The above PSA is from Human Rights Campaign. They note, "Through this collaboration with the HRC Foundation and WarnerMedia, we are amplifying everyday stories of resilience, joy and humanity -- working to break the connection between anti-trans stigma and violence against the transgender and non-binary community." As for their mission, "HRC envisions a world where lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people are ensured equality and embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community."
With the attacks on the transcommunity -- especially transwomen -- in recent years, it's easy to assume that the "T" is the only group needing assistance and work in the LGBTQ community. But that's not reality.
Though tremendous strides have been made recently in the US, there's still much more to be done. That said, it's worth appreciating that there is marriage equality in the US now and that people can live their lives in their own homes. That wasn't always the case. And it's not the case in every country around the world.
For a look at how things once were around the world, check out NETFLIX's DANCE OF THE 41 -- a powerful film directed by David Pablos and written by Monkia Revilla. It's based on real events in Mexico, the 1901 bust of a party held by gay men. That is public record -- as is the raid on a lesbian party the following month. But the inclusion of Ignacio de la Toree y Mier (strongly played by Alfonso Herrera) who was both a member of the Parliament and the son-in-law of President Porfirio Diaz, in the arrest is based upon widespread talk at the time that has endured over the years.
The men arrested are paraded through the city, they are beaten, they have their hair and beards and mustaches butchered with scissors, they are sent into the military and off to war.
Love between consenting adults shouldn't result in the government -- or society -- trying to shame or punish. But that was a part of the history of the world.
And it's a history that needs to be recognized due to garbage like Miles Striker.
Who?
He's an Iraq War veteran who makes fetish porn. He started out in femdom porn (female dominant). He's done plenty of straight porn. Sadly, he decided to move over to gay porn. Even worse, some gay men have embraced him.
They shouldn't have.
Now domination may or may not be your fetish. If it is, enjoy -- whether as a fantasy or in reality. And humiliation and shame may be your kink as well.
That's your thing.
We have no problem with that.
Where we have a problem is with the garbage he does for the gay community. Ty brought a particular video to our attention: GAY RIGHTS REVOKED.
This is a POV -- point of view -- video. He speaks to someone unseen.
He announces at the beginning, to the f**got (his term), that the US government has revoked gay rights -- something he always knew would happen, he says -- and this was either by the Courts or the Congress -- don't expect to follow his storyline because he never thought it out -- he's a dumb ass -- in real life and in the video.
And now he is going to burn the brow of this f**got neighbor, someone he burned before. Back then, Miles had the police knock on his door for the hate crime. That's over because, as Miles asks, "How can you hate a thing?" Miles announces that the house is now his house and that he'll be pissing down the throat of the 'thing.' Won't be screwing him or getting oral sex from him, but he'll piss down the throat of the 'thing' and puts the ash from his cigarette on the tongue of the 'thing' repeatedly.
This performer, Miles Striker, won an award from the porn industry.
The LGBTQ community should not be encouraging this, they should be calling him out and they should be joined by many other voices.
Let's move away from Miles for a moment.
Recently, adult performer and content producer Toby Springs stepped away from making porn. He made videos with women and with men. We have no idea what his sexuality is off-screen -- bi, straight, gay? And for those unfamiliar, there is ''gay for pay'' -- where straight men have sex with men because that's their job. (ADAM'S FAMILY and AS THE WORLD TURN's actress Lisa Loring's marriage to porn actor Jerry Butler in the late eighties and nineties helped to popularize this term with the non-porn community.) In most of his videos, Toby doesn't have sex with men or with women. The sex is spoken of as happening but the main focus is on other issues. Like a woman is diapering Toby -- his fiancee, his step-mother. If he's lucky, he might get a hand job in those videos. If he's having sex with a man, it's usually a fairly straightforward gay porn. He and a friend are playing video games and the friend says that he has trouble getting a woman to have sex with him because he's so big and then Toby asks to see and as Toby marvels over the size, he and the other guy end up having sex or he and a buddy were working out and then they end up having sex, that sort of thing.
