Special report: Gay-4-Pay in Prague

March 30, 2010 2:19 PM

[NSFWish] In this GlobalPost investigative report, Prague correspondent Iva Skoch gained rare access to one of Eastern Europe’s most secretive industries, uncovering a world where shifting human sexuality meets rampant commercial demand..In this multimedia report, we examine the complex and interlocking pieces of Prague’s booming gay porn business, from its roots in an American entrepreneur, to the cultural, moral and political foundations that make Prague a gay porn capital, as well as the economic necessities that drive many into the industry, and finally, the human toll it takes on workers.
posted by andoatnp (12 comments total)

The boys of Bel Ami (Bratislava, Slovakia) -- NSFW.
posted by ericb at 3:24 PM on March 30, 2010

Fascinating article.
posted by infinitywaltz at 3:26 PM on March 30, 2010

Gay men have always fetishized masculinity and seen straight guys as real guys, says Jeffrey Escoffier, the author of the book "Bigger Than Life: The History of Gay Porn Cinema from Beefcake to Hardcore" and a visiting scholar at the New York University Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality. “It’s a marketing opportunity for producers,” he says. “A large percentage of gay men see heterosexual men as more masculine than gay men.”

It's true, and it sucks.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 3:28 PM on March 30, 2010

This quote really bothers me:

"Higgins also likes to recruit men who have typically never done porn or had sex with men before and market their inexperience as an asset, not a drawback. To this day, he enjoys filming the first-timers, especially if they don’t really like it. He zooms in on their faces clenched in pain. It makes it real, Higgins says."

WTF is wrong with people that another person's unwillingness and pain is considered to be a turn-on worth paying money to see?

Rape culture - it's not just for women anymore.
posted by echolalia67 at 3:35 PM on March 30, 2010 [4 favorites]

Brings to mind the Wiktor Grodecki's 1996 documentary, Body Without Soul ("...a graphic insider's view of the seedy but burgeoning East Europe industry that trades nubile young men." -- YouTube [parts 1 -4]) and his 1997 ficitional film, Mandragora [trailer].
posted by ericb at 3:54 PM on March 30, 2010

Musn't forget Wiktor Grodecki's 1994 documentary, Not Angels But Angels, on the same subject.
posted by ericb at 3:59 PM on March 30, 2010

WTF is wrong with people that another person's unwillingness and pain is considered to be a turn-on worth paying money to see?

Having been a fan of Higgins' older movies which typically had aspects of this sort of thing (Sailor in the Wild, for example), I don't think this is really an entirely accurate way to look at it. It's typically not just "unwillingness and pain," but rather "unwillingness and pain transitioning to enjoyment and pleasure." In a lot of his movies, there are scenes where the participants are tricked or blackmailed into having sex, and they start out not liking it, but by the end of the scene they like it - oh, do they like it. And they may end up being more genuinely enthusiastic than actual gay guys, who after all have standards and preferences, etc.

And, for what it's worth, I've found that to be a huge turn-on in actual sex as well - not tricking or blackmailing people to have sex with me, but people doing things they initially don't think they'll like and then, surprise surprise, they end up really liking it!
posted by me & my monkey at 4:53 PM on March 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

An excellent point me & my monkey, that illustrates very well why consent and volition (generally, but for sex in particular) are such a problematic philosophical concept. Part of the problem is that they are so utterly vital to human interactions with each other, but whenever examined in detail, they disappear like smoke.

Sex for money complicates it and even more so where the sex crosses personal and social transgressive boundaries. "I wouldn't do that voluntarily" --> "I was paid to do it" --> "people should resist being paid to do things they wouldn't do voluntarily" --> "I am a bad person" is a deeply destructive thought path.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 8:56 PM on March 30, 2010

In a lot of his movies, there are scenes where the participants are tricked or blackmailed into having sex, and they start out not liking it, but by the end of the scene they like it - oh, do they like it.

I'd have no problem if this was simply "acting" on the part of the performer. From the way that it's phrased in the article it seems pretty clear that it's not - if the performer is genuinely uncomfortable with what he's doing and is even experiencing physical pain, that's what Higgins likes to capture on film. It eroticizes a genuine experience of degradation and that's what I find troubling.
posted by echolalia67 at 9:45 PM on March 30, 2010

I guess there is no pretending that gay porn is somehow less exploitive then straight porn (perhaps that was a personal bubble that I was living in...). What that Higgin's quote highlights is that porn is not about watching naked bodies writhing around in naughty ways - but its about to desire to capture something 'real' and personal, whether it be pain or pleasure. It's not enough purchase the body - but you end up watching someone selling a little piece of their soul.
posted by helmutdog at 11:43 PM on March 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

I'd have no problem if this was simply "acting" on the part of the performer. From the way that it's phrased in the article it seems pretty clear that it's not - if the performer is genuinely uncomfortable with what he's doing and is even experiencing physical pain, that's what Higgins likes to capture on film.

The article has its own agenda, though:

He looks hardly 18 but his eyes, blinking slowly, convey the gloom and servitude of somebody much older.

Now practically all the gay porn performers in Prague identify as "gay for pay", yet if you've ever seen the Bel Ami stuff it's clear that they're not having a bad time at all - if they are, they're fantastic actors and should come to Hollywood ASAP.

And it's common to experience some degree of pain when getting fucked in the ass. I've been fucking the same guy for 20 years, and he still often feels pain initially, even though he loves it - I can't do it enough to suit him!

Finally, there's an element of virgin sex involved here - if you're having sex with a straight guy, the initial alienation or dislike indicates it's a new experience for him. And a lot of his movies have a "coming of age" theme, where you'd expect inexperience.

So I wouldn't read too much into what the article says about Higgins' movies - sex is a complicated thing, and pornography is likewise complicated. On the objectionability scale in porn, this stuff is pretty darn low, which I think you'd acknowledge if you saw it yourself.
posted by me & my monkey at 7:40 AM on March 31, 2010 [1 favorite]

Wow. That story answers a lot of interesting questions.

Thanks!

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posted by General Tonic at 8:17 AM on March 31, 2010