material has a long history, reaching back to Greek antiquity
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
, if not to prehistory
Prehistory
Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...
. Practically every medium has been used to represent gay male sexual acts. In the modern world, however, the gay pornography industry is mostly concentrated in the making of home video
Home video
Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or rented/hired for home cinema entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc and, to a lesser extent, into methods of digital...
s, DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s, cable broadcast and emerging video on demand
Video on demand
Video on Demand or Audio and Video On Demand are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand...
and wireless markets, as well as images and movies for viewing on the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. Gay pornography comprises a disproportionately large part of the pornography industry.
History
Early modern in the United States
Homoeroticism has been present in photography and film since their invention. During much of that time, any kind of sexual depiction had to remain undergroundSubculture
In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...
because of obscenity
Obscenity
An obscenity is any statement or act which strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time, is a profanity, or is otherwise taboo, indecent, abhorrent, or disgusting, or is especially inauspicious...
laws. In particular, gay material might constitute evidence of an illegal act under sodomy laws in many jurisdictions. This is no longer the case in the United States since such laws were ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2003 in Lawrence v. Texas
Lawrence v. Texas
Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 , is a landmark United States Supreme Court case. In the 6-3 ruling, the Court struck down the sodomy law in Texas and, by proxy, invalidated sodomy laws in the thirteen other states where they remained in existence, thereby making same-sex sexual activity legal in...
.
However, hardcore pornographic motion pictures ("stag films," as they were called prior to their legalization in 1970) were produced relatively early in the history of film. The first known pornographic film of any kind appears to have been made in Europe in 1908. The earliest known film to depict hardcore gay (and bisexual) sex was the French film
Cinema of France
The Cinema of France comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad.France is the birthplace of cinema and was responsible for many of its early significant contributions. Several important cinematic movements, including the Nouvelle...
Le Menage Moderne Du Madame Butterfly
Le ménage moderne du Madame Butterfly
Le ménage moderne du Madame Butterfly is a bisexual, hardcore pornographic film from France. It is notable for being the earliest known adult film to incorporate bisexual and homosexual intercourse.-Background:...
, produced and released in 1920. Most historians consider the first American stag film to be A Free Ride,, produced and released in 1915. But in the United States, hardcore gay sexual intercourse did not make it onto film until 1929's The Surprise of a Knight
The Surprise of a Knight
The Surprise of a Knight is a gay, hardcore pornographic film from the United States. Released probably in 1929, it is notable for being the earliest known American pornographic film to depict exclusively homosexual intercourse.-Background:...
.
Nevertheless, legal restrictions meant that early hardcore gay pornography was underground and that commercially available gay pornography primarily consisted of pictures of individual men either fully naked or wearing a g-string
G-string
A G-string is a type of thong underwear or swimsuit, a narrow piece of cloth, leather, or plastic, that covers or holds the genitals, passes between the buttocks, and is attached to a band around the hips, worn as swimwear or underwear by women and men...
. Pornography in the 1940s and 1950s focused on athletic men or bodybuilders
Bodybuilding
Bodybuilding is a form of body modification involving intensive muscle hypertrophy. An individual who engages in this activity is referred to as a bodybuilder. In competitive and professional bodybuilding, bodybuilders display their physiques to a panel of judges, who assign points based on their...
in statuesque poses. They were generally young, muscular, and with little or no visible body hair. Those pictures were sold in physique magazines, also known as beefcake magazines
Beefcake magazines
Beefcake magazines were magazines published in North America in the 1930s to 1960s that featured photographs of attractive, muscular young men in athletic poses...
, allowing the reader to pass as a fitness enthusiast.
The Athletic Model Guild
Athletic Model Guild
The Athletic Model Guild, or AMG, was founded by gay pornography pioneer Bob Mizer in December 1945. During those post-war years, United States censorship laws allowed women, but not men, to appear in various states of undress in what were referred to, with a wink, as “art” photographs. Mizer began...
(AMG) founded by photographer Bob Mizer
Bob Mizer
Robert Henry Mizer , known as Bob Mizer, was an American photographer and filmmaker who was known for pushing societal boundaries in his work...
in 1945 in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, was arguably the first studio to commercially produce material specifically for gay men and published the first magazine known as Physique Pictorial in 1951. Tom of Finland
Tom of Finland
Touko Laaksonen, best known by his pseudonym Tom of Finland was a Finnish artist notable for his stylized androerotic and fetish art and his influence on late twentieth century gay culture. He has been called the "most influential creator of gay pornographic images" by cultural historian Joseph W...
drawings are featured in many issues. Mizer produced about a million images, and thousands of films and videos before he died on May 12, 1992. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the advent of 16mm film cameras enabled these photographers to produce underground movies of gay sex and/or male masturbation
Masturbation
Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation of a person's own genitals, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods. Masturbation is a common form of autoeroticism...
. Sales of these products were either by mail-order or through more discreet channels. Some of the early gay pornographers would travel around the country selling their photographs and films out of their hotel rooms, with advertising only through word of mouth and magazine ads.
The 1960s were also a period where many underground art film makers integrated suggestive or overtly gay content in their work. Kenneth Anger
Kenneth Anger
Kenneth Anger is an American underground experimental filmmaker, occasional actor and author...
's Scorpio Rising
Scorpio Rising (film)
Scorpio Rising is a 1964 experimental film by Kenneth Anger, starring Bruce Byron as Scorpio. Themes central to the film include the occult, biker subculture, Catholicism and Nazism; the film also explores the worship of rebel icons of the era, namely James Dean and Marlon Brando...
