It’s a question of breeding: Visualizing queer masculinity in bareback pornography

Abstract

Gay bareback pornographic films featuring men engaging in condomless anal intercourse draw criticism from scholars, public health advocates, and even other pornographic filmmakers because of concerns that the rates of unprotected sex and STI—namely HIV—transmission will increase if gay men watch them. This article examines how bareback pornographic films by Treasure Island Media (TIM) present visual narratives of gendered pleasure and desire by reframing the cum shot and focusing on ejaculate rather than ejaculation. TIM films show masculinity as athletic, risky, and sacred. Though these are recognizable, normative frames of masculinity, TIM films visibly articulate queer erotics and bodies in queer(ed) activity.