“Be Masc, Be White”: The
Influence of Pornography on the
Gendered and Racialised
Hierarchy of Homosexual Desire
By Sebastian Parker
MA Thesis
Media Studies: Television and Cross-Media
Culture
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...2
RACE AND PORNOGRAPHY...4
Race as a Pornographic Genre...6
Interraciality in Heterosexual Porn...9
Interraciality in Homosexual Porn...12
The Representation of Black Men in Homosexual Porn...15
The Representation of Asian Men in Homosexual Porn...21
GAY CULTURE AND PORNOGRAPHY...26
Porn’s Social Influence...26
Porn and Gay Male Culture...28
Porn and the Gay Male Body...32
Porn and Gay Digital Spaces...33
SEXUAL RACISM AND GAY SEX CULTURE...36
Sexual Racism on Grindr...38
‘Douchebags’ of Grindr...40
Racial Jokes and Stereotypes...43
Race as a Perceived Sexual Preference...44
White Supremacy...45
Race as an undesirable physical characteristic...46
The Feminisation of Ethnicity...47
CONCLUSION...49
BIBLIOGRAPHY...50
Journalistic References...54
INTRODUCTION
Pornography has often been conceptualised as a form of ‘political theatre’, where existing ideologies, social constructs and collective human desires are played out through the
production, distribution and consumption of sexual representations (Kipnis). In this regard, it could be argued that pornography should not be held accountable for the multifarious
racialised and gendered marginalisations faced by many minority groups within society. Racist and misogynistic pornographic representations are merely a reflection of the prevailing institutionalised structures of heteropatriarchal white supremacy, and serve as an example of the interdigitated nature of the racial, gendered and class based oppression that is faced by many in society (Brewer and Collins). People are not solely discriminated against because their perpetrators watch porn, and prohibiting porn, restricting access to it, or drastically modifying the visual and economic structure of the adult entertainment industry is unlikely to liberate society of its’ oppressive hierarchies. Certain biases and prejudices are deeply imbedded within our histories, cultures, and established institutions. And yet, mainstream images and narratives of sex and sexuality have proven to be influential to sexual identities, practices and understandings, and in particular, the culture surrounding gay sex. The
ostensible link between racialised pornographic structures and the high degree of sexual racism experienced within gay sex culture, is attributed to the influential role that porn plays in the validation and representation of gay sexual identities. This essay aims to explore the discursive overlap between porn and a prominent gay hook-up culture, evidenced through popular sex application, Grindr.
To visualise pornography as a perpetuator of bigotry and violence towards gay men of colour, it is necessary to inaugurate the analysis with a comprehensive examination of the adult entertainment industry’s racialised visual economy. This begins with heterosexual porn, where the predominance of research into race and pornography is situated. Of course,
depictions of female sexuality and male heterosexuality (with the loci of desire being focused on female sexuality) hold diverging implications for women than that of representations of homosexuality for gay or bisexual men. Arguably, the implications for women are of a greater critical importance, particularly for women of colour due to the intersectionality of
their racialised and gendered oppression. The social and cultural impact of pornography poses a higher risk of arbitrary stereotyping and potential violence towards women than that of their male (both gay and straight) counterparts. However, I believe that many of the findings on the racialisation of heterosexual porn can also be applied to homosexual porn, given that for both genres the industry and the consumer market is dominated by white men. Despite the absence of a distinct gendered power disparity in the same-sex depictions of homosexual porn, I will argue that the minority status of people of colour is gendered in that their sexual representations serve as tools to uphold a certain ideal of white gay masculinity. Specifically, I will focus on the representations of the hyper-sexualised black man and the hyper-feminised Asian man, and the way these racial and sexual identities are ‘othered’ and manipulated to continuously re-establish a masculinity bound by an intense fear of the femininity that homosexuality elicits. The violent and discriminatory consequences of pornographic representations that have arguably burdened women for decades can be seen to be also affecting men and queer people of colour.
The relevance of pornography for homosexual identities and experiences will be discussed in relation to the ‘pornification’ of gay culture, a process that has determined the adoption of various pornographic tropes and structures into the online and offline spaces dominated by gay men. This exploration will substantiate the correlation between porn’s racialised value economy and the gay male body, gay sex culture, and gay sex and dating digital networks. These themes will then be brought together through the analysis of personal Grindr profiles (as collected by Douchebags of Grindr), to uncover the ways in which sexual racism is performed as supposedly natural component of our sexualities.
The aim of this essay is not to place the blame of the gay community’s misogyny, internalised homophobia and white supremacist thought solely on the pornography industry. White men have historically always been the most visible within LGBTQ+ communities, despite a vast proportion of advocacy and activism being led by women, transgender people, and people of colour. It is evident that racism and misogyny is an institutional issue at all levels. However, this essay intends to situate pornography’s vast influence to explore the gendered and racialised desires of white masculinity, and to frame porn as a perpetuator of sexual racism within spaces frequented by racial and sexual minorities. I will argue that pornography’s value economy is a direct influence to gay culture’s hierarchy of desire, and its objectification of people of colour and organisation of race as a sexual genre is absorbed into gay sex culture to become a believed inherent part of gay sexuality.
RACE AND PORNOGRAPHY
In the field of porn studies, it has often been concluded that pornography exploits young people, women and people of colour in the deliberate conservation of a hegemonic whiteness (Bernardi). Throughout the history of the production and consumption of pornography, the industry has predominantly concerned itself with representing the sexual desires of white men, who have proven themselves to be the largest and most profitable audience market due to their superior economic and sexual societal status. From the early stag films screened in fraternity clubhouses and other private male-only spaces, porn was initially being produced by men, for men, and about men (Waugh). The elitist nature of these spaces, the extensive racial segregation in the US at the time, and the overwhelmingly white casts of the films, indicate that both the audiences and producers of the stag genre were predominantly white. Despite an increased accessibility to pornography and the popularisation of adult theatres throughout the 20th century, it wasn’t until the introduction of the Video Home System in the
1980s when women and other minorities could comfortably watch porn in the safety of their own homes without having to enter the highly sexualised male dominated spaces (Miller-Young). Even then, access to video pornography was dependent on racial, economic and class based considerations, with most low-income homes unable to afford the latest technologies (Miller-Young). Considering the racialised class disparities in the US, this would have influenced the continued predominance of white desire in pornographic representation, with middle-class white households being the largest consumer market.
