Did a gay man ruin porn for straight women?

Playgirl to cease publication


Did a gay man ruin porn for straight women?

In 1995 Dirk Shafer made a documentary film, Man of the Year, about being chosen Playgirl magazine’s sexual icon to straight women even though he was — gasp! — a gay man. Not only were many Playgirl models gay, he revealed, but a surprising chunk of the magazine’s fan base was too.

Once that closet door was open Playgirl became a little more obvious about catering to its gay fans but perhaps too obvious, suggests former editor Colleen Kane. In a piece for Radar magazine she explains that “the unfortunate ’90s trends of Day-Glo spandex, long hair, manscaping and inverted triangle-shaped muscle-bound bodies” pulled Playgirl away from its ’70s feminist roots, not to mention the growing lack of shyness about depicting the erect penis in all its glory.

“Women often need a little more context to fantasize — a story, a person, a mood. Without the right factors in place, seeing a picture of a giant dong can feel like getting flashed,” says Kane.

This is a hard thing for gay men to understand: Who could resist a giant dong? But Meredith Chivers, a research fellow at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, says it’s true: Most women just don’t go for cock the way gay guys do.

In her research Chivers found that images of muscular, naked men doing yoga were as arousing to straight women as footage of the Himalayan mountains. What turned women on was less about the image than the action. Depictions of sensuality or outright sex were more arousing and, interestingly, worked regardless of gender.

Chivers found that the sexuality of women is more fluid. That means women are more open to bisexuality than men who, even when defining themselves as bisexual, tend to prefer one gender to another.

“The sensuality of a woman in general is attractive to women whether they’re straight or not,” agrees Etmet Musa, a buyer at sex shop Come as You Are. Musa says women are now all about video.

“I definitely think lesbian porn is on the rise. It doesn’t mean they’ll immediately go and act it out,” she laughs, “but most women are big on elaborate, artistic fantasies — the props, the makeup, the feather boa, whatever — while men just go straight for what they’re looking for.”

A former editor of the late, lamented fab magazine, Scott has been writing for Xtra since 2007 on a variety of topics in news pieces, interviews, blogs, reviews and humour pieces. He lives on the Danforth with his boyfriend of 12 years, a manic Jack Russell Terrier, a well-stocked mini-bar and a shelf of toy Daleks.

Read More About:
Love & Sex, News, Canada

Keep Reading

Two hands holding a ring on a purple background, under a pink filter. The image appears to be ripped and taped back together with pink tape.

Where are the queer divorce stories?

ANALYSIS: Messy, vulnerable narratives remind us that queer marriage isn’t always the happily-ever-after we hope for
An illustration of a man in front of bushes

After my breakup, I fucked straight married men in the bushes

In the dark, in the dirt, where all identities dissolve, I stumbled upon a new life
Two people seen from behind walking next to change-room doors

Department stores are dying. It’s the end of an era for anonymous sex

With Hudson’s Bay liquidating across Canada, a cruising hub is lost 
One person holding the other from behind, both with towels wrapped around their waists. The figures are shown from the shoulders down in black and white. Behind them, under a pink filter, is images of saunas.

Inside the history of Boston’s bygone gay bathhouses 

From sexual health support to discreet gathering place, bathhouses were once a small but important part of the city’s gay community