Treasure Island Media Gets Slammed

You could be forgiven for being surprised that Treasure Island Media's new release, Slammed, isn't receiving more media attention.  I suspect, knowing that's what TIM are looking for, media outlets are refusing to play their 'outrage' game.  That certainly seems to be the case over at The Sword (NSFW).

The latest film from San-Francisco based bareback studio Treasure Island Media (TIM) is directed by their British Director Liam Cole, and shot in London.  According to The Sword (NSFW, trailer also available), it depicts men shooting-up Crystal Meth before then engaging in bareback sex.

Crystal Meth is not the same issue in the UK as it is in the States (thankfully) and so whilst the documentary argument of Cole (i.e he's just recording the sex that is taking place around him in London), doesn't make sense for a US-based studio like TIM.  If it's so important to document this, why haven't they done it before in the States?  Why not record the same group of men shooting meth and having bareback sex over three or five years?  Show the impact of the drug on their sex, bodies and mind.  I suspect the films at the end of that series wouldn't sell as the men's bodies increasingly show the ravaging effects of Crystal, but if it's all about documentary, that would have been a logical argument.

You might think it's just a predictable behaviour tactic from TIM.  I don't agree.  I recall (I hope, rightly) studio honcho Paul Morris financially backing a US documentary on Meth, designed to highlight the negative consequences of Meth.  I recall him being concerned about the impact of Meth on communities of men.  Is that position incompatible with releasing Slammed?  It's perhaps a moot point but it does raise questions.  Not least, where is TIM going?

It certainly seems to be a studio that feels a bit lost at the moment.  A website and social-media overhaul has made the online presence slicker and more professional looking, but it has also stripped the studio of a lot of soul.  Nothing more so than the painful use of social media.  Fake Twitter accounts which seem more an attempt at satire than arousal are an awkward miss-step.  The Sword (NSFW) also reported on these fake accounts, singling out the account of Ethan Wolfe.  It's embarrassing and hasn't improved since the story, continuing the dull, almost humorous updates.  I've never been aroused by the tweets, but I've laughed quite a lot.  I'm not sure that's usually the intention of a porn studio.  Contrast this with the genuine account of Jackson Taylor (depicted as a TIM exclusive on their site NSFW), in which his account manages to appear erotic, sincere, and interactive.  That's how you do it boys.

Where would I go?  Well, I think there's still a lot of scope for TIM to document the patterns and flow of sex lives.  This could be done in a conscious longitudinal way, recording the way that individuals frequenting venues/locations transcends the anonymity we often associate with random hook ups.  These hook ups are rarely random, and I think it would be interesting to document a journey into bareback sex (as 'Ryan Sullivan' did from the production point of view), to document the desire of bareback as well as the act.  Then again, maybe I should stick to the day job.

Launch of Web and App Resource for Strip-dancers

Teela Sanders and Rosie Campbell have produced some excellent new resources for those working in the strip-based industry.

They've launched a website:   http://www.dancersinfo.co.uk/ and there is also an Iphone App which can be downloaded for free (where you can set up a password) – search ‘dancers’ in the App store and Dancers Information is listed in the top 10. The resource focuses on personal safety at work; tax awareness and self employment rights and top tips for working. They consulted heavily with the dancer community, as well as drawing on findings from a large research project and specialist input from HM Revenue and Customers and on safety at work from the Suzy Lamplugh Trust. Some sections are written by dancers for dancers. The website has ‘Top Tips’ for dancers in English, Romanian, Russian and Spanish. Both resources have links to the original research on which this project draws: http://www.sociology.leeds.ac.uk/research/projects/regulatory-dance.php

A Very Special Prison Closure

Sad news for San Francisco barebackers and tourists to the city, with the news last month that the sex club Mack Folsom Prison has temporarily shut.

A notice on their website informs patrons that: 'We are moving...Sometimes bad things happen for a reason.  You may not understand or see it at the moment, but later you look at it and realise that it turned out to be a good thing.  So we hope that out bit of bad news leads us to a better Mack Folsom Prison.  On March 10th of this year we lost one of the owners by heart-attack.  Our heads were still spinning when we were notified that the landlord decided to terminate the lease.  Mack Folsom Prison's last day at the current location was May 6, 2012.  We are taking this opportunity to find a new location that we feel would be suitable for us to create a space for men as unique as Mack Folsom Prison is.  We will keep you posted here, and we're looking forward to serving the men of Mack Folsom Prison soon!  The Staff and Management'.

Sad news indeed about one of the owners.  It's easy to think 'so what' but such is the powerful history of San Francisco in terms of identity formation and particularly in the response to HIV/AIDS that the very presence of these clubs serve as a powerful monument to sexual history.  Their existence, and the banishment of saunas, the presence of a venue called Blow Buddies, the geographical positioning of these venues today - far from the tourist strewn Castro - speaks volumes about who 'we' were, who we are, and who we are becoming.

