The Weird and Wonderful World of Gay Fetish Porn

Think you’re alone in your desire to be mounted by a unicorn? Well, you’re not. Even if your fetish is obscure, there are thousands of perverts just like you – and they’re all partying in a hotel room in Dayton, OH.

In the heady days of the first sexual revolution during the late 60s and 70s, people with a taste for leather or high-top sneakers met by placing discreet ads in the back of local alternative papers like the Berkeley Barb or the Village Voice. But the advent of the internet – and in particular, the Listservs and Usenet boards that preceded browsers and porn sites – made finding other people who were interested in pony play much easier. We began organizing as if in a revolutionary cell, first meeting up in the backs of bars and eventually at hotel convention centers. What would later become the gigantic International Mr. Leather Show began first began as a small gathering of chaps enthusiasts at the Gold Coast Bar in Chicago in 1979. Thirty years later, IML and events like the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco draw hundreds of thousands of people from across the globe. It was the rise of low-cost filmmaking, however, that inaugurated the larger fetish explosion. As digital video and streaming video became a feasible means of distribution, fetish went mainstream. There’s a big difference between the degree of curiosity required to seek out a golden showers convention and the unexpected jolt an image can provide. By 2000, the love that once dared not speak its name had an awful lot of aliases.

But what led mainstream producers like Michael Lucas to start making fart videos? And, more importantly, where can you find them? In frank terms, targeted fetish porn has become a much more lucrative industry than vanilla sex videos – there’s less of it, and people are still willing to pay more to see it. By 2005, niche producers like Kink had displaced more traditional producers like Falcon. As niche moved into the mainstream, and mainstream began chasing after the niche. We are all fetishists now.

Kink and Lucas Entertainment are two of the best-selling fetish brands on the market due to their high-quality production values and the diversity of their movies. Kink made its name in the gay community with Butt Machine Boys, where gay men line up to be pounded by dildos attached to poles attached to engines. Lately, they’ve been ramping up production on a new site – Bound in Public – which features BDSM sex in bars where everyone gets a whack. Thirty years ago, it was hard to get enough people together to find one fetish in common; today, we combine them like fusion cuisine.

Lucas still makes high-end sex porn, but after he started filming his own fetishes like piss play, he realized there was an untapped market. His Raunch line stars mainstream porn stars in unusual situations – his initial forays like Farts!, Piss!, and Feet! generated both press and sales. Lately, he’s moved toward more highbrow fetishes like pantyhose with Men in Stockings and suits in the Gentlemen series.

But high-end fetish productions like Lucas and Kink are relatively new – the best fetish porn has usually been an outgrowth of hobbyists. Paul Morris, for example, took his penchant for raw, bareback sex and began filming it for Treasure Island Media. It generated tremendous backlash, but consumers saw their own desires reflected in what was once taboo, making bareback a niche that up-ended and divided the entire porn industry.

While taboo has been a regular component of fetish videos, often it’s the specificity that creates the appeal. Dirty Boy Video began like many other amateur producers, but quickly discovered that its real niche was the bearded, tattooed American Appareled hipsters of New York’s East Village.

Across the ocean, Citibeur began shooting the Arab men of Paris’s eastern banlieue and tapped into national psyche and a new global fetish.  Raging Stallion would later capitalize on this in their best-selling Arabesque, and later the Arab Heat. In the 90s, when a handful of studios like Falcon essentially dictated the porn aesthetic, blond twinks ruled. But as the market widened, so did the options for older men. Raging Stallion built itself on a more rugged, hairier and older stars. Sites like Men Over 30 and Pantheon Men have proven that sex appeal doesn’t end when you leave the MTV demographic. Of course, it turns out there were darker forces at work even at the lily-white Falcon Studio. Under the employ of Falcon founder Chuck Holmes, director Steven Scarborough had trouble casting even brunettes, but left to his own devices he launched Hot House, a company built on fisting.  At this rate, vanilla sex is becoming one of the rarest fetishes of them all.