The contemporary pornography industry is centered around online internet
consumption, proving to be highly accessible to people of all demographics. However, porn’s white male dominated history has by no means been eradicated by an increasingly diverse audience with a consumer demand for representational diversity. Despite a drastic evolution in representation from the earliest porn films, the audience’s desires are still whitewashed to “privilege the white male imagination” (Bernardi 118). This is proven by the statistical ‘Year in Review’ of world famous porn site Pornhub, which claims to be the 20th most trafficked
website in the world and the most popular online pornography streaming website. To frame Pornhub’s relevance within contemporary porn research, its review asserts that the site received 33.5 billion visits in 2018, with an average of 92 million visits per day. 71% of its users are male and the site’s traffic is dominated by white majority countries in North
America and Europe, with the USA far exceeding any other country in terms of daily traffic (Pornhub). This leads one to believe that, despite a demand from other demographics to see their sexual desires represented, the white American male is still at the centre of pornographic representation and is the primary target audience. As a result, the sexual representations of racial minorities are often comprised of stereotypes and harsh objectifications that maintain the sexual hegemony of whiteness. Davis conceptualises a sexual economy that dates back to the era of American slavery, in which bodies are awarded certain levels of economic value based on their proximity to whiteness, or their ability to compliment white masculinity through their perceived ‘otherness’. The same processes of bodily commodification and objectification can be seen to be present within the hierarchal organisation of the highly commercial adult entertainment industry (Miller-Young). It is this racialised and gendered sexual economy that this essay utilises to draw parallels between pornography and the contemporary gay sex and dating culture.
The following chapter focuses on the representation of race in pornography, and the ways in which interracial desire is aesthetically conceptualised by the white porn industry in order to establish the sexual patriarchal dominance of whiteness. The works of Mireille Miller-Young are at the centre of this exploration of the sexual commodification of race. Although Miller-Young’s research into race and pornography primarily focuses on the representation of black female sexuality, and the experiences of black female sex workers, she acknowledges that her findings and conclusions also have strong implications for other marginalised people,
including both transgender people, queer and non-queer men of colour. Her works are useful to refer to when exploring how pornographic representations of black sexuality are utilised to serve white masculinity. Parallels will be drawn between Miller-Young’s proposed
pornographic texts proposed and subsequent conclusions with contemporary examples of gay pornography. This analysis will be followed by a close look at the representation of Asian men in gay porn, using the work of Richard Fung to examine the role of ‘the Oriental’ in a wider trend of hegemonic white superiority. To initiate these arguments, it is necessary to delve into the categorizing structure of pornography and the widespread reduction of ethnicities to sexual genres.
Race as a Pornographic Genre
Through the documentation of representations of black sexuality in Miller-Young’s essay “Let Me Tell Ya ‘Bout Black Chicks: Interracial Desire and Black Women in 1980s’ Video Pornography”, the sexual categorisation of race can be identified as a component of the porn industry’s revolutionary adoption of VHS technology. Whilst black and brown subjectivities had existed in porn before video, it was this new era that prompted the popularisation of all-black and interracial films. The innovative intimacy of VHS provided audiences with the freedom to explore their sexual fantasies and desires, enabling the development and commercialisation of taboo and niche market products. By the mid 1980s, it was clear that there was a growing consumer demand for films representing black sexuality and in
particular, sexualised images of racial difference. Miller-Young shows that, whilst video was able to encourage a larger black audience base who desired sexual representation, the interest in interracial porn emanated from a predominantly white male consumer market. The existing ideological and aesthetic danger and deviancy that framed interracial desire (due to historical racial tensions in the US) also compromised the depictions of interracial sex of the video era; “Articulations of the racial desires of primarily white producers, directors and writers, these roles anxiously reiterated the profoundly taboo nature of desire for black bodies within a historically white supremacist society” (Miller-Young 35). Black sexuality was marketed as a specialised genre, and video retailers were told to keep black and interracial films in a
separate section at a standardised retail price “so as to provide white male customers easy and private access to their fetishes” (Miller-Young 36). Whilst the porn industry has come along way since the 1980s, with a much higher level of racial integration, the sexual categorisation of race is still profoundly prevalent.
In contemporary internet pornography, ‘black’ and ‘interracial’ (as well as other ethnic identifiers such as, Asian, Latin and Arab) are distinct categories on the most popular adult websites. A brief look at Pornhub exemplifies how adult content platforms utilise racial categorisation in a way that is essential to their economic structure. With over 1 million hours’ worth of video uploaded to Pornhub in 2018 alone (Pornhub), distinct areas for specialised sexual themes enables users to effortlessly filter the mass amounts of content. The website is made up of over 100 categories, providing audience members with a service that conveniently allows them to identify and explore specific sexual interests or moods. Viewers can search through the extensive list of categories either alphabetically or by ‘most popular’.
With reference to Pornhub’s statistical evidence on the activity of viewers of gay porn, ‘black’ was the second most viewed category in 2018, having been stripped of its 2017 ‘most viewed’ title by the category of ‘straight guys’ (Pornhub), the implications of which on the sexualisation of hetero-masculinity will be discussed later in reference to the gendered and racialised nature of the hierarchy of gay desire. Other racialised categories in the top 20 most viewed include ‘Asian’ and ‘big black dick’. In this sense, race is presented as a sexual preference or fetish along side other niche categories such as group sex, BDSM, or double penetration. Just as one is entitled to rule out double penetration as a personal sexual preference, the structure of porn websites enables users to potentially experience the
pornographic categories of race in the same way; something they are entitled to opt out of due to preference. At this point we can begin to acknowledge how sexual racism could be
absorbed by consumers of pornography to become a perceivably innate and natural component of their sexualities.
To view a human being’s natural born identity as a sexual fetish can only lead to nothing short of dehumanisation. Fetishising an individual is arguably a particular mode of objectification in that the desire is focused on objects that symbolise the fetish as opposed to the sexual partner, whose personal identity is rendered irrelevant in this particular production of desire (Rees and Garcia). Sexologist Havelock Ellis’ description of fetishism proclaimed that, within a fetishistic distribution of desire, “a person is no longer desired at all, being merely regarded as an appendage of the symbol [the fetish], or being dispensed with altogether; the symbol [the fetish] is alone desired, and is fully adequate to impart by itself complete sexual gratification” (Ellis 30). It may seem difficult to conceptualise racial fetishes in this same way, as race is considered to be an entanglement of ideological, political, cultural and social constructs as opposed to a material and consumable object. And yet the
pornographic categorisation of race reduces it to a consumable product, much like the many other objectifications of sexual desires that are presented as distinct fetishes on porn sites. The fetishisation of racial minorities mitigates their cultural and individual identities and reduces their sexual value to vague associations with their race that their physicality has come to represent. Fetishising race does not signify a deep (yet eroticised) understanding of a particular ethnic group, but that a set of degrading and harmful associations have been ascribed to a body for the sole purpose of fulfilling the perpetrator of the fetish’s desire. Fetishism has been pathologised throughout sexology research (Rees and Garcia) and is therefore commonly regarded as an element of sexual deviance. As racial categories are listed on porn websites among other sexual genres that are widely acknowledged as deviant or
non-normative, one may be inclined to consume sexualised images of racial minorities in private, but still believe the consumption of such to be a purely fetishised and deviant endeavor; a desire that they keep behind closed doors out of shame. What is to prevent this potential shame manifesting itself into hatred or violence towards the object of desire?
