LOVE and WARdrobe
Male Porn Stars: Exposed
Published in Bespoke
Are male porn stars steroidal sex-maniacs who high five their friends about their saucy day job, or manipulated and lonely sex-props? Isabella delves into the dirty secrets of the porn industry to find out what really goes on behind the scenes of a porn set.
No matter how much we think we can second-guess men and what goes on in their brains, we can never quite figure them out. Take American multi-AVN award winner Tyler Knight, for instance. On set, the muscular martial art-fighting porn star describes himself as “Carl Jung, self-deprecating Colombo, and Obi-Wan, slinging Jedi mind-tricks to bring out the best in the co-star”, but away from the spotlight he is calmly sipping green tea, settled, and certainly not slinging anything around. Having been talent spotted outside of a library, it is clear that Tyler (currently donning a three-day old beard as he breaks from writing a novel) isn’t your stereotypical male porn star. If he wasn’t in the industry he would spend his days in bed “writing novels until one of them turns out well”.
Jon Davis, a ‘Jack the Lad’ whose London bachelor pad is filled with empty Dominos boxes, protein shakes and DVD’s of well…himself and his best bits, finds he doesn’t have as much luck with the ladies off-set as he does on-set, having once been recognised in the supermarket in front of his date as “the plumber from the porno with the strap-on up his arse”. Let’s just say, his date never called him back, which seems to be a common occurrence amongst male porn stars. “Not many girls want to ask their bloke how his day at work went to be greeted with tales of lesbian threesomes” Jon finds.
Not even actor and director of fetish pornography Rodney Moore, who caters for ‘chubby chasers’ and men who love ‘extra-hairy women’ (including mono-brows and serious leg and armpit hair) has managed to sustain a relationship in the 18 years he has been in the business.
But then again, with sex-on-tap with some of the hottest, or in Rodney’s case, hairiest girl’s money can buy; do the stars even crave a relationship? Apparently so, with Rodney even being prepared to shut down his business (which has generated millions of viewers, making him widely acclaimed as ‘the King of Cream’ for his famous full-face come-shots) if he met “the one”. Jon also pines after a conventional everyday life, “there are so many normal things I can’t do now…even have children that wont be bullied for having a dad that appears in films other men get off to…”
Although we tend to pigeon-hole porn stars as confident and fearless, it appears STD’s are not the only potential side effect of working in the industry. In fact, many of the stars find there to be far more pitfalls than most of us would like to have imagined.
It seems there is a grand case of ‘what’s done by night appears by day’; men are more likely to become household names due to fewer positions available, making it harder to shake off the stigma, even years after their last film was made. Many businesses sell the rights to the films, meaning once it is made, who can show the film is out of their hands. And with Family Safe Media revealing that 25% of internet searches are for pornographic content, it makes it impossible for films to be removed when uploaded to the internet, especially with countless pirate copies being made.
But surely it is every man’s dream to be recognised for sleeping with copious amounts of hot women? It seems not, with an increasing amount of men contacting anti-porn charities like ‘4Sarah’ wanting to escape the industry.
Kacey McClure, who started the charity after her brother’s stripping career led him into a life of drug-addiction and eventually, imprisonment, states that more men are contacting her as “they feel ashamed, alone and that nobody really cares for them. They want a normal life but don’t know how to escape the addictions that come with the job- attention, drugs, sex and alcohol”.
However, it is usually us girls that are depicted as victims of the porn trade, with feminists campaigning for women to keep their bras on instead of burning them ever since the leading lady, Linda Boreman (née Lovelace), of the first hardcore feature film ‘Deep Throat’, argued she was coerced into it by men. Even now, the most downloaded female porn star Jenna Jameson’s autobiography, ‘How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale’, reveals it was her teenage experience of being gang-raped that led her into making films, feeling that exposing her body made her feel loved.