(1963), Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
's Blow Job
Blow Job (film)
Blow Job is a silent film, directed by Andy Warhol, that was filmed in January 1964. The 35-minute film is an innovative film, considering the time period. It depicts the face of an uncredited DeVeren Bookwalter as he receives fellatio from an unseen homosexual partner...
(1964) and My Hustler (1965), or Paul Morrissey
Paul Morrissey
Paul Morrissey is an American film director, best-known for his association with Andy Warhol.Morrissey attended Ampleforth College, a private Roman Catholic boarding school and Fordham University, both Roman Catholic schools, and later served in the United States Army...
's Flesh
Flesh (film)
Flesh is a 1968 film directed by American filmmaker Paul Morrissey.Flesh is the first film of the "Paul Morrissey Trilogy" produced by Andy Warhol. The other films in the trilogy include Trash and Heat. All three have gained a cult following and are noted examples of the ideals and ideology of the...
(1968) are examples of experimental film
Experimental film
Experimental film or experimental cinema is a type of cinema. Experimental film is an artistic practice relieving both of visual arts and cinema. Its origins can be found in European avant-garde movements of the twenties. Experimental cinema has built its history through the texts of theoreticians...
s that are known to have influenced further gay pornographic films with their formal qualities and narratives. Tyler Gajewski is a noted actor and model of the period who appeared in Warhol's and Morrissey's films, as well as in Mizer's work at the AMG. Also of note is Joe Dallesandro
Joe Dallesandro
Joseph Angelo D'Allesandro , better known as Joe Dallesandro, is an American actor, and Warhol superstar. Although he never became a mainstream film star, Dallesandro is generally considered to be the most famous male sex symbol of American underground films of the 20th century, as well as a sex...
, who acted in hardcore gay pornographic films in his early 20s, posed nude for Francesco Scavullo
Francesco Scavullo
Francesco Scavullo was an American fashion photographer best known for his work on the covers of Cosmopolitan and his celebrity portraits.-Biography:...
, Bruce of L.A.
Bruce Bellas
Bruce Bellas was an influential photographer of the physique of nude males. Bellas was well known under the pseudonym Bruce of Los Angeles.-History and Influence:...
and Bob Mizer, and later acted for Warhol in films such as Flesh. Dallesandro was well-known to the public. In 1969 Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine called him one of the most beautiful people of the 1960s, and he graced the cover of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine in April 1971. Dallesandro even appeared on the cover of The Smiths' eponymous debut album, The Smiths
The Smiths (album)
Before their debut album, single "What Difference Does It Make?" was released in January 1984. The track peaked at number 12 on the UK Singles Chart. Released in February 1984, The Smiths debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart....
.
Sexual revolution
During the 1960s, a series of United States Supreme Court rulings created a more liberalized legal environment that allowed the commercialization of pornography. MANual Enterprises v. Day, 370 U.S. 478Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(1962) was the first decision by the United States Supreme Court which held that magazines consisting largely of photographs of nude or near-nude male models are not obscene within the meaning of . It was the first case in which the Court engaged in plenary review of a Post Office Department
United States Post Office Department
The Post Office Department was the name of the United States Postal Service when it was a Cabinet department. It was headed by the Postmaster General....
order holding obscene matter "nonmailable." The case is notable for its ruling that photographs of nude men are not obscene, an implication which opened up the U.S. Postal Service to nude male pornographic magazine
Pornographic magazine
Pornographic magazines, sometimes known as adult magazines, sex magazines or top-shelf magazines are pornographic magazines that contain content of a sexual nature. Adult magazines are mainly aimed towards men, and in some parts of the world, many men's first sight of a naked woman has been in an...
s, especially those catering to gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
men.
Wakefield Poole
Wakefield Poole
Wakefield Poole is an American dancer, choreographer, theatrical director, and pioneering film director in the gay pornography industry from the 1970s and 1980s....
's Boys in the Sand
Boys in the Sand
Boys in the Sand is a landmark American gay pornographic film. The 1971 film was directed by Wakefield Poole and stars Casey Donovan. Boys in the Sand was the first gay porn film to achieve crossover success and one of the earliest porn films of any genre to gain mainstream credibility, preceding...
, starring Casey Donovan, can be considered one of the first gay pornography feature films, along with the works of filmmakers such as Pat Rocco and the Park Theatre, Los Angeles, California, circa 1970. Boys in the Sand opened in a theater in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in December 1971 and played to a packed house with record breaking box office receipts, preceding Deep Throat
Deep Throat (film)
Deep Throat is a 1972 American pornographic film written and directed by Gerard Damiano and produced by Louis Peraino and starring Linda Lovelace ....
, the first commercial straight pornography film in America, which opened in June 1972. This success launched gay pornographic film as a popular phenomenon.
The production of gay pornography films expanded during the 1970s. A few studios released films for the growing number of gay adult movie theatres, where men could also have sexual encounters. Often, the films reflected the sexual liberation that gay men were experiencing at the time, depicting the numerous public spaces where men engaged in sex: bathhouses
Gay bathhouse
Gay bathhouses, also known as gay saunas or steam baths, are commercial bathhouses for men to have sex with other men. In gay slang in some regions these venues are also known colloquially as "the baths" or "the tubs," and should not be confused with public bathing.Not all men who visit gay...
, sex club
Sex club
Sex clubs are either groups that organize sex related activities or an establishment where patrons can engage in sex acts with other patrons. A sex club differs from a brothel in that, while sex club patrons typically pay a fee to enter the club, they have sex with other patrons rather than with...
s, beach
Beach
A beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of an ocean, sea, lake or river. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles or cobblestones...
es, etc.
