# Are the actors in gay male porn films really straight?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 11, 2001, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879 "2001-10-11T20:24:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2001, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/1 "2001-10-11T20:24:16Z")
I have heard it asserted several times in the past few years that many (of course not all) actors in gay male porn flicks are really heterosexual when the cameras are not rolling. Does this have any basis in fact? Why would straight men want to act in gay pornos and how could they manage it, uh, physically speaking? Does anyone have any specific examples or know just how prevelant this is?
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### Author:  [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2001, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/2 "2001-10-11T20:50:21Z")
This doesn’t address the question directly, but it adds a bit of perspective. Do you really think that all the women in heterosexual porn are bisexual? Doesn’t it stand to reason that they do what they get paid to do regardless of sexual orientation? Straight guys don’t like to think that the two beautiful women they’re stroking off to may not be enjoying themselves, but if the women can make themselves do it, why not the guys?
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### Author:  [@Yarster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yarster)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2001, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/3 "2001-10-11T21:16:02Z")
I’ve heard this before too but I believe it’s an urban legend to some degree, like the ‘fluffers’ that supposedly keep the guy hard off camera.
The story I had heard was that straight actors had to ‘pay their dues’ before they got to do _REAL_ porn, somehow implying that gay porn was somehow lower on the quality scale. I doubt it though. I’m sure gay porn producers specifically look for bi-sexual or homosexual actors. The acting in porn movies is bad enough. I can’t IMAGINE how bad it would be if the actors/ actresses also had to fake their sexual preferences.
I certainly agree that many of the women in pornos probably are not bisexual per se, but rather tolerate it for a paycheck. Forgive my sexism, but I’d have to believe this is easier for a woman because even if she is HATING it, there is nothing physical you would notice on her body to tell you so from the standpoint of a film, unlike a disinterested male with a flacid unit…
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### Author:  [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2001, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/4 "2001-10-11T21:39:31Z")
As I posted in the Porn thread, a documentary by BBC media guy Louis THereoux was showing what it was like trying to break into the adult film industry.
A great deal of the actors in Gay films were straight men. Also there was no set rule that you had to do gay before straight films, however you have to be a “known entity” to get into the straight films.
If you get a chance to catch this episode of Louis Thereoux’s Weird Weekends i highly endorse it.
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### Author:  [@Guy\_Propski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Propski)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2001, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/5 "2001-10-11T21:50:44Z")
One of the FAQs at [http://www.rame.net](http://www.rame.net) is “Have any het male performers done gay porn?”, and then goes on to only list only 10 names (and 5 of those did only solo masturbation videos). I would tend to think that gay porn actors are primarily gay.
RAME’s FAQ on breaking into the industry also lists gay porn agents (that is, agents who represent gay porn actors). Nowhere in RAME is there any sense that gay porn actors are treated as a subclass of porn actors, so the idea that the actors have to work in gay porn to “pay their dues” seems rather bigoted.
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### Author:  [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2001, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/6 "2001-10-11T23:41:55Z")
I heard that Arnold Schwartzenegger started out doing gay porn before he became well-known enough to land roles in mainstream movies. Supposedly, Arnie doesn’t deny his past in the porn industry, but he doesn’t like to discuss the “old days.”
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### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2001, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/7 "2001-10-12T00:34:24Z")
Many, many gay porn stars say they are straight. Most often sited reasons are pay and performance.
First gay porn pays more, also it is easy for them if they are bottoms. They simply just need to bend over. They don’t need to top. Or they can fake them topping.
I don’t know real names but it is obvious that many don’t enjoy it. But they have nice bodies. How many straight male porn stars are attractive.
Peter North AKA Matt Ramsey is the most famous male star to do both straight and gay porn.
Of course there is the question is a straight male that says they like it up the butt really straight?
For more info go to the discussion boards at [http://www.alkol.com](http://www.alkol.com) (it is an adult board)
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### Author:  [@Major\_Feelgud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Major_Feelgud)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2001, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/8 "2001-10-12T00:39:50Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Diceman \*
> \*\*I heard that Arnold Schwartzenegger started out doing gay porn before he became well-known enough to land roles in mainstream movies. Supposedly, Arnie doesn’t deny his past in the porn industry, but he doesn’t like to discuss the “old days.” \*\*
You mean there are gay porn scenes in Conan the Barbarian?
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2001, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/9 "2001-10-12T01:57:27Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I heard that Arnold Schwartzenegger started out doing gay porn before he became well-known enough to land roles in mainstream movies. Supposedly, Arnie doesn’t deny his past in the porn industry, but he doesn’t like to discuss the “old days.”
Sounds like an urban legend to me. Arnold had his first starring role at age 23 (as “Arnold Strong”), and was a successful bodybuilder before that (he was Mr. Universe at the age of 20). He started working regularly in 1976. It’s highly doubtful he would have been that desperate for money.
Further, Arnold worked damn hard to become a movie star, and he’s smart enough to realize that doing porn doesn’t get you there (unless you’re Traci Lords – though she’s lucky because her porn films have gone out of circulation because she was under 18).
Stallone did appear in that one porn film, but he didn’t have the success in other fields that Arnold had.
