Can Gay Erotica Save The Economy?
Recently you might have heard that the adult film industry (as represented by Hustler publisher Larry Flynt and Girls Gone Wild mogul Joe Francis) put in its bid for federal bailout money, claiming that it too was suffering an economic downturn. With declining video sales and low returns in the online video market, the porn industry felt it too was deserving of federal money being that it too was a vital business. As you might expect there wasn't an urgent response to the bailout request and we don't expect it to be taken seriously.
Even if the bailout request was given serious consideration, several bits of news this week from the gay side of adult media certainly would have cast considerable doubt on the gravity of the plea:
--Magazines & newspapers have been forced to cut jobs, reduce production, etc thanks to lagging circulation but Men Magazine, Unzipped, and Freshmen have actually INCREASED their sales--the best in two years. Bookstore sales & subscriptions have increased and the result is that Unzipped Media is adding its titles to even more newsstands and bookstores in 2009.
--As we reported earlier Raging Stallion had to go back into production on the To The Last Man DVD because it sold out of its initial run months ahead of the anticipated schedule.
--Production is up at virtually every adult studio and many have expanded into the online market. As for existing online video sites, they've also increased their output.
Just these few items alone leads us to believe that even in a sad economy sex sells and, more importantly, adult gay material seems to be leading the way. Why? We'd be hard-pressed to come up with a definitive answer although one reason might be that gay men have more disposable income. This still might be true in spite of many of the added responsibilities (financial & personal) of domestic partnerships and children (adopted & natural), home mortgages, etc. Let's face it--the LGBT community is a vital element in our nation's economy when it comes to consumer spending and thanks to laws that don't recognize our unions we no doubt pay more than our share of taxes.
Somewhat related to all this is the debate/discussion going on about "gay for pay" performers. We won't name names, but there have been a few guys lately who have rankled bloggers and the gay press for their brazen flaunting of their "gay for pay" status. In general we can't really blame these guys from doing the g4p thing because the gay porn industry pays more for male performers that straight porn. And it's not as though this hasn't been going on for years. Jeff Stryker, Rex Chandler, Ryan Idol,Jon Vincent, and others were just some of the guys who did the g4p thing and who sparked many a heated discussion in the press and among fans.
Some of the ire has been focused on the producers of porn from casting agents, to online video site hosts, to studio owners. After all they are responsible for giving the g4p guys their jobs. Their rationale ranges from the fact that many of these guys are great-looking to the fact that gay or straight they appreciate working with individuals who doing their jobs well and are easy to work with. We spoke to one producer who (again without naming names) rattled off a list of straight performers who were very nice, and were a breeze to work with. And gay, straight or bisexual he tried to stay away from guys who were known to create trouble or had given him trouble in the past.
No doubt the debate will go on, many will be vilified, some will be spared from being discussed, and there's no reason to believe that anything will change any time soon. Again, we don't have the answer but it's quite possible that many who read magazines, buy or rent DVDs, or purchase memberships to online video sites don't really care about the "real" sexuality of the guys they like to watch. Even if they do know they're straight or bi if a guy turns them on, that's what matters. If they're unconvincing as performers they won't be watched.
Even if the bailout request was given serious consideration, several bits of news this week from the gay side of adult media certainly would have cast considerable doubt on the gravity of the plea:
--Magazines & newspapers have been forced to cut jobs, reduce production, etc thanks to lagging circulation but Men Magazine, Unzipped, and Freshmen have actually INCREASED their sales--the best in two years. Bookstore sales & subscriptions have increased and the result is that Unzipped Media is adding its titles to even more newsstands and bookstores in 2009.
--As we reported earlier Raging Stallion had to go back into production on the To The Last Man DVD because it sold out of its initial run months ahead of the anticipated schedule.
--Production is up at virtually every adult studio and many have expanded into the online market. As for existing online video sites, they've also increased their output.
Just these few items alone leads us to believe that even in a sad economy sex sells and, more importantly, adult gay material seems to be leading the way. Why? We'd be hard-pressed to come up with a definitive answer although one reason might be that gay men have more disposable income. This still might be true in spite of many of the added responsibilities (financial & personal) of domestic partnerships and children (adopted & natural), home mortgages, etc. Let's face it--the LGBT community is a vital element in our nation's economy when it comes to consumer spending and thanks to laws that don't recognize our unions we no doubt pay more than our share of taxes.
Somewhat related to all this is the debate/discussion going on about "gay for pay" performers. We won't name names, but there have been a few guys lately who have rankled bloggers and the gay press for their brazen flaunting of their "gay for pay" status. In general we can't really blame these guys from doing the g4p thing because the gay porn industry pays more for male performers that straight porn. And it's not as though this hasn't been going on for years. Jeff Stryker, Rex Chandler, Ryan Idol,Jon Vincent, and others were just some of the guys who did the g4p thing and who sparked many a heated discussion in the press and among fans.
Some of the ire has been focused on the producers of porn from casting agents, to online video site hosts, to studio owners. After all they are responsible for giving the g4p guys their jobs. Their rationale ranges from the fact that many of these guys are great-looking to the fact that gay or straight they appreciate working with individuals who doing their jobs well and are easy to work with. We spoke to one producer who (again without naming names) rattled off a list of straight performers who were very nice, and were a breeze to work with. And gay, straight or bisexual he tried to stay away from guys who were known to create trouble or had given him trouble in the past.
No doubt the debate will go on, many will be vilified, some will be spared from being discussed, and there's no reason to believe that anything will change any time soon. Again, we don't have the answer but it's quite possible that many who read magazines, buy or rent DVDs, or purchase memberships to online video sites don't really care about the "real" sexuality of the guys they like to watch. Even if they do know they're straight or bi if a guy turns them on, that's what matters. If they're unconvincing as performers they won't be watched.
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