Public health officials recommended early in the AIDS epidemic that HIV-prevention education be targeted and explicit, using language and images familiar to those it is intended to reach. Controversy has swirled ever since over what, exactly, is meant by “explicit” prevention education and who should pay for it.
Prevention educators recognized early on the potential of sexually explicit media (also known as porn) to provide instruction in the mechanics of safe sex and, they hoped, increase the use of condoms and practice of safe sex among gay and bisexual men.
“Porn videos,” wrote Patton, “are useful if they suggest positive attitudes about gay male sexuality because that helps create and sustain a social environment in which safe sex is practiced because it is viewed as a positive aspect of gay male sexuality.” The group at AIDS Action Committee reasoned that gay men would practice safe sex if they were persuaded to view it as something positive rather than as a kind of punishment for being gay — as many men seemed to see it.
Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that “men who have sex with men” (MSM) comprise only 2 percent of the American population, we consume as much as 50 percent of the porn produced and sold in this country, annually spending as much as $6.5 billion on it.
Since sex itself is complex, it’s not surprising that the reasons men watch porn — and fast-forward to what for them are the “good” scenes — are equally complex. In an interview, B.R. Simon Rosser told me that 40 percent of the gay or bi men in his research prefer to watch “bareback” (condomless) sex; 40 percent have no preference; and 7 percent prefer safe-sex porn. “It’s a mistake to assume the people who prefer bareback porn are engaging in bareback behavior,” he said.
I love the videos of the men by the naked lots of times.
Porn certainly has a place in the gay & Bisexual lifestyle, but as to whether it is a great tool to promote safe sex, I am not sure. If every movie made was a safe sex video (used condoms) then i would agree but as there is still ‘bareback’ movies made this may not be the best platform to promote safe sex.
I think we (bi & gay men) enjoy porn is formore the bodies the scenarios and the cocks and cum.
Hey just my thought, burt dont stop making tghem eh i love watching a good flick
That first pic is SO hot.
First of all #2 has an ass to kill for. I am in my 60’s and these younger guys who are bare backing, were’nt here back in the day when your friends were dying. A young guy actually told me they have pills for AIDS now. Yes, does he know the cost ETC.
As I see it, there are two schools of thought. One, that gay porn is fantasy, and as such when guys watch it they’re indulging in whatever their imaginations want — be they impossibly hung and handsome men, or bare-backing, bukkake, etc. No harm there — the men watching these films know the difference between safe and “dangerous” sex, and govern themselves accordingly. It’s entertainment — not reality — pure and simple.
Two, that gay porn is instructional — particularly for those younger guys who may not have yet had a lot of personal sexual experience, but they learn from watching the pros. Obviously, this latter category of viewer needs more diligent “reminding” of the dangers of unsafe sex — as well as guidance on a myriad of other behavioral choices affected by their youthful immortality.
The thing is, the films both categories of viewer are watching are the same. There isn’t a “safe” version and a “yeah, we know you know this is risky behavior, but enjoy it anyway” version. I think the answer lies in education and leading by example, just like it did 30 years ago. A generation-and-a-half of men who like to fuck other men have literally come of age. The difference between now and 1982 is that the emerging trend of gay porn offerings are bareback scenes, lending credence to the mistaken notion that the crisis has past. Sure, medication for HIV+ and AIDS-afflicted men has improved dramatically, but AIDS is still a fatal, incurable illness and, unfortunately, the stone-cold fear of it has ebbed dangerously.
What’s the answer? I wish I knew. What I DO know is that you can’t put all of the educational responsibility on porn. That’s like blaming TV for the ills of society. We as gay men have to be smart, proud and courageous enough to lead by example, just like we did three decades ago.
Have fun saty safe, men!
Or should that be – Have fun stay safe, men!
This discussion is important, and I’m glad to see it on blogs like Squirt and ManHunt, where a community of men seeking sex with men are visiting and hoping to get off or hook up.
I personally find babeback porn morally reprehensible. Yes, many of us can disassociate and seperate fantasy from real life, but many others of us can’t. Porn was not the only thing that taught me about gay sex and what I was into sexually, but it was by far the most potent one. Even though I heard messaging about safe sex from other sources, porn was what I watched to get aroused before I started having actual sex with guys. To have a conflicting message of “safe sex is important” versus “bareback is hotter” is confusing for a lot of guys, and encourages men to act irresposibly, thinking with their dick instead of their head. Why put that conflicting message out there?
Does a condom in a video ACTUALLY kill your boner? I would argue that it’s the subjective attractiveness of men themselves, the chemistry they have with each other and what they are doing, that are the main things that are getting you hot, not the skin on skin. I guess some of you may get off on the taboo aspect of it, but since YOU are not actually physically participating with the men using the condom, how does it adversely affect your pleasure? Does it “take you out of the moment”? Maybe it can, but that’s usually the fault of the way it’s filmed, not the condom itself. What makes me go “huh?” is when two guys are going at it, and then voila, a condom appears the second before penetration… it’s like magic… lol. Why not fetishize the act of putting a condom on your lover, which I actually find really hot to do? Make it part of the action, and it wouldn’t seem so lame.
Bareback porn exists from the pre-AIDS epedimic. Maybe you’re not all that into vintage porn, but there’s tons out there. Why are we potentially putting models at risk, and impressionable viewers of porn at risk, for the sake of your “fantasy”? Are you really that selfish that to hell with everyone else and our community as long as you can jerk off to risky sex?
One thing that burns me is that Squirt NEVER puts any disclaimers that the porn/imagery that they are showing that features barebacking is risky, unlke ManHunt, which does. If you are hellbent on showing bareback porn and if there is a market for it, so be it, but at least take the opportunity to educate people of the risks when you do… it’s really, really irresponsible not to do so.
Bareback Porn and Parkour videos on youtube…
If you think about it, for all the reasons you can use against Bareback Porn, you can use those same fundamental reasons on parkour.
Disclaimers aren’t going to help anything. Jackass caused an explosion of idiotic home-made videos even though they have tons of very obvious disclaimers.
Just don’t turn this into the Rise of western tentacle porn.
Well I can see both sides of this and a disclaimer might be a good middle ground but sort of weak. But there simply isn’t any concern in straight porn like the over focus on Gays.
It is so obvious that yes it is a punishment of gay sex participants as if no straight people have sex diseases to worry about including Aids. As if aids is the only thing bad that can happen. Hep C is from drugs no one suggest Hollywood only show clean needles in a mainstream film or for that matter does mainstream Hollywood have to suggest condoms in sex scenes.
A CURE would be a much better use of our time and dollars so sex could just be sex.
While we fund a cure instead of the money machine of managing Aids let’s actually fund schools to make level headed smart kids who reason for themselves.
While we’re oh so ready to spend money educating through porn how about through better funded schools as first line of defense against stupid behavior?