Whilst other venues fussed about whether your shower product could be still be smelt on entering the club (no, really - beware of using Original Source and then visiting Blow Buddies), Mack celebrated uninhibited, sleazy, raw, un-prentious sex.  For many the venue was a cesspool, a venue guaranteed to ensure that you leave with more than you came with.  A free gift for every customer and so forth.  Of course, officially, men subscribed to the safer-sex guidelines which the city requires but it was a venue where drug use, if not the effect of drugs were not unknown and bareback sex was in abundance.

It was a bit tatty, not huge, and the raised platform 'towers' had ladders which you always wondered whether you'd break your neck on.  Yet it's hard to under-estimate the emotional hold that such venues have on guys.

As such, like it or love it, it was a very special venue and it's closure of significance.  You might therefore think that a reopening is a certainty.  You might well be wrong.   Playspace opened last year (video tour below) which you can check out here, adding another sex club venue to the city, and is also placed in the South of Market district.



The website splash screen for Playspace instantly positions the club as a safer-sex/condom venue (which also indicates fucking in contrast to the oral focussed Blow Buddies) yet read their safer sex section and it's far from preachy:

'PLAYSPACE recognizes that sex for men comes in all shapes and forms. We encourage all our clients, patrons and friends to remember that for guys into other guys it’s important to include routine STD/HIV screening every 3-6 months. San Francisco has lots of opportunities and places for free to low cost testing, or ask your own doctor to test you during your regular visits. Many STD’s don’t have any signs or symptoms and can be missed or shared without regular screening.'

Then again, the rules inside the club (which you can see in the more atmospheric video below taken at their opening) has as rule number one 'No bareback sex'.  How far this is practised I'm not sure.  I've not seen the kind of online postings that Mack attracted but nor have I visited this venue myself to evaluate behaviour.  I would be fascinated to see how these two venues - one relatively new, one relatively recently closed, are shaping bareback behaviour in the city of San Francisco and how regulatory safer sex frameworks are playing out in reality (does anyone sense a research grant bid coming on?)



Watched it?  I'm guessing you want to see/know more about Daniel don't you?  You're a predictable lot.  Anyway,  I've also seen an Internet posting that the old Mack venue is now owned by someone else who aims to re-open a new sex club there - although that was meant to open on 1 June and it doesn't appear to have done so. Another spanner to potentially throw in the works.  How I miss San Francisco.

Check out the Mack website here.

Ben Dover and the Future of Porn

The Annual Erotic Awards and their utterly brilliant golden penis trophies have become a fixture of the sexuality calendar.  They are however, utterly useless at updating their website.  Although the finals took place on the 26th May, I still have no idea who the winners were.  Anyway, one of the finalists (perhaps a winner) was the pornographer Ben Dover (Carry on humour lives) who was nominated for the Lifetime Achievement Award.  Today, Dover also has an online store, his own clothing and events packages.

The straight porn producer regularly makes an appearance in his films, or at least his dick usually does, with scenes often ending with him getting in on the action.  He's also been the subject of a BBC Four documentary back in 2009 on trying to make it as an actor.  In the same year, he also appeared on the BBC news channel complaining that it was increasing difficult to make money in the porn industry and suggested that the government set up a task force to tackle porn piracy.

It was therefore not all that surprising to see that Dover and his company, Golden Eye International turned to the courts for action in tackling piracy. Golden Eye International Ltd took action on behalf of 13 adult entertainment companies, stating that it had a list of 9,124 IP addresses which had illegally downloaded some of their films. It also had a draft warning letter demanding £700 for copyright infringement ready to go. If all 9,124 customers paid £700 it would amount to £6.3 million.

The High Court determined that any potential settlement sum should be negotiated with each individual recipient. In total Mr Justice Arnold rejected claims from 12 of the 13 porn production companies. O2 - the company at the centre of the claims - had to hand over the details of people using IP addresses which Golden Eye said illegally downloaded films from Ben Dover Productions.

Read more here, and here.

It's an interesting approach, especially given that I suspect most of his fans will at some point have watched his material via illegal downloads.  It's a serious headache for the porn industry as they seek to respond to the fast-evolving contemporary media landscape.

For IP law watchers, it was pleasing to see the court limit a tactic which previously ACS: Law got into a spot of bother over (and ultimately went out of business), as this blog eagerly points out.

Sunderland Swingers Venue Shut

I was sadly a little slow getting to this story.  The Sunderland Echo reported that a swingers club will swing no more. Organisers of Secrets, in Villiers Street, Sunniside, Sunderland, had hoped to gain planning permission from the council. According to its website, the club also proposed to launch overnight accommodation at the venue, which boasted a “dogging room” with full-size car, as well as holding sex parties across the country. However, bosses claimed recent “publicity” in the media meant any bid would have been unsuccessful. They now propose to move to another undisclosed location.

I was so excited when I first heard they were going to have a dogging room - it reminded me of the XXL Cruising Club in Berlin which has a VW Van as part of the cruising zone to give you that authentic cruising encounter.  I do hope Secrets goes on to be wonderfully successful.

No Sex Please, We're Cruising

There was a time when 'gay' men cruising meant wandering around parks and other public spaces in the quest for an ephemeral sexual encounter.  A fleeting rendezvous with a stranger and danger, with the aspiration of an ejaculation at the end of it, and a potential arrest.

