On Gay Pornography

Out of all the consumption determining and desire conforming media that exists, commercial pornographic films may be the worst. Porno flicks effectively reduce the acts of sex to the superficial surfaces of bodies. Any coherent or plausible glimmer of human personality has little to no influence on the sex acts that are at the center of these poorly constructed, superfluous narratives. For commercial pornographic films, sex is about only bodies and acts: Not people who engaged in the complexities of social existence.

Literary pornography allows for human interiority. Epecially if written in the first person, erotica (as the genre is so aptly named) inherently involves fictional persons with personality. Literary convention requires the logics of character and intelligible motivation. In erotica, desire is a product of personal need determined by the presence of human personality.

The image, almost always pornographic in nature, dominates gay culture; Pornographic films or photographs saturate gay bars and clubs; adult bookstores selling porno magazines and sex toys are a staple fixture in gay neighbourhoods. The reductive power of the pornographic image bleeds out from these dens of debauchery into the streets, infecting the gay community.

Dominant identity categories prevalent in the gay community privileges superficiality over personality. Sub cultural niches are articulated in strict coded detail: any homo can discern between a twink, a bear, and a muscle mary by physical appearance (or onlin dating profile) alone: No need for conversation. The need to get fucked is serviced by an aresenal of well honed strategies informed by the fantastical desire inspired by the pornographic image, which could be captured in a photo or a commercial sized video clip.

The gay community is plagued by watching, not reading. There is a fundamental difference between the two; watching is passive while reading requires active discourse; watching is satisfied with immediate effects while reading requires time and patience; watching maitains safe distance while reading requires determined engagement.

Desire isn't the problem: the pornography that informs gay desire is. Abandon the immediacy and superficiality that exists at the heart (or should I say cock?) of mindless porno flicks. Pick up an erotic novel that teases and arouses, both mind and cock, over the hours it takes to reach climax (pun intended). Stop watching. Start reading.