Feb
8
The ‘Zen Beauty’ of All-Male Porn
February 8, 2010 | 6 Comments
Author Sam Benjamin has penned an intriguing essay for Sex Is magazine. Titled “Shoot: The Education and Evolution of a Pornogapher,” Mr. Benjamin details how and why he burned out after a half-decade helming straight porn, quit the biz, and returned as a director of all-male erotica. You might recognize him as the author of the memoir Confessions of an Ivy League Pornographer, published last year. “Though gay and straight porn may appear distinct from one another mostly due to the various orifices which receive the majority of the camera’s gaze, the most important difference was that they felt governed by subtly different moral tenets,” he writes. When he returned to the skin biz, Mr. Benjamin, who is heterosexual, experienced a small epiphany. “Gay porn, in fact, was so goddamn simple that is approached a type of Zen beauty. I mean, this was guys taking on guys… for the most part in good humor and absentminded lust. They may have stuck to the roles of ‘tops’ and ‘bottoms,’ but in the dressing room, we all seemed equals. Everyone laughed at me for being a straight guy shooting gay porn… But we all laughed about it. We all seemed like friends,” he notes. “The sadness and degradation I had come to associate with my job, with videotaped sex for money, was suddenly absent. I’m saddened to think that the only path to the absence of hostility and anger in porn is to remove women from the equation.” CLICK HERE to read the entire piece and then come on back share your thoughts. (I haven’t yet tracked down Mr. Benjamin’s nom de gay porn yet. He says he was active in 2004 and ’05 and must have worked way below the radar.)
[Image pinched from SexIs mag.]
Comments
6 Comments so far
I’m so glad that an industry insider spoke out about how degrading straight porn is. I’m accused of being heterophobic when I discuss my dislike for straight porn so I’m thrilled to see a heterosexual man say the same things. I’ve had limited exposure to straight porn, but what I’ve seen has sickened me. The outright hostility to women, and the humiliating and degrading way it’s filmed shocked me. Not only that, but the way the male performers talked about the women was atrocious. I couldn’t get over the misogyny in straight porn. No wonder many women only watch gay porn.
This is also the industry that continues to endanger the women (and the men) by insisting on condom free sex. I know the blood tests are said to be more stringent, but the rates of infection and STDs (according to CA papers and dept. of health stats) are increasing in straight porn and the amount of false negatives can not be discounted. What does it say about an industry that says women aren’t worth protecting? And what does it say about the gay porn studios who allow their male performers to engage in condomless sex with women?? Homphobic and sexist all in one.
The misogyny aspect of straight porn plays itself out in gay porn when you have g4pers who show on-camera hostility for their gay scene partners. I find it just as degrading to see a gay man treated like shit at the hands of an obviously straight man.
There was an article on why women think straight men should watch gay porn a couple of months ago that I can’t find but seems to have been picked up in syndication, as a variant without the witty commentary appears here: http://www.yourtango.com/200920777/gay-porn-can-teach-men-about-straight-sex. The gist seems to be that gay men are more into each other and not just getting off, and one of the more interesting remarks that stuck with me was that the men in gay porn kiss each other, which the article suggested is a rarity in straight porn (but I dunno, I’ve only ever watched a couple of straight flicks).
That said, of course the conversation will devolve into a finger-pointing discussion about barebacking. The straight side of the biz accepts the reality of porn viewers and it being all about what they want to see. So, instead of dwelling on the singular topic of condoms (no doubt, there will be many opportunities to revisit the topic), does anybody have anything to say about the emergence of so many g4pers and why this is becoming so popular among gay consumers? More on point, why are we letting go of what makes gay porn different as Sam Benjamin suggests? Is it just consumers’ constant search for something fresh and new, or is it merely the gay/straight lines that separate the industry breaking down?
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by JC Adams and JC Adams, Shufuni_Gay. Shufuni_Gay said: The ‘Zen Beauty’ of All-Male Porn: Author Sam Benjamin has penned an intriguing essay for Sex Is magazine. Titled … http://bit.ly/9IBxlI [...]
Very good/astute comments so far guys! I want to contribute too, but I need a bit of time to think/respond.
Re: barebacking
Everyone has the right to decide how they want to have sex as long as they are not endangering anyone. The women in straight porn are not usually given a choice if they want to maintain a career. I’ve read horror stories about women who are petrified about getting an STD or the HIV virus but are forced to do their scenes condomless. JC Adams even mentioned this on Derek and Romaine. IT just goes to show the contempt the straight studios have for the women.
Chi-Chi Larue allows her Jeremy Bilding to have condomless sex with women while insisting that he use condoms in his scenes with men despite the same test being used at Cocksure and Naughty America. Why is it okay to go condomless with the women and not the men if the same conditions are met? This is homophobia run amok and no one will call out Chi Chi Larue on this.
As for gay porn studios favoring straight men, I think it’s because so many gay men lusted after, were bullied by, terrorized by, and ignored by the straight, “masculine” guys in high school, and now these directors and studio heads can use their power in gay porn to make the straight guys who rejected them have gay sex. I’d imagine it’s not all that different from the way straight men shoot the women in straight porn.
JC,
I thank you so much for taking an objective (for the most part) stance towards porn, and reporting/posting/announcing an even, fair and just position within it. Or, at least, towards everything that I have read on here.
Estelle,
I would love to actually talk with you, publicly or privately. I don’t know what it is that some of us, especially I have done to personally piss in your morning coffee, giving you such a disdain towards anyone in porn, but I’d love to actually hear what you have to say. You insist on trying to tear us down, why not get it out once and for all. If you’d rather just do this to me personally, I’ll be more than happy to talk with you. If you’d rather hide behind commentary on blog sites, specifying in Porn, using a name that I can only assume is really just as legit as Jeremy is to my birth-name, that’s fine with me. If you would like to actually talk to me, and voice your personal feelings about me, feel free to email me at jeremy.bilding@gmail.com or hit me up on my blog at jbilding.com . You have personally called me out more times than I care to count anymore, and I feel as though you’re beating a dead horse with the issue at hand.
I understand if you wish to ignore me, and rather just blast me. I just wish I knew what I had done to cause such hatred and ill will from you towards an industry that is here to predominately inspire love, happiness and euphoria.
To all the Fans:
Thank you again for all your support, and your enjoyment for what my friends and I love to do for you, to watch you join us in our bliss.
Catch y’all out there!
xxxoo
Jeremy Bilding
jeremy.bilding@gmail.com
jbilding.com