Open Letter to BILERICO in response to Lets Talk About Sex

As mentioned in Sunday's post, I will be responding in part to the questions posed by Bil Browning in regards towards the controversy that began when the pictures of, now famous Big Brother 9 House Guest, James Zinkand, courteous of Dirty Boy Video weren't just posted but made available without censor if you just clicked the pictures into a new tab or window.

To repeat myself would seem frivolous at first, especially so soon after the original post. Unfortunately, I find it necessary to ejaculate the themes with confidence, so as to get the point across in reference and fidelity to our readership: F6 has a strict policy about, "no frontal exposure of male genitalia without explicit reason for valid illustration"; but I, as the Editor of F6, fully supports and defends Bil Browning in his work to keep access into the marketplace of ideas and the universal conversations, with full disclosure, open at all times.

Below are the synopsizes of his questions and my response to them will follow in normal paragraph format. To view the questions in their original context please visit Bil's original post on this topic.

Almost everyone who wrote (registered account users) clicked through to see those pictures of cum shots and erections and a bare ass. First I am not a registered user. I still clicked through to see if they were any different from the ones already available on the internet. Nope, they were the same; minus a couple that I had access to and used on my blog, because they didn't show direct frontal shots of either male's genitalia.

Is it okay to look at porn as long as you're outraged by it later?

That is the classic rhetorical question of the religious and those trying to appease their relationship with the Divine in front of other followers rather than just having an authentic on going relationship and conversation.

I cant recall the exact number of times I have heard people mortify themselves over three minutes of curious pleasure of their own body and mind; not even wanting to mention or consider expressing intimacy with their fellow person, regardless of gender! All of this is ingrained into our collective psyche because some out of date theologian monk scribe transcribed the word celebrate to celibate, and someone got a spiritual aversion to foreplay and intimacy when the but plug went to far in and got stuck during the turn of the previous millennium. BTW, That was a joke. I know for myself when I was less enlightened to the true journey of the Spirit and adventure that is this life, I was stuck in a similar pattern regularly of trying to prove my faith both to myself, others, and God. Thank Gawd I had a Pastor and mentor throughout my formative years teaching me the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, and the true nature of Divinity.

Does curiosity outweigh prudishness?
You should Google this question some of the results are interesting.

A prude is one who is excessively concerned with being or appearing to be proper, modest, or righteous. See there it is again, with the standards of society and religion, it is all about the appearance of propriety. Although curiosity, beside killing a cat, is to know or learn, about people or things that do not concern one's person; or an object that arouses interest, as by being novel or extraordinary; or a strange or odd aspect of history, culture, class, and position.

Obviously the whole of Reality TV is a scandal that should be reviewed but not because of the contestant's past adventures in life but the vetting process that is used to find the participants and whether or not they are amateurs or professional actors/performers. Over the last three seasons of Reality Television there has been some stark revelations as to the selection, voting, and actual game process that has called into profound question whether or not the game show laws of the 1970's and the trust of the American consumer have been violated. If the law and the public trust has been rendered mute, why hasn't there been enforcement by the FCC and also why hasn't the industry been forced by Congress or the consumer to revise those laws and have some decent internal standards, instead of com se com sa. Much likened to the chagrin of locals' thoughts regarding Drag Pageants: The damn thing is rigged! Stop voting for your favorite contestants people and send a message to the producers that you want a valid dose of reality or at minimum an authentic competition. [Photo: RAY RANDELL @ Super Underwear Perverts]

Does gender factor in to this?

With the exception that women can hide or express their mutual intimacies easier in public, nope. Other sites like Queerty, OMG blog, and Proceed At Your Own Risk all put up eye candy and sexy posts. All three kick our ass in traffic and two of them are also political. If we put up eye candy posts (no genitalia exposed) and it were of men, women and trans folk, would that be okay? Yes! Where's the dividing line between eye candy and porn? Most would say that actual sexual acts not just an erect penis (Indiana law) is enough to label it as porn. However I disagree, because it is an issue not just of images of intimacy versus images just of sex but at what point does it become void of artistic intent, license, and criticism which is the academic litmus for porn versus erotic art.

Does eye candy drag down the site or add to what a lot of people obviously want? Every picture on my blog has been used to either assist illustration of: reporting the news, commentary, or in some way give graphic representation to content and resources shared. In that regard, by both legal and academic standard does not qualify as porn, but it can be considered by some to be offensive.

Is a four way intimacy or just sex? Can it be both? Does two men being probed anally by a third constitute as porn? Does images of boys just being boys and loving each other constitute as porn? Does it constitute as sex or just intimacy shared deeply between best friends?