Peter Berlin
Peter Berlin
Armin Hagen Freiherr von Hoyningen-Huene is a photographer, artist, filmmaker, clothing designer/sewer, model and gay sex symbol best know by his stage name Peter Berlin. In the early to mid-1970s, Berlin created some of the most recognizable gay male erotic imagery of his time...
's 1973 film Nights in Black Leather was the first major pornographic film designed to appeal to the gay leather subculture
Leather subculture
The leather subculture denotes practices and styles of dress organized around sexual activities. Wearing leather garments is one way that participants in this culture self-consciously distinguish themselves from mainstream sexual cultures...
and drew some mainstream gays into this culture.
The 1960s and 1970s also saw the rise of gay publishing with After Dark
After Dark (magazine)
After Dark was an entertainment magazine that covered theatre, cinema, stage plays, ballet, performance art, and various artists, including singers, actors and actresses, and dancers, among others. First published in May 1968, the magazine succeeded Ballroom Dance Magazine...
and Michael's Thing. During this time many more magazines were founded, including In Touch and Blueboy
Blueboy (magazine)
Blueboy is a gay pornographic magazine with pictures of men in various states of undress, first published in California in 1975.Originally featuring more "softcore" images Blueboy is a gay pornographic magazine (founded by Elisandro Patino) with pictures of men in various states of undress,...
. Playgirl
Playgirl
Playgirl is a print quarterly adult magazine published in the United States that is marketed mainly to heterosexual women, but has also gained a considerable gay following...
, ostensibly produced for women, was purchased and enjoyed by gay men and feature full frontal nudity (the posing straps and fig leaves were removed).
1980s
The 1980s were a period of transition for gay pornography film. The proliferation of VCRs made pornography videos easily accessible, and, as their prices fell , the market for home videos aimed at adult viewers became more and more lucrative. By the mid-1980s, the standard was to release pornography movies directly on video, which meant the wide disappearance of pornography theaters. Furthermore, video recording being more affordable, a multitude of producers entered the market, making low-budget pornography videos.This shift from watching pornography as a public activity to doing so in private was also influenced by the discovery of HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
and the subsequent AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
crisis. Public spaces for sex, such as theatres, became less attended when in the early 1980s it became a much riskier behavior. Masturbatory activities in the privacy of the home became a safe sex
Safe sex
Safe sex is sexual activity engaged in by people who have taken precautions to protect themselves against sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS. It is also referred to as safer sex or protected sex, while unsafe or unprotected sex is sexual activity engaged in without precautions...
practice in the midst of this health crisis.
Gay movies of the 1970s had contained some exploration of novel ways to represent the sexual act. In the 1980s, by contrast, all movies seemed to be made under an unwritten set of rules and conventions. Most scenes would start with a few lines of dialogue, have performers engage in foreplay
Foreplay
In human sexual behavior, foreplay is a set of intimate psychological and physically intimate acts between two or more people meant to create desire for sexual activity and sexual arousal. Either or any of the sexual partners may initiate the foreplay, and they may not be the active partner during...
(fellatio
Fellatio
Fellatio is an act of oral stimulation of a male's penis by a sexual partner. It involves the stimulation of the penis by the use of the mouth, tongue, or throat. The person who performs fellatio can be referred to as the giving partner, and the other person is the receiving partner...
), followed by anal penetration, and ending with a visual climax close-up
Close-up
In filmmaking, television production, still photography and the comic strip medium a close-up tightly frames a person or an object. Close-ups are one of the standard shots used regularly with medium shots and long shots . Close-ups display the most detail, but they do not include the broader scene...
of ejaculating penis
Penis
The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...
es, called a "money shot" or cum shot
Cum shot
A cum shot, cumshot, come shot, pop shot, or money shot are slang terms used to describe a person ejaculating , usually onto a person or object. It is typically used by the cinematographer within the narrative framework of a pornographic film, and since the 1970s has become a leitmotif of the...
. Video technology allowed the recording of longer scenes than did the costly film stock
Film stock
Film stock is photographic film on which filmmaking of motion pictures are shot and reproduced. The equivalent in television production is video tape.-1889–1899:...
. Scenes were often composed of extended footage
Footage
In filmmaking and video production, footage is the raw, unedited material as it had been originally filmed by movie camera or recorded by a video camera which usually must be edited to create a motion picture, video clip, television show or similar completed work...
of the same act filmed from different shots
Shot (film)
In film, a shot is a continuous strip of motion picture film, created of a series of frames, that runs for an uninterrupted period of time. Shots are generally filmed with a single camera and can be of any duration. A shot in production, defined by the beginning and end of a capturing process, is...
using multiple cameras. The quality of the picture and sound were often very poor.
Major directors such as Matt Sterling, Eric Peterson, John Travis, and William Higgins set the standard for the models of the decade. The performers they cast were especially young, usually appearing to be around the ages of 22 or 23. Their bodies were slender and hairless, of the "swimmer's build" type, which contrasted with the older, bigger, and hairier man of the 1970s' gay pornography. Performer roles also evolved into the tight divisions of "tops" and "bottoms". The "top" in anal sex is the penetrating partner, who would typically have a more muscular body and the larger penis. The "bottom", or receiver of anal sex, would often be smaller and sometimes more effeminate. The stars of the decade were almost always tops, while the bottoms were interchangeable (with the exception of Joey Stefano
Joey Stefano
Joey Stefano was an American pornographic actor who appeared in gay adult films.-Early life and career:...