Men, on the other hand, are usually overlooked and depicted as sex-obsessed jocks. Increasing amounts are now trying to highlight the negative aspects for guys, too. Ex porn star Trent Roe, who quit and turned to religion to get him off his porn and drug addictions, is now working alongside charity ‘The Pink Trust’ to help other porn stars find a means to leave. Documentaries like ‘The Dark Side of Porn’ have also followed men as they try and edit porn out of their future.
Despite this, it seems the average guy is still naïve as to what really goes on, even though men can’t ‘fake it’ like women and being more likely to contract a STD from their pursuits than women. After all, if you were to ask your boyfriend if he would like being in porn, he would probably struggle to lie to you. “I do get a lot of guys sending me pictures of their manhood because their girlfriend told them they were hot in bed. Sorry dude, your girlfriend lied”, are the words Rodney often uses when turning down guys. Sometimes penis size doesn’t quite live up to the size of their egos.
In fact, this is so recurrent, websites are forced to put up warnings of what to expect to detract potential applicants, including no-pay if you can’t ejaculate on demand, required monthly HIV tests (which cost £180) and statements that if you are not willing to partake in sex with another man, you can forget even applying. Jon explains that “if you can’t imagine sex with a guy or your cock rubbing against another guys as you double penetrate a girl then it’s definitely not for you as you won’t get any work”. Often the men that do get auditions discover they aren’t quite up to the part. “At my first audition, the director lined us all up, got us to pull down our pants and masturbate…let’s just say not many guys can keep it up when surrounded by 10 sweaty wanking men,” recalls Jon, who was one of two to make it to the test shoot. “This was done with two women and if we couldn’t ejaculate on demand when the director prompted us, we didn’t get the part.”
However, for those who fail, there are other methods of getting a role, but be careful; you may not want to read the next sentence if you are currently tucking into lunch. Jim Lane, one of the few directors to take on new male talent in the biggest porn sector (L.A), will only commission someone who is willing to do a bukkake, in which groups of guys must take it in turns to ejaculate on a girl’s face . Other less graphic measures include sending pictures in the hope of a casting to agents, while other more entrepreneurial types start with amateur porn or webcam videos, though the revenue depends on the popularity of the webcam.
According to Circa, the average wage for men on set is £300 for heterosexual sex, £350 for heterosexual sex with anal and £400 for double penetration, “plus lunch, usually”. Although a free lunch is great news in most men’s books as the pay rate is far lower for men than for the women.
Becoming a recognised star is the only real way of making enough money in the industry. This is best acheived through recommendation or by teaming up with a hot girl who will only work with a director if the guy is involved in the scene. Rodney uses this as his main method of commissioning actors “they have to be highly recommended by someone else before I would hire them”.
Some men even risk jeopardising their health just to get a part through the casting couch, in which directors’ have sex with the talent as a means of audition. However, as the directors aren’t obliged to take the HIV screening tests that the actors are made to take, Jon found that a few of his co-workers were suffering, “A few got nasty STD’s, it’s a real gamble, but one that guys who would do anything to sleep with these beautiful girls are willing to take”. Kasey has found that often “the people that enter the sex industry don’t believe they will get an STD, but all it takes is one person to get infected for their life to be turned around”. Especially as we must remember not many directors are too keen on condoms- the explosive action is far less- well, explosive- when hidden behind a piece of rubber. And no, in case your boyfriend is reading this over your shoulder-you don’t get sick pay for having genital warts.
Other men are finding that their health suffers not because of STD’s, but the lifestyle that entails the career. “Many find themselves taking drugs while on-set because it can allow them to escape and numb their feelings while they shoot the film”. Jon notes a change in the drugs that are used, “When I first started it was mainly pills, but now it’s vicoden, and heroin’s getting more popular because it’s cheaper. Ron (Jeremy) wasn’t lying when he said there are major drug issues in the industry”.
Tyler, on the other hand, has found that although some porn stars do drugs, they are very much “an exception to the rule”. Instead, he finds ‘keeping it up’ a far more pressing issue, in fact, he goes on to describe his first ever scene as “pure hell”.