In our modern de-sexed times in which happy clappy homosexuals play out with 'the adults' and pursue sensible recreational pursuits rather than wandering around parks at 3am, the new 'gay' man interprets cruising as a brief vacation on a floating hotel with naff entertainment, an excess of bars and restaurants, and hordes of other human beings also pursuing the same activity.  The danger element has ceased to be about whether you'll be arrested, and become about whether you'll have an Italian captain and/or dice with some stomach bug which will reduce your itinerary to a bed and lavatory (but not in a good way).

Or, at least so it was.  It was revealed today that two 'West Coast Americans' as some reports put it (I did wonder if that was code for screaming homos from California) have been arrested for having sex.  According to Pink News, two men from California (see, it was code) have pleaded guilty to charges of breaking Dominica’s anti-gay laws after being spotted having sex on a gay cruise ship which was in port.

This was a 'gay cruise', which unfortunately gives the impression that it's alright to be on a gay cruise, so long as you don't have sex.  Which - and this may just be me - seems kinda ironic.  It's a reminder that homosexuality has culturally ceased to be a sexual identity, and is instead a social label that can be disassociated with a particular sexual act or set of acts.  What exactly renders a cruise 'gay' if people cease to have gay sex?  A fondness for gratuitous photographs of Tom Daley? An uncanny instinct for interior design?  Are we reduced to an identity defined by social stereotype?

There have been those who took to social media sites to question visiting an island which has less than welcoming laws for its passengers, to which the organisers responded by commenting: 'these [anti-gay] statutes don’t pose a concern to us in planning a tourist visit'.

Needless to say, the Daily Hate - sorry, Daily Mail - has brought itself to orgasmic delight at the story with mug shots and a range of publicity photos which make it look a rather jolly holiday to me, and which are sure to leave many Daily Mail readers with sleepless nights (and not in a good way.  DM readers don't do that sort of thing).  If you want to read it, Google it.  

Anyhow, in this new world it's all about sun, sex and ahem, sightseeing.  No hanky panky, we're homosexuals is arguably the new mantra.  That said, I don't want to be seen as being critical or cruise organisers.  Oh no no.

Imagine a cruise where you could get some enlightening academic chat from someone talking about the history of cruising, or laws around the world and homosexuality, or HIV and barebacking.  That would surely add an extra sprinkling of delightful joy to your voyage.  Well...funnily enough, hello cruise organisers, I am available for booking!  Have anti-dysentery tablets, will travel (although no Italian Captains thank you).  Alongside the danger of arrest and dysentery, let's add the possibility of encountering Chris Ashford in the Oceanic Theatre talking about an older form of cruising.

Mason Wyler and Bareback Inspiration

HIV+ former (?) porn performer, Mason Wyler has once again caught the attention of this blog with a  tweet yesterday which you can read below.

Mason has wrestled with a career that appeared to go off the rails after being diagnosed as HIV+, a desire to study in Texas, and balance university life with the life of a self-described slut.  This recent tweet suggests that he is either a) conscious of a reaction but curious what his followers think, b) genuinely clueless as to what his reaction 'should' be c) pleased about this and thus sharing among his followers to contribute towards his sexual persona.

Mason has flirted with bareback porn in recent years, and there is still probably a means to make some money that way.  I'd be surprised if he made the move to treasure Island Media given his previous performances which seem very much performances - rather than raunchy sex caught on camera.  Nonetheless, Mason does seem to be revelling in the status as an HIV+ barebacker.  If he does go back into making more porn, that continued status would mark him out as fairly unusual and at a time of Law condom laws, it would also render him a counter-cultural sexual warrior.

The Voracious Escort Habits of Lawyers

The Orlando Sentinel - surely the reading choice of ever Brit - carried a rather wonderful piece this week concerning Scott Rothstein who is embroiled in a  little local legal difficulty following a spot of fraud which led to his imprsonment and the downfall of his law firm.

Apparently, the Fort Lauderdale law firm maintained a condo across the street where he and his law partners would have sex with prostitutes/sex workers and then come back to work.  Rothstein is reported as saying: 

"There were probably times when we spent $50,000, $60,000 a month on escorts," Rothstein said. "It just depends. When there were political things in town, more. Big functions, conventions, more. People in town to entertain, more money. But it was a lot of money just for the law partners that were using escorts. Some of them had fairly voracious escort habits."

All of which got me thinking, how many other law firms do this?  Not on the same scale of course, or anything as obvious as arranging escorts in this manner in a local commercial harem, but putting people in the room with people who may be escorts as part of providing 'a good entertainment mix' for example.  None of which is to condemn, but I am curious as to the extent it can be found among the bigger city based firms in particular.

Just as high street solicitors must deal with those arrested for dealing with cocaine, and city solicitors must sometimes find a new dealer, it is a world that is not unknown to have some legal tightrope walking.  Drugs is a known cultural reality for some of our city-based elite in the course of commercial networking.  What of sex work?