But Toby also did the power-play gay porn.
Wedgie? Yeah, he carved out a market in Lance Hart's tiny niche where you get a wedgie from a guy or a guy kicks you in the nuts. That wasn't an 'empire' to build. There was no big marketable audience. That and the years that now show up on Lance's face are why Lance has had to move on to another genre where he's now the step-dad or the uncle screwing the young adult male.
Toby? He did fetish porn involving diapers and pups. And he'll do those with an actor and also do those in POV porn. So when he tells the guy that he's going to learn his "proper place" and be his puppy, he's firm (like when he insists you get in the cage) but he's also expressing tenderness, how he's going to walk you and play with you, etc. Then there's the one where he finds out you wear diapers and he tells you you're going to call him "Daddy" and he's going to be diapering you. He has POV videos and he has interaction ones. He's going to have sex with you in both. Unless it's the bisexual one where you're the cuck and he's sleeping with your wife and he's come over to babysit you and change your diaper.
But there is a caring side in all of these videos.*
Or take the video Rebecca selected for a bachelor party for her first husband, QUIT BEING A F**KING BABY. That's a domination and diaper video. It stars Draven Navarro and Tony Orlando (not the singer). Tony and Draven share an apartment with other men (who aren't shown). Tony's a spoiled brat. His father pays the bills for him. There's no one paying attention to continuity on these shoots because in the video, Draven gripes at the start that Tony won't get a job and, later, forgets that detail, and tells Tony that he's going to show pictures of Tony in diapers to Tony's co-workers.
At any rate, Draven thinks Tony is a baby and, as a baby, needs to be put into diapers. And he's going to enjoy it, Draven is, because he gets aroused humiliating other men. And he will humiliate Tony and spank him but he'll also touch Tony's crotch and he'll have sex with him, etc.
That theme*, by the way, is done well when Toby stars in ROOMMATE BLACKMAILED INTO DIAPERS -- his college age roommate is secretly wearing diapers, Toby confronts him and spanks him, tells the roommate he's going to call Toby "Daddy" from now on, diapers him and then invites the roommate's girlfriend over (she's not seen) to dinner so she can find out the truth. That theme is done very poorly by Miles Striker in YOU'RE GOING TO ACT LIKE A BABY, I'LL TREAT YOU LIKE A BABY. That's a POV video. Miles terrorizes his unseen son. He's putting his college age son back into diapers and has turned his son's room into a nursery (something Draven promises Tony will happen in QUIT BEING A F**KING BABY) and does a little fashion show -- whether it's THE HUNGER GAMES or THE WOMEN, we hate films (even porn) that stops all the action to sport a fashion show -- of the t-shirts he has purchased for his son to wear. It's a bad video. It has no kick. Even the son's friends being outside the door about to see the son in diapers doesn't really offer any excitement (Draven threatening Tony with everyone seeing him in diapers that evening has heat and excitement).
Our point here is that humiliation can be done well. It can be exciting.
But Miles isn't about sexy humiliation.
He's about hate.
It's hilarious to listen to some of his interviews.
He claims in those, for example, that he's a "well built military veteran."
No, Miles, you aren't. You're flabby and your chest is a joke. You've got pubic hair on your face passing as a beard and it's not very attractive but those with a thing for beards may tolerate it. You should probably ditch it, though. Because whenever your chest is seen, bare, you look stupid. Adult face and baby chest. Hairless. Such a let down for the big, macho-posing man. It's flabby and it's hairless. Anyone expecting a wolf is now disappointed to be handed a Chihuahu.
Obviously, we prefer men with hairy chests -- not everyone does. (We say obviously because we're the ones who tracked, in this space, the waxing and plucking craze of the '00s.) And we just laugh at Miles whenever the shirt comes off (it comes off in his straight porn only) -- a fat and pudgy body that's hairless.
"I feel that I'm a gay man's wet dream," he boasts in an interview. And that may be true. Some gay men may find him hot. Some women might as well -- though we'd argue, men or women, they're going to find him much hotter with a shirt on.