, a popular star, who was more of a "bottom".)
This strict division between "tops" and "bottoms" may have reflected a preference by some of the popular directors of the decade to hire heterosexual men for their movies. Heterosexual men who perform gay sex for monetary reasons (commonly labeled "gay-for-pay
Gay-for-pay
Gay-for-pay describes male or female actors, pornographic stars, or sex workers who self-identify as heterosexual but who are paid to act or perform as homosexual professionally. The term has also applied to other professions and even companies with the same core concerns and criticism in place...
") are considered a rare commodity in the gay sex trade, but the biggest producers of the decade could afford them. Many critics attributed the conventionalization of gay pornography of the 80s to this trend.
1990s
In 1989, director Kristen Bjorn
Kristen Bjorn
Kristen Bjorn is the stage name of a British director and producer of gay pornographic movies and a former gay pornographic actor....
started a pornographic business which was considered as setting a standard for gay pornography producers. He was a professional photographer, and the images in his videos were considered to be of high-quality. As a former porn star himself, he directed his models with care, which helped improved the actors' believability. Other directors had to improve their technical quality to keep up with demands from their audiences.
Another significant change during this decade was the explosion of the niche market
Niche market
A niche market is the subset of the market on which a specific product is focusing; therefore the market niche defines the specific product features aimed at satisfying specific market needs, as well as the price range, production quality and the demographics that is intended to impact...
.
Many videos began to be produced for viewers with specific tastes (i.e. for amateur pornography
Amateur pornography
Amateur pornography is a category of pornography that features models or actors performing without pay, or for whom this material is their first or only paid modeling work. Reality pornography is professionally made porn which seeks to emulate the style of amateur pornography...
, Military (Men in Uniform) pornography, transsexual performers, bondage
Bondage (BDSM)
Bondage is the use of restraints for the sexual pleasure of the parties involved. It may be used in its own right, as in the case of rope bondage and breast bondage, or as part of sexual activity or BDSM activity.- Private bondage :...
fetishes, performers belonging to specific ethnic groups, etc.), and this led to a diversification of the people involved in pornography production and consumption.
The gay pornography industry grew substantially in popularity during the 1990s, evolving into a complex and interactive subculture
Subculture
In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...
. Professional directors (such as Chi Chi LaRue
Chi Chi LaRue
Larry David Paciotti is an American film director of gay, bisexual and straight pornography. He is best known in his drag persona as Chi Chi LaRue and has also directed under the names Lawrence David and Taylor Hudson.- Career :...
and John Rutherford), technicians or deck operators during the U-matic
U-matic
U-matic is an analog recording videocassette format first shown by Sony in prototype in October 1969, and introduced to the market in September 1971. It was among the first video formats to contain the videotape inside a cassette, as opposed to the various Reel-to-Reel or open-reel formats of the...
phase of video technology, and performers started to engage in pornography as a career, their work sustained by emerging pornographic media and influential critics, such as Mikey Skee.
21st century
Sean Cody
Sean Cody is a gay pornographic film director and the founder of Seancody.com, his namesake gay-pornography film company. Cody's site is one of the top names in gay pornography pay sites and is famous for its quality movies featuring a large collection of young, muscular amateur men talking about...
, to the 'twinks
Twink (gay slang)
"Twink" is a gay slang term describing a young or young-looking gay man with a slender, ectomorph build, little or no body hair, and no facial hair. In some societies, the term chick or chicken is preferred. The related term twinkle-toes, which implies that a man is effeminate, tends to be used in...
' of Bel Ami
Bel Ami (adult film company)
Bel Ami is an gay pornographic film company with offices in Bratislava, Prague and Budapest. It was established in 1993 by filmmaker George Duroy, a Slovak native who took his pseudonym from the protagonist Georges Duroy in Guy de Maupassant's novel Bel Ami...
. Many niche genres and online delivery sites cater to various and changing interests. For instance much of Van Darkholme
Van Darkholme
Van Darkholme is a Vietnamese American gay pornographic actor, director, an artist and photographer.Darkholme is among the few Asian American men working in Western gay porn as a director and actor, and is of Vietnamese descent. His photos usually show him totally naked, with his genitalia...
's work contains bondage
Bondage (BDSM)
Bondage is the use of restraints for the sexual pleasure of the parties involved. It may be used in its own right, as in the case of rope bondage and breast bondage, or as part of sexual activity or BDSM activity.- Private bondage :...
and particularly shibari, the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese art of bondage and knot-tying, a specialty within BDSM
BDSM
BDSM is an erotic preference and a form of sexual expression involving the consensual use of restraint, intense sensory stimulation, and fantasy power role-play. The compound acronym BDSM is derived from the terms bondage and discipline , dominance and submission , and sadism and masochism...
cultures.
