Pornography then and now
Pornography has always been an integral part of gay culture.
In the early days, when sexual relations between men were illegal, one of the
best ways to release your sexual desires was through pornography.
By no means does this mean that sexual relationships among men did not take
place, as the photograph on the right illustrates. However, only a minority
would risk being locked up due to a sexual relationship, so most chose to live
as heterosexuals.
Pornography serves, in our time, mostly the same purpose. A lot of gays are still afraid of recognizing their sexuality which can make pornography become the nourishment their fantasies need. Pornography is and will remain the physical embodiment of our fantasies and therefore still has an important role for many, both hetero- and homo-sexual men. I do not know if it has ever been proven that men have a higher sex drive than women, but nor have I seen it disproved. What happens when the sexual relationship is between two men? I am rather sure that most gay couples put a gay porn flick in the VCR or DVD at regular intervals, just as I am sure that most single gays have some kind of collection of gay porn in their home.
Pornography is still in many ways surrounded by a taboo. Most people use it, but only a minority will admit to doing so. Many boys and men have viewed porn film or pornographic magazines together. Yet it is still not something we talk about and only very few people will admit that it turns them on sexually. The increased resistance from women and women's rights groups have only made it even more taboo, and I believe that this has only made it even more exciting for men to watch it. There are not many groups who can have something against gay porn. No woman is being sexually exploited or pressured into participating against her will. I won't pretend to know if men and boys are also being exploited and pressured into participating in gay porn, but I do feel it is rare.
Just as with
heterosexual porn, many different types of gay porn exist. The most common is
naturally the one depicting any regular gay relationship; with the tiny addition
that the models are often better looking, more muscular and better hung than
most. It would be easy to get an inferiority complex from watching, and it may
even give inexperienced gays some unrealistic expectations about their sex life.
I do believe though that most possess enough common sense to understand that
pornography is fantasy and does not reflect everyday life.
The most common pornography - whether magazines or film - depicts oral sex and/or anal sex between two men, where, most often, one person is active and the other passive. (The active person fucks the passive). If you think this type of pornography is boring, think again. This type of pornography exists with every type of model: boys, young, middle-aged and old, scrawny and muscular, shaved or hairy, ugly, average or beautiful. It is clear that some pornography is targeted at gays who prefer very young boys, but models should be above the age of 17. In the US models have to be at least 18 years of age. However, a great deal of porn is produced in, for instance, eastern Europe where the models look considerably younger. The majority of porn models are in their twenties. It is prejudice and distorting the truth to say that the majority of gays like very young boys.
Apparently, many heterosexuals are turned
on by threesomes, foursomes and moresomes (having sex with more than one person
at the same time). The same is true for gays. Often there are threesomes in
mainstream porn and occasionally also pure orgies. Some porn films even have
it as a theme since they only contain scenes depicting threesomes.
Fetishes exist
both in the heterosexual as well as the homosexual world. Examining the availability
of magazines and films for fetishists you quickly get the impression that the
most common fetishes are leather and uniforms, with rubber coming in as a possible
third. Often a degree of dominance is blended in to this type of pornography
and, perhaps, this is what truly turns the fetishists on.
If dominance really turns you on, you probably like Bondage or maybe even Sadomasochism. Bondage is primarily a matter of tying or being tied, while Sadomasochism contains an element of pain or humiliation. Humiliation is also the primary element in pornography depicting toiletsex (sex where shit and/or piss plays a part). Fortunately, it is only a very few who find this appealing, which is why I won't say anymore about it here. (Sorry, but I find it utterly repulsive, and it is not because I'm sensitive about sex.)
Previously, pictorial pornography and erotic stories were dominating the market. Now, since VCR's are in almost every household, a minor revolution has taken place within the porn industry. Millions and millions of videos are now sold annually, in every possible genre. Sales of DVD's and CD's are also high.
Picture porn in the form of
Magazines and periodicals published in Denmark are rare. Only "Cock 2000"
is close to pictorial pornography, but the magazine is dominated by personal
ads and advertisements for sex toys and pornographic movies. In a shop
such as "Men's Shop" located on Vesterbro in Copenhagen and at www.cock2000.dk
you can find a larger selection of assorted American and German magazines, again
in a wide variety of genres.
The Internet has taken over a large portion of pictorial pornography, but the medium is not technologically ready to take over the market for porn movies. This does not mean you can't find porn movies on the Internet. You most certainly can, although they are, in most cases, minor clips between two and ten megabytes, which makes high bandwidth or lots of patience a necessity if you want to download. In contrast to this you can find any kind of photograph on the Internet, and if you know your sources it won't take more than a few minutes to find exactly what is to your taste. Many sites are pay sites, but the thousands of free sites now to be found account for a large portion of the market. This means that the pay sites have to come up with other ideas to lure customers in and get money out of the gays' pockets. One example is www.chisel.com which promotes actual live shows on the net and the possibility of chatting with the models afterwards. The site has a lot of very good looking models.
