World-making through pornography
Thoughts on Hallie Lieberman's article on the marginalization of Asian men in pornography.
For context:
Hallie Lieberman’s “Asian Men Are Marginalized In Porn. Gay Male Performers Are Changing the Narrative” in Cashmere Magazine
PeterFever’s “Yes, Asian Men are Marginalized In Porn” response to Lieberman’s article.
Twitter thread that includes response from PeterFever and other models.
I believe in the world-making capacities of pornography in our milieu to shape minds, bodies and desires.
There is an important distinction to be made between sexual freedom and market freedom. We often conflate the two without considering their differences. Fan sites may allow for a more diverse spectrum of sexual expression, but ultimately adhere to the brutal logics of the gig economy, extending the reach of the “free” market to exploit individualized surplus value. We are bound to the pragmatic and conservative desires of the market, even in our insistence on claiming autonomy.
My decision to work with PeterFever was not without hesitation. I’ve heard a range of experiences from models who have worked with them. There is one consistent (and in hindsight, accurate) observation across the range of experiences that I have collated - that PeterFever is a smaller studio within an industry dominated by a few large studios, and is comparatively restricted in its financial resources and its ability to redefine industry norms in spite of its attempts to do so.
If anything, this wide range of experiences I have gathered also confirms that the quality of one’s experience is contingent on the specific situation and one’s expectations. I went in aware of the potential critical backlash that working with PeterFever might induce from fellow creators. At the same time, I am appreciative of the history of the company and the reach that PeterFever has in its ability to tap into the studio pornography marketing infrastructure to grow one’s audience.
I was involved in their last two video shoots, and performed in a total of nine scenes. Perhaps it was in part a result of feedback gathered from previous shoots, but both shoots proceeded relatively smoothly. Yes, there were some logistical hiccups due to the scarcity of resources, and certain conditions can be improved. However, from my experience, there wasn’t anything that significantly impacted my capacity to perform professionally. That said, I am also new to the industry, so I had little reference to compare my experience against. I have found that consistent and open communication helps mitigate expectations that might be out of alignment between the studio and performers.
I was raised in Singapore, where gay sex was criminalized until recently, on a diet of Japanese and North American gay studio porn. Under such conditions, gay sex is performed as an act of resistance. It is wilful civil disobedience. To refuse what society has categorized as “wrong”, and to acknowledge the pleasures it produces. Growing up, PeterFever was one of the sources of gay pornography in circulation where I found some affinity with performers who looked Asian (however illusory these affinities might appear to be).
The bottom (pun intended) line is this: if my intent is indeed to harness the full potential of the world-making capacities of pornography - why would I foreclose the ability for me to make a difference by refusing to work with studios, or in this specific case, the only North American gay pornography studio that has had a consistent investment in representations of gay Asian sexuality? The reach of this potential is significant for a large segment of the world who either cannot afford to subscribe to porn, or have been conditioned to circulate porn as a (free) public good.
I chose to invoke change by working within, not without. However, I respect those who have the ability to choose otherwise. My ongoing PhD research is drafting a nuanced approach to queer resistance. How does one resist power? One can stand in opposition to it. One can also allow power to course through one’s being, and calibrate degrees of resistance to power. This is a strategy of understanding how power works while harnessing (being harnessed to) the potential of power.
If anything, the article and its response has been helpful as an orientation device. How do I define my values in relation? Moving forward, I hope that further scholarship might engage in this assumed comradeship that comes with “Asian-ness” and a flattening of inherent differences in the name of solidarity. How can the catch-all category of “Asian” be defined more discretely and differently? How do we imagine a world of bodies and pleasures beyond the logic of market desires? I would like to collectively explore what it really means to “change the narrative” and what that might entail in terms of our expectations around representation, freedom, and submission.
Further Reading:
Amia Srinivasan’s The Right to Sex: Feminism in the Twenty-First Century
Chen Kuan-hsing’s Asia as Method: Toward Deimperialization
Tan Hoang Nguyen’s A View From the Bottom: Asian American Masculinity and Sexual Representation
Michel Foucault’s History of Sexuality Volume 1 and the concept of “counter-conduct” in his 1978 lectures.
excited to read some more! Lemme start reading these citations and recommendations...