How two holdouts went bareback: CockyBoys and Men.com's initial transition to producing videos without condoms

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe current study focuses on the early transitions of CockyBoys and Men.com from producing only gay pornographic videos with condoms to producing some videos without condoms. These transitions follow the normalization of pornography without condoms noted in the literature, and their recentness allows for a ‘real-time’ analysis of how the studios marketed the videos without condoms, as well as the initial media coverage and feedback from viewers. Other studios that similarly transitioned did so years ago, making it difficult to ascertain their strategies. In addition, previous research focused on the content of the videos without condoms instead of the process of starting to produce them. Therefore, this study helps to fill a gap in our understanding of this normalization. I addressed these topics using data from the websites for each studio, as well as posts on gay pornography blogs. I describe and compare the different strategies employed by each studio, as well as the generally positive feedback for both studios and the different number of videos without condoms produced by each. I also provide possible explanations for these differences.