Let’s Talk More About The IML Bareback Ban, Bitch

Before we get to the excerpts, let’s be clear on two things. First, the ban does not consitute censorship; IML is a business and it can do what it wants. Second, the ban is not on bareback sex among conference-goers but on the selling of and promotion of bareback porn. Cum will be the lube of choice for many this weekend, ban or no ban, and IML founder Chuck Renslow is well aware of this.

I respect Mr. Renslow’s decision to take a stand as is his prerogative, but every pro-ban argument I’ve heard so far falls flat. Let’s begin excerpting Leatherati’s series with Joe Mirabello of Bilerico. His absurd claim is that porn should double as sex ed, and he blindly mistakes an assumption — that causality exists between porn and real life — for a given. Mirabello writes:

The glorification of bareback porn is a dangerous development and is killing our youth. They’re being taught that bareback is sexy, it is the norm, and it is how to behave. In turn, they are contracting HIV/AIDS at a staggering rate. You have to own your role in the system. You know who you are bareback porn fans. When you watch bareback porn online you are voting for more bareback porn production. When you watch safer sex porn from the companies I listed above or others, you are supporting a system that promotes healthier sexual behavior.

I’m glad that Joe is public about his unusual fetish for saving us from ourselves, but I’d rather he kept his "think of the children!" guilt out of my masturbation chair. That’s why I side with Jake Cruise director Jasun Mark, who is more interested in addressing the adults than "the youth." Mark writes:

Gay men are, let’s please not forget, men. Grown adults. Capable of making our own decisions, taking our own precautions, learning the facts and deciding which risks we’re willing to take whether it’s smoking a cigar, riding a motorcycle through rush hour traffic on the 10 or fucking raw with our fuck buddies. I don’t need someone else deciding for me what kind of sex I have, thanks.

The editor-in-chief of Leatherati, Loren Berthelsen, also weighed in:

All or nothing approaches, like our nation’s ill-fated abstinence-only school programs, don’t work and effectively the IML policy is another variation of "Just say no!" … We think the better decision is for IML to create a hot, sexy education effort around barebacking issues.  And NOT one that only advocates glove love and ignores reality.  We need to educate in the real world choices and not pretend that everyone always makes smart choices… IML should work with the vendors that promote bareback videos and create partnerships instead of shutting them out.

And BDSM author Race Bannon writes:

What if IML had taken all of this energy and done something different? What if they had instead asked safer sex education organizations to staff booths among the porn companies? What if they had scheduled a community town hall style meeting to discuss barebacking during an afternoon at IML? What if they had devoted some of their IML program space to a renewed safer sex messaging campaign? … There were so many good options, but instead they chose what I consider the “easy way out.” Just say no. No discussion. No community engagement.

But let’s not let the shitstorm wash out our applause of Chuck Renslow. Whether or not you agree with his ban, remember that he is a perv among pervs and the granddaddy of one of the year’s best parties. As the leather columnist Steve Lenius reminds us:

Renslow is a community leader who is saying what needs to be said. Barebacking is dangerous… This is exactly what community leaders ought to be doing, and I applaud Renslow and IML for having the courage and the willingness to take such a public stand, even when it could seriously and negatively impact the IML organization’s finances. This is what leadership looks like, folks.

Or, as Tony Buff writes, it’s complicated.
 

 

RELATED:

IML Tells Bareback Companies to Fuck Off
IML Founder Chuck Renslow Responds
At IML, Gay Porn Stars Not Too Sexy For Their Twitters 

 

0 thoughts on “Let’s Talk More About The IML Bareback Ban, Bitch”

  1. Bareback (unprotected) sex will always be a part of the society; gay, straight, makes no never mind. There is no “Until the industry stops glamorizing”, etc… the best we can do is just stop promoting it, and we (as consumers) stop buying it. Like the later will ever happen. So long as there is demand, there will be supply.

    Personally, I just don’t see the overall draw, but then my preference has never been to fantasize over anemic twinks who look like they are a couple bucks short of a Happy Meal. When I get the RADVideo catalog, that seems to be the predominant bareback offering. Do I own bareback porn? Yes. Several vintage William Higgins MOVIES, a few Jeff Palmer videos, etc… Would I buy more? Hard to say. Titan Media is an excellent source of inspirational material and there are condoms a plenty in their offerings. It does not detract from the entertainment.

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