# Are the actors in gay male porn films really straight? **URL:** \ **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:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/41 "2020-04-16T21:43:10Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > After I graduated in 1994, I worked with another pharmacist who had a desk job, and was almost totally bald even though he was barely 40 years old. His head would also turn red if he heard the word “Caverject”, and people would casually say that as they walked by his desk, just to watch his head turn red. It never stopped being funny. > > I will also add that I told this story before here on the Dope, and other people accused us of, among other things, sexual harassment. Maybe it was one of those “you had to be there” things. **Moderating** I would be best not to retell stories about jerkish behavior when people have already pointed that out to you. Ridiculing someone for a medical condition is profoundly jerkish. Try to show better judgement in what you do, and what you post, in the future. Repeating such as story appears to me to be verging on trolling. > [@outlierrn](#): > > Do you not understand why people thought you were being a size large jerk in that thread? This said, it’s better to report such posts than to respond to them yourself. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/42 "2020-04-16T22:16:20Z")
Well, I would have been prepared to discuss it in a straightforward manner, but, as you wish. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/43 "2020-04-17T13:00:39Z")
As others have said, we are all on a continuum of sexual wants and needs. Some are gay, some are 100% straight and some are bisexual with shades of gray throughout. My college roommate Randy, was truly bisexual. About 10 pm when we’d be out looking for women, we’d frequently announce that he wasn’t going to get lucky here, and he’d head off to the local gay bar (where presumably the odds were better). It took me a while to realize that he was truly 50/50. I’m not inclined at all to go after guys. If that’s your thing I have no issue with it of course, but it does nothing at all for me. So I’d guess that you’d have to be somewhere toward the bisexual part of the scale to do gay porn in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Brent-McDowell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@Brent-McDowell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brent-McDowell)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2021, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/44 "2021-04-10T12:37:17Z")
Hetero male here - Personally I would do it for the right price (or if I was pretty drunk 😋) the way I think about it, we all have jobs to do. I doubt a janitor wants to go unclog toilets but it pays the bills. In the same way, if getting railed by another hot guy pays your bills then just do it. I feel like there are worse jobs to have. It’s called ‘gay for pay’ for a reason. And if you’re. Bottom you don’t even need to get it up necessarily. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2021, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/45 "2021-04-11T02:29:01Z")
> [@skdo23](#): > > I remember going out drinking with a bunch of people from my adult dodgeball team, which would have meant the summer of 1998, and a couple of us were debating whether health insurers should be required to pay for Viagra. This was an issue at the time since the drug was beginning to enter the public lexicon. I was working in Bangkok at that time and remember how we Westerners had to be careful about discussing Viagra. It was all in the news, and we, young(ish) bucks that we were, were all afraid the local staff would think we were taking it and start gossiping. “Viagra” was one English word they knew, and to them we were all saying, “Blahdeblah Viagra blahblah Viagra blahdeblahdeblah Viagra.” Etc. We would refer to it only as “that little blue pill” and such. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2021, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/46 "2021-04-11T06:31:50Z")
> [@BurnMeUp](#): > > 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. My impression was that the protestations of the supposedly straight guy doing gay porn had the distinct air of “protesteth too much”. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2021, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/47 "2021-04-11T07:51:33Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > My impression was that the protestations of the supposedly straight guy doing gay porn had the distinct air of “protesteth too much”. I suspect some of it is also marketing. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some degree of sexual fantasy involved - like the whole Pussy Galore thing, only reversed. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2021, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/48 "2021-04-11T08:50:24Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Why would straight men want to act in gay pornos and how could they manage it, uh, physically speaking? Money, and many men who are mostly heterosexual on the Kinsey scale nonetheless retain the capability to engage in homosexual acts if sufficiently motivated. By this time it’s pretty evident that sexual preference is more of a spectrum than a binary state. ---
**Author:** ![DeathPool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e95f7d/32.png) [@DeathPool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeathPool)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2021, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/49 "2021-04-11T11:08:09Z")
I remember watching an interview with a female pornstar who said even a pretty large proportion of the ostensibly straight male porn actors are bi in their personal lives, from her experience anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2021, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/50 "2021-04-11T11:47:39Z")
Also in general, I’m not sure that the summary that Louis theroreaux showed most of the performers were straight is a good summary. As I recall he followed one guy who claimed to be straight, and they were cool with Louis himself being there as an extra, and that was it. Personally I don’t see why they would bother given that there are plenty of gay men. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/51 "2021-04-12T17:40:29Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > I heard that Arnold Schwartzenegger started out doing gay porn before he became well-known enough to land roles in mainstream movies. Schwarzenegger was running successful businesses (and not just competing at bodybuilding events) before becoming an actor, so I doubt he would have had to do something like this. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/52 "2021-04-12T19:10:16Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > My impression was that the protestations of the supposedly straight guy doing gay porn had the distinct air of “protesteth too much”. I agree. I can’t figure out why straight men would be needed to pretend to be gay. It’s not like there is a shortage of gay porn stars. > [@Alessan](#): > > I suspect some of it is also marketing. Yeah, probably totally this. > [@DeathPool](#): > > I remember watching an interview with a female pornstar who said even a pretty large proportion of the ostensibly straight male porn actors are bi in their personal lives, from her experience anyway. I think this is probably an example of marketing. Presenting as bi makes your audience larger, man or woman. > [@Schnitte](#): > > Schwarzenegger was running successful businesses I don’t think the rumor was that he did gay porn, but that he would go to predominately gay parties/gatherings and pose nude and allow people to feel his muscles, not his sex parts. IIRC, long ago, one of our gay posters has said they were either at such a party or had seen some of the pics that circulated in the gay community. You would think there would be a lot more of the pics leaked though. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879/53 "2021-04-12T19:36:01Z")
> [@mordecaiB](#): > > I think this is probably an example of marketing. Presenting as bi makes your audience larger, man or woman. I dunno, I think there could be some truth to _that_ claim (that straight porn actors are often bi to some degree). If you’re 90% straight and work as an accountant, you may never in your life have occasion to explore that 10%. OTOH, if you’re 90% straight and are doing scenes like “2 guys one girl”, you’re seeing a lot of another (well endowed) guy’s erection, maybe even penis-to-penis contact in some shots…you’re more likely to become aware of that 10%. Plus working in porn involves going outside of comfort zones, and externalizing sex, for the vast majority of actors. So a lot of the blocks that stop the typical straight guy from experimenting in this way are just not there. The revulsion, the guilt…I’m not saying homosexual acts are “wrong” just that these are emotions many straight men right now would feel, but probably not so much porn stars. So if jerking off another guy is even as enjoyable say, as hugging someone, they are free to get that enjoyment without overthinking it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-in-gay-male-porn-films-really-straight/86879.md?page=2)