The line between fantasy and reality can be very thin when it comes to gay porn. A director can dress his stars up in cop uniforms, which is pure artifice – but you  can't fake a close-up cumshot. Even if the setups aren't real, the sex itself usually is. But even so, trying to figure out exactly where fantasy meets reality in gay porn is like walking through a hall of mirrors. In the nude. This month we'll take a closer look at the intersection of sexual fantasy and reality in gay adult entertainment.

Keeping It Real With Live Cam Performances
Webcams have come a long way since Big Brother and the  JenniCam's of the mid-1990's. Gone are the night-vision visuals and security cam footage. Gone, too (if you're willing to pay) are the frozen frames and the one-finger typing. Today's webcam stars speak to you directly, answer questions from their beds, and deftly zoom and pan your view with tiny remote-controlled cameras. When done right, today's webcam stars provide what is known in the escorting world as “The Boyfriend Experience.”

“The interaction with fans is more familiar now,” says Race Cooper, who works for Falcon both in front of and behind the camera. “Since there’s a regular audience that tunes in for live shows, you get to know them a bit more. Performers can now start to recognize each webcam viewer's turn-ons, backstory, and sense of humor.”

Thanks to today's cheap HD webcams, fans can now see their favorite stars more clearly than ever, too. And thanks to realtime, two-way interactivity, live cam viewers can get to know their favorite performers. However, if you want to skip the smalltalk and get to the good stuff, you’ve got to cough up some lucre. With webcam performers, you're basically dealing with strip club economics. The tease is always free, but you have to front some bills if you want to visit the champagne room.

But for webcam performers, it's not just about making money. “It's intimate,” says Colby Keller. “It's an opportunity to explore desire together. I love my fans,” says Colby. “Webcams provide  a unique opportunity for them to spend virtual time with me one on one.” In an age of torrent sites and twitpics, fans can get almost anything for free – but you can't pirate a live, one-on-one performance. And because of that, fans are willing to pay.

Another quality unique to live webcams is their global reach. Companies like Flirt4Free, IM Live, and Real Live Guys specialize in hooking you up with men all over  the world, from Sacramento to Slovakia. Video Secrets, the company behind Flirt 4 Free, helped to invent this business model. In the beginning, live cam performance didn't have the same prestige as video work. But as the influence of big studio productions has waned, the popularity of sites like Cam4 has continued to rise. And today, even porn's biggest stars are stepping in front of webcams.

Today’s live cam shows fall into two main categories. When shows come bundled with a monthly membership at sites like the Hot House, performers are usually paid a flat fee which is typically less than what they'd get for doing a scene for a video release (since video production can be a lot more intense.) Only site members have access to this type of performance, but every member gets to see everything.

The other type of live cam performance typically takes place in a performer's own home, which generally means they’re working for tips.  They’ll flirt for free (as the popular site's namesake implies). But if you want to role-play or see what's behind the curtain, you’ll have to spring for a private show where anything goes – a show that's performed just for you.

Each performer has their own limits when it comes to live shows. We asked live performer Nick Sterling about this when we caught up with him for a few minutes in between shows, and he said, "I won't do self-suck, for example, simply because I'm not physically capable.” As a webcam star on Randy Blue, Sterling has the ability to control his own income in a way that most pornstars who only do video work can't. He can choose how much time he wants to spend performing live, and his income is directly tied to his time investment – which basically makes webcam performers the true entrepreneurs of sexual fantasy. Today's pornstars often post nude pics on their blogs or Twitter feeds, just to make their fans happy. But sadly, they don’t get any residual payments for their video work. So if you see your favorite star broadcasting live at a cam site, consider springing for a private show – and don't forget to tip.

When Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction:
The World Of Gay Porn Documentaries

You don’t have to be Sigmund Freud to ponder the source of sexual fantasies, but you might need a PhD to figure out the answer. Luckily, you don't have to do the post-doctoral work – because sexual fetish exposés and gay porn documentaries have become an extremely popular genre. Here are four films exploring everything from plushies and horseplay to the behind-the-scenes world of a gay porn shoot.


Plushies And Furries
Shot by fetish artist Rick Castro, this co-production between MTV and World of Wonder (Eyes of Tammy Faye, Inside Deep Throat) takes us into the world of Plushies and Furries – the men and women who dress up in animal costumes for erotic (and psychic) pleasure. It’s an interesting look into an often mocked and sometimes misunderstood subculture. If you'd like an even more intimate (and hilarious) look at plushie porn, check out Plushie Schwartz.

Born In A Barn
Who could refuse a movie whose main star is “Trigger the Human Equine”? Elizabeth Elson’s 2006 documentary takes viewers into the world of pony play, where humans saddle up for intimacy. The film, which won Best Documentary Feature at Cinekink, eschews the hardcore to focus on the relationships between those who ride and those who are ridden.

