Bisexual Male Hardcore Film and Video

Bisexual male adult film and video and its successive reimaginings over time can be situated within the story of two distinct modes of the adult industry’s production and marketing. The theatrical and early home video eras attempted “crossover” to a larger “mainstream” audience through high production values, major stars, and well-crafted stories. This was replaced by a high-output mode of production, which led to a parsing of the (imagined) audience into ever smaller niches, each with its own (presumed) specialized interest(s). Beginning with the rapid growth of the adult video industry in the late 1980s, it expanded by orders of magnitude after the industry adopted online digital content delivery in the early twenty-first century. Bisexual male porn is one of the most illuminating case studies through which to chart this change, and it is also a useful example of decades-long debates within the industry itself about its audience(s) and how to effectively cultivate them. Key events in this process include the failed 1975 theatrical release of Both Ways (dir. Jerry Douglas); the successful reintroduction of these elements on home video; the creation of new stars, such as Jeff Stryker; and the dizzying variety of combinations and scenarios offered on the internet.