Back to GAY RIGHTS REVOKED. There might be a point to it for some gay viewers. There's a NIFTY.ORG novel*, for example, entitled DOG DAYS ARE BEGINNING by Henry Wolf set in the future where there are norms and subs:
Normals (Norms) and submissives (subs) were a normal part of everyday
society. Norms were first class citizens with full human rights and
freedoms, whereas subs were second class citizens. They were owned by
Norms, considered pets and had very little rights and freedoms. No one was
forced into being a sub, it was a choice. Some did it because it was a part
of their nature, their desire to submit to a more dominant person. Some did
it because they enjoyed the aspect of being a pet, even going as far as
amending their physical appearance. Others did it for financial reasons;
the cost of living was less for a sub due to not having to wear as much
clothes, having a more restricted diet, and being owned meant a Norm would
be financially responsible for their wellbeing. In a way, it was liberating
for those who couldn't handle the responsibilities and pressures of
everyday life and needed a Norm to take care of them as their property.
In terms of employment, subs were well sought after: they were only paid a
portion of what a Norm's salary would be so companies saved money while
having their tasks completed, they mostly worked in menial jobs doing work
Norms didn't want to, and they were often not treated with the same rights
as Norms, which was completely legal given their second class citizenship.
For subs looking for employment, this meant easy work and employment,
albeit at a lower salary. But for those looking for experience, it meant a
step in the door for future job security, with only a temporary position as
a sub human being. Many people put up with the humiliation and degradation
as a sub for a few months or a year and came out the other side with
experience ready to be employed as a full Norm.Mark and Steve are two husbands. Mark's employed. Steve just graduated and is having trouble finding a job. Mark offers to look at his employer and see if they have any jobs? He later will nonchalantly (to us, anyway) offer that they have positions but just for subs. Maybe Steve could be a sub for a year? Get the job, work it a year and then stop being a sub and get a non-sub job at the same company?
Of course, Mark says, they can't just claim Steve's a sub. He'd have to sign papers and do a one-week training.
And maybe that's where the story is heading (Steve's in the midst of his one-week training currently) or maybe when Steve's done he's going to find out that Mark wasn't as happy with the marriage as he pretended and he's really wanting Steve to be a sub who he can control? For other recent NIFTY offerings of that sort, see REPAIRMAN SUBMISSION and ROBERT MICHAELS JOURNEY TO SUBMISSION.
There are lots of fantasies about losing control and/or being dominated. But there's usually a level of power -- hidden or otherwise -- in those fantasies.
For example, some women (and some men) have rape fantasies.
But they're not rape in most cases. This is usually about the person being ravished being so sexy or so attractive that the rapist is being controlled by desire. (And often, someone that they want to have sex with -- such as in ROBERT MICHAELS JOURNEY INTO SUBMISSION where police officer Robert meets d.a. Justin in court and is immediately attracted to him only to later be kidnapped and enslaved by Justin.)
Miles offers nothing but hate. He's going to use the f**got in GAY RIGHTS REVOKED to piss down the guy's throat and to have him clean Miles' asshole after Miles takes a dump so Miles won't have to buy toilet paper anymore.
Are you seeing love there?
We aren't.
And if you're not getting how disgusting Miles is, skip the POV video where your his gay employee and he trashes you and go straight to the only one worse than GAY RIGHTS REVOKED -- yes, sadly, there is a video worse than that one.
In interviews, he likes to talk about how gay men often had "a hard time in high school" and he plays "on that." In interviews, he talks about how a hot jock stuffed them into a locker and how they went home later that day and beat off and they're confused about it -- then and now. He sees himself as a therapist and insists that his videos and personal appearances are about therapy -- the kind that helped him with his Post-Traumatic Stress.
He's full of crap. If you doubt us, refer to YOUR HIGH SCHOOL BULLY RETURNS.
In this 'masterpiece' (by a sociopath), Miles is your high school bully. You come home and he's in your house. He's found you again. He tormented you in high school and now he's going to torment you again. So what, you say?
