Sex, boys, and video clips

Since apparently AfterElton.com has decided I'm the world's leading lesbian expert on gay male sex scenes, they assigned me to do a movie version of my earlier piece on the most groundbreaking gay male sex scenes on television.

I had a lot of fun with this, and am kind of amazed at how much ground I covered in the piece:

Once upon a time, there were no gay and lesbian sections in the video stores, no queer film festivals, no debates over whether or not showing gay men having sex was good for the gay community's image. There were definitely no major theatrical releases of big-budget films in which gay men had sex, and certainly no one ever dreamed a film like that could ever be nominated for an Oscar.

[....]

In the mid-'80s a kind of sea change hit American theaters. Far from being art house and gay film festival exceptions, foreign films with gay male protagonists and overt depictions of gay male sexuality began filling theaters in cities across the United States, earning rave reviews and doing well at the box office.

This "golden age" had its roots in the post-Code, post-Stonewall days of the '60s, when a number of films with gay male sex scenes were made. And prior to the late '80s, when the AIDS epidemic and the changing political scene sent many gay films back into the film festival closet, we saw a high watermark in terms of gay sex on screen.

It's all here. Have fun!

Comments

[Nancy Campbell]

Very interesting! But I have a question. Probably a grossly naive' question, but what do you expect from a straight and obviously sheltered female? LOL

Where/what are the films about lesbians, you know, the ones that *aren't* porn written for men? The love, the romance, even the hotness? Are they out there? Do they have the depth and significance that these films about the men? Are there as many?

I went back to on of your April '06 posts, which outlined your "favorites", but the lesbian characters were rather-- in short supply.

Oh and I'm not talking about films that it has to spelled out to me. Do you know how much I loved the film Times Square, when it came out, but how clueless I was until I read your blog?? So I rented it again and all I could say was, DOH!! I know, I'm thick.

[Christie]

Stay tuned. :)