Stench of a Woman: Straight for Pay with Arpad Miklos

You are familiar with “Gay for Pay” (G4P), which refers to men who identify as straight that perform in gay-oriented movies. Gay scenes tend to pay better and, in the case of performers who can no longer get work in straight porn, the gay side beckons like the Italian Basketball Association.

G4P performers walk a fine line in their relationships with female partners. Certain women will not work with them because of the perception that the gay side of the porn industry is less regulated. Whether or not this is true, many G4P performers downplay or do not admit to their work on the gay side, because they are worried people will think they enjoy it.

In fact, straight porn consumers do not care about the orientation of the male performer; they only care about the woman. While in many ways the male performer has the more difficult job – aside from a woman in a squirting scene, the male performer is the only person in porn who must “prove” something by virtue of getting hard, staying hard, and delivering a pop shot – the worst thing he can do is take attention away from the real star of every straight scene: the female.

The male performer who has a good attitude and sense of humor about this second class status (that ultimately results in a longer career, should he want it), is the successful performer.

Former straight performer Kurt Lockwood, for example, became one of the only recorded cases of flunking out of porn when, unable to admit his bisexuality, he actively denied it. Lockwood littered online rants with homophobic statements until proof of his gay work inevitably surfaced. His protestations were so strenuous in the face of the obvious that he became the object of ridicule; several other G4P performers were happily open about their work on both sides of the fence. This, and Lockwood’s related need to convince others and himself of his stardom torpedoed a once-promising gig. He was forced to “retire” from straight porn shortly after an on-set meltdown, only to return in tranny scenes. Recently he said he had retired again, and this time for good, but it seems less like he made that decision than the market did.

But a performer’s internal struggle with a taboo fluid sexuality in the straight world is nothing compared to the public furor created when a “100% gay” performer goes hetero.

Which leads us to Arpad Miklos. By all accounts a beloved gay performer, Miklos’ “Straight for Pay” scene with blonde MILF Holly Heart for the site Straight Guys for Gay Eyes has caused, as gay blogger JC Adams put it, “a shitstorm.”

The story goes that Miklos, 41, wanted to do at least one straight scene in his 14-year porn career. Sounds fair. I liken this to my desire to get at least one story published in Tractor Home Magazine. But by the wails of commenter outrage on Adams’ blog, you’d think Miklos had gone all Wikus van der Merwe and had sex with a prawn (again, just watch “District 9“).

That Miklos barebacked Heart when he uses condoms in his gay scenes, that the scene was marketed to a gay audience (with the twist being that Heart allegedly did not know of Miklos’ predominant orientation), and that Miklos was “old” were all hot buttons in the debate.

I did think most of the comments were well-written and thoughtful, even as they often disagreed passionately with other comments. Here are some thoughts from a man named Douglas.

“Why would I want to watch a scene where I have to avert my gaze from part of the screen to avoid revulsion?” Douglas states. “Note that the woman in the photo is up doggie style, where Arpad doesn’t have to see her gruesome snatch and her hairless tits, but can look at his preferred target, butt.”

But Douglas disagrees with other commenters who say they can no longer watch a Miklos scene because of his involvement with Heart.

“My attraction to Arpad will not be sullied just because he had to wash the stench of a woman off of his beloved dick,” Douglas says, “as long as I don’t have to watch that scene.“

This goes to show you that people continue to take their own and others’ sexual orientations very seriously. I’m wondering if there would be any porn if they didn’t.

Previously on Porn Valley Observed: Seth Dickens releases biography to quell rumors; Understanding “bare” in gay porn
See also: Gay Porn Times