Remembering back to his thoughts as he awaited his cue, Tyler still gets embarrassed; “what if I’m too small and she laughs…or I pop too soon, or forget my lines; what the hell does “open up for the camera” mean, shit, a table?! How the hell is that going to work? I’m 200 lbs, I’ll snap it., SHIT… that’s Randy f…ing Spears! I can’t compare to him! Is Randy looking at me? That’s kinda weird!…WHAT IF I CAN’T GET IT UP!”. Having been a mainstream model, Tyler knew all about posing, but less about keeping his cool when it came to ‘performing’ in front of a room of people, “It was a restaurant scene with the contract girl Chloe, the crew of two dozen people (grips, boom mike guy, two camera men, director, and video tech behind monitors, the “c-light” guy whose job is to hover a light near the “action” to make sure it’s well lit), and a dozen extras sitting at various tables for atmosphere”.
At this point, only Tyler’s mum and past girlfriends had seen him naked, yet after agreeing to do the shoot, he found himself dressed as a waiter, about to indulge in the most emasculating moment of his life.
With the nod from the production manager, Tyler stumbled forward, mumbling his lines in shame, a thick layer of sweat dripping from his brow. As his co-star reached for his boxers, the moment he had always dreamt of was about to arrive; Tyler, the masculine stud, throwing a hot girl over the table whilst flexing the muscles, the moment where he gets to reveal his huge, raging…flaccid penis.
Twenty minutes of masturbating in front of various bored and unimpressed extras later, he still found his manhood would wilt as soon as the cameras came on…another four times, in fact. Realising what had to be done, the tired director sent Tyler off into another room with a stack of magazines, “Jugs, Black Tail…I go with Jugs. Three strokes in and…I had popped in my hand! I wanted the Earth to swallow me up”. Tyler, realising he had ruined a whole days worth of shooting, believed there to be only two options, “man up and ‘fess up” or “calculate it so if I jumped out the second floor bathroom window and roll on impact, I would be ok”.
Remembering his I.D’s were in the production managers pocket, and looking down to realise he was only in fact now wearing a t-shirt, Tyler decided to go back admit to his potentially career-wrecking error, after all, “running around Downtown LA with a shirt and no pants is only cute if you are named Winnie the Pooh”.
Ever since, Tyler has found the best way to keep his manhood in check is to block everything else out, “I immediately put up the fourth wall”.
Alternatively, Rodney reaches to the wonders of medication, although he admits he knows men who have now become immune to the affects of the blue pill through over-use; “I’m finding that guys who just can’t find anything attractive about the girl- sometimes they might remind you of your sister or not be completely hygienic- are turning to intra-penile injections”. These are injected into the back of a man’s penis in order to keep the man erect for an hour, although Jon warns, “they do leave little pin-pricks in the back of your penis and can swell if you inject a vein- try explaining that to your loved one!”.
When it comes down to it though, it seems the worst experiences have been when the girl isn’t happy with her job. “A lot of girls clearly are not into me, the job, or both and make no attempt to hide this fact,” finds Tyler, with Jon agreeing, “I once saw a girl throw up during a scene, run to the toilet, come back and continue the scene”. When shooting a scene in a hotel room, a girl Rodney had commissioned “changed her mind and left screaming ‘they’re filming porn in there.’ The next day, the bellman told me when he heard that; he turned to his buddy and said ‘I guess she didn't get the part’”.
Tyler finds the more pleasurable aspects of his job have emerged with his growing success. This has given him the opportunity to earn a comfortable living, allowing him to partake in other pastimes, such as martial arts. Jon finds it’s the scope to act out his fantasies and work alongside beautiful women (rather than the lads at his previous job as a builder) that keeps him in the industry; “like in any job, sometimes you meet the most amazing people, sometimes you meet idiots. Once you know the game well enough, and as long as everyone’s comfortable, being in a film can be an amazing and unbeatable experience- oh, and the sex is good too”.
