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Many gay men enjoy bareback porn, but are concerned about its possible effects on sexual behaviour
Roger Pebody, 2013-07-17 11:10:00
Many gay men who watch pornography enjoy and sometimes prefer material in which condoms are not used, but have some anxieties about the potential effects of bareback porn on their own sexual behaviour. However, they largely displace these concerns onto other gay men, seen to be more easily influenced, according to Sharif Mowlabocus of the University of Sussex, speaking at the 2nd International Conference for the Social Sciences and Humanities in HIV in Paris last week.
A second presentation to the conference explored gay men's differing understandings of 'bareback'.
Whereas in the pre-AIDS era, sex without condoms was standard in gay pornographic images, the majority of producers started to ask performers to wear condoms during the 1980s. In the late 1990s, ‘bareback’ videos started to be issued; their producers and actors often outspoken and defiant in the face of public criticism. This started as a niche in the porn market (the imagery was often transgressive in one way or another), but since then, images of sex without condoms have become pervasive.
This move has not been without controversy. One concern is the health of the performers – the issue is framed in terms of safe working conditions. Another concern is that the imagery may normalise unprotected sex, with a consequent effect on viewers’ own sexual behaviour.
Michael Weinstein of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation has alleged that “Unsafe sex in porn is one of the largest contributors to our current culture of unsafe sex”. He has succeeded in bringing about legislation to require condoms to be used when porn scenes are filmed in Los Angeles County.
Source:1