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### Author:  [@Syxxe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syxxe)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2020, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/10 "2020-04-13T05:09:33Z")
The whole thing of straight guys and women in porn is a myth, gay for pay is not real, they are bisexual. As a gay man could/would you have sex with a woman for money? The whole myth of gay for pay, straight men being “turned” is a fantasy that sells to the narrow minded portion of the gay community that fantasise about straight men. Read the book “sexual behaviour in the human male” by Dr Alfred Kinsey who developed a scale of 0 to 6 where 0 represents heterosexuality & 6 represents homosexuality, very few men identify exclusively as a 0 & very few identify exclusively as a 6.
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### Author:  [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2020, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/11 "2020-04-13T07:43:14Z")
Zombie porn is the hottest porn there is. Especially if it involves a book from 1948, the renaissance of human sexuality.
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### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2020, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/12 "2020-04-13T10:13:17Z")
> [@Diceman](#):
>
> I heard that Arnold Schwartzenegger started out doing gay porn before he became well-known enough to land roles in mainstream movies.
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> Sounds like an urban legend to me.
I know this is a zombie, but maybe Diceman was thinking of Stallone, who did do a [porn movie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Party_at_Kitty_and_Stud%27s)early in his career.
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### Author:  [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2020, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/13 "2020-04-13T12:13:34Z")
> [@Diceman](#):
>
> I heard that Arnold Schwartzenegger started out doing gay porn before he became well-known enough to land roles in mainstream movies. Supposedly, Arnie doesn’t deny his past in the porn industry, but he doesn’t like to discuss the “old days.”
Depends on how you define “porn”. I’ve never heard of him doing any porn _movies_, gay or straight. But early on, Arnold did pose nude for still photographs. \*Spy \*magazine published one sometime around the early 1990s, noting wryly that the photographer had gay porn magazines in the background “probably for the articles”.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2020, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/14 "2020-04-13T15:24:51Z")
Keep in mind, first, that sexuality isn’t a binary thing, and that it’s possible for someone to be mostly straight but a little bit bi, or the like.
And second, that most men aren’t capable of doing good porn even with partners of their preferred gender. It’s tough to stay aroused when you’ve got a cameraman and crew watching you, and you can see your partner’s bad makeup job from a few inches away, and when you’ve got hot stage lights shining on you, and the shoot is lasting for hours. A performer who’s capable of keeping it up through all of that may well also be able to keep it up through a partner who isn’t their type.
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### Author:  [@ALOHA\_HATER](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ALOHA_HATER)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2020, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/15 "2020-04-14T04:18:48Z")
To put it simply, there are some men who have sex with men on film and have sex with women in their personal lives. If you want to know their sexual orientation, you’d have to ask them.
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### Author:  [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2020, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/16 "2020-04-14T04:42:02Z")
I’m going to guess, based solely on what I read about the sordid life of young gay male prostitutes that many do it because it’s a living, and actual orientation does not figure into it as long as they can make a living, so whatever category they get started in pays the bills. If they can make additional money working both sides of the fence, so to speak (I was going to say “both sides of the street,”, but…) then perhaps some have a preference or reluctance, but I wonder how many stand on principle? Plus, I’m not conversant with the size distribution in real versus movies, but I gather than having extraordinary endowment would also make an actor in high demand going either way. And as mentioned - endurance is a useful attribute.
I’m assuming too (since I know nothing about the industry) that a male could not really be type-cast as there are probably not a lot of male straight porn watchers who see enough gay porn also to decide “hey wait a minute, that guy was gay last time I saw him…” But then, maybe there are. I don’t know.
The little I read and a long time ago (you know, if you read the magazines for the articles, too) mentioned that female actors were paid substantially more than males in straight porn because there was no shortage of males willing to perform.
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### Author:  [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2020, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/17 "2020-04-14T07:07:59Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> And second, that most men aren’t capable of doing good porn even with partners of their preferred gender. It’s tough to stay aroused when you’ve got a cameraman and crew watching you, and you can see your partner’s bad makeup job from a few inches away, and when you’ve got hot stage lights shining on you, and the shoot is lasting for hours…
I’m reminded of _The First Nudie Musical_, a movie from 1976, in which Cindy Williams (who played the squeaky-clean Shirley Feeney on “Laverne and Shirley”) is dealing with a male porn star who is–shall we say–having problems when the cameras roll, for the reasons you describe. She ends up yelling out, “Stunt cock! Can we get a stunt cock here, please?”
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### Author:  [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2020, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/18 "2020-04-14T11:12:39Z")
I’m surprised that no one has mentioned the little blue pill.
Isn’t it the go-to for male porn actors of any persuasion who are having a hard time doing their jobs?
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### Author:  [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2020, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/19 "2020-04-14T17:19:15Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#):
>
> I’m surprised that no one has mentioned the little blue pill.
>
> Isn’t it the go-to for male porn actors of any persuasion who are having a hard time doing their jobs?
No pun intended, I’m sure.🙂
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2020, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/20 "2020-04-14T19:27:48Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#):
>
> I’m surprised that no one has mentioned the little blue pill.
>
> Isn’t it the go-to for male porn actors of any persuasion who are having a hard time doing their jobs?
Note when this thread was spawned. Was Viagra available in 2001? Hmmm, it was, but not cheaply nor without a prescription.
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