CARNAL NATION

On July 15, 2009, the producer of International Mr. Leather (IML), Chuck Renslow, sent out a memo to past vendors of the annual Leather Market stating, “… after considerable discussion, the Executive Committee of International Mr. Leather has decided that it will no longer allow participation in the IML Leather Market by any entity which promotes barebacking or distributes/sells any merchandise tending to promote or advocate barebacking.  This restriction will also apply to distribution of gifts, post cards or any other information via our facilities…”

The announcement was a bit of a bombshell in the adult industry, though a bit late in my opinion. I attended IML for the first time in 2005, and prior to that, I had never seen bareback studios and bareback video distributors prominently represented alongside the familiar brand-name gay porn studios. Prior to that, I thought that the “barebacking” phenomenon was restricted to online hookup sites and a few video titles put out for shock value. I remember introducing myself to a San Francisco-based video distributor who carried mostly bareback titles from various studios I’d never heard of before.  He seemed like a reasonable guy just looking to make a living like everyone else in the room, not the creepy, evil, cigar-chomping, exploitative money-grubber I expected.

That’s often the problem with pornographers and sexual deviates debating the issues surrounding bareback videos—they have a lot of strong arguments to defend what they do. It’s often the same arguments we all use to defend our own actions against right-wing anti-gay and anti-porn activists. Ouch! It hurts to call for censorship and boycotts after spending your whole life battling against them.

“Freedom of speech” is a hackneyed, over-used defense employed every time a drunken frat guy gets arrested for screaming obscenities at his ex-girlfriend, but the expansion of First Amendment protection is the only reason the adult industry has been allowed to exist over the past 40 years. It’s a tough one for proponents of anti-barebacking censorship to dismiss, especially if it comes from other porn producers.

Taking the First Amendment defense one step further, it’s even more ironic that the granddaddy of all leather events is taking the anti-barebacking stand because, as a pro-barebacking blogger wrote, “…the leather community used to be the embodiment of a group that unapologetically demanded respect for who they were. They demanded tolerance for their sexually deviant consensual acts, but yet they’re unwilling to be tolerant of others’ sexually deviant consensual acts. They’ve lost something, and it’s sad… In an era of everyone conforming to heterosexual norms (with gay marriage) we need a group that stands up for tolerance and respect of being different, being kinky, and being a deviant…” Ouch again! And not in the good way.

Another good point made at the same pro-barebacking blog was that more men die of smoking-related causes (estimated at 22,000 deaths per year) than HIV (estimated at 14,561 per year). Though bars and hotels in Chicago prohibit smoking indoors, the image of the cigar-smoking 'Tom of Finland' leather daddy is lauded as “hot” in leather circles and at annual leather events like IML. Ouch! That burns.

Progressive and gay-friendly politics and charitable organizations are united in the anti-barebacking camp. The battle lines of the barebacking debate in the adult industry are clearly drawn, with very vocal advocates on both sides, but each side is clearly defined by their respective business plans. Porn, like any other business, is all about the bottom line. Straight porn relies on testing their models monthly for HIV and other STDs to justify fucking without condoms, but the gay side relies on condoms to prevent HIV and never felt the need for testing. In fact, it took so long for gay studios to get on the condom bandwagon, the assumption at the time was everybody was already infected, and they were just fiddling while Rome burned.