The Zoo
Director Robinson Devor’s controversial documentary examines the story of a Seattle man who died after having sex with a horse, and the secret community of “animal lovers” who ran a farm where people engaged in bestiality. The documentary steers away from the sensational in favor of empathy. The film’s tender and lyrical approach won it plaudits at both the Sundance and Cannes Film Festivals.

Exposed: The Making Of A Legend
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to work on a gay porn set? Exposed: the Making of A Legend takes you onto the set of the Buckshot classic Buckleroos with director mr. Pam. Turns out that porn is as much fun to make as it is to watch. The film screened across the country at gay film festivals to rave reviews.


Before There Were Webcams:
A Chat With Director John Summers

If you want someone to bring your personal fantasies to life these days, it's a piece of cake – thanks to live webcams. However, things were more complicated in the early days of the sex industry. Back in the 1960's, the late John Summers was a gay porn pioneer. In an unpublished 2009 interview, he revealed that back in the day he was often asked to document very specific fantasies on film.

“You’d be surprised how much people used to send us to shoot something. I remember this one guy – he lived in Georgia – who sent us $5000 and a tennis outfit. He wanted me to have Steve (an early Falcon model) play tennis, go home, and take a shower, and to shoot it like the camera was peeking through the window. That bitch paid $5000 dollars for it!” he joked. “We shot it and sent it to him. It was so funny. We found out later that he was the leader of a Baptist Choir in Atlanta!”

In the early days of gay porn, directors weren't just shooting common fantasies – they were inventing them. Summers, along with Falcon founder Chuck Holmes, believed that a successful porn company should redefine fantasy rather than simply portraying it. And with their early 1980's sensibilities, they set the stage for two decades of preppy lust.

Before gay porn films were widely available, the gay idea of sexiness was dominated by the “Castro clone” look, with bikers and street trade in beards and flannel shirts. With their porn film Style, Summers and Holmes set about cleaning up that ideal. They dressed their performers in designer clothes, cut their hair, cleaned their feet, and – like true iconoclasts – shaved their chests. It might have sounded crazy at the time, but Style ended up outselling every other film on the market. Director Matt Sterling predicted that the film would change the industry. In the end, however, it did a lot more. It changed our fantasies.

Whose Cock Is It Anyway?
The Truth About Celebrity Cock Shots

These days it's not hard to find naughty pics of A-list celebrities on the web, but they're not always real. The thought of jerking off to faked Photoshop fantasies is too awful to contemplate, so this month we'll dig deep and attempt to get to the bottom of these mysteries.

Zac Efron
MIRROR, MIRROR: The internet was a-twitter with a supposed webcam shot of the 17 Again star primed and ready. In the end though, it was the lousy hotel room (with mirrored closet) that gave it away as a fake.

Jake Gyllenhall
JUST THE TIP: Or rather, just the shaft. You can’t see all of Jake’s Gyllenhall in Love and Other Drugs, but it’s enough (paired, say, with a few screen caps of his heaving chest in Prince of Persia) to get you through the night.

Ryan Gosling
HEADSHOT: He’s got a killer smile and looks great in wet underwear (in All Good Things), so we can’t complain  if his nude shots are always strategically blocked. We’re just in it for the sweet, sensitive feminist meme he’s become.

Taylor Lautner
NO MOON: With a body like his, does it even matter if Taylor has a penis? All right, maybe it does. But there’s still nothing like him – neither man nor wolf – in the known universe.

David Duchovny
FROM BEHIND: Duchovny’s real X-Files are from his appearance on Showtime’s Californication where the sex addict strips down with astonishing regularity. There’s been  no peen seen yet, but that bare butt is the real thing!

Hugh Jackman
DARE TO BEAR: This X-Men star drove the cubs crazy when he emerged from the Australian surf last year in wet, form-cling shorts showing a hint of pubic hair. But that shot of him naked on the beach? Totally fake.

Levi Johnson
HALF-BAKED ALASKA: Politics makes strange bedfellows, and Levi Johnson’s spread for Playgirl (engineered by New York nightlife impresario Daniel Nardicio) proved to be more smoke than fire. Rumors about the full-monty helped propel the issue to record-breaking status, but in the end it was only his rear-end that we saw.

Justin Timberlake
JUSTIFIABLE: Until last year, we had to be content with photoshopped fakes, but in Friends with Benefits Timberlake finally stripped down and truly  brought his Sexy Back.

Ray J
FOR THE LOVE OF RAY J: Unfortunately, the hung R&B star’s nude pics contributed to the rise of our Kardashian overlords. On the bright side, these drool-inducing pics are 100% real.

Colin Farrell
ROGUE BROGUE: Sure, it’s going into a woman. But luckily there’s no Irish Curse evident in Colin’s sex tape. He’s 100% real.