Although we often see porn stars as unrealistic, muscular breeds of sexual passion, Tyler sums up the profession in this way; “I'll defer to the point of Hamlet’s monologue when he's holding Yorrick's skull- ‘In the end, we're the same’’’.
No matter how much we think we can second-guess men and what goes on in their brains, we can never quite figure them out. Take American multi-AVN award winner Tyler Knight, for instance. On set, the muscular martial art-fighting porn star describes himself as “Carl Jung, self-deprecating Colombo, and Obi-Wan, slinging Jedi mind-tricks to bring out the best in the co-star”, but away from the spotlight he is calmly sipping green tea, settled, and certainly not slinging anything around. Having been talent spotted outside of a library, it is clear that Tyler (currently donning a three-day old beard as he breaks from writing a novel) isn’t your stereotypical male porn star. If he wasn’t in the industry he would spend his days in bed “writing novels until one of them turns out well”.
Jon Davis, a ‘Jack the Lad’ whose London bachelor pad is filled with empty Dominos boxes, protein shakes and DVD’s of well…himself and his best bits, finds he doesn’t have as much luck with the ladies off-set as he does on-set, having once been recognised in the supermarket in front of his date as “the plumber from the porno with the strap-on up his arse”. Let’s just say, his date never called him back, which seems to be a common occurrence amongst male porn stars. “Not many girls want to ask their bloke how his day at work went to be greeted with tales of lesbian threesomes” Jon finds.
Not even actor and director of fetish pornography Rodney Moore, who caters for ‘chubby chasers’ and men who love ‘extra-hairy women’ (including mono-brows and serious leg and armpit hair) has managed to sustain a relationship in the 18 years he has been in the business.
But then again, with sex-on-tap with some of the hottest, or in Rodney’s case, hairiest girl’s money can buy; do the stars even crave a relationship? Apparently so, with Rodney even being prepared to shut down his business (which has generated millions of viewers, making him widely acclaimed as ‘the King of Cream’ for his famous full-face come-shots) if he met “the one”. Jon also pines after a conventional everyday life, “there are so many normal things I can’t do now…even have children that wont be bullied for having a dad that appears in films other men get off to…”
Although we tend to pigeon-hole porn stars as confident and fearless, it appears STD’s are not the only potential side effect of working in the industry. In fact, many of the stars find there to be far more pitfalls than most of us would like to have imagined.
It seems there is a grand case of ‘what’s done by night appears by day’; men are more likely to become household names due to fewer positions available, making it harder to shake off the stigma, even years after their last film was made. Many businesses sell the rights to the films, meaning once it is made, who can show the film is out of their hands. And with Family Safe Media revealing that 25% of internet searches are for pornographic content, it makes it impossible for films to be removed when uploaded to the internet, especially with countless pirate copies being made.
But surely it is every man’s dream to be recognised for sleeping with copious amounts of hot women? It seems not, with an increasing amount of men contacting anti-porn charities like ‘4Sarah’ wanting to escape the industry.
Kacey McClure, who started the charity after her brother’s stripping career led him into a life of drug-addiction and eventually, imprisonment, states that more men are contacting her as “they feel ashamed, alone and that nobody really cares for them. They want a normal life but don’t know how to escape the addictions that come with the job- attention, drugs, sex and alcohol”.
However, it is usually us girls that are depicted as victims of the porn trade, with feminists campaigning for women to keep their bras on instead of burning them ever since the leading lady, Linda Boreman (née Lovelace), of the first hardcore feature film ‘Deep Throat’, argued she was coerced into it by men. Even now, the most downloaded female porn star Jenna Jameson’s autobiography, ‘How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale’, reveals it was her teenage experience of being gang-raped that led her into making films, feeling that exposing her body made her feel loved.
Men, on the other hand, are usually overlooked and depicted as sex-obsessed jocks. Increasing amounts are now trying to highlight the negative aspects for guys, too. Ex porn star Trent Roe, who quit and turned to religion to get him off his porn and drug addictions, is now working alongside charity ‘The Pink Trust’ to help other porn stars find a means to leave. Documentaries like ‘The Dark Side of Porn’ have also followed men as they try and edit porn out of their future.