Miller-Young conceptualises black bodies in pornography as “hyper-accessible and super-disposable in an industry that simultaneously invests in and mariginalises fantasies about black sexuality” (Miller-Young 231). Racialised pornographic genres are damaging in that they perpetuate this disposability. Since genres are intended to satisfy a particular mood, and the very essence of a mood is transient, ethnic identities are available for appropriation to alleviate an immediate sexual need, but are subject to removal or replacement when they are no longer required. Moreover, reducing the complexities and nuances of ethnicity and culture to a sexual genre initiates a standardisation of sexual identity. Vague terms such as ‘black’ or ‘Asian’ will never be capable of representing all of those who will be burdened with the stigmas and stereotypes attached to these representations. In fact, they are completely nonsensical. For example, the term ‘Asian’ could refer to any one of the 4.5 billion people from 48 different countries within the continent of Asia, all with vast ethnological, racial and cultural differences. The ‘burden of representation’ has long since worked to the detriment of minority groups. Due to a lack of diverse representation, the few images and narratives that do exist are expected to be “spokespersons for a culture in its entirety” (Juneja 274), with culture being assumed “as a fixed and final property of different racial groups” (Mercer 63). By generalising a huge population through an extremely limited and fetishised portrayal of Asian sexuality, it is feasible that many porn viewers would subsequently paint all Asian people with the same brush, so to speak. Therefore, even before the nature of the
pornographic content is scrutinised, it is clear that the sexual categorisation of race will undoubtedly induce and perpetuate the stereotyping, and fetishisation of, and discrimination against people of colour.
It could be argued that this very categorisation is imbedded within porn’s economic structure and is a useful way for companies to control and monitor the market and consumer demands. A power they are unlikely going to want to give up. Judging by the large amount of information that Pornhub’s 2018 ‘Year in Review’ presents about what was watched, by whom, where and when, the structure of categorisation on such platforms is useful in collecting data for the porn industry; to map current trends, and to understand audience
that pornography has over our sexualities is conspicuous. It is within the industry’s economic interest to maintain that influence whilst individuals retain a perceived level of autonomy over their own sexual desires. For regular viewers of pornography, sexual preferences, that are in any way racialised, are likely to have been influenced by the structures and modes of consumption of internet porn sites.
Interraciality in Heterosexual Porn
Before examining the explicit ways in which race and ethnicity are represented in
pornography, it is necessary to situate these representations within the ideological context of white patriarchal desire, which has long since been the key agent of depictions of sexuality in Western culture. The pornographic theme of interraciality is a primary source of interest concerning the dynamic relationship of white desire for brown bodies and sexualities. Studying pornographic representations of interracial desire provides insight into
understanding the highly sexualised and gendered position of ethnic minorities within white-dominated queer spaces. However, it is useful to first explore the heterosexual representations of interraciality that have paved the way for gay pornography’s adoption of the genre. In the successive section, I will demonstrate that the discriminatory and often violent dynamics of interracial representation are also present within gay pornography, and are used to
substantiate white superiority over the black ‘other’.
Miller-Young explains that interracial porn has been an increasingly profitable and exploitable genre, and has predominantly been produced with the intention of satisfying consumer demands from a white male audience. Bernardi claims that interracial porn “tends to represent colored body parts as exotic, excessive, and explosive” (Bernardi 117),
substantiating the idea that representations of interracial sex are explorations of white fantasy. It has also been noted that interracial porn features an increased amount of violence compared with porn depicting actors of the same race – with the focus of violence predominantly emanating from white men towards black women and from black men towards white women (Cowan, and Campbell). Shor and Golriz’s study, “Gender, Race, and Aggression in
Mainstream Pornography”, although constituted of the analysis of heterosexual interracial porn, provides insight into the ways in which black and brown bodies are sexually
violence was most likely to occur in porn films that depicted black and Latino men, with aggression most commonly identified as being directed at white women. Of course, there is no evidence to suggest that black and Latino men are inherently more sexually violent than white men. Considering the understanding that mainstream pornography is produced
primarily for white men (Miller-Young, Bernardi), we must keep in mind the audiences that these representations intend to satisfy, and acknowledge that they are images of white fantasy as opposed to the reality of black and Latin male sexuality. Dines proposes that depicting non-white sexuality as violent and aggressive is in contrast to the restraint that white sexuality is ‘burdened’ by. Shor and Golriz elaborate by saying “Videos containing hypersexual black men are liberating, because they provide white viewers with an opportunity to vicariously dispense with their whiteness, lose control, and connect with animalistic urges” (Shor and Golriz 749). This suggests that the consensus among the white male producers and consumers of pornography regards white sexuality as having transcended primal impulses and is now subject to obligatory self-control due to the emancipation of female sexuality. Black sexual practices however are not depicted as having evolved to the same extent, but are instead shown to be carnal and primitive. Shor and Golriz cite other scholars, such as Kimmel and Paul, whose research concludes that young men’s feelings of powerlessness in an increasingly gender equal society are a motivating factor for the violent depictions of black sexuality;
Their access to sex, which they feel entitled to, is habitually blocked, primarily by young white women who deny them access to their bodies. This leads the men to feel frustrated and angry with these women for withholding sex. In this atmosphere, pornography serves as reassurance that women are indeed available, but also as a way of getting off while getting even, a site where women get what they ‘deserve’. Seen in this light, the appeal of Black men and White women videos becomes clearer. What better way is there to punish these young women than to have them violated (preferably aggressively) by Black violent beasts? By being “required” or “forced” to have sex with these Black brutes (or get “blacked,” as some video titles proclaim), they are “put back in their place,” restoring the gendered balance of power and White men’s sense of lost privilege and entitlement.
(Shor and Golriz 749)
A deeply racist and misogynistic rationale is discerned from this understanding, in which black men are used as tools to punish female-kind for the supposed victimhood of white men at having to share and distribute their gendered privilege. Here we can identify the
objectification of black bodies as instruments utilised to inflict pain on women. Through these representations black men are deprived of their own subjectivities and are explicitly used to relieve white masculinity. Images of the ‘black buck’ are conjured up from the
cultural memory of a post-Reconstruction era America, in which black men are conceived as violent rapists and a threat to the white patriarchy, and in particular the white man’s most prized commodity; white womanhood (Miller-Young 39). The racist history of this stereotype is subverted into a sexual fantasy for the titillation of white masculinity; “the performance of… black men as aggressive, deviant and consumed with the possession of white women is constructed as providing pleasure for the white masculine gaze” (Miller-Young 39). By conforming to this trope, the hyper-aggressive and masculine representation of black sexuality is simultaneously feminised in its deficiency to amount to the actual power possessed by white masculinity. Given that it is white male desire that fuels the production and consumption of such images, there is a level of authority over interracial porn that confines the power and dominance of black sexuality (albeit heavily stereotyped) to the realm of pornographic fantasy controlled by a white jurisdiction. Furthermore, the film titles that Miller-Young refers to in her analysis of interracial porn all present the direction of sexual desire to be emanating from black people towards white people. Within the constructed narratives, the white porn actors never seem to be the instigators of sex. Therefore, white masculinity avoids the stigmatisation of its desire for black bodies, whilst reproducing and selling images of that very desire. In this regard, representations of black sexuality are carefully manipulated to adhere to the fragility of white masculinity, and are produced at times when, and in spaces where, white men feel weak.