Several very large producers of gay porn are in existence, mainly in the USA, France and Germany. As a rule these producers have one studio, producing one type of porn which quickly becomes their trademark. Examining the selection on the Danish market (on the Internet or in the very few stores catering to this type of porn) studios like Falcon and Bel Ami are represented most often. Those studios are known for their fairly high quality which is certainly reflected in the price. Many put the price for VHS porn films between 500 and 600 Danish Kroner. Luckily some competition has developed in the market which can allow you to find cassettes for about 400 Danish Kroner. If you're willing to compromise on quality, you can get down to a price level comparative to heterosexual porn. Just remember, you generally get what you pay for.
Just as with Falcon Studios,
Bel Ami has produced some very famous stars for the world of gay porn. Johan
Paulik, Lukas Ridgeston and Dano Sulik are probably the most well known. Johan
and Lukas have reached almost legendary status despite their very young age.
The man behind Bel Ami is named George Duroy. He has produced and directed all
the films himself. Generally the models are between 19 and 21 years old, which
is why Bel Ami has gained many fans among those who prefer the younger models.
It would probably come as a surprise to many Bel Ami fans that all the models
define themselves as being heterosexuals. Johan Paulik says that he may be a
little bisexual but before his first Bel Ami film, he never had sex with another
man.
You can get a very detailed description of each film from Bel Ami's official website. Also present are screenshots from the films, interviews with the models, a behind-the-scenes look and much much more.
Jean Daniel Cadinot is behind the studio known only as Cadinot.
All films are shot in Cadinot's own studio, in Picardy north of Paris. On a
remodeled farm dating back to the 1800's, he has established the production
of porn films where the goal is quality instead of quantity. This is the reason
why Cadinot produces only about 2-3 films a year. The films are characterized
by the fact that there are no stars participating. Cadinot only wants to use
models who like what they do and who are not in it for the money alone. This
is why he uses amateur models who are allowed to participate in max. 5-6 films.
Most models he finds via the Internet where he asks gays and bisexual men to
write him. The storylines themselves are created from Cadinot's own experiences
and he does all the work on the films himself - from building the sets to editing
the film.
Over time Falcon studios has
produced some of the most famous stars of gay porn. Stars such as Ken Ryker
and Jeff Palmer (not to be confused with the photographer of the same name).
The studio is mostly known for producing books, magazines and calendars with
pornographic contents. Generally it is well produced and the models are good
looking, young and relatively muscular. The films contain scenes with primarily
two or three models at a time. Occasionally it is spiced up a little with something
a bit more kinky. It is rare for it to go to extremes. The model on the right
is also a well known Falcon model.
In
the summer of 2000 Zentropa released a gay porn film called "Hot Men Cool
Boyz" directed by Knud Vesterskov. The film was shown at a party at PAN
instead of the usual movie theatre premiere.
In May of 2000 Pan Magazine published two reviews of the film - one by Martin Karlbom, who is a former critic of gay porn, and one by a gay couple in their early twenties. Karlbom felt the film seemed like a "Cotton-gay's"?, coloristic, high-tech, cyber sex fantasy, created more due to the film's advanced visual effect rather than the ability to cause erections. He concluded that the film was a good premiere film with the potential to sow the seed for future productions of quality Danish gay porn. The gay couple, on the other hand, was far from being impressed. Among other things they wrote:
Zentropa's new gay porn film consists of ten different fuck and masturbation scenes. In the first, one of the models, Rune Gärtner, is getting fucked by a somewhat older guy, who has been equipped by a very creative soul with horns in the middle of his forehead. In the next scene a good looking young model with pimples on his legs, is fucked by his boyfriend, a nice man with a small dick. Now half an hour of the movie has passed and neither of us is with so much as a hint of a bulge in the pants. In the third scene a bald guy with tattoos all over his body as well as on his neck, is sitting pretending to write e-mails, while jerking off. (?????) We saw the film on a Wednesday, and even if we, after a two-year relationship, have reached the sex-on-Wednesdays/Saturdays thing, we both agreed to skip that Wednesday. Both of us had totally lost interest.
The film received a lot of attention in the gay community, but it died out just as fast, and it is doubtful if Zentropa will take on a sequel. Maybe making a film in real surroundings should be considered, instead of making it using the blue-screen effect, where all takes are shot in a studio with blue walls and the background is applied afterwards. If you still want the film you can get it from: A Center Video for 298 Danish Kroner. (Look under Dealers).
