I did not comment on it at the time, but a few weeks ago a major debate erupted on
The Bilerico Project as a result of a post that editor-in-chief Bil Browning put up that discussed a website featuring Mormon guys masturbating. That post in turn caused
Bilerico contributor David
Badash to announce that he was bailing from
Bilerico. Since I am a contributor to
Bilerico myself, I tried to stay neutral. Now,
Mediaite has a piece bearing the caption of this post that looks at the
Bilerico snafu as well as the larger issue of sexual context on LGBT blogs and I left a comment with my perspective on the issue which is relevant to this blog as well as many others. I would like to hear readers' thoughts on the topic. Here are some highlights from the
Mediaite column:
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For David Badash, a Bilerico Project post about a website featuring Mormon guys masturbating was the final straw. The New York blogger at the The New Civil Rights Movement announced quite publicly recently that he was no longer going to write for the brainy, activist blog that is the Huffington Post of the LGBT blog world.The back and forth between Bilerico’s founder Bil Browning and Badash has unearthed one of the dirty secrets about the LGBT (old and new) media world: sex sells and sex is interesting.
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Sexuality isn’t a dirty word for many LGBT media consumers and glorifying–even objectifying–sexuality isn’t problematic. In responding to Badash’s concerns, Browning conceded “[s]exy pictures always bring in viewers. I’m not ashamed of using that mentality to continue to bring new readers to one of the smartest, sharpest and controversial LGBT websites where you can talk openly about anything remotely queer.”
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Browning called the correlation between sexy posts, increased page views, and advertising impressions that lead to more income a “win-win” and that the content of the site was not lessened by a few posts that have a sexual content that appeal to gay men. Browning’s site is not all “boys in underwear” and porn links; far from it. With a large number of lesbian and transgender columnists, it reads more like a queer studies lecture than a porn-script.
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Andy Towle, the founder of the very successful Towleroad site, says that he includes sexy pictures because they are among the interesting things he finds online but that he isn’t intentionally posting boys in underwear just to get hits. “I’ve never used sexy pictures and posts as a device to drive traffic,” Towle told Mediaite.
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“I’ve had to abide by stricter rules as my site has become more successful because top advertisers have different expectations,” Towle said. Mainstream advertisers are wary of adult content and links to adult websites, Towle explained, meaning that he has to be conscious of what he puts on his site to avoid offending ad networks even if similar content on a non-gay website wouldn’t raise eyebrows.
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So what are my thoughts on the issue? Obviously, I continue to post the "male beauty" photos. At the same time, I endeavor to keep the
photos non-X-rated for the very reason cited by Andy
Towle: I do not want the blog to be marked as an adult site with warning disclaimers before one can enter. Here is the comment I left on the
Mediaite story:
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I can understand each side of the argument, but in the final analysis believe that as a blogger, one is trying to attract multiple audiences. Thus, I am not offended by some beefcake if it is tasteful and PG-rated. In fact, on my own blog, Michael-in-Norfolk, I intermix some tasteful, artistic male beauty (many are fashion model shots) with a daily series of posts on topics that can cover advocacy, politics, religion, gay rights, world and local events and other topics. Most readers focus on the serious posts, yet also enjoy the “eye candy.”
Having now achieved some reputation for the serious pieces, I still have not eliminated the male beauty on my blog. Why? Because both my gay male readers and my straight women readers like them (I actually have a number of them). Indeed, I once put up a poll on whether or not to delete the male beauty and 70% of respondents said to keep the male beauty. I don’t fault Bil Browning for “mixing it up” with the Mormon boy post . If nothing else, by doing so he’s secured publicity for The Bilerico Project on websites like this one. Oh, I almost forgot – I really like the “Huffington Post of the LGBT blog world” comment!