Raw Desire, Depicting Bareback Sex and Calling Out Hypocrisy

Long standing readers of this blog will know that I regularly rail against the bareback hypocrisy.  Whether it's celebrities such as Dustan Lance Black being exposed in a sex film engaging in bareback sex whilst telling others to always practise safe sex; porn 'stars' such as Chris Porter talking of his condom only stance, only to be revealed as having tried out for the notorious bareback company, Treasure Island Media - he claimed not to know they were a bareback company even though a video recording of his screen set suggests otherwise; or indeed safe sex advocates spending their day using charity or public funding to extol the virtues of 'safer-sex' whilst loving and engaging in bareback sex in private at night.  All highlight the hypocrisy which further erodes the safer sex message.

Yet now the porn blog, The Sword (owned by Naked Sword but with its own voice), seems to also be getting in the hypocrisy naming and shaming act. It may be my imagination but since the start of the new year, the blog seems to have become much more on the ball in highlighting this issue.

We started gently at the end of last year with an interview with the performer, Connor, from Corbin Fisher, performing in one of their new bareback titles (further evidence of the way the porn market - and sexual reality- is moving) (NSFW story link here)

The Sword said:  'There has been a lot of controversy over the “condomless” scenes from Corbin Fisher. Talk about the testing process and why you feel comfortable performing without the use of condoms.'

C: Our testing process is second to none. I can say for myself, since I’ve been a consistently active performer for over four years now, that I have been tested every 30 days of my life for the last four years. We are tested for basically everything, and the company also regularly has us visit and consult with a doctor prior to shoots. We also always get tested a few days before each shoot to rule out any possibilities. I’d imagine the most sterile, controlled environment anyone my age could have sex in would be our sets because of the strict testing.

TS: So is it fair to say that you prefer going bareback?

C: Put it this way…personally, I don’t like watching any porn with condoms. It just doesn’t do it for me, and I watch a lot of porn! The way I see it, porn is here for fantasy, and to let your hair down and see exactly what you want to see. So, if the danger of contracting a disease has been ruled out to the greatest possible extent, why are we worrying about it? I think I can speak for a lot of people when I say, if I could choose it all the time, porn would be sans condoms.

So, this is a sort of 'managed' shift in position.  All fine and dandy.  Companies that previously resisted bareback now embrace it on economic grounds.  Performers now talk of their desire for bareback but is this just marketing, or a revelation of authentic desire?

On 1 January, they celebrate a new bareback scene from Sean Cody - also now amazingly embracing bareback.  They wrote (NSFW story link here):

'I guess if you’re gonna do something, you might as well go balls to the wall and do it all. Sean Cody’s first bareback scene last week was nothing compared to this one, a three-way in which everyone (Dennis, Calvin, Jordan) fucks each other, Dennis gets double penetrated and then creampied, and everyone swallows cum. Happy new year! I’m glad that Sean Cody dropped the stupid euphemism (“unwrapped”) and is calling this exactly what it is: A bareback three-way starring three of the site’s best models. Unfortunately, that awful, hypocritical disclaimer still plays at the beginning'

Here's that disclaimer:

Although - like the Corbin Fisher interview - there is an emphasis on testing they put the second part in which amounts to a 'don't try this at home' kind of warning.

Next up, The Sword goes on the attack with Cody Cummings and a bareback video of him with a  woman (which they post here - NSFW).  They bitchily comment:

'For the company that has staked its reputation on keeping its performers STD free and the company that famously fired Mason Wyler after he contracted HIV, this is a wild and sexy change of pace! Of course, you can’t blame them for allowing one teensy weensy moment of barebacking to slip in when it’s hot as this, and especially when it’s starring gay porn icon Cody Cummings. Because if anyone should be allowed to skirt the rules, it’s our king, Cody. Plus, there’s the aforementioned fact that Cody is having straight bareback sex, with a woman, and everyone knows that it’s always safer to bareback when it’s with a girl. The Sword salutes Next Door Studios for giving their #1 star Cody Cummings the freedom to perform as he chooses—raw and unprotected. Fingers crossed that he doesn’t catch anything!'

Wow, it's a change of pace for Corbin Fisher, and - I think - a change of pace for Naked Sword too as they start to highlight these changes and continued hypocrisies.

As the 'gay' studios embrace bareback sex, it also creates a headache for long-standing bare backs studios such as Treasure Island Media.  They are featured in the new issue of Desert Knight News (see here - safe link) talking about their 'vision'/'mission' and this is increasingly important rather than simply defining themselves as bareback.  It's nothing new - and the message is one familiar to those who know the company well but they are now clearly putting it out there in a bid to define their niche more closely.  They do not, for example, 'make porn', they don't 'direct guys' (although some scenes suggest this does come in - especially from Liam Cole) but the Morris pure ideology is one of providing a natural habitat in which men can play and be observed.  The arousal comes in witnessing raw 'authentic' desire on display. No hypocrisy from these guys but we'll see who The Sword goes for next...

Revised 21.33 4/1/12

Regrets, I've Had a Few: Chris Porter Leaves Raging Stallion

The mesmerising gay porn star, Chris Porter, has left the building.  Well, he's left Raging Stallion and has taken the opportunity to post a bit of a moan/sounding off on his blog.  One of the often udner-discussed issues around porn is the control that studios exert over those they have contracted.  Criticism is few and far between as I noted in this post about a spot of bother at the British studio, BlakeMason last year.  Instead performers tend to either have the occasional social media explosion (which then vanishes/is forgotten) or wait until they leave a studio to explode.  There can then be a tit-for-tat exchange which seemingly does nobody any good.  All the while, the original question of control and censorship is forgotten.

