The previous two days' posts were written in 2011. The gay porn industry has changed quite dramatically since then. In 2011, Falcon Studios was mainly selling DVDs; now, Falcon is streaming most of their content. Yes, you can still buy DVDs of gay porn, but how many people actually do anymore? The internet has taken over the porn industry. Sites like Helix Studios, Sean Cody, Corbin Fisher, or Bel Ami are nearly all online now. Sean Cody has been bought by MindGeek, who owns Men.com and is arguably the largest of the studios at this point. Of the studios mentioned, Sean Cody is the only one who does not produce DVDs. Yet, the vast majority of their use is online.
Online companies also have to compete against free sites, such as Pornhub, XVideo or XTube. You also have gay porn blogs. While Blogger has largely done away with gay porn blogs, Tumblr is still alive and well. Tumblr only allows for a maximum of four minutes for a video, but considering that Tumblr is a short-form blog, it is made for quickly getting off. In the four minutes it allows, Tumblr gives you the best parts of a clip. Most of the websites for gay porn have 20-25 minute scenes.
The main thing is that gay porn in the last six years has become virtual. While this trend was begun in the early 2000s, since 2011, it has become more and more web-based. Whether you are into twinks (Helix), military men (Active Duty), college frat boys (Corbin Fisher or Sean Cody), Europeans (Bel Ami), or more masculine men (Men.com), there is something for you. There are even more specialized/fetish sites like Bound Gods, SpankingCentral, and others that are able to produce web-based content to a specialized audience that DVDs just didn’t really allow.
I think the days of big studios producing DVDs is a thing of the past. Falcon, Titan, Rascal, etc., are all producing mostly web-based content. Gay porn is also evolving in other way. You can get Helix and Corbin Fisher on Roku, bringing porn back to your big screen TV. How many other studios will follow and make themselves available on streaming TV, but it is definitely an alternative for those who don’t want a collection of DVDs. Porn has become more portable than ever, and this is a trend that I don't see going away.
Gay porn has also changed in one other major way. It is nearly all condomless these day. PrEP has allowed barebacking to become legitimate in porn again. In 2011, gay porn studios were still using condoms. Only studios on the edge such as Treasure Island Media allowed for condomless porn, but with frequent STD testing and PrEP barebacking is all the rage in gay porn again. Falcon was one of the last studios to start using condoms and it was one of the last to end the use of condoms.
Joe
The Closet Professor 
January 19th, 2023 at 11:45 pm
pornhub
February 20th, 2023 at 11:35 am
Hi Prof. Joe,
First thing first I’m a big fan of your series The History of Gay Porn. I really love history: Some retro sessions can bring in new perspective about how fast things go. Who can predict that we’ll go from blurry VHS tape to 4K homemade porn in just 50 years.
Classic gay porn DVD (1989 – 2009) will always be the milestone we never forget. According to legendary director Kristen Bjorn, there were 2 main reasons:
– Worldwide financial crisis 2008-2009, people stopped buying porn like they used to.
– Internet piracy of films became feasible, people could watch free stuff from their devices.
I think we all agree that in any era, the global situation and tech development always have a great influence on the way people consume porn. The attention span is becoming shorter, people want everything to be fast and online, hence streaming is now king. If you ever write Part IV, it can be about how the Pandemic came at the right time to empower OnlyFans and encourage anyone to become pornstar. Are we in the third Golden Age of Gay Porn?
Another thing I’m curious about and want to ask you: Magazine / Gay porn photos
Per what I read, since the legal case in 1962, magazines could show full-frontal nudity. Therefore, Physique/Beefcake Magazines had largely disappeared by the end of the 60s, with some turned to offer full-frontal nude catalog while the others went out of business. So when was the prime time of nude magazines (like Freshmen, Mandate, etc.), and what really happened with gay publications in the 80s and 90s? Cause I remember by early 2000s there’s not many gay magazines in business.
1951: Bob Mizer published the first issue of Physique Pictorial
1951-1962: Underground, low-key, technically not legal
=> So most the of “vintage” photos we know were from this period, right?
1962: Legal Case – Magazines consisting largely of photographs of nude or near-nude male models are not obscene
=> More adult magazines with explicit content, right?
1967: The end of Beefcake Magazines
=> So what happened from this point until the birth of Attitude, DNA, and other “lifestyle”gay magazines.
Thanks for writing this series and putting things in the relation with the bigger world around it, Prof. Joe.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Flynn.
P/s: I love Lars Norgaard too, he’s one of the most beautiful guys BelAmi has graced 😉
P/s 2: Sorry if my writing was incoherent, English is not my first language.
February 20th, 2023 at 11:40 am
Flynn, first let me say that I would not have known that English is not your first language. As for the rest of your comment, it might take me a little while to fully respond. I have a few things I can answer, and I’d like to think on the rest. Currently, the problem is that I’m busy at work, but look for an answer soon.
February 27th, 2023 at 10:21 am
Hi Joe,
I’m still following your blog. After a tiring weekend with some medicines, hope you already feel better by now. Things always get tougher during winter… but hey, just a few weeks until Spring, hope you’ll soon be happy and healthy again!
Best wishes,
Flynn.