Gay and Lesbian Pornography

Our topic for this week's blog is lesbian and gay pornography. I think that this topic is important because so many people in the world access information about their own and maybe about others sexuality through the pornography industry. The intention of this post is to get people thinking about the implications of pornography and the ways it might liberate or further oppress members of the GLBT community as well as heterosexuals who are trying to provide themselves with a better understanding.

From "Our Sexuality" by Robert Crooks and Karla Baur
"Sexually explicit films developed for heterosexual, gay, or lesbian consumers differ in some of their general characteristics. Much of straight porn is based on a formula of close-up views of various positions of intercourse... The gay porn industry is comparable in size to the straight porn industry and shows the same range of low-cost to well-made films. Most of today’s gay porn is made with well-groomed, muscular, good-looking men. Gay porn emphasizes eroticism of the male body and unfettered lust that ranges from aggressive to tender... Far fewer lesbian porn films are made, and they tend to be low-budget and unpolished compared with straight and gay porn. Most lesbian porn films feature real-life lovers. They realistically portray diverse and powerful lesbian sexual interaction instead of a performance for the viewer."

So this information poses a few questions in my mind:
- Do questioning men receive a perception of what "gay" looks like? And does this serve to push them further "into the closet"?
- Why less lesbian pornography? Is it a matter of market or something else?

According to an anonymous contributor to afterelton.com:
"Now there are two types of lesbian porn: those that appease straight men, and those that appease lesbians."

- What does this mean for lesbians? Are they meant to be objects of a straight mans desire?
- Why is lesbian pornography that is meant to appease men so much more popular than lesbian pornography created for lesbians?

From everything2.com, the following is a response to the question, "Why do men like lesbians?"
"Because the "lesbians" you're talking about are mostly-mythical creatures invented by the porn industry expressly for men to like watching, silly! Lesbian is a complex signifier, because it has to stand both for this lovely beast and for the many women who live every day with a lesbian identity, including women that many men find distasteful. It's cliché and only partially accurate to characterize it this way, but it makes some sense: the man-centered lesbian vs. the woman-centered. Generally, the lesbians in "real life" aren't interested in having men watch them, no matter how much pleasure they're giving or receiving."

- So does the pornography industry advocate for lesbian women and gay men by making films or does it promote further ignorance regarding being lesbian or gay or otherwise?

great job on the first blog

hey everyone!

just a reminder, there are a few websites listed on the right hand side of the blog; feel free to check those out. There is a great history on the Gay Flag and an interesting article by Time Magazine!