Of course, this silence can only operate when porn viewers, fans, bloggers, journalists and so on also refuse to raise the question, reporting this stories but rarely asking the fundamental tough questions about how studios 'own' their models, and sometimes appear to enforce a code of censorship which seems ironic in an industry which surely exists to challenge censorship in all forms.

Porter also rages that Next Door Studios is a company that 'deserves to be destroyed'.  Strong stuff.  He also takes the opportunity to potentially libel another porn performer so we can be fairly sure that we've not heard the last about this episode.  Read the full post here.

Does Your Banana Measure Up?

Good news for those of you visiting Tapai shortly if you happen to have a 7.1 inch or above penis (18cm for metric types); a Tapai male only sauna is offering free entry (oo err) to those with slightly larger 'assets'.  Although it's not explicit, one assumes that the penis should be your own and attached.  Hurrah!

This is in itself a mildly interesting development, but it's earned a place on my blog because of an animation illustrating the story.  Brit political types might remember the animated cartoons produced by appledaily during the election campaign depicting Gordon Brown in a range of funny escapades? Newsnight even hired them to do one on 'Bigotgate' (watch it again here).  Rather wonderfully,  apple daily.com.hk have produced a video for the sauna story intercut with footage from the actual sauna.  Yes, I am very easily amused.  Check it out below:

 

Bareback Lover Graces GT: Meet Mason Wyler

Hurrah, another excuse for a gratuitous picture of Mason Wyler.  Regular blog readers will know I've long found Mason a fascinating figure in the gay porn world (who is coincidentally as hot as a hot curry with extra hot hot stuff on a hot day).  He was said to be a fan of bareback sex, then he was diagnosed as HIV positive, and came out as positive and also celebrated his sluttyness and fondness of bareback sex.  He also confirmed post being diagnosed as HIV+ that he still (dun. dun. dun) enjoyed bareback sex.

For many gay and sexuality activists, it would have been less offensive to have literally crapped in their ears (I'm excluding Scat enthusiasts for the purposes of this discussion).  Mason's career appeared to take something of a nose-dive with his exclusive porn contract being cancelled.  His career, people thought, was already in decline and HIV was the final bug in the coffin.   Mason himself declared his career over, and despite a brief 'come back' appearing in a bareback film (yes, he's positive) declared it to be a one-off.  Nonetheless, his continued web profile suggests someone still looking for a porn career.  He's also completing degree studies in Texas (destroying the old adage 'cute but stupid') so he packs a lot in (as it were).

Pour into this my ongoing criticism of mainstream 'gay' media for ignoring the nuances of bareback sex, and you'll see why I was pleasantly surprised to see Mason Wyler gracing the pages of the new January issue of GT (Gay Times) magazine.

John Marrs deserves credit for a piece which dispassionately explores the issues (although it's stillv try cautious).  The subheading for the piece declared: 'Being diagnosed HIV+ once meant the abrupt end of a career in gay porn but not any longer.  More and more studios are now willing to use actors with the virus - as long as it's kept quiet'.  The suggestion is that had Mason kept his mouth shut (in a non cock gobbling way) then he would have been OK.  Because the world knows he's HIV+, he's finished as far as a career in porn is concerned...or is he?  Moreover, the article acknowledges that US bareback studio Hot Desert Knights does use openly HIV+ performers.  So too does fellow US bareback studio, Treasure Island Media (TIM), but these porn bad boys puzzlingly go unmentioned in the piece.  Whether that's GT or Wyler not wanting an a article in which he's linked to Treasure Island Media and their brand of proud barebacking is a question unanswered but very much in my mind.  Unlike Hot Desert Knights bareback offerings, TIM's porn is also available from Prowler - see here.

The one large pull-out quote in the piece suggests an article of traditional GT style: 'It's a disease you can't blame anybody else but yourself for getting.  Being a gay man, and one who has bareback sex on a regular basis, I guess it was inevitable'.  Although the quote is from Mason, Wyler also indicates that whilst he still has bareback sex, it's only with HIV+ folks (really Mason? Do you ask for evidence?) but he is aware of the risks, saying: "I only hook up with people who are HIV+ but I still don't use condoms...there are doctors who say that's dangerous because of different strains of HIV but there are other that don't agree.  I know there are more risks of getting other diseases or STIs."

Mason further supports his poz only guy policy (or, I would suggest, guys who say they are poz) through praise for bareback: "Anyway, if they re HIV negative, I'm turned off.  I associate negative people with using condoms and as horrible as that sounds, I still don't like using them if I'm the bottom - which is 99 per cent of the time.  In my mind and my body I can tell the difference between condoms and bareback."  Yes folks, he can tell the difference.  This one of those great statements that so many know from their own sexual experiences to be true but is one of the un-utterables of the bareback debate.

