Chi Chi La Rue Would Like a Word with You
A new public service announcement by porn director Chi Chi La Rue urges gay adult video consumers to consider the implications of condomless, so called “bareback” porn, for performers and audiences alike. La Rue’s Internet Movie Database listing for direction credits includes an astounding 239 titles in hetero-, bisexual- and gay-themed erotica, beginning with 1989’s “Who Shaved Cassi Nova?” and topping off, as it were, with last year’s “Restless Youth.” So it’s clear La Rue is an insider who is well-versed on the ins and outs of the business, so to speak.
In 2006, La Rue opted to terminate a lucrative contract with Vivid Video, a major production company for heterosexual erotic movies. After releasing three years’ worth of La Rue-directed straight videos with condom-clad performers, Vivid decided to make condoms optional for its performers. Finding this arrangement incompatible with the La Rue philosophy, Chi Chi left Vivid and has since focused on gay condom-mandatory productions.
Presumably, a rise in the number of bareback titles available to gay video consumers motivated La Rue to create the public service announcement, featured prominently on a new website. What’s particularly notable about the PSA is how many different issues it touches upon, from testing to the blurry lines between fantasy and reality (especially when the fantasies star real live people) to the place of consumers in the “food chain” of bareback video production.
There’s a case to be made that sex without condoms is often a very pleasurable experience, and La Rue doesn’t take on that aspect of the discussion. But what’s remarkable at this stage of the game is that somebody is talking about the issue at all, when folklore is telling us that people are “over” talking about safe sex.