The interracial pornography network, Dogfartnetwork.com, substantiates Shor and Golriz’s conceptualisation of interracial porn as using black bodies to inflict sexual punishment on women in order to uphold white masculinity. The network owns 21 different sites of both heterosexual and homosexual interracial porn, claiming to have “the largest collection of interracial videos, pictures and content on the web” (DogfartNetwork.com). These include BlacksOnBlondes.com, BlacksOnCougars.com, WatchingMyMomGoBlack.com, and InterracialPickups.com. Many of the sites describe their content as white men watching their white wives, mothers or daughters being ‘fucked’ and ‘gangbanged’ by black men. One site’s description is particularly relevant to the argument that back sexuality is utilised to perform female degradation for white viewers; “White men watch their women fuck black men: What do you do when you can’t please your woman the way she needs? You call in a black stud with a 11” cock to fuck her while you watch” (Cuckoldsessions.com). Although cuckolding (the act of watching your partner have sex with someone else) is a common sexual fantasy across a broad range of demographics (Lehmiller et al.), the heavily racialised aspect of this
genre of pornography situates itself within the realm of exaggerated images of blackness to entertain white fantasy. Dan Savage, author and sex columnist, describes cuckolding fantasies as an eroticised fear of physical and sexual inadequacy (Savage). By controlling this fear through pornographic fantasy, power is restored to the white man; whilst the black ‘stud’ hired to have sex with his wife may be able to perform masculinity and sexual dominance better than him, he still retains ownership of his wife and even has ownership over her infidelities. Representations of black sexuality still remain confined within the austere limits of white fantasy, negating the purely superficial power given to black men through these pornographic depictions. The fact that Cuckoldsessions.com describes its female porn actors as “Evil White Women And Slut Wives” (Cuckoldsessions.com) determines that blackness is merely appropriated to serve white misogyny and ultimately to substantiate the dominance of white masculinity.
Interraciality in Homosexual Porn
Having followed an understanding of how heterosexual interracial pornography substantiates white supremacist representations of sexuality, what follows is an exploration of the ways in which gay pornographies are subject to the same modes of derogatory representation. The examples that have been chosen could in some ways contradict Miller-Young’s notion of interracial desire being rhetorically disguised within white subjectivities, in that white men in gay porn are often represented as actively seeking out and desiring sex with people of colour. However, the following analysis demonstrates that white men are only the instigators of interracial sex when there is an element of eroticised violence, either inflicted upon themselves or on the black actor. This serves as an ‘othering’ process in which white masculinity is determined as superior. Therefore, the argument still stands that the limited and heavily stereotyped images of black sexuality within interracial representation are produced with the intention of counteracting white masculinity’s perceived fragilities.
Shor and Golriz’s idea of getting ‘blacked’ indicates a theme within interracial porn, one that is exemplified by Miller-Young who describes interracial sex as often being represented as an initiation of sorts for white sexuality. Porn films that incorporate the theme of interracial initiation are comprised of a white actor “taking a black dick” for the first time. Whilst both Shor and Golriz and Miller-Young refer to this phenomenon within the heterosexual porn
genre, it can also be identified within gay pornography, most notably on the porn site BlacksOnBoys.com, which is also owned by DogFartNetwork.com. The site description is “White Boys Get Their First Black Cock” (BlacksOnBoys.com). DogFartNetwork.com exemplifies the necessity of studying homosexual and heterosexual pornography
concurrently, as they are often operated by the same modes of production and represent many of the same dynamics. BlacksOnBoys.com is merely a gay counterpart to the network’s pre-existing straight porn sites and will often feature the same actors, filming locations and sexual narratives. A subscription to Dogfartnetwork.com provides users access to all 21 sites, but the videos are unavailable to watch on the site without paying for a subscription. However, they are available to watch for free on most porn streaming platforms. Pornhub has its own BlacksOnBoys.com channel, with 323 videos available (at the time of writing) that are condensed 8 minute versions of the full length films that are available with the
Dogfartnetwork.com subscription. Most of the BlacksOnBoys.com films follow the same structure; a young, white man is interviewed before having sex with a black man with an extra large penis. The interview segments of the films are employed to frame the white man’s longing to “try black dick” for the first time. This is exemplified by the introductory
interview of one particular video (accessed through Pornhub), “BLACK HAIRED WHITE GUY GETS BANGED BY A BLACK THUG” (Dogfartnetwork.com). The film opens with a young, white man (Xavier) sitting on a sofa, answering the questions of the interviewer who sits behind the camera.
Interviewer: So you want to have sex with a black man.
Xavier: Yes. Of course.
Interviewer: Of course? So how long has this fetish been going on for?
Xavier: A little while now.
Interviewer: Just a little while. How old are you?
Xavier: 19.
Interviewer: 19? Mmmmm. Any black guys in your gym class?
Xavier: A couple.
Interviewer: A couple? You like to look at their dicks?
Xavier: Yeah.
Interviewer: Yeah, really? What’s the biggest dick you’ve ever taken?
Xavier: 6 [inches].
Interviewer: 6? That’s a white man dick.
At this point there is a knock from the door which is out of shot. The video then cuts to Xavier being joined on the sofa by Mr. Sauki, the black porn actor
Interviewer: So he’s been down to suck some black dick. I think it’s time… this is your fantasy. No need to be so shy over there… Are you getting nervous? It’s okay, but you don’t have your wallet on you, do you?
(Dogfartnetwork.com) Throughout the interview, the interviewer simultaneously represents the porn producer and the voyeuristic interests of the audience. Through the use of leading questions, the voyeurs’ fantasies are transferred and bestowed upon the white actor with the intention of representing them as his own. The fantasy of white submission to the physical power of black sexuality is clearly pushed upon the actors by the interviewer, whose sexual excitement is evident and is the most prominent. It is the interviewer that uses the word ‘fetish’ to describe the practice of interracial sex, instantly ‘othering’ black sexuality as an erotic device used to titillate white desire. The sound of arousal the interviewer produces in reaction to discovering Xavier’s age feminises the white actor as young, inexperienced and subject to sexual submission, and constructs a distinctive and eroticised power imbalance between Xavier and Mr. Sauki. By highlighting his amateur status (having only experienced smaller “white man dick”), and by acknowledging his shy and nervous composure, the concept of initiation is produced; having sex with a black man is presented as a challenge to be endured, one that many are too afraid to attempt. The black actor is objectified and his sexuality is reduced to his penis, the instrument that will implement this initiation. Mr. Sauki is further reduced to a racist
stereotype when the interviewer suggests that the only reason Xavier should be nervous is if he has his wallet on his person (which is followed by the interviewer’s laughter at his own joke), implying he could be robbed by the black ‘thug’. Supposedly, the potential physical danger that the ‘thug’ poses for the young man is an element of the sexual fantasy, and the joke is included to emphasise the power play. Throughout the whole scene, it is apparent that the focus of desire is not emanating from Xavier directed towards Mr. Sauki, despite the interviewer’s attempts to construct the sexual narrative as an inexperienced boy longing to be sexually dominated by a black man. The desire is clearly located in the voyeurs’ imagining of a sexualised representation of racialised difference. BlacksOnBoys.com presents black sexuality as wildly at odds with white sexuality, and interracial sex as being constituted of an inevitable power imbalance where whiteness is at the mercy of a hyper-sexualised and aggressive blackness. What can be deduced from this analysis is that the popularity of the gay interracial porn genre is unlikely to promote healthy sexual relationships between people of
different races. Representations of interracial sex are comprised of an eroticised fear of the ‘other’ and are used to control the perceived threat of black sexuality, by confining it to a dark and deviant corner of the white sexual imagination.