So where does porn fit into the mix? Images of a four way sex scene while intriguing cant be just labeled as porn just because it is part or a clip from a porn movie. The problem in this society is that we have made physical sex the final action, the summit of the sensual experience, when we mark sex or more specifically the final cum splattering orgasm as the consummation of the act when in fact it is just a by product of the larger expression of intimacy and the deeper connection of love between hopefully friends at a minimum.

Do our readers consider us different than other queer blogs and websites? Yes. Thousands upon thousands of people came to see those posts. Yes I did and I referred other people to your post as well as my 350 visitors a week at least were being made aware too.

Is it worth momentary uncomfortableness by some readers to gain others? I have made my rules known. They have been posted, cited, quoted, cross linked, and bitched about in gay local blogs and traditional media circles. If the rules are made available and people can clearly see them being enforced without reservation and they still bitch that an image or certain level of image is there it becomes their tough cookie to deep throat without milk. The problem I think that most people had Bil is that the rules appear to seem not to apply to either you or certain others on Staff. The best thing that I could suggest, it to post a permanent link on the main page to your rules and disclaimers for an easy fix to the complaints and so that way everyone will know what to expect from BILERICO.

Most of the visitors to Abigail's post [...] obviously didn't stick around to look at other posts, but they did provide advertising dollars. I don't collect revenue for this blog so I can't really respond to that pointe. Does it matter that they showed up and left or is it just my posts that were more explicit? My post are always explicit but not always intimate or sexual there is a difference. Can we use sexy to bring the traffic but leave the reader with a virtual case of blue balls?

"That is a cool shade you got there honey. Would you like some help relieving the strain on your pork tenderloin? Here is some ice." ROFLMAO!

Or is what I have to say in the main column more important than comic videos? Bil to answer this part I have to go back to your previous question "If so, what's the difference?". I think the biggest plus for your readership is the diversity of contributions as a whole. On BILERICO whether it is a video clip, vlog, or just plain text, occasionally some with graphic images included as an aside, people can get a variety that they actually enjoy and anticipate. My preferences are at random. Sometimes about at a quarter of the content from each contributer I cant stand or think to myself, "What were they smoking today?" but as a whole the content is good all around with the varying tastes of your readers accommodated. I think to regiment a particular section or type of content to once every day/three days/week, etc. takes away from the randomness of the adventure that is the collective celebration of this life and our out and proud sexuality on your site.

As a community, we fight for freedom.

Breaks out singing Think Freedom by Aretha Franklin
like a good gay boi followed up with We Shall Be Free
by Garth Brooks because of the ghetto redneck queen in me.

Why are we so afraid of penises? Even though the natural inclination for men is to wear as little as possible it is because we have been taught to cover our minor selves from a very early age. Why are we so afraid of vaginas? Even God is a little afraid of vagina (no offense ladies this is just for sarcasm):

God talking with Adam and Steve: *with anger
"Dammit why did you boys let her go up there to wash off?"
Adam: "God why are you getting so angry?
Steve: "I thought you wanted us to do what the squirrels were doing."
God: "Yes, sons I did!" *lightning strike
"But now I am never going to be able to get that smell out of the fish!"

Gay, lesbian or trans - most of you were pissed off I'd posted those pictures. I think it was because it wasn't what they expected from you. Keeping this in mind, what would have happened if another Editor of BILERICO ran the same experiment you did without notifying all the contributers and you personally? How would that make you react?

Do we fear what others (like the religious right) will say about us?

"The Religious Right is neither!"

Why the double standard of celebrating sexuality while condemning examples of sex?

There is a double standard I couldn't tell with what is on television these days. More people came to see the sexy posts than Clinton or Obama's guest posts. What does that say about our community's priorities? Not much. Is there a ranking system where I can't be political and horny - maybe even both at the same time? I have a sex drive and a mental cartoon running in the back of my brain at all times it seems like the politicians are the only ones fulfilling their fantasies, as of late. So yes, you can be both political and horny! [Photo: Beni Sage]

In conclusion, finally! What does it say about the place of porn in our society? I love queer adult themed shows, pictures, videos, and films. When they are produced responsibly and not just for the sake of a buck it can be a good thing for education and reduction of Sexually Transmitted Diseases. I think that we forget as we grow older that a lot of us learned what intrigues us (Gymnasts, Swimmers, Superboi, Wil Wheaton, Jerry O'Connell, Chad Allen, spanking frat bois) in intimate situations and how to do certain things by viewing adult content, or at least having random discussions about the freaky things one finds in comic books, Greek mythology, online, or with close friends.

That is what BILERICO is to me, a place where close and not so close friends, communicate intimately and invite everyone to participate in the adventure of our queer lives together.

[EDITOR'S NOTE:]
Photo Credits will be up as soon as I verify them. I think they came from FLIP FLOPS BOY