More

Featuring fresh takes and real-time analysis from HuffPost's signature lineup of contributors
Lisa Derrick

Lisa Derrick

Posted: July 11, 2010 10:57 AM

John Roecker (director of the upcoming Green Day documentary Heart Like a Hand Grenade, and cult hits Live Freaky, Die Freaky and Svengali) set out to explore the world of the sex industry and wound up making frank, bold documentary Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Gay Porn Stars, *But Were Afraid to Ask!

The seven episodes which aired on Here! TV featured some of the hottest names in the male sex industry, talking about the how and why of their careers. The actors discuss their past history as abused children, their drug use, their love lives off screen, their pasts and their futures. It's gritty and gnarly, moving. Out of 16 of the actors, two are now dead, and one, Harlow Cuadra, is in prison. Roecker told me, "I want these guys to be heard, I want to give them a voice."

But the opportunity to learn about the human side to these men has just gotten smaller, even though the DVD collection of Roecker's documentary is about to be released.

I went to Amazon to pre-order Everything as a gift for a friend who is a fan of gay porn as well as the band Rancid and punk hero Tim Armstrong who donated music for the series.

Everything
wasn't listed as available now or for pre-sale. It wasn't listed at all. But Salo -- with fourteen-year-olds having sex -- was. So was Behind the Green Door. And Deep Throat. And The Devil in Miss Jones. Jenna Jameson's autobiography, How to Make Love Like a Porn Star is readily available. Oh heck, Amazon sells Paris Hilton's sex tape, and have pre-orders available for thousands of books, CDs and DVDs. Why not Roecker's look at the gay sex business?

Oddly Amazon doesn't stock another film from the same distributor, Dream Boy, an R-rated feature which was released theatrically with good reviews. The film features the rape of young gay male character by another young man. The rapist claims he is straight. Amazon stocks Hound Dog with Dakota Fanning as the victim of a brutal on-screen rape.

One person who queried Amazon about Everything received this stock reply:

As a retailer, our goal is to provide customers with the broadest selection possible so they can find, discover, and buy any item they might be seeking. That selection includes some items which many people may find objectionable. Therefore, the items offered on our website represent a wide spectrum of opinions on a variety of topics.

Amazon.com believes it is censorship not to sell certain titles because we believe their message is objectionable. Therefore, we'll continue to make controversial works available in the United States and everywhere else, except where they're prohibited by law.


The letter goes on to suggest perhaps buying a gay porn DVD and/or a documentary on a straight porn star. Yes, but what about John Roecker's documentary about gay porn stars? It is not listed at all. Why?

Email and a call to Amazon's PR department were not returned.

 

Follow Lisa Derrick on Twitter: www.twitter.com/lalisa93

 
 
  • Comments
  • 94
  • Pending Comments
  • 0
  • View FAQ
Comments are closed for this entry
View All
Favorites
Bloggers
Recency  | 
Popularity
Page: 1 2 3  Next ›  Last »  (3 total)
10:47 PM on 07/14/2010
I've seen this and it was really well done. I'm trying to find information and I can't so can you tell me which two are now dead?
12:57 PM on 07/13/2010
This is great.
Phil Griffin, M$NBC President, bans a journalist from appearing on Griffin's network because the journalist made Joe Scarborough say a word that Scarborough didn’t want to say, and you are worried because there isn’t more porno offered on Amazon?
07:01 PM on 07/12/2010
John is an amazing talent. It is amazon's loss that they refuse to carry this docu..REGARDLESS of whatever reason they think they have. John has taken a very taboo subject matter and brought it to light for people who may be interested, just b/c they didn't THINK to ask (me for example). Amazon needs to step back and take a good look at what they are currently selling before they decide to decline something based on it's content. shame shame shame on you Amazon
photo
BlackJAC
It's better to be a black king than a white knight
03:22 PM on 07/12/2010
Oh for crying out loud, how much stuff does Amazon offer in the first place before we factor in new stuff being released every Tuesday? Is it not possible that Amazon's database team simply hasn't gotten around to adding it yet? Or that the DVD's original manufacturer hasn't shipped them yet? Or that not enough people saw it and liked it enough to want a copy so badly that offering it through multiple retailers would make financial sense to the producers? Twice I've gone to Best Buy to obtain the DVD box set of some short-lived network TV show I happened to enjoy only to find out they simply didn't carry it for whatever reason--should I have accused them of censorship for not doing so even though they carried shows from the same networks as the shows I sought?
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
photo
03:42 PM on 07/12/2010
I feel your pain - the heartless criticism of Amazon's practices has obviously hurt you deeply. Read down the thread, friend, if you would like to learn more about this issue.
photo
BlackJAC
It's better to be a black king than a white knight
03:47 PM on 07/12/2010
$20 says you can't find this DVD at Best Buy or Target or FYE or Borders or Barnes & Noble for whatever reason, either. Double or nothing you don't get as worked up over it as you are over Amazon not carrying it.
03:29 PM on 08/05/2010
I don't think you understand how a brick and mortar store like Best Buy is different from a store like Amazon. The inefficiency of shipping product to a distribution center and then to a store in hopes that a customer will purchase it before it's sent back to the manufacturer greatly informs the decisions a buyer makes.