Miller-Young describes societal presentations of cross-racial desire as being heavily influenced by historical racial tensions, and the regulation and manipulation of such has proven to be fundamental to the dominant social order. She says that, once the violent and oppressive histories of white and black cohabitation have been considered, the fact that interracial desire is regarded as taboo is strikingly palpable (43). The proximity of bodies that are intensely and disparagingly politicised is bound to supplement their sexual
representations with tensions and anxieties. However, “the troubling issues that interracial desire as it made a spectacle, appropriated and consumed presents for white men: they are subject to their own racist policing of sex, which leaves both black bodies and their desire for them as deviant and dangerous” (Miller-Young 44). This statement is one of the most crucial factors when considering the implications of interracial porn. In relation to
BlacksOnBoys.com, the eroticised deviancy of interracial desire establishes black sexuality as impendent to the security of white masculinity, and therefore those white men who desire interracial sex are positioned as inflicting danger upon themselves. It has been established that interracial desire is a significant component of sexuality, whether merely represented through pornography or perpetuated by it. If this component is perceived as dangerous, it will induce fear. When humans are presented with something they fear, they often respond with hate and aggression (Chongatera). In that sense, how will interracial desire be experienced within online communities, such as Grindr, that are focused around the acquisition of sexual gratification? This will be addressed in the following chapters.
The Representation of Black Men in Homosexual Porn
The porn industry, designed around the white male gaze, has historically and continues to represent blackness as “hypersexual, hyper-available, deviant and degraded” (Miller-Young 33). Miller-Young describes how white producers of interracial pornography have themselves stated that black sexuality is caricaturised in porn in a way that “imitate[s] an imagined ‘blackness’” (Miller-Young 38). She links this to the long history of objectification and racial caricaturisation of black bodies, both through public ridicule and sexual fetishisation, that
reduces blackness to an object of consumption for the white patriarchy to appropriate at will. Bernardi makes the comparison between black female porn actors and the Hottentot Venus freak show attractions of 19th century London and Paris, where black women were displayed
for audiences to stare and gape at bodies that differed greatly from the white European features they were accustomed to (Bernardi, Henderson). Indeed, the fetishisation and sexualisation of black bodily features, such as buttocks, breasts and penises (Engmann), is a prevailing condition of black representation within contemporary media culture and
pornography.
The objectification of black men and the reduction of black male sexual identity to “giant talking phalluses” (Miller-Young 35) is of particular interest when exploring the parallels between pornography and gay sex culture. The distinct focus on enormous penises, like most of porn’s racist stereotyping, serves as an “erasure of a broad array of black sexuality and gendered being, in favour of a static heteronormative narrative” (Richardson 63), in that the the primary value awarded to the black male identity is that of the hyper-masculinity
represented through the superiority of the phallus. Not only does this prevent black queer subjectivities to be appropriately produced, but it perpetuates a completely fantasised and unrealistic standard of black machismo that is “always performative, and a mythology that is impossible for men to achieve” (Miller-Young 274). Darieck Scott acknowledges the extreme pressure placed on the black phallus; “When the body on the screen in a porn film is black and male, the dick is what you seek and what you see… as regards the black man everything in fact takes place at the genital level” (Scott 183).
A poignant example of the objectification of the black male phallus in contemporary homosexual internet pornography can be found on the channel itsgonnahurt.com, which is the 3rd most popular ‘satellite site’ of the 8th most popular gay porn network, the Big Daddy
Network (Brennan). The site’s description is as follows;
Big black dicks in tiny white asses. We make it possible. We bring in guys that think they can handle a big dick, and we put them to the test. We have monster cocks come out and slam every inch inside of them. Join now and see! Guys love having things fill their asses, and every guy thinks he can take the largest object inside of them. Well nothing beats a huge big black, and the taboo of white guys getting stuffed with it is too hard to resist. The best part is, none of these guys know what’s coming for them till that hard cock is out, and they are stretching their jaw to fit it in. When we say, It’s Gonna Hurt, we mean it.
Much like BlacksOnBoys.com, itsgonnahurt.com complies with the theme of interracial initiation, except in this case the sexual focus is even more heavily placed on the black male phallus. Indeed, the focus is so distinct that all other aspects of the black actors’ sexual identity is omitted, reducing them entirely to “inflictors of pain” by only referring to them as “big black dicks” and “monster cocks” (itsgonnahurt.com). In this regard, the phallus
consumes the entirety of the black male sexual identity. With BlacksOnBoys.com, the fetishisation of black sexuality extends to encapsulate a broader (albeit still extremely
limited) eroticised black identity, whereas itsgonnahurt.com is exclusively concerned with the black penises and the identities of the white receivers. The use of the pronoun ‘we’ in the site’s description indicates the network’s ownership of the black phallus; a tool that the producers command and “bring out” to satisfy white desire. The lack of autonomy this provides for black sexuality is feminising, in that it is reduced to an object for a powerful patriarchal industry to wield at will in the realisation of white fantasy. The network revels in the excitement of the “taboo” nature of this representation of interracial fantasy. Throughout the sex scenes, the camera predominantly focuses on the black actor’s penis and the face of the white actor to capture his pain and discomfort. The black actors are often wearing sunglasses to further anonymise their identities, making the deliberate objectification all the more evident. Itsgonnahurt.com reinforces the idea that blackness is caricaturised and
fetishised in order to entertain white sexual imaginings of the ‘other’ and to subordinate black sexuality as a corporal disposable object in juxtaposition with a more complex superior white sexuality. Arguably, the superiority in this context is derived from the presentation of white sexuality as intricate and multi-faceted, with a desire for “black monster cocks” being one of many performative elements that do not integrally define white sexuality in its entirety. Another significant pornographic trope that is utilised to ‘other’ black sexuality and situate blackness as “invariably subordinate to whiteness” (Miller-Young 43) is the visual and rhetorical association between black identities and violence and criminality. Shor and Golriz attribute porn’s uninhibited approach to representing black sexuality as a motivating factor for prevailing sexual racisms;
Pornography is the one genre that treats all bodies, but in particular Black men’s bodies unapologetically, without the restraint of political correctness. The genre promises audiences that these bodies will be out-of-control and reveal the inner savage in the form of a violent pimp with an enormous penis, a thug, a rapist, or a gorilla.