On the other hand, Lucas Kazan Productions
Lucas Kazan Productions
Lucas Kazan Productions was founded in 1998 by Lucas Kazan, the principle director and producer, and produces gay pornographic movies. The studio produces gay pornography with an emphasis on a high quality photography and has won several accolades over the years, including three GayVN Awards for...
successfully adapted literary classics: Decameron: Two Naughty Tales
Decameron: Two Naughty Tales
Decameron: Two Naughty Tales' is a gay pornographic film inspired by two 14th century novellas by Boccaccio as was directed by Lucas Kazan in 2005 and marks Kazan's second attempt to adapt a literary classic ."Kazan maintains a romantic, operatic air to his work that no other filmmaker can capture",...
is based on two
novels by Boccaccio, The Innkeeper on Goldoni's La Locandiera. Lucas Kazan
Lucas Kazan
Lucas Kazan directed Journey to Italy in 1997 for Men of Odyssey. Shortly thereafter he founded his own production company , with headquarters in Hollywood and a busy production schedule in the Mediterranean countries...
also found inspiration in 19th and 20th century operas,
combining gay porn and melodrama: The School for Lovers
School for Lovers (2006 film)
The School for Lovers is a gay pornographic film produced by Lucas Kazan Productions in 2006. Based upon the opera buffa Così fan tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and its libretto, as written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. The School for Lovers retells the story of two young couples and one indecent proposal...
, 2007 GayVN Award Winner for Best Foreign Picture, is in fact inspired by Mozart's Così fan tutte.
Some controversy currently exists regarding studios that produce bareback
Barebacking
Bareback is a slang term to describe acts of sexual penetration without the use of a condom.The term comes from the equestrian term bareback, which refers to the practice of riding a horse without a saddle...
(sex without condoms) videos. Mainstream companies, such as Falcon Entertainment
Falcon Entertainment
Falcon Entertainment , an United States company based in San Francisco, California, is one of the world's largest producers of gay pornography....
, Hot House Entertainment
Hot House Entertainment
Hot House Entertainment is a San Francisco-based gay pornography studio founded in 1993 by director Steven Scarborough. The company has several video lines and web properties. In 2002 Scarborough was honored at the GayVN Awards where he was inducted into the Hall of Fame; he also earned a spot on...
, Channel 1 Releasing, Lucas Entertainment, Raging Stallion
Raging Stallion
Raging Stallion Studios based in San Francisco, California, is a major adult film studio and one of the world's largest producers of gay pornography. It was begun by Chris Ward and J. D. Slater; Michael Brandon later became a co-owner. Michael Brandon starred in several Raging Stallion films...
, Lucas Kazan Productions
Lucas Kazan Productions
Lucas Kazan Productions was founded in 1998 by Lucas Kazan, the principle director and producer, and produces gay pornographic movies. The studio produces gay pornography with an emphasis on a high quality photography and has won several accolades over the years, including three GayVN Awards for...
and Titan Media
Titan Media
Titan Media is a San Francisco-based gay pornographic film company founded by director and cinematographer Bruce Cam in 1995.-Overview:The company grew to become one of the largest producers of gay adult content in the world...
and LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
health advocates assert that condomless videos promote unsafe sex and contribute to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, both in the pornography industry and in the gay community as a whole. The controversy dates back to the first few years of the HIV crisis, when nearly all gay pornography production companies voluntarily required their models to wear condom
Condom
A condom is a barrier device most commonly used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy and spreading sexually transmitted diseases . It is put on a man's erect penis and physically blocks ejaculated semen from entering the body of a sexual partner...
s for anal sex
Anal sex
Anal sex is the sex act in which the penis is inserted into the anus of a sexual partner. The term can also include other sexual acts involving the anus, including pegging, anilingus , fingering, and object insertion.Common misconception describes anal sex as practiced almost exclusively by gay men...
.
The premise of industry figures, notably Chi Chi LaRue
Chi Chi LaRue
Larry David Paciotti is an American film director of gay, bisexual and straight pornography. He is best known in his drag persona as Chi Chi LaRue and has also directed under the names Lawrence David and Taylor Hudson.- Career :...
, is that gay pornography serves as a leading forum for teaching safer sex skills and modelling healthy sexual behaviors. At least one bareback studio agrees that porn should promote healthy sexual behaviors, but disagrees on the definition of "healthy" in this context: speaking about the AIDS crisis, Treasure Island Media
Treasure Island Media
Treasure Island Media is a San Francisco-based gay pornography studio founded in 1998 by director Paul Morris and specializing in bareback films. The studio is named after Morris's favorite childhood book, Treasure Island. In addition to the original San Francisco office, T.I.M. has production...
owner and founder Paul Morris
Paul Morris
Paul Morris is the name of:* Paul Morris , former keyboardist for Rainbow* Paul Morris , educational writer who published an influential work on the Hong Kong School Curriculum in 1998...
has expressed his belief that, "To a great extent, the current gay mindset surrounding HIV is a result of a generation of men living with PTSD and not getting the support and help they need now that the war is over. [...] As a pornographer, all I can do in response is to produce work that features men who are openly positive (or negative) and happily living their lives honestly and fully."
Audience
Jenna Jameson
Jenna Jameson is an American entrepreneur and former pornographic actress, who has been called the world's most famous adult-entertainment performer and "The Queen of Porn."...
launched "Club Thrust", an interactive website featuring gay male pornographic videos, which was shown to attract a female audience as well. Yaoi
Yaoi
In careful Japanese enunciation, all three vowels are pronounced separately, for a three-mora word, . The English equivalent is . also known as Boys' Love, is a Japanese popular term for female-oriented fictional media that focus on homoerotic or homoromantic male relationships, usually created by...
comic books and slash fiction
Slash fiction
Slash fiction is a genre of fan fiction that focuses on the depiction of romantic or sexual relationships between fictional characters of the same sex...
are both genres featuring gay men, but primarily written by and for straight women. Some lesbian and bisexual women are also fans of gay male pornography, specifically yaoi, for its feminine-styled men.