TONY BUFF SAYS “SHAME ON SHAME!”
AN INTERVIEW WITH PORN STAR TONY BUFF
By Mikhail Dewitt

From the beginning of his career as a porn star, Tony Buff has been a relentless advocate for safe and knowledgeable BDSM play. For Buff, fetish and role-playing are never just sex, they’re physical and emotional challenges that provide the opportunity for self-exploration and growth. There’s a lot of shame around sex and desire, and we thought that those who are starting to explore a broader spectrum of sexuality might learn a bit from Buff’s collected, no nonsense approach to sex and power.

When did you first realize that what turned YOU on wasn’t considered mainstream?
Looking back, I think I discovered what turned me on long before I realized it wasn’t considered mainstream. My fantasies had always focused on the exchange of power, dominance/submission and the darker pleasures of bondage and intense stimulation. These things were present in my mind from the time I discovered masturbation. By the time I got into high school, however, I knew, like my attraction to men, these things needed to be guarded least I be labeled a “fag” or a “freak”.

How has your sexuality developed over time? How do you identify sexually?
Oh, I continued to explore my sexuality but it was kept on the down low. Then, while I was in the Marine Corps I fell in with my first military/SM family. By the time I left the Corps I had vowed never to be closeted about my sexuality or my “perversions” again. Personally, I identify as Queer. Sexually, I could be described as a kinky, polyandrous, bisexual switch. All of these things have given me the opportunity to explore a full spectrum of sexual experiences and develop a refined skill-set as a fetish/SM player. More importantly, they have led to intensely cathartic scenes and extremely rewarding, intimate relationships.


What is the biggest misconception about BDSM and role-play?
I believe the biggest misconception about BDSM and fetish play is that it is something to be ashamed of... There are safe, healthy and responsible ways to explore even our wildest fantasies... And there is no shame in that. At its root, BDSM and fetish play is about trust, the kind of trust that allows us to submit to our desires without fear of judgment.

What advice would you give to someone who is looking to expand his sexual vocabulary?
Be honest with and respect yourself and the people with whom you play. Own your fetish and check out the BDSM Safer Kinky Sex booklet published by the AIDS Committee of Toronto to understand the risks associated with your kink and how to mitigate those risks to keep yourself healthy and safe.

PICKING THE PERFECT SEX TOY
MY VERY FIRST DILDO
By Mikhail Dewitt

At some point in every bottom’s life, microwaving a carrot becomes too cumbersome a way to scratch that particular itch (even in a recession.) Face it – you need to buy a sex toy. And shopping for one should be a fun, rewarding experience. But it can sometimes end up feeling overly complex and prohibitively expensive.

First of all, ask yourself what you’re using it for. Don’t’ be snide. Do you want a lot of in-and-out or are you going to wear it to work? You can browse a store or online site like Male Stockroom and convince yourself that everything looks good, when what you really need is a very specific.

Aneros offers an amazing prostate stimulator gets you off without touching your dick (it gets close), but if what you really want is to feel stretched, it’ll leave you wanting.

Are you going to use it in the shower or the bed? Are you a clean freak? As a general rule, the smoother the surface of the toy is, the easier the maintenance. Those life-like veins and realistic cock molds maybe great for realistic colon feel, but they have a way of accumulating what could politely be called detritus.

You can always use a condom to make clean up easier, but remember that you’re going to be covered in lube and panting heavily by the time you finish. Keep it simple. A condom will, however, keep you from ruining a silicone dildo with silicone lube like Gun Oil. So while you’re taking stock of your needs and wants, figure in what you’ve got in the closet.

Finally, and most frankly, you need to be realistic about size. Yes, we saw that fire hydrant too. That might be an option if you’re adding to an already sizable collection of toys, but for a relative newcomer, slow down. Your eyes are bigger than your rectum. Why pay a hundred bucks for a dick that you can only take after a half-hour of knocking. It’ll just sit at the back of the drawer with your turtlenecks.

If you’re willing to talk about your needs frankly, you’re best calling a rep at a specialty realtor like Stockroom, who can guide you through the process. Just lay off the heavy breathing.