Fiction
24 Shore Thing
40 Balling At The Mall
60 Jackpot Men
9 Marco Rossi
17 Ramon
29 Glen
35 Eddie Resi
45 Jeremy Steele
55 Stephen
65 Jim Buck Gets Steamed Features
5 Editor's Note
6 Mandata
16 Man Mail
72 Manuscripts
74 Man Video
78 The Man Who Loved Kennedy
Editorial Note
PORNOGRAPHICALLY INCORRECT?
I got a letter this month I want to share with you guys, one that merits open
discussion around the Mandate round-table. The author, K.R. of San Francisco,
raises an issue that's been the subject of plenty of talks here in the office—but
that I've never presented directly to our readership for consideration. In part
he writes: I am writing to address the fact that you use condoms in your stories
only occasionally.... In this day and age it seems a moral obligation for our
community's media outlets to portray safer sex behaviors at every opportunity.
Video companies... have managed to incorporate condoms into their products and
they are presented in full view.... Despite the "politically correct"
slightly sanctimonious tone of the letter (as a pornographer I am always skeptical
of people who want to explain my "moral obligation" to me) I think K.R.
does raise a worthwhile issue. First, let me be perfectly clear about this editor-in-chief's
rule of thumb for selecting and editing stories. If a writer contributes a story
that we think is hot, we accept it. If the author has chosen to include condoms,
we make sure that they are used within the boundaries of current safer sex rules.
(You won't read stories here about drinking cum out of condoms after fucking,
etc.) But we also feature fiction which, for various reasons, takes place outside
safer sex. I feel that Mandate features some of the best sexual fiction around,
and what the stories in Mandate do so well is to create alternative worlds—and
play off the fantasies already in your head. No real people (hence no real risks)
are involved, and therefore the fantasy need not adhere to the many serious—and
limiting—facts of the real world. Stories are like dirty talk. You wouldn't
necessarily criticize someone for not mentioning a condom during phone sex. You
may also notice that many of the stories in Mandate take the form of memory. ("I'll
never forget the first time I got fucked. It was 1979 and I had just pulled into
the rest stop along Route 1.") But even if the story is present-day, it is
still meant to be a means to an escape: For the time it takes you to read and
get off on that piece of writing, you live in a world where condoms aren't necessary.
(By the way, I've been told by more than a few guys that condoms are such a part
of the way we live now that they automatically assume the characters are sheathed
in latex anyway.) Video porn, on the other hand, features live actors who should
not be putting themselves or others at risk. And the gay video industry has been
conscientious about the depiction of safer fucking. But the video porn I've seen—and
I watch a lot of it—hasn't exactly embraced the condom. In fact, most directors
go out of their way to hide them. They aren't a point of focus. They're there
when they need to be—but inconspicuously. I feel quite confident that most
of us have a handle on the function of porn, and that the stories in porno mags
don't actually send anyone running into the bushes to exchange bodily fluids.
But while I have full confidence in Mandate's editorial policy concerning condom
use and safer sex in stories, I'd like to get your opinions on the subject. So,
what are your thoughts on the cock-in-a-condom debate? Do you think Mandate should
present sex only the way it's practiced today? Do condoms in a story interfere
with or add to the fantasy? Should other forms of safer-sex practices be included?
Or is this whole thing simply a non-issue? I doubt that Mandate will become a
safe sex manual anytime in the near future—but as always, I'd like to hear
your opinion. Thanks, guys. Stay Dirty.