Despite this, it seems the average guy is still naïve as to what really goes on, even though men can’t ‘fake it’ like women and being more likely to contract a STD from their pursuits than women. After all, if you were to ask your boyfriend if he would like being in porn, he would probably struggle to lie to you. “I do get a lot of guys sending me pictures of their manhood because their girlfriend told them they were hot in bed. Sorry dude, your girlfriend lied”, are the words Rodney often uses when turning down guys. Sometimes penis size doesn’t quite live up to the size of their egos.
In fact, this is so recurrent, websites are forced to put up warnings of what to expect to detract potential applicants, including no-pay if you can’t ejaculate on demand, required monthly HIV tests (which cost £180) and statements that if you are not willing to partake in sex with another man, you can forget even applying. Jon explains that “if you can’t imagine sex with a guy or your cock rubbing against another guys as you double penetrate a girl then it’s definitely not for you as you won’t get any work”. Often the men that do get auditions discover they aren’t quite up to the part. “At my first audition, the director lined us all up, got us to pull down our pants and masturbate…let’s just say not many guys can keep it up when surrounded by 10 sweaty wanking men,” recalls Jon, who was one of two to make it to the test shoot. “This was done with two women and if we couldn’t ejaculate on demand when the director prompted us, we didn’t get the part.”
However, for those who fail, there are other methods of getting a role, but be careful; you may not want to read the next sentence if you are currently tucking into lunch. Jim Lane, one of the few directors to take on new male talent in the biggest porn sector (L.A), will only commission someone who is willing to do a bukkake, in which groups of guys must take it in turns to ejaculate on a girl’s face . Other less graphic measures include sending pictures in the hope of a casting to agents, while other more entrepreneurial types start with amateur porn or webcam videos, though the revenue depends on the popularity of the webcam.
According to Circa, the average wage for men on set is £300 for heterosexual sex, £350 for heterosexual sex with anal and £400 for double penetration, “plus lunch, usually”. Although a free lunch is great news in most men’s books as the pay rate is far lower for men than for the women.
Becoming a recognised star is the only real way of making enough money in the industry. This is best acheived through recommendation or by teaming up with a hot girl who will only work with a director if the guy is involved in the scene. Rodney uses this as his main method of commissioning actors “they have to be highly recommended by someone else before I would hire them”.
Some men even risk jeopardising their health just to get a part through the casting couch, in which directors’ have sex with the talent as a means of audition. However, as the directors aren’t obliged to take the HIV screening tests that the actors are made to take, Jon found that a few of his co-workers were suffering, “A few got nasty STD’s, it’s a real gamble, but one that guys who would do anything to sleep with these beautiful girls are willing to take”. Kasey has found that often “the people that enter the sex industry don’t believe they will get an STD, but all it takes is one person to get infected for their life to be turned around”. Especially as we must remember not many directors are too keen on condoms- the explosive action is far less- well, explosive- when hidden behind a piece of rubber. And no, in case your boyfriend is reading this over your shoulder-you don’t get sick pay for having genital warts.
Other men are finding that their health suffers not because of STD’s, but the lifestyle that entails the career. “Many find themselves taking drugs while on-set because it can allow them to escape and numb their feelings while they shoot the film”. Jon notes a change in the drugs that are used, “When I first started it was mainly pills, but now it’s vicoden, and heroin’s getting more popular because it’s cheaper. Ron (Jeremy) wasn’t lying when he said there are major drug issues in the industry”.
Tyler, on the other hand, has found that although some porn stars do drugs, they are very much “an exception to the rule”. Instead, he finds ‘keeping it up’ a far more pressing issue, in fact, he goes on to describe his first ever scene as “pure hell”.
