Have You Given To Jackpot Yet?
He’s getting close to finishing funding … let’s put BUTT editor turned filmmaker Adam Baran and his tale of stolen porno over the edge this weekend, huh? (UPDATE: You did it! Adam made his goal this weekend and will be dispensing hand jobs shortly. There’s still time if you want to throw him a few bucks. He’s raised the minimum he needs to produce the film, but could always use some breathing room. Thanks guys!)
— Mike
Aaron October 16th, 2011 at 9:03 PM
I don’t get it. I suppose I have a difficult relationship with porn, but I never saw that relationship as a setting for comedy or self-actualization. I do know that I am asking these questions on a gay porn site. The gay gang is all here. But, fuck it, am I the only one who is confused?
On a lighter note, kudos to the author for making it happen. And for saying the words “Butt Magazine” without laughing.
Mike October 17th, 2011 at 10:18 AM
For me, porn as a value-neutral proposition. It can be a way to feel good about yourself or bad about yourself; it can be an articulation of your desires; it can be an articulation of your anxieties. Just like any media. Our reactions to porn say more about our relationship with our own sexuality than it does about the media (or medium) itself.
For me, porn is a good, easy way to get off. I enjoy it tremendously. Is it a crutch sometimes? Sure. Does that distress me? Not really. I would never confuse pornography with real sex, any more than I would confuse a cooking show with dinner. Both offer different pleasures.
And porn — whether its an amateur cam, a studio production, or something I make myself — can articulate your sexuality in unexpected ways. For me, and for Adam in Jackpot, it was an expression of something that was otherwise ineffable: that we were gay, that our sexual realization was urgent and not something that could be buried. It was also a timebomb — it could out you. For gay men especially, porn can be an metaphor for freedom. The guys in the picture aren’t ashamed of their bodies or their sexuality. So why should we be?
So use porn as a way of understanding what might need to be worked on elsewhere. It’s just sex and only has the power you give it.
Aaron October 18th, 2011 at 12:35 PM
I agree that sexuality can project itself onto porn. But porn isn’t neutral. It’s a business. The journalist in me became curious about how it worked when I found out one of my favorite actors, Christian Fox, committed suicide at 22. Jeff Palmer was another crush, but I saw that he wasn’t wearing condoms in his new films. I wanted more info, so I set up an interview with him. I knew Jeff had demons that he was fighting. His resolution was flawed. Despite this, I felt compassion for him. He also stated that he makes films for adults who chose their own path. Nonetheless, fans and industry folk spat vitriol at Jeff’s “irresponsible” behavior. Compare this to Aiden Shaw: HIV+, working as an escort who will not use condoms if asked, but wore condoms on-screen for ChiChi LaRue (and her exclusive deal with a condom company) the Donald Trump of gay porn.
My point is that pornography isn’t really for the advancement of gay men. It’s a business with board meetings, business models and exists for the bottom-line. It won’t be anything more than what it is. The sooner gay people move beyond the search for meaning in physical beauty, the better off they’ll be.
Mike October 18th, 2011 at 5:58 PM
Ha, yes. Agree with you on that last part about searching for meaning in physical beauty — for gay men, for straight men, for women, for old ladies getting facelifts and businessmen wearing Armani. I also hope for peace on earth, but am not holding my breath or shaking my fist when it doesn’t happen.
Porn may not be for the advancement of gay men, but that doesn’t mean its to our detriment, either. (And while the porn industry itself is certainly business, porn also encompasses the much larger (and self-generated) world of webcams, home movies and Grindr photos. How do we deal with those?) Why should “porn” get a worse rap than the make-up industry, or Bud Light ads or Proactiv Solution. All of them reflect various degrees of unreality.
Who bears the blame for Lindsey Lohan? Her or Hollywood? What about Michael Jackson? Or John Edwards? Do we blame the movie industry, the music industry, or Washington? There are countless examples of ruined lives in all of them. There’s too much power ascribed to the porn industry. Like Hollywood and Washington, it draws narcissists. It draws those who aren’t content to lead traditional, safe lives. It is not for everyone, and none of them are a walk in the park. We do not blame the legal system for a coked-addicted lawyer. For porn we always do.
I don’t disagree that things are less than perfect, and I don’t disagree that the industry could be improved. What I do disagree with is the default opinion idea that porn is somehow dirtier or more dangerous than other businesses in a capitalist society (however regrettable that may be). That it can not be positive or transcendent, that no one would do it if they had other options, and that they are deluded if they do. Porn itself is neither good nor bad. It’s just sex on film.
Bad things happen. But so do good. And I think I — and possibly Adam, though I can’t speak for him — are saying in the face of the never-ending negative assumptions about pornography, “Hey, there are some good things here, too.”