1. Locating Sexually ambiguous guys and getting them to do solo jerk-offs on tape for money, which may or may not lead to male4male experimentation in front of the camera or at the least, will lead to the director grabbing the guy's cock on film.
2. Started originally as the military men porno series by such companies as Dink Flamingo (www.Activeduty.com) & Sean Cody (www.SeanCody.com), but since then it has grown to include everything from college dudes to homeless guys.
3. It's been growing since 1994 by leaps and bounds, with no end in site at this writing. Dirk Yates is considered by many to be the grandfather of the genre although other producers such as Bobby and BG Enterprise with their Magic Hands series of films were also pioneers.
4. A large gay following, who considers themselves gay and out. However, is fascinated by the visual presentation of straight boy seductions; that if played out in "real space" could possibly lead to very dangerous and/or life threatening situations.

One could create a whole lecture series on this subject, but my fear is what is going to happen if gay and closeted bi men, stop realizing this is a fantasy? They can't form relationships with the guys who are making extra cash because Uncle Sam isn't keeping their wallets lined with gold while serving in the military. Nor, will they likely meet guys on the street with a video camera and bring them back for a friendly photo shoot that will result in a friendly "hand job" from the director. Many of these tapes start out with an interview format and then lead to the model usually making some sort of declaration that they're not gay or talking about women or female conquests. This is my point, 10 minutes within the film, we're already told that something is wrong with us and we're the one that purchased or rented the flick! Second, some filmmakers show "bare backing" right off the bat. Yes...experimentation is good, but at the price of safe sex? Thus seeing beautiful, and probably HIV negative models engage in unsafe sex, makes gay men feel that there is nothing wrong with the practice and it has no consequences. This, in my opinion, is especially damaging to young guys just coming out or those who live in areas that don't have great safe sex information available to the public. And finally, the most valid and sometimes not always PC or black or white issue, cruising straight guys. Ok, light cruising can be acceptable but if you tried to do the supposedly real tactics in some of the videos you may find yourself a statistic of gay bashing. This may vary depending upon where you live, but who knows. The video producer should tell the viewers when it's real and not and the circumstances. Activeduty.com is good at this, but others do not and for the non-media savy viewer, the real seductions are nothing more than scripted. These films also, by not picking gay or even portraying their gay-for-pay performers as gay in name only at least, raise the level of unreal expectations that gay men have in terms of finding real mates. Additionally adding to the already narrow scope of what male beauty and gay masculinity should be as conveyed in more traditional fares of M4M porn. Many gays find themselves with the feeling that they are "settling for less" in terms of looks or supposedly straight-acting manners. This then makes gay men who would probably select potential mates, not want them because of one perceived minor gay mannerism. A laugh or a like of art or a diva seems to be a de facto negative on a guy's dating resume, that would be otherwise not an issue let's say 10 or 20 years ago on the gay dating scene. What I'm trying to say is this: There is nothing wrong with escapism, but when the escapism jumps off the screen like the plot line from the Hollywood movie 'The Ring' www.ring-themovie.com, I start getting worried. Thus impacting the very community and dating pool in what I perceive as definitely not a positive way. I personally think we're at the tip of the iceberg in terms of what the community will feel as a direct result of the bare backing adult film phenomena of the past several years. Drug-resistant mutations of HIV, deaths, and this issue becoming top of the community's action items again for the next 5 years; thus minimizing our political capital and strength to deal with such things as equal rights or job discrimination and the all too forgotten gay parent custody issue of kids. I don't want to see more and more gay men not finding boyfriends or getting beat-up because they approached a guy who wasn't really "model material". It just seems odd that with the openness or seemingly tolerance of the US, that many gay men find themselves constantly obsessing on masculinity and the perception of it to others. As stated earlier, it would be like African Americans denying a part of themselves to accommodate the majority. I don't hear many Black people describe people as "white-acting" as a positive.

Also, I don't want to be misunderstood, I'm neither for censorship or demonizing the producers of this genre, but I'm at the point enough is enough. Porno is just a fantasy, but for so many gay men it is a window to gay media and offers more masculine oriented escapism then the likes of Will & Grace or Queer as Folk. Both shows are dynamic series, however both have been criticized for not showing a complete picture of the gay male reality and they both definitely show familiar gay perspectives that even a conservative straight man could identify as gay. The question I'm asking is why the shame after more than 25 years since Stonewall, countless pride parades, openly gay elected officials, more gays on TV, gay-owned companies, and gay men living in the most surprising non-gay metro centers across the US are we seeing men not liking who they are? The answer again lies in low self-esteem land. A one-way ticket that's been making gay men dislike who they are and continue to oppress themselves similar to the bullies of their youth. My commentary is merely designed to make one think of the possibilities of harmful media. Maybe a porno watch group should be setup? Who knows, but the real answer to this lies in he who holds the remote or mouse.