Transcendental Gazes: Pornographic Images of Transmasculinity

Abstract

Pornographic or erotic imagery of transmasculinity — indeed, imagery of transmasculinity in general — is a phenomenon that has not yet received much formal analysis, although its proliferation is at the moment better charted by month rather than by year. The niche pioneered a decade ago by Buck Angel, the original FTM porn star, is burgeoning to encompass numerous other performers, including Dex Hardlove, Billy Castro and James Darling. Studios such as Crashpad, Good Vibrations and Trannywood are producing numerous trans-themed porn movies; furthermore, an increasing amount of home-made footage of transmen masturbating and having sex is readily available on the video hosting service Xtube.com. In this chapter, I set out to investigate the grow- ing swathe of erotica featuring transmasculine subjects — and by that I mean subjects who identify themselves as transmen, transboys, FTM (female-to-male) transgender or transsexual people, or drag kings, or who otherwise correlate with some point[s] or other on the spectrum of transmasculinity. Not only does transmale porn provide a source of titil- lation, but it also operates as a heavily politicized subgenre that engages with the politics of gender identity and that derives for its subjects a sig- nificant striving towards visibility unprecedented in other pornographic representations — one of the most important elements of which is that it is so often produced within the transmale community.