Behind the Studio: Himeros.TV’s Davey Wavey Discusses Owning Your Darker Pleasures

February 12, 2023
AJ SLOAN

Hunky YouTube sensation turned porn producer Davey Wavey has way too much talent to be contained by one channel. So what does any entrepreneurial sex enthusiast do in that case? Create your own, of course! And that is just what Davey did. In 2017, Davey created Himeros.TV, where he found the freedom that YouTube couldn't quite provide. Davey set out to create gay adult content that delves a bit deeper than other studios, putting a focus on the sensual, and often tantric, side of sex. Himeros succeeded in crafting its own distinct brand that not only leaves its viewers a load or two lighter but also with new perspectives on the pleasures of sex and sensuality. I had the pleasure of talking with Davey about his company while shooting his latest project, The Seventh Circle. I'll let him take it from here...

Can you take us back to when you began your YouTube channel and how your career path led you to create the illustrious Himeros.TV?

Of course! I began making YouTube 17 years ago, more or less. At the time, YouTube was not what we know it today. I was just experimenting with it while, in my personal life, I was doing online marketing. I started with doing things like book reviews and such. My eighth video was about my masturbating neighbor in Toronto. There was this guy who would jerk off everyday at 4pm like clockwork. Of course, I made a YouTube video about it and millions of people started subscribing. And I was shirtless, tits out. I think that may have helped in pulling them in.

At a certain point, I felt that if I had such a platform I should use it to do something a bit more. I started a conversation about coming out and then eventually about sex and sensuality. I quickly hit a wall of what YouTube would allow. Around 2017 I decided to launch my own platform where I was in control of the message. I could say the things that I wanted to say and the way that I wanted to say them, and that was Himeros. Himeros is about creating porn that is hot, juicy, and fun, but where each video has some sort of message. You can just jerk off to it, or you can dig deeper. There might be an instructional aspect to it or an aspect that breaks down a common trope or stereotype that we have in our community, or that encourages you to experience pleasure in a new way. It’s porn that you can apply to your life and get something out of in a world where most porn tends to condition us in a way that isn’t always the best for our well-being.

Himeros productions are pretty elaborate and the finished products reflect that. What goes into planning a shoot, from conception to completion?

Each shoot takes about a year to put together. I think the biggest piece of making a shoot successful is not just finding a great group of models, but also a passionate crew who believe in what we’re doing. We’ve been doing this for five years, so of course you refine the formula over time.

Each shoot that we do is anchored by a different sex coach. For this shoot, we have Finn Deerhart. Finn has a more academic approach and likes to create a dialogue with our models. Then we’ve had other coaches who focus more on bodywork. The result is that you get different videos with completely different perspectives.

When we do a shoot, we really hunker down for a four-day project. It becomes more like a retreat, and you kind of fall in love with one another. I think that facilitates content that you couldn’t make if everyone were to just show up the day of shooting.

In what ways does having an on-set sex counselor impact the production and its members?

Having an on-set sex coach is a really important part of what we do. They create the concepts for the films. If all of the concepts were created by one person it could get a little flat. Having different voices behind the projects keeps things exciting for our audience.

A lot of productions have a writer on set to help connect the performers with the concept. In another more practical way, it provides support, especially when exploring heavier concepts and ideas. It feels disingenuous to blindly throw models into it without any guidance. Similarly, following a shoot, our models are given five follow sessions with the coach to explore any potential thing that came up for them that they are having trouble integrating.

I think in a lot of ways porn models are asked to carry the collective shadow of a lot of gay men. They should be getting more support and resources. So yeah, that’s why we do it.

How did the theme of this current shoot, Seventh Circle, come to fruition?

Each project that we take on has a theme and this one, The Seventh Circle, the dark side, or the aspect of sexuality that we tend to relegate to the shadows. In this case, it’s all about leaning into it and seeing how we can grow and evolve from those darker parts of our psyche, our shadow self. When you ignore this other side of yourself that society tells you to ignore, it can fester and sometimes comes out through things like addiction or violence. I am happy that we are allowing ourselves to explore our darker desires in a safe space.

Did you have a religious upbringing? How did that impact your sexuality?

Yes, when I was a kid I grew up Catholic. I went to Catholic school and college. Growing up Catholic definitely taught me to eventually feel shame about who I was, and that my sexuality would lead to damnation. So yeah, that shapes you.

A lot of what we do with Himeros is helping gay men to learn that sexuality and spirituality are not in conflict and can be integrated. We did a series called Sacred Sex with a former Catholic priest who is now a tantric instructor. In it, we aimed to reclaim sacred imagery and reimagine the Sacraments of Catholicism through a gay porn lens. The project was healing for people with a problematic religious history or religious trauma of any sort.

What’s next for Davey, and what’s next for Himeros?

We’ve been stepping into live events for our audience. This got a bit thwarted with the pandemic obviously. Now that we are back to real life, so far we have had two in-person retreats at Easton Mountain Retreat Center in Greenwich, NY. We have a third scheduled for 2023. We bring in a lot of the coaches for a three-day retreat. So far they have been great and we are looking forward to hosting more of them.

In terms of our filming, we’re going to continue to explore ideas that feel really interesting and juicy for us. The project that we’re doing in Spain is about the paradox of performing authenticity, that we are asking models to be authentic and perform at the same time. We also have a project this summer about exploring power dynamics. We’re just going to continue to pull on the threads that feel right and figure out ways to film things that are not just fun to watch but also challenge the audience. We want to provoke thought and continue to evolve the discussion and connect men with pleasure and community. We want to encourage them to explore in a world that badly needs us to evolve.