Major gay porn studios
- COLT Studio GroupCOLT Studio Group-Overview:It has produced all-male erotica for over 40 years. Started in New York City in 1967, moved to Los Angeles for twenty five years and is now based in San Francisco, California...
- Channel 1 Releasing
- Falcon EntertainmentFalcon EntertainmentFalcon Entertainment , an United States company based in San Francisco, California, is one of the world's largest producers of gay pornography....
- Hot House EntertainmentHot House EntertainmentHot House Entertainment is a San Francisco-based gay pornography studio founded in 1993 by director Steven Scarborough. The company has several video lines and web properties. In 2002 Scarborough was honored at the GayVN Awards where he was inducted into the Hall of Fame; he also earned a spot on...
- Jet Set MenJet Set MenJet Set Men based in Los Angeles, California, and founded in 1994, is a major adult film studio and producer of gay pornography in the United States. The company produces for its main video line and maintains online properties...
- Lucas EntertainmentLucas EntertainmentLucas Entertainment is a New York-based gay pornographic studio started by porn star Michael Lucas. It is one of the largest such studios in the world. The studio is known for lavish, big-budget movies, and it contends that its 2006 film Michael Lucas' La Dolce Vita is the most expensive gay porn...
- Lucas Kazan ProductionsLucas Kazan ProductionsLucas Kazan Productions was founded in 1998 by Lucas Kazan, the principle director and producer, and produces gay pornographic movies. The studio produces gay pornography with an emphasis on a high quality photography and has won several accolades over the years, including three GayVN Awards for...
- Raging Stallion Studios
- Titan MediaTitan MediaTitan Media is a San Francisco-based gay pornographic film company founded by director and cinematographer Bruce Cam in 1995.-Overview:The company grew to become one of the largest producers of gay adult content in the world...
- Treasure Island MediaTreasure Island MediaTreasure Island Media is a San Francisco-based gay pornography studio founded in 1998 by director Paul Morris and specializing in bareback films. The studio is named after Morris's favorite childhood book, Treasure Island. In addition to the original San Francisco office, T.I.M. has production...
1970s
- Boys in the Sand (Wakefield Poole, 1971) is the first feature gay pornographic film to achieve mainstream crossover success; helped usher in "porn chic." Said to be "a textbook example of gay erotic filmmaking" that was screened in film festivalFilm festivalA film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...
s all over the world. - The Back Row (Jerry DouglasJerry DouglasJerry Douglas may refer to:*Jerry Douglas , actor, who was on The Young and the Restless for 25 years*Jerry Douglas, country/bluegrass musician*Jerry Douglas , director and writer of adult films such as, Score...
, 1972) is the first feature from award-winning director Douglas. Re-made by Chi Chi LaRue in 2001. Featured in Unzipped Magazines The 100 Greatest Gay Adult Films Ever Made (2005). - L.A. Plays Itself (Fred Halsted, 1972) is a movie by an influential director (read the chapter consecrated to it in Moore, 2004 for more) and is archived at the Museum of Modern ArtMuseum of Modern ArtThe Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
(MoMA), New York. - Nights in Black Leather (Richard AbelRichard AbelRichard L. Abel is Professor of Law , specialist in African Law Studies and renowned socio-legal scholar. He received his B.A. from Harvard University , his LL.B. from Columbia University and his Ph.D. from the University of London . He has been a member of the UCLA Law faculty since 1974...
and Peter Berlin, 1973) is an influential movie starring Peter Berlin. - Falconhead (Michael Zen, 1977) is still acclaimed by cultural critics as one of a few gay pornographic movies that tried to bring complexity to the blue movie. Inspired many contemporary pornographic directors (Morris, 2004). Featured in Unzipped Magazines The 100 Greatest Gay Adult Films Ever Made (2005).
- Dune Buddies (Jack Deveau, 1978) Hand in Hand Films, is a film by a prominent director and studio of the 1970s. Shot on the historically gay-friendly Fire Island, the film (and others of the company) document well the sexual lives of New York City's gay men of the period. Excerpts displayed in the documentaryDocumentaryA documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
Gay Sex in the 70s. - Joe GageTim KincaidTim Kincaid is an American film director, film writer and film producer often credited as Joe Gage or Mac Larson.-Biographical note:...
's wrote an influential trilogy of gay films, collectively referred to as either “The Kansas City Trilogy” or “The Working Man Trilogy” in the late 1970s. The films, Kansas City Trucking Co.Kansas City Trucking Co. (1976 film)Kansas City Trucking Co. is a 1976 gay pornographic film and the first in what has come to be known as directors Sam and Joe Gage's "Working Man Trilogy". The film was produced in San Francisco, and starred Richard Locke, Steve Boyd, and Jack Wrangler...
(1976), El Paso Wrecking Corp.El Paso Wrecking Corp. (1978 film)El Paso Wrecking Corp. is a 1978 gay pornographic film and the second in what has come to be known as director Joe Gage's "Working Man Trilogy". The film stars Richard Locke and Fred Halsted. Gage's "Working Man Trilogy" begins with Kansas City Trucking Co. , continues with El Paso Wrecking Corp. ,...
(1978) and L.A. Tool & Die (1979) were praised for their consistent portrayals of male/male sex occurring between rugged, masculine men who came from blue-collar and rural backgrounds and who related as “equal partners” - avoiding the frequent stereotypes of such men as effeminate inhabitants of urban gay neighborhoods, or who were caught up in a constraining “you play the woman, I’ll be the man” mindset of dominant/submissive roles.
1980s
- The Bigger The Better (Matt Sterling, 1984); one of Adult Video News' 10 Great Gay Movies.