Porn’s racialised stereotypes of black people as pimps and criminals is explored in Miller-Young’s essay “Hip-Hop Honeys And Da Hustlaz: Black Sexualities In The New Hip-Hop Pornography”, in which she conceptualises the popularity of 1990s Hip-Hop culture as a leading inspiration for eroticised imaginings of ‘the hood’. The growingly profitable ‘ghetto’ aesthetic was adopted and appropriated by white porn producers to create the subsequent genre of ‘ghetto porn’; “hip-hop influenced hard-core that glamourises representations of the inner city, poverty, gangsta life, pimping and whores” (Miller-Young 271). Many of the narratives of the films within this genre would constitute white pornographers travelling to ‘ghetto’ neighbourhoods to find black men and women with whom to have sex. Visual signifiers of ‘the hood’ act as a backdrop to this racialised fantasy, and the illicit and dangerous nature of the acts taking place are usually emphasised. Kelley describes the eroticisation of these neighborhoods as an “imaginary alternative to suburban boredom” (Kelley 181).
The ‘ghetto porn’ fantasy is alive and well in contemporary homosexual pornography, as seen on thughunter.com (which is also owned by the Big Daddy Network). The films on this channel consist of white actors, usually prominent gay porn stars, “hunting in the ghettos” (thughunter.com) of Miami for ‘thugs’ (who are also actors) to have sex with. Unlike most black on white interracial porn, thughunter.com attempts to subvert the perceived sexual dominance of black men by making them take on the role of passive receiver, with the well-known white porn actor adopting the dominant position. The use of the verb ‘hunt’ reduces black sexuality to an animalistic entity, that it is a possession for the white man to catch and then use as he pleases. It is presented as a thrilling game, much like the exhilarating danger of a hunting trip in the wilderness, except in this case the danger is derived from the unstable and violent associations with the low socio economic urban areas. Furthermore, the concept of ‘catching’ or ‘hunting’ a black man is reminiscent of Jim Crow era racism, when the hunting down and lynching of black men functioned as a white
supremacist community ritual (Louise Wood).
Using one particular video accessed through Pornhub, “THUG HUNTER MONEY TALKS IN THE HOOD” (Big Daddy Network), we can explore the utilisation of stereotyped black identity markers as a means to establish patriarchal dominance. The film opens on white gay porn star, Casey Munroe, standing in what looks like a parking lot. His conversation is with Joey, the cameraman/producer who is never seen.
Casey: We’re on the hunt again?
Joey: Yeah, we’re in like a Latin fucking ghetto neighbourhood.
Casey: I don’t know where the fuck you took me today Joey, but America’s gonna be happy… we’re on a mission.
Joey: Can you read some of this shit up there, what does it mean?
Casey: [reading a sign in Spanish] Something about Latin people and good food. I don’t know, I’m just tryna catch me a thug and do what I do.
They walk and speak for a moment about Latin food, until they come across a young black ‘thug’ standing outside a restaurant.
Joey: Hey is the food any good here?
Thug: I don’t know.
Casey: He’s a hard ass. We got a hard ass here. I bet you gangsta, huh?
Thug: Don’t ask me no questions.
Casey: Don’t bullshit me, come on. You know what we’re here for, how you doing?
Thug: No I don’t know that.
Casey: Why you gotta act like that, huh? Do I look like I’m about to stab yo’ ass?
Thug: Y’all ain’t supposed to be around here. Go that way, don’t come around here.
Joey: Are we bothering you, dude?
Casey: I’m bothering him? You know what, I think I know this neighbourhood. I think something else talks bigger in this neighbourhood. [He pulls out his wallet and a handful of cash] What you sayin’, baby? Money talks, huh? Bullshit all you want but money talks.
Joey: We don’t want drugs though, are you a drug dealer?
Thug: Don’t worry about that.
Casey: You see, America? Money talks, always.
Joey: You want to make some money for some sex?
Casey: Let me put it this way. I’m on the hunt right now and I’m looking for someone of stature of thug quality. And all I see right here is gangster head to toe and I think you want to make a bit of this paper don’t you.
Joey: Have you ever been to jail before?
Thug: Plenty of times.
Joey: If I pay you 300 bucks will you suck off my friend?
Thug: Yeah, I got you.
Joey: Dude, that was easy!
Casey: C notes, baby. Follow me, daddy. Let’s go behind this building.
(Big Daddy Network) This constructed scene seems to adopt every stereotype attached to ‘ghetto’ neighbourhoods; poverty, drugs, jail time, and even Casey’s awkward adoption of AAVE (African-American
Vernacular English) when talking to the ‘thug’. The producer is clearly trying to paint a picture of the black urban experience, caricaturising it in contrast with the more affluent and glamorous neighbourhoods of Miami in which the network’s other channels are set (such as outinpublic.com and baitbus.com). The element of danger is established by the ‘thug’ (who is never named) when he suggests that they should not be in this neighbourhood, which only seems to excite the two white men even more. The concept behind the scene is deeply rooted in white supremacist thought; a white guy entering a dangerous neighbourhood, finding a ‘thug’ who is presented as violent and a threat to the safety and security of whiteness, throwing money at him in return for sexual favours, thus asserting his white socioeconomic privilege and sexual dominance over blackness. A hegemonic and omnipresent white power is stabilised through the deliberate infiltration of white patriarchal dominance in a specifically non-white space. Miller-Young speaks about the position of white men in ‘ghetto porn’; “Through their performances these men mobilise deviance as well as illicit eroticism to construct themselves through, and against, dominant discourses of black masculinity that render black men powerless in relation to white patriarchal hegemony” (Miller-Young 237). From the examples of thughunter.com and itsgonnahurt.com, it is clear that gay pornography represents black masculinities as “non-normative, monstrous, dangerous, and feminised” (Miller-Young 275), either depicting black men as “violent sexual predators with large sexual organs who want to emasculate white men through rape” or as sexual slaves who have succumbed to the power of white men “who need to reaffirm a masculinity threatened by the black male” (Kendall 106).
The popularity of black and interracial desire has lead to the perpetuation of the
commodification of black sexuality at the discretion of the white dominated porn industry. Due to their exploitable market status, racialised porn genres have been flooded with low-budget films (significantly contrasting with the aesthetics of mainstream porn) that use “anachronistic cultural ideologies of black sexuality in cheap, seedy productions to satiate white male consumers and attract black audiences desirous of images of black hardcore sex” (Miller-Young 38). These low-quality productions further situate pornographic
representations of blackness within the realms of fetishised deviancy, proving black sexuality to be a “profitable but devalued commodity” (Miller-Young 37). If the economy of desire that governs the pornography industry shares structural similarities with Grindr’s hierarchy of desire (as I will later argue), what are the implications for a “profitable but devalued”
white men? Miller-Young proposes that many black porn actors and sex workers are compelled into “embracing the counter-normative work of deviance, hyper-sexuality, and self-commodification in order to survive under capitalism” (Miller-Young, 231). Can the same be said for people of colour navigating the hyper-sexualised spaces of gay dating applications?
