If the unlubricated butt fuck that qualifies as “porn” these days is apples, queer porn is a refreshingly different orange. Like one might assume, queer porn boasts a wide variety of body types whose only commonality is an absence of fake boobs and bleached buttholes. That’s not to say that a surgically enhanced starlet is any less natural than a de-breasted, silicone cock swinging transman (what’s “natural” mean anyways? Organic? Healthy?), but that the two are different and it would be unfair to compare them. But fuck it, who ever said life was fair? Oranges win. Easily.
In Courtney Trouble’s “Live Sex Show,” queer porn’s many citrusy advantages assert themselves under the guise of a stage show at the Center for Sex and Culture’s annual Masturbate-a-Thon. Though it borrows the classic sitcom trope of being “filmed in front of a live studio audience,” the Live Sex Show crowd is about as active and engaging as a canned laugh track. Possibly less so because at least a laugh track whoops it up when Urkel gets smooched on by a hottie.
But maybe that’s just because the initial scenes failed to give the audience anything to really whoop about. Grading the first half of Live Sex Show against the bulk of mainstream porn, LSS wins by a landslide. The sex is more passionate and natural than anything you’re likely to find in even mainstream porn’s more upscale lines, like the Romance series. However, Trouble and the performers still fall prey to the classic porn fallacy that filmed sex is inherently interesting. Arousing? Yes, even grainy night vision video of a poorly executed blow job can qualify as arousing. But interesting? Engaging? Filmed sex needs a little something above and beyond well-shot grinding meat to push it into Criterion Collection candidacy.
But as LSS progresses, both the live audience and the home viewer get a taste of what queer porn is capable of. Moving from a minimalist masturbatory intro past a hot, but ho-hum, hetero sex scene, LSS finally begins to grasp at the right straws when April Flores shows up to fuck a masked Matador. Watching the wonderfully curvy Flores suck dramatically lit and creepily masked cock reminded us of another modern sexually empowered movement that has brought costumes, lighting, and big girls to the stage: Burlesque. For a sex scene, Flores’ is better than most. But burlesque has learned to incorporate song, kitsch, tone, and story into its bump-and-grind routines and Flores’ sucking and fucking could use the same. Maybe she doesn’t need to lip sync over the Matador’s dick, but a hint of narrative and costumes that go beyond fishnets and ski masks could have elevated this straight forward sex scene into something really special.
Following Flores are two dykes whose scene aims a little higher. While they don’t necessarily sink the shot, they certainly touch the rim, which counts for a lot in F*Bomb’s admittedly picky grade book. The bad boy and his babe roleplay routine is cliche but the two performers put themselves into it so earnestly their adorability is undeniable. At the moments when they slip out of character and crack themselves up, the audience reacts like it’s the first breath they’ve taken all evening. The chemistry is palpable and an excellent reminder that queer porn isn’t just about gay sex, big girls, and fuzzy arm pits, but about tangible passion and excitement being exchanged between performers. If you have those elements, even the most trite porn scenarios can become genital tingling juggernauts.
If not for the climax and epilogue, maybe the rest of LSS would have held up differently, judged solely by its own merits. But Nina Hartley and Jiz Lee’s sexual exchange — which almost feels too casual to call it a “scene” — is so charming, relaxed, and downright fun, the rest of the film can’t help but come across stiff in comparison. The veteran Hartley and established up-and-comer Lee have the advantage of sexual performance experience, and it shows. They riff with each other and exchange compliments (“You have a beautiful, amazing, fantastic fucking pussy!”) as they fist, finger, and fulfill each other, all the while making safe sex practices look erotically unobtrusive. Jiz Lee evens tries to interact with the audience (“Can I see a penis?”) and elicits a few giggles.
Live Sex Show peaks one final time with a multi-person dog pile on Courtney Trouble. Hartley and Lee’s digital exchange (not the computer kind…) appears to have broken the spell of semi-seriousness that hung over the first half of the show. The amount of talent poking, prodding, and pleasuring Trouble is a good indicator of queer porn to come. Once this new genre discovers what it is that makes it not an apple, once it finds its own unique fruity flavor, the entirety of porn will benefit. Lee and Hartley have demonstrated the truth in George Michael’s famous words, “Sex is natural, sex is fun, sex is best when it’s one on one.” Well, maybe the dog pile on Trouble disproves that last bitm but sex is about human interaction, not smooshing genitalia. Live Sex Show is consistently good but the scenes that capture that element are the ones that arouse and excite the most, making the sex show really come… alive.
Click here to purchase Live Sex Show and watch the trailer.