- Les Minets Sauvages (Jean-Daniel CadinotJean-Daniel CadinotJean-Daniel Cadinot was a French director and producer of gay pornographic films.-Biography:Cadinot was born during WWII, in German-occupied Paris, in the Montmartre hill area of the Batignoles Quarter. His parents were tailors who custom fit clothes...
, 1984) is one of the biggest films of the influential French pornographic director. - The Other Side of Aspen series, beginning in 1983, is among the Adult Video News' top ten all time gay movies.
- My Masters (Christopher Rage, 1986) is one movie by a director that has influenced numerous gay artists
- Powertool (John Travis, 1986) is one of Adult Video News' 10 Great Gay Movies.
- Big GunsBig Guns (pornographic film)Big Guns is a gay pornographic film made in 1987 produced by the Laguna Pacific studio and distributed by Catalina Video.The cast included Chad Douglas, Chris Gray, Jeff Boote, Jeff Quinn, John Davenport, John Rocklin, Kevin Wiles, Kevin Williams, Mike Henson and Mike Ryan.The sequel "Big Guns 2"...
(William Higgins, 1988) Catalina VideoCatalina VideoCatalina Video is an award-winning production house of gay pornography, founded in 1978 by William Higgins. The company was primarily a distributor for Nova Studios in 1982. In 1987, Scott Masters was hired as its head of production, and he began making films for the studio...
; is one of Adult Video News' 10 Great Gay Movies. - Carnival in Rio (Kristen BjornKristen BjornKristen Bjorn is the stage name of a British director and producer of gay pornographic movies and a former gay pornographic actor....
, 1989); see History, 1990s section above.
1990s
- Idol Eyes (Matt Sterling, 1990) Huge VideoHuge VideoHuge Video is a gay pornography production company. The company was founded by Matt Sterling, a pornography director and producer.-Awards:* 1985 Gay Producers Association winner of Best Video and Best Cinematography with "Inch by Inch"....
is a movie with Ryan IdolRyan IdolRyan Idol is an American actor who performed in gay pornographic movies in the 1990s. He has French, Irish, and Native-American ancestry. Idol describes himself as "the creation of Marc Anthony Donais."-Biography:...
. Read Dyer, 1994 for more. - More of a Man (Jerry Douglas, 1994) All Worlds Video is a popular film with Joey Stefano (see History, 1980s section) also featuring Chi Chi LaRue in a non-sexual role. Read Burger, 1995 chapter for an extensive analysis.
- Flashpoint (John Rutherford, 1994) Falcon StudiosFalcon EntertainmentFalcon Entertainment , an United States company based in San Francisco, California, is one of the world's largest producers of gay pornography....
is an award winning film by major director Rutherford. Featured in Unzipped Magazines The 100 Greatest Gay Adult Films Ever Made (2005). - Frisky Summer 1-4 (George Duroy, 1995–2002) Bel Ami is one of Adult Video News' 10 Great Gay Movies.
- Flesh and Blood (Jerry Douglas, 1996) All Worlds Video is one of Adult Video News' 10 Great Gay Movies.
- Naked Highway (Wash West, 1997). The narrative and aesthetic qualities of this movie are representative of a new generation of pornographic directors. (Thomas, 2000:66) One of Adult Video News' 10 Great Gay Movies
- Three Brothers (Gino Colbert, 1998) Gino Pictures is a popular movie by influential director Colbert, starring the real-life Rockland brothers (HalHal RocklandHal Rockland is a former American pornographic actor who appeared primarily in gay pornographic movies....
, VinceVince RocklandVince Rockland is an award-winning, American performer, active between 1993 and 1999, and known primarily for his work in all-male adult films, although he also acted in other adult genres. Rockland's best-known film is Three Brothers, which costarred his two brothers, older sibling Shane Rockland...
, and Shane). Featured in Unzipped Magazines The 100 Greatest Gay Adult Films Ever Made (2005). - Descent (Steven ScarboroughSteven ScarboroughSteven Scarborough is an American director of gay pornography and the founder of Hot House Entertainment.- Career :Scarborough started directing at Falcon Studios in the summer 1988 with his first gay adult video Perfect Summer. Handing over the reins was his life partner and founder of Falcon...
, 1999) Hot House EntertainmentHot House EntertainmentHot House Entertainment is a San Francisco-based gay pornography studio founded in 1993 by director Steven Scarborough. The company has several video lines and web properties. In 2002 Scarborough was honored at the GayVN Awards where he was inducted into the Hall of Fame; he also earned a spot on...
is a popular gay pornographic video with infrequent artistic qualities, by a prominent director and studio. Created legal dispute in CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
when the government tried to forbid its distribution in the name of obscenity rules. - Skin GangSkin GangSkin Gang, directed by Canadian filmmaker Bruce LaBruce, follows the various sexual and violent escapades of several skinheads. The film raised a great amount of controversy when it premiered in 1999, as many viewers were disturbed by its violent and sexual content, and many critics within the gay...
(Bruce LaBruceBruce LaBruceBruce LaBruce is a Canadian writer, filmmaker, photographer and underground gay porn director based in Toronto, Ontario.-Biography:...
, 1999) Cazzo FilmCazzo FilmCazzo Film is the name of a German pornographic film studio based in Berlin. The company has been producing gay pornographic films since 1996.-History:Cazzo Film was founded in 1996 by and , and the first film to be released was Berlin Techno Dreams...
is a famous film by art/porn director LaBruce. Aired in gay film festivals around the world. - Fallen Angel (Bruce Cam, 1997) Titan Media is a major film by prominent director and studio. Featured in Unzipped Magazines The 100 Greatest Gay Adult Films Ever Made (2005).