The Representation of Asian Men in Homosexual Porn
At this point, there has been very little mention of the ways in which Asian men are
represented in gay pornography, as the research that is central to this chapter focuses on black sexual representation. However, depictions of Asian sexuality are of notable importance when exploring how pornography serves the ideals of a hegemonic white masculinity, as “porn is most useful for revealing [these] relationships of power” (Fung 249). As the primary analysis of this essay will explicitly demonstrate, these representations carry with them implications for Asian men when navigating sexualised gay spaces. This section will use and build upon the analysis of Asian men in gay porn by Richard Fung in “Looking For My Penis: The Eroticised Asian In Gay Video Porn” to centre the exploration of Asian sexuality in relation to white patriarchal structures of production and consumption. As Fung points out, when referring to representations of Asian men in pornography it is essential to note that these sexual depictions are almost entirely comprised of ‘the Oriental’ – the identities and aesthetics of those belonging to East and Southeast Asia. Arab pornographic representations are not included within ‘the Oriental’, despite Edward Said’s conceptualisation of the Middle Eastern ‘Orient’, and are confined to their own genre, whilst the bodies and identities
associated with South Asia and the Indian subcontinent are almost invisible within porn (Fung). Therefore, the genre of Asian porn is comprised of a superficial white understanding of Oriental sexuality, representing uninformed and adulterated Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino and Thai physical and cultural aesthetics. It must be acknowledged that ‘Oriental’ and ‘Asian’ as signifying terms are reductive and non-representative, but they are utilised in this essay to adhere to the language used by the pornography industry and the research surrounding it.
‘The Oriental’ in porn is often construed through exotic and mystical dramatisations, conventionalised cultural products (such as martial arts or vaguely Oriental sounding music), and is frequently positioned as a spectacle as opposed to a sexual subject (Fung). The
homoerotic ‘oriental’ is an element of “a colonial fantasy – and reality – that empowers one kind of gay man over another” (Fung 242). As a further noteworthy point, and in line with the previous exploration of interraciality in porn, Fung identifies the majority of commercial gay porn incorporating Asian sexuality as being consumed by white men (at the time of writing in the 1990s). It is unlikely that this has altered that drastically within the last few decades, as white men still remain the largest demographic of internet pornography consumers. However, as shown by Pornhub’s statistical ‘Year in Review’, evolving depictions of Asian sexuality in mainstream Western porn may be contributed to a growing audience market in countries such as Japan and the Philippines (Pornhub). Nevertheless, the production of gay hardcore is still centered around the sexual gaze of the white patriarchy.
As has been previously established, the production of racialised stereotypes to elicit sexual arousal is a common component of mainstream pornography (Kendall). The nature of representations of Asian sexuality seem to be, at first glance, in direct opposition to that of the hyper-masculine and hyper-sexualised black man in porn. It has been broadly
acknowledged within pornography studies as well as in mass media that Asian men are simultaneously feminised and desexualised (Chen), with popular cultural references often accentuating Asian masculinity as sexually inadequate in comparison with that of white masculinity (Shor and Golriz). In contrast to porn’s imaginings of black sexuality that completely reduce black men to the phallus, Asian men are often represented as lacking any phallic power at all; “the Asian man is defined by a striking absence down there” (Fung 237). Exemplified by the proliferation of the ‘money shot’ (the capturing of the moment of male ejaculation) in mainstream pornography, the phallus and the pleasure of male ejaculation has come to represent a vital principle of hardcore and is authoritative in the structural framework of sex scenes (Dyer, Fung). However, as “the narratives privilege the penis while always assigning the Asian the role of bottom; Asian and anus are conflated” (Fung 240), Asian men are alienated from accessing this particular imperative demonstration of power and
affirmation of sexual prowess.
The stereotypical Western cultural representations of Asian femininity as puerile, passive and subservient not only apply to Asian women but also Asian men (Bernardi). This is particularly identifiable within gay porn which, with the intent of constructing and
maintaining a power imbalance that upholds the dominance of white masculinity, uses sexual representations of race to replace the gendered hierarchy that is embodied by heterosexual
feminise racial minorities in order to preserve the prevailing social and sexual status-quo. Gay sex has the potential of providing a progressively fluid and democratic sexual
experience, as the roles of active and passive, submissive and dominant, are not restrained by the gender disparity that heterosexuality is characterised by. And yet subverting such notions of gendered structures of power is a privilege awarded to groups already in possession of higher social and political status. It is not in the interest of these groups to democratise sex and, so as to maintain their dominance, minorities are feminised into submission and the gendered power imbalance is reproduced. The implications that this has for Asian men are suggested by Fung; “race introduces another dimension that may serve to close down some of this mobility” (241).
The sexual subordination of Asian masculinity is evidenced through numerous examples of pornography that depict imagery and narratives of young, Asian boys being dominated by older white men (Kendall). These representations suggest of multiple intersectionalities that serve an eroticised power imbalance, including race, age, sexual position and body size. In the interracial print pornography studied by Kendall, “the white male is described as one who seeks out an inferior Asian other; the young Asian is presented as ready and willing to serve the white man’s sexual fantasies. The white male is superior; the Asian male inferior” (Kendall 106). Hereof, Asian men are portrayed as sexual products whose primary purpose are to satisfy the desires of white men (Han), which is reminiscent of the pornographic objectification of women. Reducing Asian men to sexual objects that are simultaneously awarded minimal sexual autonomy further epotimises their pornographic subordination, as they are prevented from ever adhering to the dominance and superior masculinity of white men (Phua). Within White-Asian interracial pornography, the prevailing construct of Asian asexuality produces sex sequences as “an act of submission, not of
pleasure” (Fung 239) for the Asian man, who is “a caricature of passivity” (Fung 240). The production of the ‘house boy’ is a common trope in representing white fantasies of Asian sexuality (Fung), which completely exemplifies the subservient and inferior position of Asian men on the sexual hierarchy through their representation as actual servants. Even when not adopting a sexually passive role (which is extremely rare in gay porn), the sexual pleasure of Asian men is at best secondary (and at worst completely absent) to that of their white
counterpart (Fung), reiterating their fundamental function as sex objects to quench a white patriarchal sexual thirst.
As part and parcel of their subordination, the desires of Asian men are whitewashed. Asian to Asian desires are often only included within commercial pornography as a means to
reframe and reestablish the power and desirability of whiteness. Fung makes an interesting comparison between the whitewashing of Asian desires and the heterosexualising of queer desires, referencing the way in which performative lesbian sex is often featured in
heterosexual porn to position the dominance of the desirability of masculinity;
“representations that are not mean to eroticise women loving women, but rather to titillate and empower the sexual of the heterosexual male viewer” (Fung 242). In this regard, Asian to Asian desire is feminised and delegitimised, and again race seems to be utilised as a
replacement for the gendered power struggles that define heterosexuality. The potential affects that the desexualisation of Asian men and the positioning of whiteness at the centre of all desire has on the relationships between Asian men will be discussed in relation to the analysis of gay hook-up apps.
Developing on and modernising Fung’s research, Daniel Tsang asserts that the
representations of Asian men in gay porn have evolved and been democratised in an effort to diminish the superiority of whiteness over Asian sexuality. He acknowledges that “Asians remain marketable objects of desire and delicacies to be consumed, and porn producers, who undoubtedly make more money marketing white porn stars have decided that there is
nonetheless a niche market that caters to non-white depictions” (474). Tsang positions the improved representations of Asian sexuality as being produced for the fetishistic desires of sex tourists and ‘rice queens’ (a term used within the gay community to identify white men with a sexual preference for Asian men), and therefore continue to remain subject to the “allure of the exotic, erotic Oriental” (Tsang 474).