Unusually, the article doesn't follow that 'admission' up with a moralising paragraph, bitchy one line or scary stat/link to death etc.  In fact, the piece notes a survey of 100 gay porn stars by The Sword website which discovered 30% were either HIV+ or didn't know their status and the article neither suggests this is a good or bad thing.

So, we have some media coverage for Mason in the UK (who would only want this for cash and/or a boost to his porn career - it doesn't count for degree credit I'm guessing), but more importantly this is - I think - the first time that a 'mainstream' gay magazine like GT has adopted a neutral approach on the issue of bareback sex - allowing someone to effectively say they'd rather be HIV positive than have to use condoms because you can tell the difference - and continues to engage in bareback sex whilst HIV+.

The willingness of companies such as Millivres Prowler (the company behind GT and Diva magazines along with the popular Prowler stores) to sell bareback DVDs/material whilst condemning it has long smacked of hypocrisy but this more open and honest article suggests a move towards a more open and honest debate about bareback sex and the apparently inseparable issue of HIV transmission and policy.  That GT put this in an issue sent to subscribers in the week of World AIDS Day makes it all the more staggering.  Well done GT, but I fear I'll be among the few cheering this development.

Follow Friday: Canal Street

This week my special Follow Friday mention goes to @canalstmancs - the Twitter account for Canal Street.  It includes lots of brilliant information about events/venues on and around Canal Street, Manchester.  Next week also sees the annual Manchester field-trip for my law and sexuality class - look out Canal Street!

Don't forget, you can see all my special Follow Friday mentions by clicking the 'follow friday' tab below.

Polari, Canal Street and Those Pesky L Plates

Via - once Via Fossa - is to become 'Polari'.  One of Manchester's best-known Canal Street venues decries the change as a 'nip and tuck', with a series of tweak that sound like an attempt to shift 'up market'.  They've announced that there will be no dance music or pop, and instead they will have a live pianist and vocalist with a classical/jazz theme depending on the night.

I was particularly struck by their door policy description (keep in mind they have to comply with the Equality Act in the same way that a 'straight bar' can't exclude 'gay' customers).  They state:

'We like others are investing in our Gay Village and we will still be a straight friendly GAY venue and we will be continuing with our policy of No Fancy Dress and No Bunny Ears we do not cater for Hen Parties or Stag Nights because after all we are a gay space in the gay village not Blackpool seafront.'

Poor Blackpool (although it's an absolutely true observation).  It seems Via is the latest venue to re-iterate that they are a 'gay venue'.  When they say 'straight friendly', it's essentially to say they will comply with the law.  They can be straight unfriendly I suppose but not down and out opposed.  They can however, control dress-policy and the re-iteration of their existing policy of excluding hen and stag parties highlights that these parties remain an issue of the village - an issue that was notably highlighted in the important research of Bev Skeggs, Les Moran and others.  A must read for students interested in queer space.

Put Down the Pornography!

There seems a bit of confusion in the media this morning; a media which has clearly been briefed yesterday on a speech that British Prime Minister, David Cameron, is going to deliver later today but can't agree on what he is going to say (Number 10 briefers apparently hitting new heights in uselessness).  As his Government faces rising poverty stats, a cabinet minister implicated in potential fraud and now under investigation by the Government, Cameron is launching a new crusade against Internet pornography.  It seems that tackling masturbation is now at the heart of turning our society around.  Except, it's not as simple as that for the this it is about saving children (does this sound familiar?).  Parents could purchase or utilise software include in their Internet bundles to take responsibility of their own computers and control the material kids see but no, the government will do it for you!

If you believe some newspapers this morning, such as the Guardian, then you will have to opt out of the new controls.  So, the single gay male living alone (i.e. me) will have to phone up and say "Good Morning! I'd like to see explicit material please".  If you do have to do this, I suggest making particularly loud groaning noises, or perhaps a reworking of a Withnail and I line "Hello, Virgin customer services?
We want the finest porn sites available to humanity. And we want them here, and we want them now!"  The married couple might find that they work it into popping Sky Movies on for Christmas - "Hello, can we please pop Movies pack 1 and 2 on just for Christmas, oh and we can we have access to porn, David tends to get a little randy around Boxing Day?".  The married man who might be familiar with a furtive wank in the confines of his study may need to revert 20 years and purchase top shelf porn magazines from service stations and hide them in the boot of the company car. Back to the future!

The BBC Today Programme was suggesting this morning that some media outlets are suggesting that you must opt in - which is essentially a non announcement as that's the current situation.  So, pointless announcement or massive assault on civil liberties?  Welcome to the botched world of the Cameron spin machine.

Top four BT, Sky, Talk Talk, Virgin, we are told by other media companies will require the opt in.  If true, this is nothing short of a disgrace.  That four have been singled out in this way suggests it's likely - after all, those companies won't thank a government for wrongly linking them to a story that turns out to be untrue.  If the story isn't quite right, they'll be wondering what the hell they've got themselves into.

Because this is about preventing access to 'adult material' such as a bulge you might see on XFactor (such as Olly's which flooded Twitter this last weekend) or a topless woman (as in page three of The Sun - Britain's best selling daily newspaper), quite where the line should be drawn remains unclear - and could potentially mean that one company censors a site but another doesn't.  What about this blog?  Is it the sort of thing you'd like delicate 6 year old Nancy stumbling upon?