Remembering back to his thoughts as he awaited his cue, Tyler still gets embarrassed; “what if I’m too small and she laughs…or I pop too soon, or forget my lines; what the hell does “open up for the camera” mean, shit, a table?! How the hell is that going to work? I’m 200 lbs, I’ll snap it., SHIT… that’s Randy f…ing Spears! I can’t compare to him! Is Randy looking at me? That’s kinda weird!…WHAT IF I CAN’T GET IT UP!”. Having been a mainstream model, Tyler knew all about posing, but less about keeping his cool when it came to ‘performing’ in front of a room of people, “It was a restaurant scene with the contract girl Chloe, the crew of two dozen people (grips, boom mike guy, two camera men, director, and video tech behind monitors, the “c-light” guy whose job is to hover a light near the “action” to make sure it’s well lit), and a dozen extras sitting at various tables for atmosphere”.
At this point, only Tyler’s mum and past girlfriends had seen him naked, yet after agreeing to do the shoot, he found himself dressed as a waiter, about to indulge in the most emasculating moment of his life.
With the nod from the production manager, Tyler stumbled forward, mumbling his lines in shame, a thick layer of sweat dripping from his brow. As his co-star reached for his boxers, the moment he had always dreamt of was about to arrive; Tyler, the masculine stud, throwing a hot girl over the table whilst flexing the muscles, the moment where he gets to reveal his huge, raging…flaccid penis.
Twenty minutes of masturbating in front of various bored and unimpressed extras later, he still found his manhood would wilt as soon as the cameras came on…another four times, in fact. Realising what had to be done, the tired director sent Tyler off into another room with a stack of magazines, “Jugs, Black Tail…I go with Jugs. Three strokes in and…I had popped in my hand! I wanted the Earth to swallow me up”. Tyler, realising he had ruined a whole days worth of shooting, believed there to be only two options, “man up and ‘fess up” or “calculate it so if I jumped out the second floor bathroom window and roll on impact, I would be ok”.
Remembering his I.D’s were in the production managers pocket, and looking down to realise he was only in fact now wearing a t-shirt, Tyler decided to go back admit to his potentially career-wrecking error, after all, “running around Downtown LA with a shirt and no pants is only cute if you are named Winnie the Pooh”.
Ever since, Tyler has found the best way to keep his manhood in check is to block everything else out, “I immediately put up the fourth wall”.
Alternatively, Rodney reaches to the wonders of medication, although he admits he knows men who have now become immune to the affects of the blue pill through over-use; “I’m finding that guys who just can’t find anything attractive about the girl- sometimes they might remind you of your sister or not be completely hygienic- are turning to intra-penile injections”. These are injected into the back of a man’s penis in order to keep the man erect for an hour, although Jon warns, “they do leave little pin-pricks in the back of your penis and can swell if you inject a vein- try explaining that to your loved one!”.
When it comes down to it though, it seems the worst experiences have been when the girl isn’t happy with her job. “A lot of girls clearly are not into me, the job, or both and make no attempt to hide this fact,” finds Tyler, with Jon agreeing, “I once saw a girl throw up during a scene, run to the toilet, come back and continue the scene”. When shooting a scene in a hotel room, a girl Rodney had commissioned “changed her mind and left screaming ‘they’re filming porn in there.’ The next day, the bellman told me when he heard that; he turned to his buddy and said ‘I guess she didn't get the part’”.
Tyler finds the more pleasurable aspects of his job have emerged with his growing success. This has given him the opportunity to earn a comfortable living, allowing him to partake in other pastimes, such as martial arts. Jon finds it’s the scope to act out his fantasies and work alongside beautiful women (rather than the lads at his previous job as a builder) that keeps him in the industry; “like in any job, sometimes you meet the most amazing people, sometimes you meet idiots. Once you know the game well enough, and as long as everyone’s comfortable, being in a film can be an amazing and unbeatable experience- oh, and the sex is good too”.
Although we often see porn stars as unrealistic, muscular breeds of sexual passion, Tyler sums up the profession in this way; “I'll defer to the point of Hamlet’s monologue when he's holding Yorrick's skull- ‘In the end, we're the same’’’.