2000s
- DreamBoy (Max LincolnMax LincolnMax Lincoln founded the British gay porn studio Eurocreme in 2002, in the same year that he directed and released 'DreamBoy'. This first film gave its name to the line of productions that made Eurocreme famous worldwide for high-quality productions.Max Lincoln has become one of the greats of...
, 2003) EurocremeEurocremeEurocreme is a European company based in London, England, that specializes in the production and distribution of gay pornographic films, generally featuring twinks, although it has also released a number of series devoted to studs and men of more diverse appearance.-History:The company was founded...
. Spawned a whole series of similarly titled films (for example, OfficeBoy, SpyBoy, and RentBoy) - Michael Lucas' Dangerous LiaisonsMichael Lucas' Dangerous LiaisonsDangerous Liaisons is a gay adult film directed by Michael Lucas and released by Lucas Entertainment in 2005. The film is a film adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, a novel written in 1782 by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos...
(Michael Lucas, 2005) Lucas Entertainment is the biggest production by this director and studio. Variously described as a film adaptationFilm adaptationFilm adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...
of Les liaisons dangereusesLes liaisons dangereuses (film)Les liaisons dangereuses is a 1959 French-language film, based on the 1782 novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. It was directed by Roger Vadim, and stars Jeanne Moreau, Gerard Phillipe, and Annette Vadim...
(1782), and a remakeRemakeA remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
of Dangerous LiaisonsDangerous LiaisonsDangerous Liaisons is a 1988 drama film based upon Christopher Hampton's play, Les liaisons dangereuses, which in turn was a theatrical adaptation of the 18th-century French novel Les Liaisons dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos....
(1988). - DawsonDawson (porn star)Dawson is an American porn star. His debut performance was in Dawson's 20 Load Weekend. The video went on to win 6 Bareback Video Spoogie Awards including Video of the Year, while Dawson received multiple awards including Best Newcomer and Hottest Bottom...
's 20 Load Weekend (Paul MorrisPaul MorrisPaul Morris is the name of:* Paul Morris , former keyboardist for Rainbow* Paul Morris , educational writer who published an influential work on the Hong Kong School Curriculum in 1998...
, 2004) Treasure Island MediaTreasure Island MediaTreasure Island Media is a San Francisco-based gay pornography studio founded in 1998 by director Paul Morris and specializing in bareback films. The studio is named after Morris's favorite childhood book, Treasure Island. In addition to the original San Francisco office, T.I.M. has production...
is a major production by infamous director Paul Morris. Created huge controversy because it is mainly composed of barebackBarebackingBareback is a slang term to describe acts of sexual penetration without the use of a condom.The term comes from the equestrian term bareback, which refers to the practice of riding a horse without a saddle...
sex. - Wrong Side of the Tracks (Chi Chi LaRue, 2006) Rascal VideoRascal VideoRascal Video was founded after famed porn star/director Doug Jeffries introduced Channel 1 Releasing studio owners Rob Novinger and Steven Walker to AVN Hall of Fame director Chi Chi LaRue in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1999...
is the largest production up to date by on of the most enduring pornographic directors of history. - Wet PalmsWet PalmsWet Palms is a gay pornographic serial produced for the U.S. market and originally distributed on a gay adult pay-per-view content web site....
Season One (Matthew Moore, 2004–06) Jet Set Productions pioneered pornography made for online delivery, using an episodic narrative structure based on TV soap operas. - Michael Lucas' La Dolce VitaMichael Lucas' La Dolce VitaMichael Lucas' La Dolce Vita is a gay pornographic remake of the Federico Fellini classic La dolce vita, directed by Michael Lucas and Tony Dimarco and released by Lucas Entertainment in 2006....
{Michael LucasMichael Lucas (director)Michael Lucas is an American-Russian-Israeli gay pornographic actor, director, activist, writer and the founder/CEO of Lucas Entertainment, New York's largest gay-adult-film company...
, 2006) At a budget of $250,000, Lucas Entertainment claims it to be the most expensive gay porn film ever made. It contained celebrity cameosCameo appearanceA cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
and attracted controversy with a lawsuit.
See also
- Bisexual pornography
- Lesbianism in eroticaLesbianism in eroticaDepiction of lesbianism has been a relatively common theme in erotic art and pornography throughout history. Studies indicate that heterosexual men were more aroused by depictions involving lesbian sex than they are by depictions of heterosexual activity, while heterosexual and lesbian women were...
- Gay-for-payGay-for-payGay-for-pay describes male or female actors, pornographic stars, or sex workers who self-identify as heterosexual but who are paid to act or perform as homosexual professionally. The term has also applied to other professions and even companies with the same core concerns and criticism in place...
- Gay male pulp fiction
- List of gay pornographic magazines
- List of male performers in gay porn films
- List of gay pornographic movie studios
- Portal:Pornography/Featured article/72
- Portal:Pornography/Featured article/73
Academic works
http://users.ipfw.edu/jehle/deisenbe/encyclopedia/pornography.pdf http://www.williamapercy.com/wiki/images/Pornography.pdfDocumentaries
- Beyond Vanilla. (Claes Lilja, 2001)
- Gay Sex in the 70s. (Joseph F. Lovett, 2005)
- That Man: Peter Berlin. (Jim Tushinski, 2005)
- Island. (Ryan Sullivan, 2010)