Michael Darling on Sarah Spanks Men
Exciting news! UK spanking producer Sarah Bright, who specialises in original, engaging storylines that combine edgy complex consent fantasies with a playful sense of humour, is launching a new F/M site.
The first shoot for the new project took place this week with our very own Michael Darling, and by all accounts a good time was had by all. The previews look great:
This is exciting for me not only because I think Michael has tremendous talent and deserves wide recognition, but because it's amazing to see a shift starting to take place in attitudes towards male spankees.
Remember that this is still an industry where 99.9% of studios don't pay their male performers fairly, or even at all - tops and bottoms both. Not only is this profoundly unjust, but it has knock-on effects throughout the industry, alienating skilled actors and professional male models, and fostering a non-professional atmosphere in which it is assumed that men in spanking films are motivated by personal gratification.
I know many volunteer workers in this industry, and of course most of them behave decently, and some have admirable skill and talent. But that still doesn't make a culture that expects or demands unpaid work fair. When that expectation is gendered, it is sexist.
Generally speaking, you can't expect someone to behave like a professional if you don't treat them like one. If you want to attract high quality professional performers, you have to offer fair pay.
As well as the business ethics and fairtrade angle, this is also a female gaze issue. As someone who is trying to create spanking porn that will be erotically and aesthetically appealing to women, including women who are attracted to men, I believe that hiring hot, good looking male actors is crucial. And, generally speaking, men who look like professional models and actors won't work for you unless you're paying decent rates - and nor should they. It's as simple as that.
So congratulations to Sarah and Michael on their shoot, and kudos to Sarah for bucking the trend and understanding that quality male spankees are worth their weight in gold. I wish her all the best for her new venture, and I can't wait to see the results.
If you want to see more hot, talented male spanking stars, support studios that pay all performers fairly, regardless of gender, and maybe we can start a revolution in gender egalitarian porn.
Comments
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I'm a huge fan of people willing to make art that respects the female gaze enough to put stuff women want to see front and centre. That is something I will always support.
I can't help but be reminded of the workfare debacle, although I know it's not a close analogy.
I genuinely think this is a labour rights issue. Yet another reason why porn performers need a union!
An interesting debate
At any case Michael is an excellent good looking young actor bottoming and also topping. Although to be a marvelous top when Pandora is bottom, it seems to me that is not complicatedLOL
People talk about market forces as if it was fact, but it's mostly speculation. "If you did it differently it would be less successful". Well, how do you know until you try? That this website was profitable in its first year of business is, however, fact - and I'm pretty sure it invalidates your argument that unpaid (which is often, although not necessarily, also unskilled) labour is always more profitable in any circumstances.
Think about the difference between an item mass-produced from slave factory labour, and a handcrafted artisan piece. The former keeps costs low at the expense of quality, artistry and uniqueness. Yes, emphasising quality mean higher costs, but many successful businesses run on this principle.
There's also the factor that studios which do not pay male actors often aren't keeping costs down overall - they are simply choosing to spend money on high tech filming equipment or expensive locations or crew or something else. So it's not about the profitability of low cost production vs high cost, but simply about budgeting choices and what producers choose to spend their money on. I'm choosing to invest in quality performers of both genders, rather than high tech camera equipment, and so far, that decision is paying off.
Did you read the two articles I linked in the last paragraph? You might find them interesting.
Misunderstandings
There is demand for spanking porn. More demand for women getting spanked, but still enough demand for men getting spanked to create a big market. So there is a need for male spanking models.
There is a large supply of nonprofessionals who cannot act, are not willing to show their face, do not have model good looks, willing to do it unpaid. There is, however, a very short supply of attractive, skilled actors willing to do it unpaid.
So far, whether or not there is demand for skilled goodlooking actors has not been much tested, because no producer has taken the risk of raising their costs when they do not have to. However, my experiment has suggested that there is, in fact, demand for skilled good looking male spanking actors. How much demand remains to be seen until more producers take the risk, but Sarah's site increases the scope of the experiment, and is therefore very exciting to me.
The market is not an isolated, clinical entity that exists independently of human ethics - it arises within a human society that is unequal and still needs much improvement. We should not use the market as a tool to judge what is fair or right. Instead, we should be trying to improve social justice, and as we do, the market will evolve.
Agreement
Market forces and ethics are things totally different. Market has not heart. But with good regulations it is a good system to allocate scarce resources. Perhaps the best system devised by human being up to now. What happens in China is a real shame and implies social dumping that is an horror from an ethics perspective. But you know Hillary Clinton said "I cannot discuss with the Chinese politicians about human rights because they are our bankers". No comments, real bullshit. Pandora a real pleasure to discuss with you.
Most people who say 'that's what the market wants' haven't really done the research - they just fall back on the mantra. And when somebody tries to do something that the 'market' allegedly doesn't want, they often find that there is an eager audience there after all (compare the BBC's Doctor Who, deliberately made for families to watch as a family, a market that allegedly no longer existed, but turned out to be there once the attempt was made). And sometimes, pernicously, it's an excuse for 'it's not my kink and I don't want it on my website'. Now, I'm actually fine with 'it's not my kink and I don't want it on my website' - that's a matter of personal preference - but I'd rather people were honest.
Anyway, I'm glad to see Sarah getting involved in this area. I've always liked her site for the willingness to go beyond the usual age and body shape of spankees, and this seems a positive next step.
I love that the decreasing cost of access is allowing more and more people to start producing their own porn, but it does mean that the old, big studios who have previously defined the mainstream may have to let themselves be influenced by new trends if they want to compete.