John Mercer

Porno Cultures Podcast

I think it’s fair to say that most academics are guilty of using particular words on their essays and books that are generally understood by all, yet we rarely take the time to flesh out the definition of that word beyond a sentence or two because we’re too eager to make a bigger and flashier point. And when it comes to pornography studies, words and abbreviations like the “money shot,” “BDSM,” “gay-for-pay,” and “bareback” have been a part of the popular vernacular around the genre for so long, that we just utilize these terms based on their face value, and often fail to update or properly contextualize the terms. Pornographic language is so embedded in our discourse, that we don’t often do the work of defining it. Today’s guest—John Mercer—dedicates a large portion of his book doing exactly that, creating a glossary of terms utilized within popular and academic descriptions of gay pornography that give rich historical and culturally specific definitions of terms like “the boy-next-door,” “twink,” “daddy,” “the beautiful boy,” “the ‘fooled’ straight man,” “the international,” “the amateur,” and “the star.” Mercer is a professor at Birmingham City University and today we’re going to talk about his book, Gay Pornography: Representations of Sexuality and Masculinity, published by I.B. Taurus in 2017. What makes this book remarkable is how it works to establish a linguistic foundation for gay pornography studies moving forward. It’s perhaps the best introductory book for anyone looking to contribute to the porn studies cannon. In addition to defining terms, he also explores his concept of “saturated masculinity,” which for him, accounts for the multitude of ways gay pornographic aesthetics signify beyond the gay community, and in fact spread into heterosexual constructions of masculinity as well. Mercer is also one of the primary editors of the journal Porn Studies, and edited a special version of the journal titled “Gay Porn Now,” where he was kind enough to include my essay on Chris Crocker in the issue. In that issue, he wrote about a popular user created genre of poperbate videos, where the creator edits a porn video with music and prompts instructing the viewer to huff poppers at the appropriate moment. It is one of a series of user-generated porn videos that Mercer’s future research will cover extensively. In this episode we talk about how he actually had to travel to over counties to complete his dissertation because hard core gay pornography was still banned in England at the time. We talk about the hypocrisy of the Conservative Party in England when it comes to the issue to freedom, poppers, and gay sex. And he explains why the smell of old beer reminds him of gay porn to this day!

More about John Mercer

John’s website

John’s BFI Star Studies book on Rock Hudson

John’s book Melodrama: Genre, Style, Sensibility

Gay Pornography: Representations of Sexuality and Masculinity

John’s Masculinity, Sex, and Popular Culture project mascnet.org

Porn Studies special issue, “Gay Porn Now!”

"The Inexplicably Ubiqutous Phenomenon of 'Woods Porn'"

New York Times’ article “What Teenagers are Learning From Online Porn.”

The Advocate’s article featuring John’s research

The Advocate article referred to in the interview: “7 Thinks to Remember When You Watch Porn.”

In the interview I mentioned the song “Spring is Busting Out All Over.” What I meant to say was, “June is Busting Out All Over.” My apologies to the ghosts of Rodgers & Hammerstein!

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