Of ghetto boys, HIV and gay porn websites

[WARNING: Some of the following links lead to sexually explicit websites, do not click on them if you are a minor or do not want to view explicit material]

If you look through the local gay bar guides in large urban centers throughout the United States, one thing is clear: Black and brown skin sells.

Count the number of bar ads that use erotic and stylized images of black and Latino men in the next issue of your favorite bar guide and then, for extra credit, see if the words "ghetto," "thug," "jungle," "papi" or "caliente" are anywhere near the copy of the ad (hm, just found one! See above!) and see just how pervasive the imagery is (never mind the wording used).

Similarly, the gay porn market has also developed a healthy appetite for men of color.

In the Latino side of things, there's the granddaddy of them all, the exploitative Latino Fan Club, which began when a guy started filming the Latino hustlers and homeless guys he used to pick up at the NYC Port Authority and then started selling the videos (the enterprise has recently moved online as well).

Of late, we also have seen Latino gay porn producers such as Enrique Cruz step up to the plate with their own take on the scene. Having met Enrique in the past, I know for a fact that one of his goals in launching his La Mancha films was to change some of the exploitative set-ups, story-lines and imagery being used in Latino-themed porn films. I'll let you judge how successful Enrique has been in meeting his original goals through his website (click on hyperlink above). He also makes some comments on the industry in this Interview.

These things come to mind because of a few posts on Bernard Tarver's blog that highlight an article published last week in the gay newsweekly Chicago Free Press [NOTE: the article is no longer available online but quoted in Bernard's first post on the article here and elsewhere in this blog].

"At the urging of Chicago Department of Public Health officials," the newspaper says, "the City of Chicago slapped a cease-and-desist order on the Lakeview home of an online porn site April 20 after concerns were raised about cases of HIV and other STD's tied to the site's models"

It ads that "Christopher brown, assistant commissioner for HIV/AIDS/STD programs at CDPH, said health officials acted after uncovering 'credible' evidence that models at FlavaWorks.com, which also operated CocoBoyz Dorm Room online, were HIV positive, were engaging in unsafe sex practices and were spreading HIV, syphilis and gonorrhea through contacts with individuals outside the business."

The paper also reports that the Chicago Department of Health began their investigation after local HIV service providers alerted them that some of the models were engaging in unsafe sex acts during online presentations available to the site's paying subscribers. A source also told the Health Department that the contracts that the models signed "bordered on illegal servitude."

This week CocoDorm sent out a response to the article to several bloggers, including myself. Bernard has the full text here as well as a couple of remarks that challenge some of the assertions in the response. People who have posted replies to Bernard's original post have also uncovered this document as well as this article that further implicate Phillip Bleicher, the owner of the sites, for additional shady business practices (he recently was charged with being part of a fraudulent youth leadership organization which used charitable donations to pay for an assortment of personal expenses for several officers and Board Directors, including a trip to Brazil, liposuction treatments and wigs).

Personally I feel that erotica has a place in our adult lives and that porn films can (and do) have tremendous power to shape perceptions about desire, sex, sexuality and, in this case, race. More often than not, I stay away from most of the so called blatino stuff because I find it offensive and full of demeaning stereotypes. But I also know friends who love the stuff and can't get enough of it. And yet, I'm not sure that we should be looking for the porn industry to provide us with positive messages. It's when the lines of industry, exploitation and personal safety begin to cross that we should raise a voice and challenge certain practices in the adult industry.

I have always been particularly weary of the type of sites that the CocoBoyz Dorm room represent: Put two or more young performers in a room with cyber cameras, allow people to pay a fee to watch, and then have the young guys have sex in front of the live cameras. If there are people out there who stop to read this and realize just how exploitative these sites can be, I hope that they will think twice the next time they want to support these sites with their money (hm, come to think of it, here in New York, you have Tommy G, who used to 'organize' Latino go-go boy events at a Queens bar called "The Magic Touch" which the NYC Department of Health shut down a few years back due to violations of the health code - and charges of prostitution - but just moved his business online and still prospers).

As long as these stories remain underground, these people will continue to take advantage of a steady flow of young Latino and black men who might seek an easy buck by performing in these webistes or films and end up worse off instead.

You might also wanna check Bernard Bradshaw's blog for additional commentary as well.