Amazon has almost no concern for this because people across the country can go to the same "shop" and pick up what they are looking for.

I think you need to get over your faux outrage and do something more pressing with your life...like seek out those DVDs you have cried about in not less than 2 posts.
03:02 PM on 07/12/2010
It's strange, but this film is not listed in John Roecker's IMDB entry or in his Wikipedia page. Maybe the name has changed since its run on cable?
photo
BlackJAC
It's better to be a black king than a white knight
03:24 PM on 07/12/2010
Perhaps no IMDB employee had heard of it. Also remember how IMDB kinda predates Wikipedia in its anybody-can-add-to-it format, so apparently nobody remembered enough about it to justify adding it to IMDB.
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
GeorgieMark
Cogito Ergo Sum
02:51 PM on 07/12/2010
Personally I don't really see any issues with this. If a certain retailer doesn't carry an item I want to buy I usually take my business elsewhere. I won't sit around waiting for the retailer to stock the item I want. It's called buyer power and it's high time consumers start using it.

Amazon may indeed have some obscure and convoluted "screening process" but I don't really care in this day and age I can get anything from anywhere with minimal inconvenience.
photo
BlackJAC
It's better to be a black king than a white knight
03:28 PM on 07/12/2010
You forget that it's far more fun to outrage and boycott and concoct conspiracy theories than to seek out other means of getting what you seek.
02:50 PM on 07/12/2010
Amazon recently tried to hide all books with any gay themes under the subject of "Adult". When they were called out on it, they claimed it was a computer glitch.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
RobWarwick
what a day....what a day!
01:36 PM on 07/12/2010
chose not to carry it due to "content". that sure should raise some eyebrows due to some of the other porn-like stuff they carry.
photo
HUFFPOST BLOGGER
Lisa Derrick
01:21 PM on 07/12/2010
Amazon was offered John Roecker's "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Gay Porn Stars," and refused it, because of "content." They stock some titles from the same distributor (who declined to comment on this matter). Amazon also has carried Roecker's "Live Freaky Die Freaky" and "Disease and Punishment."

No one has heard back from Amazon about what exactly in the content bothers them. Considering what else they stock, it's be interesting to learn why a documentary which treats porn actors with compassion and dignity is not acceptable to them.

Thank goodness for Netflix which doesn't seem to have the same blue-stockinged prudery.
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
photo
03:40 PM on 07/12/2010
Lisa, thanks for your great work. Fanned.
01:14 PM on 07/12/2010
I am not sure, but it could be a distribution thing. Some movies, many small movies, make exclusive distribution rights for a period of time. Small movies do this for guaranteed revenue or money up front to help make and manufacture the movie. Blockbuster and Hollywood video did this earlier in the 2000s, they would pay more for smaller independent movie or documentary if it only rented through them for say 60 days. They pay up front so this smaller studio could not go further into debt to advertise and ship the movie. This helps those stores since, the audience (even if small) has to go to that retailer, hopefully renting other movies while there.

It is possible an online retailer (or group of retailers) who has a customer base who would be more likely interested in this movie (most likely a large gay customer base) paid for exlusive rights to sell this movie for a period of time, freezing out Amazon. Amazon would not make much on this movie, so they wouldn't care to counter, while a small reatiler may bring in many more customers, and the movie makes more on each copy sold.
photo
HUFFPOST BLOGGER
Lisa Derrick
01:46 PM on 07/12/2010
Roecker made the documentary independently, it was shown online via Here!Tv and then offered to Amazon through a distributor. There was no production deal in place such as you describe.
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Ken Volok
12:34 PM on 07/12/2010
The ignorance and hate displayed by some commentators here is disgusting. No interest? A film by an accomplished filmmaker "not good enough"? Amazon is caving in to neanderthals once again on this one.
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
photo
10:39 AM on 07/12/2010
Supply and demand?
10:15 AM on 07/12/2010
I'm guessing that if you can find Amazon on the internet, you can also find Google which will give you alternate sites to buy it.
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
photo
10:51 AM on 07/12/2010
That's not the point.
photo
BlackJAC
It's better to be a black king than a white knight
03:26 PM on 07/12/2010
Over the 4th of July weekend I went to two different branches of the store Perfumania to get a bottle of a novelty STAR TREK cologne that for some reason I can't get online either from StarTrek.com or the cologne's actual manufacturer because it's never in stock. Perfumania did not carry it, either. Should I accuse Perfumania of anti-Trekkie bigotry in the matter?
09:49 AM on 07/12/2010
A pretty young stud confides about his personal hopes and dreams and disappointments
to a compassionate and patient sugar daddy,

That is a poignant prelude to a soul-stirring week-end of intimate cuddling, heart-felt bonding and
mind blowing gay sex.

This affair will long remain a deeply-felt event in the life of a super hard-working, yet romantic minded and highly selective multi-millionaire.

Is'nt it just human nature to desire everything about this special affair be preserved with the
satin gloss of personal and private memoire.

The sweet young vagabond may have moved on to follow the call of wanderlust,
but the older lover left behind is still pained by the thought that anyone can PRESS PLAY
on Scene 16 of a DVD and gain admission to partake of what once belonged to just two.

Bezos is not superman, he is human too.

We should feel a bit more free to empathize, now.
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
MarkinNM
Love politics, hate politicians