Porn Stars

Hi Dr Bill.I am a Asian person from Taiwan. I read your blog article "gay for pay." I want to ask u why are u so sure that all of gay porn stars are not straight?

Do u know someone who works in the gay porn company that they are really gay?

Well, I thought I explained it pretty well in that post you mention, but it never hurts to explore an interesting subject again. 

I do know people in the porn industry, but even if I didn't let's just say you can't tell me that a guy can spend many of his days sucking and fucking or being fucked by another guy and isn't just a little bit -- or a lot -- gay.  Many of the men who do gay porn do indeed lead "straight" lives in that they may have wives, girlfriends and children, but they would certainly have to be classified as bisexual at the very least. 

The whole idea of "rough trade" -- men who have sex with men but supposedly are heterosexual -- is a dated, pre-Stonewall [pre modern day Gay Liberation] concept. Some have argued that straight guys can have sex with men just as gay men have sex with women and simply put on a show, but that is ignoring the fact that even in this day and age there is a stigma attached to being gay, especially for "macho" males who are ashamed of their gay feelings. [Also the notion that there are straight men who want to have sex with men, popularized by an idiot gay therapist, is completely ludicrous!]

So ask yourself, why on earth would a 100% heterosexual male want to engage in actual sex acts with another man no matter how much he's paid? Surely there are easier and more fun ways of making a living. I also doubt the assertion that gay porn pays better than straight porn. Why should it? There's a lot more straight porn [and straight buyers] than gay porn, so financially it just doesn't add up. 

So the fact that some porn stars in gay-oriented films are married with children doesn't make them straight anymore than the married guy cruising the gay bar or the Internet for men to have sex with.

Gay for Pay?

Is there really such a thing as "gay for pay?" Are there really straight hustlers, porn stars and so on?

No. I can't imagine any genuinely and totally heterosexual man who would have the slightest interest -- no matter how much he was paid -- in having sex with men either as a prostitute or for gay porn films.

These men are not straight. They are conflicted, guilt-wracked guys who have sex with other men because they are attracted to other men. Being paid for sex enables them to claim -- to themselves and others -- that they are really heterosexual. It is just a case of internalized homophobia, a "macho" hang up. They have sex with men because they want to. That is not being "straight."

Some hustlers think that gay men get some sort of kick out of being with a "straight" guy, so they try to play into the fantasy. There are even hustlers who bring their "girlfriends" into the hustler bar, these tough, generally unattractive, clueless gals who seem to think they have straight boyfriends. Duh!

No well-adjusted gay men wants or needs to have sex with a heterosexual man, as there are gay men to suit every taste.

There are porn movies, magazines and sites which cry out that they feature "straight" guys in gay sex scenes. These sites etc. pander to that old pre-Stonewall notion that somehow straight men are more desirable -- sexier or more masculine -- than gay men. It's a tired, dated notion that should have been set aside a long, long time ago. The producers of these sites are only exploiting the internalized homophobia of some homosexual males. I find them entirely homophobic, and wish they would all go out of business. [If that bothers some people, tough shit. And I'll have even more to say on this in a future post.]

I will always remember what porn star and producer Michael Lucas replied when he was asked if two of his "stars" in gay films were really heterosexual. I paraphrase, but he answered that the men lived straight lives [with wives and children] but that "whether they are in gay porn or straight porn they are equally enthusiastic." If you want to call guys like this bisexual, be my guest, but they are not straight.

It's a sad truth that even today there are men who live lives of complete denial, telling themselves and others [including the clueless girlfriends, who only exist to bolster their fragile male egos] that they are "straight" even while indulging in sex with men on a regular basis.

Straight Men Don't Do Gay Porn

Why do straight men do gay porn? Anon.

They don't.

Men who have sex with other men with the cameras rolling and even with a paycheck waiting are no more "straight" than I am. Those who have wives and girlfriends may be technically bisexual. But straight? Some people say there's more money to be made in gay porn and that's why they do it, but how can that be when it stands to reason that straight porn sells a lot better, there presumably being many more straight men (and straight porn fans) than gay.

Porn star Michael Lucas was once asked if certain performers in his gay porn films were really straight, and he gave a good answer, something along the lines of how they lead "straight lifestyles" but were "very enthusiastic" whether they were doing gay or straight porn. Let's say he was tactful and leave it at that.

Straight?

I don't think so.

Many so-called "gay for pay" people are, sadly, ashamed of their lusts for men but indulge in those lusts because -- let's face it -- sex is a powerful force. If they're porn stars or prostitutes they can say to themselves and everyone else: "See I'm not gay. I'm just doing it for the money."

Matt Sanchez is a particularly pernicious example of this.

To say it's "pre-Stonewall" is an understatement.

Gay Pride should have wiped away these negative feelings, but for some people it's darkest before the dawn.