Just as the hetero world has the female stars, there are stars in gay porn, some reaching almost legendary status. I have chosen to write about just a few of them.
Ken RykerKen Ryker is primarily known for being extremely well hung (just a tad under 30 centimeters), and he has become somewhat of a legend despite him being born in 1972. He has won numerous awards for his films - among them - 'Gay Erotic Video Awards 1995', which he received at the tender age of 23. (A lot of awards are handed out in that business.)
Jeff PalmerJeff Palmer is one of Falcon Studios' big stars and apart from being well hung he is known for his beautiful eyes. He got his first contract with the studio at the age of 19 (he was born in 1975), and has since participated in a long list of films. Already his 3rd film "Manhandlers" won him the award for best erotic scene at the "Gay Erotic Video Awards 1997". He now records music instead, but he primarily plays gay clubs and doesn't mind accompanying the music with a live show.
Johan Paulik is probably the
biggest star from Bel Ami. His boyish looks have made him famous, and even if
it has been some years since his debut he still looks like a teenager. He was
discovered by Georg Duroy (the man behind Bel Ami) at the age of 18 in Bratislava,
and even if he was too shy to be photographed naked and never had sex with a
guy, the amount of money he was promised persuaded him to do it. A few years
later he was a famous star of gay porn. He made the condition that his films
could not be sold in Slovakia, only the soft core films could be sold in Europe,
while the hardcore films could be exported only. So, for years it was a well
kept secret what he was doing, but now, of course, you can get the hard core
films in Europe as well.
Of course there are many dealers who have gay porn, but only a few shops in Denmark are specializing in it. Here you can read about some of the most prominent on the Internet. If you want to order from any of the Internet dealers, remember to read their terms carefully. Most send the goods discreetly wrapped, just in case you still haven't come out to your mailman.
A Center Video is really a shop located at Rosenkrantzgade 16, Århus. However, they sell via the Internet as well. They carry many different kinds of porn, among them gay porn, bi porn and SM gay porn. Their prices are fairly sensible, even if gay porn is generally more expensive. They do carry some good Falcon films too, only 225 Danish Kroner. Just remember to add 40 Kroner for shipping and handling. A Center Video has also, as the only dealer in Denmark, a selection of Danish produced gay porn - among it Zentropa's "Hot Men Cool Boyz".
The magazine "Cock" has a website from which they also sell gay porn. They have the films in the rougher genre and the prices start at 300 Danish Kroner and go from there. You can view the covers as thumbnails plus a short description of the film. And that is it. The selection shows some suggestion of being directed at the German market, since many of the films are in the rougher genre (Uniform, Leather, S/M, etc. etc.) from German producers. If you like those genres Cock 2000 is definitely worth a visit.
Homoware has in just one year become Denmark's leading gay Internet shop. Currently they have about 220 items ranging from porn to toys and rainbow stuff. Everything gay-related is a potential sales item at Homoware. They say, themselves, that with them there is no empty promises about fair trade - they do not sell things they do not have in stock. Often they will ship your items in one day and their pricing policy is very reasonable. Most films are between 300 and 400 Danish Kroner, which actually is reasonably cheap. You can even become a member of Club Homoware, for free. All members receive a 10% discount on toys, have a chance to score a video, receive their newsletter and enjoy free shipping on all orders. As the boys from Homoware say: "We love the gay life - we love all the fun, exciting and naughty possibilities it creates - and that is what we want to share with our customers."
Scanmail has a small selection of gay porn on DVD. A year back they had a wide variety at low prices, but that is history, and now most of the DVDs are 500 kr. However the films are of excellent quality from Falcon Studios, Catalina etc.
- o -
If you want to know more, visit the following sites:
Studios
Bel Ami (www.belamionline.com)
Cadinot Films (www.cadinot-films-france.com)
Falcon Studios (www.falconstudios.com)
Models
Ken Rykers official homepage (www.KenRyker.com)
Jeremy Penns official homepage (jeremypenn.net)
Dealers
A Center Video (www.a-center-video.dk)
Cock 2000 (www.cock2000.dk)
Gayshoppen (www.gayshoppen.dk)
Homoware (www.homoware.dk)
Scanmail (www.scanmail.dk)
Porn Sites
0 Holds Barred (www.keepstill.com/0_holds_barred/)
Calendar Boys (calendars.maineguy.com)
Chisel (www.chisel.com)
Club-Male (www.club-male.com)
Double Stuff (www.nicehole.com/doublestuff/)
My Waking Dream (www.keepstill.com/wakingdream/)
New Boy Toy (www.newboytoy.com)
Last update 14.03.2004