Well, it's not the lies that Miles tells the interviewers. No, the bully Miles plays in this POV video didn't just pick on you, he didn't just drag you off and hurt you. He sent you into the hospital. He beat you so bad in high school, that he sent you into the hospital. And he's laughing about it now, laughing about how even the nurse was turned on by how badly he hurt you.
If you haven't already figured it out, by the way, Miles is also very stupid. In interviews, he reveals that he had no idea same-sex marriage wasn't legal in the '00s. He thought it was. Up until the public battle over it, he had thought same-sex marriage was legal. He explains, "I thought this is what I fought for" -- in the Iraq War.
He thought the Iraq War was about fighting for same-sex marriage?
He really is an idiot.
He's got a real hatred for women as well that he expresses in interviews. He rails against the term "toxic masculinity," for example. As we've made clear many times in this space, masculinity isn't toxic in most cases. We have no problem with masculinity. We do have a problem with toxic masculinity which we see as an artificial construct imposed and created by rigid gender roles. (We also find hyper femininity to be a joke and embarrassment, just FYI.)
We like a hairy chest. Unlike Whitney Cummings, we're not insisting a man sprays his crotch. If he keeps it clean (soap and water), it smells fine, even if he's just gotten back from a morning run. We don't mind scruff or a beard. We don't feel the need to dominate anyone and don't feel the need to be dominated.
But toxic masculinity, we do have a problem with. It's a form of masculinity that doesn't recognize the things that women can do. Miles is toxic, by the way. He's a weakling -- as are most men with toxic masculinity -- who needs to lash out at women.
Why do we say that? He doesn't want to hear the term "toxic masculinity." And the problem, he explains in interviews, is that men aren't around. And these women raising boys, they need to shut up because he'll never know what it's like to be a woman so he can't speak about that and they'll never know what it's like to be a man so they need to shut up about masculinity.
If men aren't around as fathers, that's really not the mother's fault. How that escapes Miles would be a puzzle if we hadn't already shown you how deeply stupid he is.
But if he really thinks that way, that women shouldn't be able to speak about masculinity because they're not men? How does he justify making these hateful gay videos when he's a straight man -- a straight man, who, on camera, can't even pretend to entertain enjoying sex with another man?
There is no justification for it. And the country -- the US -- really can't afford him. He makes money somehow off his hate. Closet cases, most likely, make up the bulk of his audience. But the porn industry doesn't need to be handing him awards. He hasn't done anything worthy of praise. And what he's doing may, in fact, end up harming the LGBTQ community in this country. It may not. We don't call for censorship. He can put his work out there and if there's a buyer for it, more power to him. But he doesn't need to be winning awards for gay porn.
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A few notes.
*Toby Springs also does what he does as the dom with a zest and playful nature. As a sub, he tends to pout -- especially when his girlfriend is wanting to put him into diapers -- it's often a resigned pout, but a pout none the less.
** Another popular theme is where you have power because you can hypnotize or magically control (or both) someone. Tony Orlando does the same basic theme with Draven in one video and then repeats it in another video with Ricky Larkin. We'd argue it works better with Ricky Larkin because (a) Tony's hair is better in that video, (b) Ricky has more awareness and gets to rage when Tony brings him back to reality and (c) there's a lot more heat between the two with Tony in control than there is with Draven who is more believable as the one controlling Tony. Draven did a lot of gay porn where he was diapered and he is convincing in roles where he's not in control but the video with Tony controlling him via a magic necklace really doesn't work as well as it does when Tony's doing the same thing to Ricky.
** *Novel? It's a multi-chapter volume so we're calling it a novel and not a story.
**** Thank you to Rebecca and Ty who helped us with suggestions and feedback. Thank you to readers who e-mailed with complaints about Miles Striker. Thank you to friends -- including in the adult entertainment industry -- who listened and provided feedback and suggestions.
***** We really wanted to be on Miles' side but his work in gay porn and his interviews promoting it make it impossible for us to be. We do apologize to him that this country sent him to Iraq. We apologize to everyone who was sent there. No one should have ever been sent there and all US troops should be brought home.
