Dr. Kevin Clarke, author of PORN: From Andy Warhol to X-Tube, studied musicology and literature in Berlin. In 2009, he gave a lecture on The Pornography of Operetta at the University of Amiens, which kicked off his interest in the general history of porn. He’s currently editor-in-chief of the leading German magazine Männer.
Researching the book, did you see any images, a movie or online that shocked you, and if so what was it?
Since we don’t cover extreme fetish aspects in the book, I did not have to work my way through the truly hardcore S/M material or scat, piss etc. films, which I personally don’t enjoy watching. The only thing that shocked me – and keeps shocking me every – are the contemporary bareback movies which come in two varieties, and provoke two kinds of shock. The first group are the films which show young healthy looking guys who fuck without rubbers, as if AIDS is something that doesn’t concern them. It stuns me to think that they are that naïve. The second group are the in-your-face bareback movies by labels such as Treasure Island Media. The guys there are often rough and hot, the sex they have often wild and limitless. But I find the underlying message “Get infected and you can have this too” – drugs and HIV included – deeply disturbing. As if you can only have great sex if you have THAT kind of sex. The amazing thing is that a general public discussion with regard to these questions is not really taking place, even though bareback movies are the best selling porn movies of them all.
The 1970s were known as the ‘Golden Age of Promiscuity’, a time when gay men suddenly experienced a new era of sexual freedom and the gay porn industry went into overdrive. What do you think triggered this?
After World War II the so-called Second Sexual Revolution took off (the first took place in the 1920s.) It went into overdrive in the late sixties. After Stonewall and the beginning of the Gay Liberation Movement there was an utopian atmosphere of “Anything Goes” in cities like New York, Chicago and San Francisco. Non-stop gay sex everywhere. Life was a porn movie in itself. Just read Larry Kramer’s Faggots. The porn industry took advantage of this new liberal lifestyle and released movie after movie for sex cinemas. Don’t forget, back then porn was not viewed at home and in private, but together with others in public cinemas. The movies were a kind of backdrop to the real sex that was happening in the seats and hallways of theatres. It’s a totally different way of consuming porn.
The 1980s saw the arrival of HIV and AIDS which understandably put an end to the promiscuous ways of the seventies. Do you think this changed the way guys viewed porn and studios made it?
If life was a porn movie in itself in the 70s, and porn was imitating reality, then the 80s saw a total turn around: porn became fantasy. Porn movies showed you the sex you could NOT have anymore, they became a safe sex substitute for the real thing, in times when people were dying left and right and no one knew for sure how they could protect themselves from infection. Also, in the eighties, the video recorder arrived and suddenly porn was consumed at home and alone, with a fast forward button. So instead of being the backdrop and soundtrack to ritualistic sessions in movie theatres, porn had to get to the juicy bits as quickly as possible. And it had to find a way to show sex that did not remind you of people dying. Maybe that’s why so many films from that period look so plastic and unreal.
Do you think it’s a good thing that gay porn has begun to cross over into mainstream movies, such as the gay angle in The Fluffer and François Sagat popping up in various mainstream films?
I love The Fluffer! And I personally think it’s great that porn as a contemporary phenomenon is being dealt with in mainstream movies, books and TV shows. Why should people who watch porn in private not talk about it in public, if they have something intelligent or interesting to say about it? I see this as a form of liberation, not just for gays. Why be ashamed of your sexuality? Make it part of your life, including your professional life as a researcher, writer, filmmaker or whatever.
“Why should people who watch porn in private not talk about it in public, if they have something intelligent or interesting to say about it?”
Would you agree that the crossover and recent acceptability of porn in the mainstream has taken away some of the sleazy, underground nature of the business that, undeniably, turns us on?
There is still enough sleazy and underground porn around to give anyone a non-stop erection who likes sleaze. Especially with the arrival of the Internet, there is more special interest porn than ever before. And what’s more: it’s no problem finding and downloading it within seconds.
What’s your view on bareback gay porn, taking into consideration that it’s been the norm in straight porn for years?
You asked me earlier what I found shocking, I should add that I find it equally shocking that so many straight people – including straight porn producers and actors – think HIV does not concern them. Especially considering that these actors and actresses fuck around day and night for a living. Don’t they ever wonder if a drop from all that cum sloshing around might infect them by accident?
Can online and amateur porn comfortably sit alongside studio-produced porn, or do you think that online and amateur porn might one day put the studios out of business?
That was the big question in all the interviews with people from porn studios. They all claim studio produced porn is dead and will be gone soon. On the other hand, many new online studios have sprung up and are successful as business models. So my guess is that we’ll see different ways porn is being produced and distributed. Considering that many of these films made by the new online studios (such as UK Naked Men) are rather fabulous, I see this as a positive development which offers new opportunities. And if these new studios have managed to grow while free porn on sites like x-tube was available, I’d say there is room for both.
Ending on a light and fluffy note, who is your all-time favourite porn star?
Ah… that’s a tough one. There are so many great looking men. But for some reason I’d always pick Dick Fisk as my “desert island guy.” I haven’t actually seen that many movies he is in, but every time I bump into an old photo of him I think: ‘Yes, he’s the one!’ (Closely followed by Chris Lord.) If I had to pick a guy because of his biography, then I’d say Al Parker is the most interesting for me; I find his life and porn career fascinating.