Mike made reference yesterday to gay male talent crossing over which reminded me of a situation I experienced last year. I had a money meeting with a porn producer in San Francisco who is also heavily vested in “extreme gay porn” (bareback gang bangs). He casually mentioned during small talk at the end of our meeting that his shoot later that evening had been delayed because one of his “gay for payers” was still in the valley shooting a b/g scene. I suddenly froze like Amy Fisher giving a blow job. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The idea of a guy going up and down the state shooting gay bareback gang bang porn and then fucking women at the same time sounded reprehensible. I never forgot it.
Fast forward to today with the rumors that a gay crossover actor may be ground zero for the latest HIV tragedy in this industry. I know I may sound naive for even suggesting that all parties involved in producing and acting in a scene adhere to some type of human being moral compass ahead of earning a dollar, but the lack thereof is equivalent to the spectacle of standing around a dirt backyard in East LA watching cockfighting. It’s fucking wrong to put a 19 year old girl fresh off the bus from Kansas in a scene with a guy who just shot Breed My Ass 23 last Tuesday. It’s wrong and you know it.
What is the ultimate solution here? How does the industry protect its talent from future HIV tragedies like this one? I have no fucking idea. I can already hear opponents of any kind of “gay monitoring” suggesting that targeting gay crossover actors would be the equivalent of exiling them to industry sponsored concentration camps. And before I get labeled as a homophobe, I certainly realize the HIV risk associated with intravenous drug users in this industry as well. However, my focus is on the low hanging fruit. No pun intended. Gay sex constitutes a greater risk of HIV than any other behavior in our society. Period.
And if you want to argue things from purely an audience point of view, it is always obvious when a gay guy is performing in a b/g scene. The lack of eye contact is a sure sign that he’s concentrating on something else while filming his required positions. And I can’t believe the sloppy casting I’ve seen recently by some studios with the testosterone equivalent of Perez Hilton hovering over a vagina like he’s sniffing a block of gouda at the cheese bar at Whole Foods. I know somewhere right now there’s an unwashed fan on a webmaster message board calling me a “fag” for even noticing the guy in the scene. “I’m too busy watching the chick to notice the dude, MAN!” And my response would be kill yourself.
7 Responses
[New Post] Gay Male Crossover Talent – An Inconvenient Truth – via #twitoaster http://www.mikesouth.com/steve-lick/gay-…
I would really like to comment on these words from stevlick.
…but I have some fears that the truth shall set me free..to have my
head bashed in by certain people who wouldn’t understand or be so
“accepting” of the words that I wanted to post/share.
I didn’t even want to comment on the semi-controversial gay/straight porn angles.
I wanted to comment on the intravenous drug user part of what stevelick added
onto what he was writing about…and how it directly relates to certain
higher ups within the testing side of the industry.
Theres another injectable that is RAMPANTLY abused in porn by the male talent and it isn’t caverject. It’s steroids.
Once again as I read all these blogs and gossip boards is infuriating, the ADULT INDUSTRY is again missing the fucking point…THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH GAY OR STRAIGHT, and making it that is taking the eye off the true problem. Here are a couple fun facts.
FACT: Gay porn is following California State Law! Any which way you slice and dice it THEY ARE FOLLOWING THE LAW. And Straight Porners are breaking it.
FACT: Girls and Guys Escort in this business and both parties don’t always use protection.
FACT: HIV though scary and serious does NOT run ramped in this industry such as Chlamydia, Gonnereah, Herpes, HPV, Hepatitus C (which is deadly), not to mention the non STD’s of BV and yeast infections
FACT: ALL STD’s listed above are transferred via straight and gay sex (most) transmitted through Girl/Girl sex which (contrary to popular belief) is HOMOSEXUAL (if you don’t believe me as the U.S. Gov.)
So here is my suggestion quit trying to place blame cause the more we all try and “blame the gays” cross over non cross over alike we look more idiotic as we are supporting breaking the LAW, and who the fuck is going to take that serious. We don’t even take ourselves
Blame the true culprit. Escorting and Hooking or “privates” which is a INDUSTRY problem not a gay cross over problem
Look to say that gay porn is following the law is 100% WRONG. Some do some don’t. Bareback gay porn is everywhere. Gay porn doesn’t test performers.
Like it or not that’s a problem and it makes transmission orders of magnitude more likely…yes you can say girl/girl is gay porn but the likelihood of transmitting HIV via girl/girl is so low as to be essentially non existent.
Yes there are many other STDs but gay males crossing over and not being forthright about doing gay porn is every bit as much of a problem as anything else…even more so in some regards.
Maybe what this biz needs to do is go back to paying male talent 100-200 bucks a scene…gay porn guys wont work for those rates and that solves several problems…
But in all honesty it’s a moot point…..condoms are going to be mandatory now in Cali. Take that to the bank. Truth is that solves a LOT of problems.
“I know somewhere right now there’s an unwashed fan on a webmaster message board calling me a “fag” for even noticing the guy in the scene. “I’m too busy watching the chick to notice the dude, MAN!” And my response would be kill yourself.”
I wouldn’t sweat that too much, Steve. As a woman, I know we spend far more time checking out the women in porn than we do checking out the guys. Of course that could be because most of the straight males exited the porn industry way back in the 80’s…..wherefore art thou, John Leslie????
Mr Industry, I don’t think Mike is trying to say for a second that the gay crossover guys are the only issue, nor do I think you are right to day that “hooking” is the single issue either. It is a whole bunch of things all together.
Crossover male performers are an issue because they are often working with untested talent. It seems within that segment of the market, testing is not only not done, but it is actively avoided. Some of the first timer / twink style productions are using participants who have never been tested in any fashion, fresh off the street. Let’s not forget too that bareback anal sex is one of the easiest ways to get the sorts of lesions on a cock or an ass that makes it easy for blood to blood transmission. You don’t have to be bleeding, rubbed raw is more than good enough.
In the end, crossover male performers are just a subset of risk takers. If someone is off hooking, they need to get re-tested just like a newbie before they can shoot again. Performers who work “outside the system” need to be treated as infected, quarantined, and then tested back into being able to work. The crossover world is a real issue because you can work out of the system tonight, and work back in the system tomorrow without anyone knowing where you have been.
When you look at all of the HIV issues in the porn world in the last 10-15 years, almost all of them have come from either gay performers, pay for gay crossover performers, or performers who have shot “out of market”. The whole Lara Roxx issue is based on that sort of situation – plus incredibly risky play. Understanding where the problems are, and how they occur is key to one day finding a real solution.