Flashback: Black and White and Hard All Over

From hard muscles in stark light and shadow to a hard cock tenting a fortunate pair of briefs, these guys had a big impact in their day. They may not have directly inspired homosexual liberation, but as passive objects of affection they did their part.

Porn can feel safer because the models can't look at their admirers. I don't think they were installing secret cameras on porn magazines and photosets back then. Though the consumer still needs to find some safe space to engage with the images, a space to call their masturbation home.

Because it's not about the porn itself, but the experience of the watcher as they project their own desires. The X-rated symbiosis. We may have interactive methods now that can be anonymous to varying degrees, namely camming, but desires are still being mentally projected. And models (pro or amateur) try to find a way to cue into those, to be the fantasy. For real. For a moment. Then another.

It may seem that so much can be lost should we lose porn and even in a digital age, such loss (through less accessibility or utter deletion) is possible. So grab on tight to porn while you can. But know that it's a catalyst to what's already in you. It's fuel to your fire. And it's art just as much as any.

People will watch a crappy Hollywood movie with no plot or decent acting because it's a Hollywood movie and that carries its own sheen. But porn can get criticized for lacking plot or decent acting and the only sheen it gets is that caused by ejaculate glazing the camera lens.

So find art, and fuel for your innate desires, in the world around you. And that world, thankfully for now, still includes porn. And if someday that gets pushed down, know it will push its way back, as strong as that guy's cock tenting out his briefs decades ago.

Read our Retro Males review