Bareback

Bareback gay pornography was standard in "pre-condom" films from the 1970s and early 1980s. As awareness of the risk of AIDS developed, pornography producers came under pressure to use condoms, both for the health of the performers and to serve as role models for their viewers. By the early 1990s new pornographic videos usually featured the use of condoms for anal sex. However, beginning in the 1990s, an increasing number of studios have been devoted to the production of new films featuring men engaging in unprotected sex. For example, San Francisco-based studio Treasure Island Media, whose work focuses in this area, has produced bareback films since 1999. Other companies that do so include SEVP and Eurocreme. Mainstream gay pornographic studios such as Kristen Bjorn Productions have featured the occasional bareback scene such as in "El Rancho" between performers who are real-life partners. Other studios such as Falcon Entertainment have also reissued older pre-condom films. Also, mainstream studios that consistently use condoms for anal sex scenes may sometimes choose editing techniques that make the presence of condoms somewhat ambiguous and less visually evident, and thus may encourage viewers to fantasize that barebacking is taking place, even though the performers are following safer-sex protocols. (In contrast, some mainstream directors are conscientious about using close-up shots of condom packets being opened, etc., to help clearly establish for the viewer that the sex is not bareback.)

Some scholars argue that while "barebacking" and "UAI" technically both mean the same thing, they have different undertones. With the increased use of the term "barebacking", the term has been adopted for marketing purposes. This is because "Unprotected Anal Intercourse" makes a direct connection between unprotected sex and the risk of contracting diseases like HIV/AIDS. However, although "bareback" seems to have become the favorable term, studies show that both terms ultimately have equally negative implications. In a study where participants were shown two different scenes featuring anal sex, the significance of the words "bareback" and "UAI" became apparent. The first scene featured group sex in which several men were on top engaging in intercourse with one man on the bottom. The men on top were in their mid-30's and of varying ethnicities while the man on the bottom was around 18 years old. The second scene featured two men both in their 20's in a living room setting. During the interview, the participants were much more reluctant to classify the second scene as "bareback" or "UAI", than they were for the first scene. Participants readily used "bareback" to describe the first scene in which there were clear contrasts in race, age, and power. The participants described the second scene as being more "meaningful and romantic" and hence more likely to use a condom to protect the other. The implication of this study is that the term "bareback" ultimately does have a dark meaning as it relates to HIV/AIDS, regardless if it does not mention protection in its name. Thus, studies have shown that barebacking is decreasing in popularity within the gay subculture. Bareback pornography does not necessarily encourage more unprotected anal sex in reality, nor do all men who participate in anal sex necessarily want to have unprotected sex. What is clear is that there is still a sense of risk among participants of anal sex.