Yet, a recently relevant chapter seems missing the near-collapse of studio porn and the rise of fan pay sites, where independent porn actors make their often ineptly-shot yet unscripted form of porn. With a focus primarily on the rise and fall of studio porn and its related scenarios and economics, toward the end, Escoffier touches on other forms of porn actors' cam-shows, nightclub appearances, strip acts and escorting. Similarly, some porn actors and directors' quotes are repeated in several chapters, and Escoffier relies on actor Rod Barry as a quote and example more than 20 times.ĭespite these flaws, the study investigates several aspects of the porn industry, including straight and, later, transgender porn, focusing on pay disparity (men get less than women) the rise and fall of 'narrative' stories in features, the persistence of the fictive 'story' told via sex acts, and even a chapter on 'gay-for-pay' among the likes of Jeff Stryker and Ryan Idol. A description of Poole's classic Boys in the Sand is repeated four times in different chapters. The study, however, is marred by quite a lot of repetition.
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In the midst of an exploration of the ideas of 'situational homosexuality' versus gay sexual identity, the unique undefined approach of masculinity visualized by auteur Joe Gage's 'road trip' trilogy provides a fascinating example.Įscoffier's study shows how, for many gay men, porn became a liberating form of entertainment, from the early 1950s mail order physique magazines, to movie theatres and peep shows, to home video and online websites. The innovations of early feature directors, some who came from musical theatre backgrounds, compares the cinema verité style of New York films, and their historic relevance in documenting the post-Stonewall/pre-AIDS 'sexual revolution' - to the story-structured videos produced by California directors. The multiple roles porn actors take on, and the differences between their work and the fantasy 'scripts' (literal and theoretical) they assume are defined and examined. In the paperback review copy's 217 pages (29 of them footnotes), Escoffier parses out the history of cinematic porn, its growth and rise in popular culture and the economy. While academic in its approach, multiple interview excerpts offer a look behind the scenes of how porn directors and performers constructed what are now familiar tropes and clichés of documented sex acts. For the sapiosexuals among us (those turned on by intelligent people), historian and LGBTQ scholar Jeffrey Escoffier's Sex, Society, and the Making of Pornography: the Pornographic Object of Knowledge explores how sexual acts have been documented in various media and how it effects culture and even behavior.