Film Review: I’m A Porn Star : Gay4Pay
Don’t expect to discover anything startling new or even shocking in any way from filmmaker Charlie David’s gentle probe (!) into why so many of the performers in the world of gay pornography self identify as ‘straight”. As the acceptability of the sexuality spectrum continues to evolve in a very positive way, it does at least make it easier for more men to openly discuss where they fit into the Kinsey Scale, especially when it involves money changing hands.
David starts by establishing his credentials from when he was the only openly gay actor in Here TV’s gay soft-porn series Dante’s Cove which is remembered more for its gratuitous nudity rather than its plot lines and/or acting . It was, as David says ‘Good but bad, best watched when drunk television’. That was over a decade ago, and David maintains although in later seasons more openly gay actors were cast, there was never any shortage of straight ones willing to be gayforpay,
Performing sexual acts with other man in public and on screen however is an entirely different matter, and David lined up several successful stars and well-known faces (!) in the gay porn world to talk about their take on it all. Refreshingly only one stuck to the old cliche of doing it purely for the money, whilst others like ‘Curtis’ from Sean Cody were remarkably frank about why they had full on gay sex, and then went home to their wives/girlfriends. Most hesitated to be defined by actual labels, but readily confessed that they are exhibitionists and enjoyed the acts they performed with other guys, and were totally comfortable with their masculinity. In fact Curtis accepted that he so relished the sex that when he stopped professionally he may ask his wife if could occasionally still hook up with men for one-offs. Interestingly enough he said it was the complete lack of any emotional connection with men that marked his own very pronounced preference for women, and his wife in particular.
As David’s somewhat subjective ‘research’ showed gayforpay performers themselves are less hung up on defining their exact sexuality, and in a world where ‘bromances’ are prevalent, many of them are interested in experimenting and experiencing even anal sex without any hangups. There is of course still a hardcore audience of gay men who particularly want to watch them perform because as ‘straight’ men they are considered ‘unobtainable’ which makes them even more desirable.
David’s entertaining wee film is very easy on the eye as although the includes no explicit sex , there is plenty of nudity with some very hot buff guys trotting across the screen. How straight are they all? We never really find out, but the last word goes to openly gay porn performer Eddie Stone who very matter-of-factly claims ‘There is no amount of money you can give a 100% straight man to have sex with a gay man.” We think he is right.