The announcement takes place at a gathering in Number 10 later today with the Christian Charity - the Mothers Union.  A move that seems straight out a Republican Presidential race campaign, and comes just weeks after it emerged that Cameron's support was falling among women - so what better than embrace the wants of a few campaigning right-wing breeders?

This new website will be called ParentPort apparently (presumably without rum and wenching) which already shows up on Internet searches but isn't yet working - so it looks like it all be: http://www.parentport.org.uk/

So, what next? Who ultimately makes the decision about content? Will they follow guidelines, if so, who will write them, who will review them? Will there be a right to appeal the decision? If so, to whom? Who will regulate and monitor this process? Will companies be audited as to how effectively they are implementing any code? What will happen to the data on requests for access? Who will it be shared with? What additional data on access will be gathered?

The BBC reports this morning that there is nervousness among the Internet industry which must come as little surprise as these plans seem to be a shambles.  Let's see what actually gets announced and what practical outcomes ultimately emerge.

Litigating Masturbation

Apologies for the typos in this post when first posted - now corrected and hopefully it flows a little better/makes more sense! (14/10/11).  Frantic times and trying to juggle too many things :-(

Absolutely fascinating story in the US regarding an attempt to open an Adult Video Store in North Haven, Connecticut.  It seems key to the planning and zoning officials in settling this long-running action, that the booths (where people pay to watch porn) can only accommodate one person (whether this is like airline seats and based on super thin people I don't know).

It's fascinating to see how the Supreme Court in Connecticut regarded the private booths (or 'buddy' booths), that is to say, that they found them to be an accessory to the business, allowing people to preview pornographic films before purchasing them.  This is in contrast to the booths being a separate business in their own right, i.e where people go to watch a film or to use as a cruising/public sex space.  It is of course true, that the booths can be viewed as an 'accessory' to the business, but the local officials - who attempted to block the opening (as it were) of the store - got themselves in a terrible socio-legal mess.   In much the same way that a restaurant critique does not merely look upon a meal with a critical eye, but also consumes with his mouth, one presumably does not merely 'review' pornography in a botth with a critical eye, but seeks to find out how it, well, 'stands up'.

Officials seemed OK with the basic principle that people masturbate and thus sometimes buy pornography (I may be being generous in thinking they accept this link), so they didn't oppose the store per se, but they were not terribly keen on people masturbating in a commercial space (home fine, private booth in a store bad), and tried therefore to argue that the booths shouldn't be allowed.  Having ultimately been forced to accept such 'public' masturbation they are absolutely firm that it must be alone.  They were (I'm guessing) concerned that hordes of men would descend on the business, ejaculating left right and centre, and pumping (if you pardon the phrase) money into the local economy.

Such concern reveals that they thought it would be popular.  After all, if you thought the store would be a flop, you wouldn't give a toss (OK, bad choice of words).  They clearly feel there is a demand for greater opportunities to masturbate in public - so much demand that they used taxpayers money to stop people from masturbating.  Rather fascinating when you think about it.

Check out the full story and thanks to David Downs for first alerting me to this story on Google+.

Banned! TIM and the Folsom Street Fair (Here We Go Again)

Here we go again...this weekend sees the Folsom Street Fair take place in San Francisco and with it, we see Treasure Island Media bane done again.  Their ban has proven a marketing triumph for the bareback porn company who have used the ban as the basis for boosting their profile the last few years.  As I've commented before, the ban allows the company to present themselves as 'outsiders', 'rebels', and cultural renegades.

In a Bay Area Reporter article covering the 2011 TIM strategy, the Fair says TIM are not banned for being a bareback company which does confuse me.  I was convinced that they referred to bareback sex in an original letter issued when TIM were first banned.  I can't find a press release/copy of that letter on the web anymore so maybe it was my imagination.  If anyone can find these docs, please post.  Similarly, I can't access the exhibitor application form and guidelines anymore on the Fair site so I have no idea whether they make reference to bareback - can anyone clarify?

Was it always just about public sex as the Fair seem to be suggesting (not even nudity - which their website FAQs make clear is acceptable)?  Help me out folks...

You can read the full BAR article here.

Now You See the Condom, Now You Don't: Pornified Desire

Max Sohl, a New York pornographer with Treasure Island Media posted a story yesterday responding to a piece that had appeared on Gay Porn Times on Thursday.

That piece was a fairly extensive interview with a guy called Mark Dylon, who had recently appeared in a TIM film (for the online site) as Chris Gabriel.

Sohl posted a video in which the apparently less than angelic Gabriel in shown being fucked bareback and declaring such things as "Yea. Fuck yea. Give me your cum". Sohl posts the quotes in text over the scene (in old school TIM style) and intercuts with quotes from the Gay Porn Times interview.