Tsang also acknowledges that the democratisation of Asian representation in gay porn is attributed to the work of independent and alternative pornographers, with the commercial pornography industry lagging behind in terms of inclusive representation. Both Tsang and Miller-Young have cited the works of independent porn producers of colour, who are working towards representing black and brown sexual subjectivities and resisting the hegemonic ideals that govern mainstream pornography and subsequent sexual experience. Although these progressive filmmakers are changing the status quo, when drawing parallels between representations of sex and sex culture one most focus on the most dominant images in circulation. In all honesty, the majority of porn consumption is passive and the majority of its audiences are lazy. Finding independently produced and socially progressive
influence. With the most profitable consumer market of porn being white men, whose desires are adequately represented (at least in relation to those of other minorities), the racialised structures and aesthetics of commercial homosexual porn still present as a pragmatic area of comparison with that of gay sex culture.
GAY CULTURE AND PORNOGRAPHY
To demonstrate the correlation between the racist structures of the pornography industry and the sexual racism experienced on contemporary gay dating applications, it is first necessary to understand how porn influences the wider culture of sex and the sexual identities of those affected by the culture. The critical importance of the parallel between images of sexuality and experienced sexuality is supported by Sharif Mowlabocus, the work of whom is central to the understandings brought forward in this chapter, and who argues that “It is almost impossible to imagine that gay male culture could, would or indeed should extricate itself from the composite relationship it has formed with mainstream gay pornography”
(Mowlabocus 70). He believes that pornography and society should not be treated as exclusive entities and should instead by studied alongside one another. As concepts, the pornographic and the social share similar structures and categorisations that maintain a cyclical system of ideology and representation. The idea that art is merely a reflection of life is contested by Mowlabocus in the case of pornography, who suggests that the prevailing gay culture is a reflection of pornographic representation of gay sexuality. Using his analysis of the ‘pornification’ of gay culture and their online identities, this chapter will conceptualise the role that porn plays in the self identification of homosexual men in online and offline spaces. Beginning with a generalised understanding of the wider social influences of porn, the relationship between gay porn and gay culture will be analysed in regards to the vital visibility and representation that porn has provided gay men; a validation that they have come to depend on. Subsequently, the implications that porn has on the physical and bodily
homosexual experience will be explored, followed by an observation of the structural systems of oppression that gay pornography shares with gay digital platforms.
Porn’s Social Influence
A substantial amount of research has validated the connection between pornography and society’s sexual experiences. The affects that exposure to sexually explicit materials have on sexual understandings and practices are explored by Rothman et al. in a study that follows the pornography use and subsequent sexual behaviours of urban American youths. They found
that attitudes towards sex, ‘non-normative’ sexual preferences, sex at a young age, higher number of sexual partners, and performed misogyny within sex were all associated with the materials and the amount of exposure to said materials that the participants engaged with (Rothman et al). Using sexual script theory, Rothman et al. assert that “sexual behaviour is in part governed by social influences and that humans enact beliefs about their own and other’s sexuality by internalising sets of norms about what is or is not sexually arousing” (Rothman et al. 737). When these norms are standardised by an American industry that holds a near-monopoly over pornographic representation in the Western world, any social manifestations of hierarchies of desire will be informed by them. A particularly interesting finding of
Rothman et al. was that their participants believed that “pornography – even in extreme forms – is an unremarkable facet of daily life” (Rothman et al. 742). This suggests that there is a ubiquitous submission to the everyday role that pornography plays, one that goes frequently undetected. The passivity of the audience that this proposes, and the public complicity in consuming authoritative representations of sexuality, will certainly pose a threat to the minorities whose sexualities are excluded from centralised productions of pornography. Whilst commercial porn has definitely been “diversified and democratised” by the internet and the plethora of accessible sexual material (Brennan), the limitations of these sexual representation will still hold implications for various minority groups; in particular, queer people and people of colour.
In their seminal book ‘Pornification: Sex and Sexuality in Media Culture’, Paasonen at al. outline the ways in which pornography has shaped individual and collective understandings of pleasure and desire, and society’s sexual relationship with the corporeal (Dyer, Paasonen et al). Using the example of the ‘money shot’ that was established by 1970s film
pornography, Paasonen et al. suggest that pornographic stylisations have come to adopt central positions within our sexual identities and behaviours. The popularisation of the ‘money shot’ has lead to the imperative and often compulsory visual aesthetic of male sexual climax, both in pornographic depictions of sex as well as within the general public’s
everyday sex lives (Paasonen et al). Another example of the influence that porn has over individual sexual practices has been demonstrated through the correlation between exposure to bareback pornography and a higher likelihood of engaging in unprotected intercourse (Stein et al). It is clear that certain tropes and stylistic features are appropriated from publicly accessible pornography and are self-prescribed and re-enacted by the audience in private.
One of the most troubling aspects of pornography’s unmistakable power to condition sexual identity is its exploitation of the cultural privacy of sex, which leads to the perceived innateness of sexualities and preferences. If said sexualities and preferences are widely understood as natural, instinctive and personal to the individual, the porn industry is able to avoid accountability for the damaging representations it produces and distributes. The
cultural privacy that envelops sex induces the perceived exclusivity, in that people view their sexual desires and the sex acts they partake in as isolated from external influence
(Schrimshaw et al), and subsequently as inherent to their core identities. A statement by Richard Fung supports the idea that homosexuality in particular is observed as static and its boundaries as instinctive; “[the] erroneous perception that the sexual appetites of gay men are exclusive and unchangeable” (Fung 239). However, the preponderance of sexual stimuli is shared across society due to both a centralised media and pornography industry. Thus the sexual representations that evoke our arousal, although perhaps consumed privately, are of public notoriety. Therefore, our sexual behaviours are to a large extent framed by
pornographic trends. That’s not to say that the natural and innate sexualities of individuals do not in any way influence these trends, as adult entertainment is a commercial industry that is constantly responding to consumer demand. But the industry has by now established a perennial power that thrives off the privacy of sex, leaving individuals for the most part isolated from each other’s sexualities, therefore disconnected and incapable of resisting the hegemonic representations of sexuality that are produced by mainstream porn. This point will prove to be of significance later in relation to the perceived innateness of sexual racism.
Porn and Gay Male Culture
In his essay ‘Gay Men and the Pornification of Everyday Life’, Sharif Mowlabocus outlines the deep rooted connection between the history, politics and sexual representations of
pornography and the gay male subculture. He asserts that processes of gay identity formation through “understandings of the Self and Other” are heavily influenced by porn, which “is written into the code of gay men’s everyday lives” (61). Of course, as previously discussed, erotica has played a role in the formation of the sexual (and non-sexual) identities of most of those who have engaged with it, but the significant relationship between mainstream
pornography and gay men is exclusive to the (sub)culture of this specific community (Mowlabocus). There is an identifiable correlation between a growingly visible gay
