Gay Pornography

Gay pornography, online and onscreen, is a controversial and significantly under-researched area of cultural production. In the first book of its kind, Gay Pornography: Representations of Sexuality and Masculinity explores the iconography, themes and ideals that the genre presents. Indeed, John Mercer argues that gay pornography cannot be regarded as one-dimensional, but that it offers its audience a vision of plural masculinities that are more nuanced and ambiguous than they might seem. Mercer examines how the internet has generated an exponential growth in the sheer volume and variety of this material, and facilitated far greater access to it. He uses both professional and amateur examples to explore how gay pornography has become part of a wider cultural context in which modern masculinities have become 'saturated' by their constantly evolving status and function in popular culture.

A unique, multifaceted look at the meaning (and the specifics) of gay male pornography Open any “gay lifestyle” magazine (even the serious ones) or go to any gay bar, and you’re likely to encounter something related to pornography, be it an image of a porn “superstar” or advertisements for pornographic magazines, DVDs, calendars, etc. Eclectic Views on Gay Male Pornography Pornucopia examines this phenomenon with a series of provocative essays, in which experts in history, law, media studies, and psychology, as well as laypeople and gay porn insiders explore the complex world of male pornography and the various ways in which it has permeated gay culture—from the 1970s until today. This first-of-its-kind book examines the phenomenon of self-writing and performance for gay men in the last century, specifically looking at the lives of modern-day performance artist Tim Miller, who has received national recognition for his one-man shows portraying his struggles as a gay man; Wakefield Poole (born 1936), the first producer of gay pornography (Bijou, Boys in the Sand) in the era accompanying the emergence of the gay rights movement; gay adult film icon Scott “Spunk” O’Hara (born 1961); and Aaron Lawrence (born 1971), who worked as a gay escort, actor, and producer/director of his own sexually explicit “amateur” videos. In this groundbreaking analysis of gay men’s relationship with pornography, you’ll also learn about: gay pornography and the messages it carries about intimacy, body image, and hegemonic masculinity representations of ethnicity in gay pornography gay pornography and safer sex gay pornography and censorship viewers’ perceptions of gay pornography gay pornography and internalized homophobia, misogyny, and body fascism changes in the way gay pornography is produced and performed—from the 1970s through the 1990s the meaning of the recurring settings in American gay pornographic videos: prison, the military, and other all-male environments; and recurring themes: leather, S/M, dissatisfaction with heterosexual life, initiation into gay life, etc. In addition, Eclectic Views on Gay Male Pornography presents two fascinating chapters about the case of Little Sisters Book and Art Emporium in Vancouver. In this landmark case, the Canadian Supreme Court was asked to determine whether gay male pornography violated the sex equality protections guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The court also examined the way that Canada Customs treats international shipments to gay and lesbian bookstores. In addition, the book provides a revealing insider’s perspective on the gay adult video industry that contrasts the workaday reality of making porn with the glamorous mythology of the skin trade.

The 2000 case of Little Sisters Book and Art Emporium v. Customs Canada provided Canada’s highest court with its first opportunity to consider whether the analysis set out in R. v. Butler - in which the Supreme Court identified pornography as an issue of sex discrimination - applies to pornography intended for a lesbian or gay male audience. The Court held that it did, finding that, like heterosexual pornography, same-sex pornography also violates the sex equality interests of all Canadians. Christopher Kendall supports this finding, arguing that gay male pornography reinforces those social attitudes that create systemic inequality on the basis of sex and sexual orientation - misogyny and homophobia alike - by sexually conditioning gay men to those attitudes and practices. The author contends that as a result of litigation efforts like those brought by lesbian and gay activists in the Little Sisters case, the notion of empowerment and the rejection of those values that daily result in all that is anti-gay have been replaced with a misguided community ethic and identity politic that encourages inequality. This is best exemplified in the gay male pornography defended in Little Sisters as "liberation" and "central to sexual freedom." Gay Male Pornography rejects the equality claims of gay male pro-pornography advocates and argues that there is little to be gained from sexualized conformity. To date, no one has taken the position that gay male pornography violates the legal right to sex equality. This book does that and, as such, it will be of value to scholars of law, sociology, and gender studies, as well as to all who have an interest in equality and justice.

This book unpacks the character of pornographic representations of queer Black masculinity and how these representations vary between corporate and noncorporate producers. The author argues that representations of Black men in gay porn rely on stereotypes of Black masculinity to arouse consumers, especially those which characterize Black men as "missing links" or focus excessively on their "dark phalluses." Moreover, these depictions consistently separate gay Black and white men’s sexuality into bifurcated discursive spaces, thereby essentializing sexual aspects of racial identity. Lastly, though such depictions are less prevalent in user-submitted videos, overall, both user-submitted and corporate content reify stereotypes about Black masculinity. This book is written for researchers, lecturers, and graduate courses in the social sciences and humanities, including Sociology, Social Psychology, Sexuality, African American Studies, Women and Gender Studies, LGBTQ Studies, Culture and Art Studies, Porn Studies, Social Media Studies, and Public Health.

Pornographic films combine fantasy and real sex to create a unique genre of entertainment. This book explores how the making of pornographic films is a social process that draws on the fantasies, sexual scripts and sexual identities of performers, writers, directors, and editors to produce sexually exciting videos and movies.

A collection of contemporary work on pornographic film and video, edited by one of the founders of the field.

This book critically analyzes the sex industry in Israel, using feminist concepts and scholarship to elaborate on the power of prostitution to shape a world in which women are objects for fulfilling men's desires. A comprehensive collection of research-based articles that examine prostitution, trafficking in women and pornography from divergent disciplinary angles, it reveals the interconnectedness of these three aspects of the sex trade which objectifies, commercializes and exploits human – and in particular women’s – sexuality. Showing these practices to be embedded in a capitalist and patriarchal oppressive context that is accommodated by state institutions, this volume rejects the argument that it is possible to choose prostitution, and that feminist pornography is possible. With case studies including the conspicuous context of migration that attracts sex traffickers, the liberal discourse introduced by cinema, the media and the arts that serve to legitimate prostitution and pornography, the chauvinist-macho culture that perceives and treats women as sex objects, and the issues of male prostitution and men as clients, Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking in Women: Israel’s Blood Money constitutes a study of Israel as a unique context in which the sex trade can prosper, in spite of geographical, religious and institutional constraints. As such, it will be of interest to scholars of sociology, anthropology, history, cultural studies and gender and women’s studies.

The Reader's Guide to Lesbian and Gay Studies surveys the field in some 470 entries on individuals (Adrienne Rich); arts and cultural studies (Dance); ethics, religion, and philosophical issues (Monastic Traditions); historical figures, periods, and ideas (Germany between the World Wars); language, literature, and communication (British Drama); law and politics (Child Custody); medicine and biological sciences (Health and Illness); and psychology, social sciences, and education (Kinsey Report).