In the interview, Dylon talks quite openly about wanting to get into porn and the first offers being bareback. He wanted to get into porn so he compromised and did bareback, but he claims he was "never comfortable with it" and now he's been offered condom porn, he's opting for it. If anythign, he seems to go out of his way to be as nice as possible to all concerned and appear honestly prgamatic in his approach to what is, after all, work:

'After my second shoot, I just really felt uncomfortable with the barebacking even though they pair negative guys together [after testing], so I declined shooting with them anymore, even though they made me a really good offer. Shooting with them was an interesting experience for my first time ever doing porn. They were nice and friendly people, but I just decided it wasn’t for me. About the same time, I started getting some interest from other companies that shoot with condoms, so I jumped on the chance to work with them. I really enjoyed the experience of doing porn, except for the barebacking, so I thought it was good timing'.

I actually welcome the fact he's being open about what he's done and what's his approach is now. I don't, as Sohl clearly believes (who adopts the tone of a jilted lover in his edited clip) feel this is some sort of betrayal or -the word Sohl uaes - schizophrenia. I guess this comes from the fact that a company that defines itself by presenting 'real' and 'authentic' sex has actually captured an 'inauthentic' act (i.e here the bareback sex becomes 'false'). However, if you accept the view that 'bareback' represents Gabriel's/Dylon's true authentic desire, then his current 'right on' statements are a reflection of a commercial calculation and represent the 'false' depiction of desire.

Yet, one can perhaps look beyond this binary and see Gabriel's/Dylon's desire as fundamentally being a commercial one rather than a sexual one, and as such any visual representation remains an ephemeral documentary of desire - but a more complex form of desire than merely the orgasmic.

In a climate of social and growing legal/regulatory pressure around the uae of condoms in pornography, Dylon has apparently calculated that there is a benefit in making this remark, that becoming a 'Born Again' condom wearer is the commercially astute thing to do. Curiously, he does at the same time admit he doesn't always use condoms in his 'personal' life so this does indeed seem to be about strategies of risk and/or good publicity/aspiring to big condom studios.

More importantly for the legal scholar, here we see desire being molded and re-molded to accord with shifting constructions of socio-legal expectations and for TIM - a company that defies those norms at every turn - this highlights that Gabriel/Dylon was never 'one of them', never a' believer' and someone afraid of displaying his 'true' authentic sexual desire.

You can read the (safe) Gay Porn Times piece here. You can read and watch the (very unsafe) Max Sohl post here.

All of which dramatically contrasts to the recent odd appearance that TIM performer, self-fellator, and porn star of epic penis proportions, Jessy Karson, recently made in a safe sex video and discussed on this blog. Now that was strange...

Queer Quarter for Leeds?

Interesting to see that Pink News is reporting on a campaign in Leeds to create a 'gay quarter'. The move apparently follows attempts to clearly establish a gay village in Liverpool. Followers of the Liverpool development might recall that it was in turn inspired by the Manchester gay village and proposals for development in Liverpool have been rumbling along for years. As with Liverpool, the creation of a queer space post Queer as Folk is symbolic of a progressive urban habitat. The possession of such spaces is a useful marketing technique and can hep re-position the city brand. It's therefore interesting to see that this seems a 'grass roots' campaign in Leeds, and not one coming from city officials or marketing consultants.

Nonetheless, gay campaigners are using the same the arguments. I'd be interested in hearing what really motivates people into this campaign. Is it merely as they say about making Leeds more welcoming, if so why choose this method. If it's something else, what?

The extension and creation of new queer spaces in our apparently transformed socio-legal culture suggests that these spaces continue to carry out a vital function(s), although whether that is the same function(s) as earlier queer space is something worthy of debate.

There's more on gayleeds.com

The Homo Hero Awards

Readers may be interested in the news that the LF's Homo Heroes awards nomination process has begun...

The Lesbian & Gay Foundation's 'Homo Hero Awards' are designed to showcase the contributions made by individuals, groups and organisations for, and on behalf of, the lesbian, gay and bisexual community.

It is an opportunity to celebrate those that have challenged homophobia, achieved significant gains for our communities and who share in the Lesbian & Gay Foundation's values of innovation, diversity, excellence, fairness, integrity and engagement.

There are a total of seven categories in which you can put forward your nominations;

• Community Champion of the year
• Business of the year
• Lesbian, Gay or Bisexual role model of the year
• Public Sector Partner of the year
• Volunteer of the year
• Community Group or Organisation of the year
• LGB&T Venue of the Year

These nominations are open to anyone who wishes to vote for any person, group or organisation who they believe have made a difference to the lives of lesbian, gay and bisexual people.

The initial nomination period will be open until 18 August 2011.

Following this initial nomination period, the top three nominees for each award category will be put forward for a public vote from 19 August 2011; the winners will then be announced at a special Homo Hero Award Ceremony on 22 September 2011.

These awards are important because they are voted for by you!

They are about celebrating people in our everyday lives who have made a significant contribution to supporting either you or people you care about. There is no committee involved in selecting candidates for inclusion in any round of the nominations so you can literally nominate any one you know who you think deserves to be called a Homo Hero!

It could be a member of your family, a worker who you think deserves special praise, an organisation that you believe deserves special recognition or someone who volunteers their time to support other people, it is entirely up to you!

Click here to submit your nominations