ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the career dynamics of performers in the gay male pornography industry, by focusing on a common career path–from porn star to stripper to escort. It examines one set of interlocking sex-work roles that exists among performers in the gay porn industry and, in so doing, identify the key decision points and underlying sexual-economic dynamics of the career path. The ‘star’ is an iconic image that signifies something about sexuality and gender and represents a distinctive personality or type. A successful investment strategy for stars and exclusives is one that does what is necessary to maintain the erotic appeal of the performer, protect him or her from overexposure, and carefully stage the expansion of the performer’s sexual repertoire. In the early days of gay commercial pornography, it was difficult to recruit performers because homosexual behavior was stigmatized and production was illicit. The retrogressive dynamic is rooted in the psychology of fantasy that shapes viewers’ sexual scripts.
