I’ve been a porn star for nearly two years (or an adult entertainer for those that argue the term “star” can only be reserved for those yielding shiny awards, exclusive contracts, and molds of your nooks and crannies), and it’s been a wild roller coaster ride.
With every high and low working in the sex industry, what has stuck out to me the most and jarringly so is the normative and, in simpler terms, fucking basic-ass roles gay porn abides by, follow, markets, sells, and packages.
I’ve enjoyed discussing this with a few performers of different expressions and uniqueness. ALL of whom, in my opinion (and a few hundred thousand others through cult social media followings would agree), not only more than fit the bill for top porn stars but are frankly HOT AF!
By and large, these industry stars have leaned more into content creation, where they can be more themselves without the restrictions and limitations of big studios.
This piece will talk to some of these social stars, who, despite their social fans, don’t fit into the archaic mold porn studios still have for the men they hire and film. Like me, they want a change in this industry and aren’t sure when it will happen.
Porn Videos with Big Labels; and Even Bigger Mental Health Consequences
Sir Jet, a former studio performer, now content creator, describes his tumultuous experience in the biz.
On the surface, Jet has a look coveted and highly sought after by most studios; he remarks: “towards the end of 2017, I was flat broke working overtime in a supermarket. It was then I decided to make the plunge into gay porn. I shot a few scenes, a chunk of which I booked on my own.
“After going through three agents, each high ranking but having worse results than the one before, I’ve been practically blacklisted for the past three and a half years. I’ll never understand why I was so unwanted by this industry. Why was someone [like me] with so much potential and all of the goods treated like they were undesirable by so many?
“It drove me to therapy, honestly, trying to cope with this idea that I was so unwanted by an industry that’s supposedly about male beauty. I question whether I will ever succeed in any place in this industry.
“Everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve been either let down or rejected. I have tried almost everything and succeeded at nothing. I’m still flat broke, working in a supermarket.”
In theory, yes, gay porn is a fantasy.
The fantasy is men, hyper-sexualized, hyper-masculine, big dicked, dudely MEN!
However, it’s predictable and safe, following its algorithms.
As a creator and consumer of the thing myself, what we have is goddamn hot as hell! There’s some great stuff out there. I do genuinely believe gay porn has made strides in different ways over the past decade or so.
Thanks to our friendly neighborhood blue pill, I can honestly say I’ve never seen so many cummy holes. But it stops there.
As a fun game, I challenge you to line up a porn flick cover from each year back to 2005. Does it look eerily similar? The guys, the poses, the narrative? Culture and media outside of porn embrace originality and queerness; gay porn is dated and doesn’t move forward with the times.
Today we have an amazingly colorful rainbow of sexualities, gender, expression, and looks.
Nothing is black and white; grey has taken over in many spectrums.
So why must we follow such an old algorithm? The fear of shaking up the formula and potential downward sales can scare any studio. It is a business, so like Marvel and the MCU that paint by numbers so they always make billions of dollars at the box office, changing the plan can mean risking the revenue.
But as we’ve seen with the growing number of fan-based subscriptions, people will pay for different and unique hot males they find on OnlyFan and JustForFans.
With a change in the content, you get a shift in the client, but they will still pay as the typical client major studios appeal to now.
Pansexual, Gay and Bisexual Men Suffer the Higher Risk with Studios
“At first, when I was predominantly only doing gay porn, I got much more work with the larger studios!” describes Davin Strong, a studio performer and content creator. “I was the biggest and most muscular guy, and I could be tokenized that way.
“And then, when I began to sort of branch out and become more authentic in the diversity of my inclinations on camera (being bisexual/pansexual) and fucking trans people and CIS women [on camera], I feel it did limit more chances for larger gay studio stuff.
“In addition to my getting and becoming more and more myself in my aesthetic, that has definitely left me no longer being casted [sic] by some studios. They have their token tattoo guy! And I don’t think they really have room for someone as niche as me!”
Feeling like the odd man out is by no means a new concept for Ronny Mack, a performer and content creator, also queer but “passing.”
He describes his struggle as talent, saying, “They have new models that are just like me: body, hair, size, etc. I’ve been trying to bulk and find studio work, and no one ever wants to help a girl out, and the weird heteronormative vibes in gay porn are fucked up. If the other guys are all hanging and partying with the staff, and I’m not welcome, What do we do?”
Gay isn’t just gay; it has so much more nuance than sex with men
Sure, on the surface, it looks like more guys in skirts and dresses, but there’s so much more to it.
There are power tops with painted nails and high heel-wearing fisters. So why can’t we see more of this? Why is there so much fear and stigma around fem gods and butch queens? I mean, a good chunk of popular gay porn stars can be seen adorning and representing the new and relevant queerness of our time, but have to mask and “masc-up” on set?
It’s now 2023, and I think we’ve only become even more evolved as sexual beings post-pandemic. So why focus on one section or one group, or one demographic?
Trip Richards is one of the most popular trans men in gay porn. Hundreds of thousands of loyal followers and a porn activist, Trip has brought attention to a few topics and issues on social media.
“If gay porn has limitations in diversity and creativity,” says Richards, “it certainly lacks space for men who don’t have big rock-hard penises. Transgender men – men with pussies – are still largely invisible in mainstream porn.
“Even the relatively few successful transmale models are rarely accepted outside heteronormative roles. Because yes, when the assumption is that the person with the vagina will automatically be bottoming, that’s heteronormativity, baby!
“I am proud to say that I am one of the most successful transgender men in porn today. But I still struggle to garner mainstream recognition, let alone make mainstream income. There’s a reason I self-produce 99% of my content; the big studios that offer me scenes do so at embarrassingly low rates.
“The message is clear: my queer trans body is interesting enough to gawk at but not valuable enough to compensate. And if I dare mention that I’m actually doubly disruptive – a man with a pussy who would also rather top – that’s simply too much for most people to handle . . .
“Studios act like having a trans male model on camera is revolutionary. And in a way, it is. But simply being present isn’t enough to dismantle cis-heteronormativity without additional effort toward meaningful and authentic inclusion”
The world outside of gay porn has evolved and is ever-evolving
Let’s rewrite the fucking script and create a world for OUR generation and the next. A world that can legitimately get dicks hard but put a smile on EVERYONE’s face by showing just how large the spectrum of sexy, naked gay males is. A world we can all collectively as a community in all its shades be proud to be a part of, create in, and consume.
Ranting? Maybe a tad… yes, I’m another angry black man! Yes, another loud queen! I genuinely hope my queerness offends you all and it pushes everyone to challenge a status quo that hurts and hinders.
Most importantly, we should see gay male bodies that should be gang-banged and plowed on and off camera that major studios don’t provide to us; it’s a weakness, a limitation, an Achilles’ heel in the ways we can jack off and play.
Our community is weaker when we only see homogenous cis-males in porn. The rainbow is wide and open and wet, with many beautiful colors and gamuts of people. We should be taking apart the fresh meat with salivation and eagerness, not devouring the same old flesh we’ve seen in pulp magazines, VHS, DVDs and still major online forums.
We need a revolution.
Jordan Jameson is a porn actor, model, fashion stylist, provocateur, advocate and a disruptor for his friends and a change in the industry. You can follow him on Instagram @Jonzu
