Hey,
I am just going to say the following:
* I love
Mr. Paul Canon ~ I think he is cool, sexy, and
sweet.
* I love that the models who wish to, are able to post here ~ and feel especially grateful to the models who DO.
* I think there are very few sites in the world where you get to say "hi" to your favourite models - perhaps this is the ONLY ONE???
* I would be truly saddened, if that opportunity were cut off, because members didn't want to hear (or were too frightened to hear) what the models have to say!
* I do support the privilege of members to comment about the scenes they like, or don't like.
* But, as a shy and backward Canadian, I guess I always err on the side of caution - and I think there is no problem in being polite or gentle, if you don't like a scene!
* My personal policy is only to comment on the scenes I LIKE: to enjoy my own, and others' appreciation of them. (I think it is pretty clear that management will get the message FROM the ratings, if people don't like scenes, after all the ratings are in.
N'est-ce-pas? )
* I suppose if I ever had a GIANT problem with a particular scene or model, I would write the management personally - and I have found
Broke Straight Boys management to be quite responsive and helpful
* Then again, my aim in life isn't to be the world's most celebrated or astringent erotic-video CRITIC - otherwise, I would get an account on
www.waybig.com, which seems to be the premier site for people to exclaim: "He's too fat! He's too thin! He's too hairy! He's too smooth! He acts too straight! He acts too gay! I HATE the way he purses his lips, when he kisses! He won't stand on his HEAD while having an orgasm!" And all that stuff. . . .
* My sense is, if you are going to
dish it out to a model (or models) and say, "Hey, I really didn't LIKE this scene, for reasons X, Y, or Z", you ought to be prepared for those models to say, "Hey, I'm sorry you didn't like it, but we did it this way BECAUSE. . . " And,
and et cetera.
* And MAYBE, in the heat of the moment, some of those models will push
back a bit, too. Just like we board members push back against EACH OTHER - even as friends - in all our differing opinions - all the time. EVERY SINGLE DAY. Look,
models are human beings, and they have the RIGHT to REPLY.
* What the HECK (I rhetorically ask) could
possibly be BAD, about THAT??? Wouldn't you want the right to reply, if someone told you he didn't like something you did, at work???
*********************************************************************
Because, ladies and gentlemen, here is the
bottom line, in my opinion. As a subscriber to a gay male erotic site, I think we ALL belong to one of two distinct camps (and I think we ALL owe it to ourselves, and one another, to think carefully about these things):
#1 (And this is the "old-school" model): Subscribers to a site like
Broke Straight Boys are privileged, protected, nameless and faceless CONSUMERS. Who sit, like superannuated producers at a 1970's Broadway show, looking the cast up and down, and when those who are auditioning don't please them, take another puff on their cigars, and yell:
"NEXT"!!! So that money talks, and those who aren't quite up to our standards,
WALK.
#2 (And this is the way of thinking I should like to promote): Both subscribers and models, at a site like
Broke Straight Boys, are simply ordinary PEOPLE, at different places in their lives. The subscribers come, because they feel a need for a little inspiration and beauty, perhaps? The models come, mostly because they need to earn some money for school, or whatever, but possibly because they also appreciate the opportunity to BE admired, and win some new friends, and fans. . . .
I thoroughly subscribe to model #2, because. . . I think this is the way the world IS now. Just like Paul said, in a recent post, young guys now are a little more open-minded than they were when I was a kid, 30 years ago. So - great guys like Paul are more willing to give this a try, than they were, when I was young!
BUT, by the same token, great straight guys (or bi guys, or gay guys), like - well, ALL of our most beloved models on this site - have got OTHER OPTIONS. If people slag them in public (and let's face it - if someone said to YOU,
you don't LOOK that great, when you're having sex - that would be
pretty intimidating, don't you think?): they could easily say, "F*** YOU and all YOUR NOISE", and go on to another site, or just wave the white flag and go get a job at
Staples, or something.
What I would like to urge on each and every member here is this: I think we need a sea-change in the way we look at, and interact with, models on
Broke Straight Boys, and
College Dudes, and all sites like them. I think we need to
stop looking at these models as bits of candy-floss, who sweeten our palates if we are in the mood, but sometimes get stuck in our teeth, if we don't like them. . . .
And I think we need to start treating our models as
friends ~ respectfully, and respecting their privacy, of course ~ and as nice and good human beings who are NOT "consumer-goods", but as
real people we like and care about: who are giving us a privileged insight into their lives, and their beauty. People who are completely our EQUALS, and, in some cases, our BETTERS. They dare a lot, and risk a lot, in order to give us a little happiness. . . and whether a scene "succeeds", or "fails", in any member's opinion - in any case, that model has put it ALL on the line, for us, EVERY SINGLE TIME.
Who AMONG US, would EVER DARE to do the SAME??? Not very MANY of us, I daresay! All I ask is that, whenever any member launches into a wholesale critique of any particular scene, that he realizes and REMEMBERS - the guy who DID that scene is going to read it, feel it, and if you have harsh things to say, it is going to FEEL harsh, to him.
Unlike Jon, however (and Jon will have to indulge me, because he and I disagree on MOST things, since the beginning of TIME)
I DO NOT BELIEVE that models should be robbed of the opportunity to post, here! My sense is, that most of us are overjoyed to have the opportunity to converse with our favourite models, here, and would be desolated if we were ROBBED of that opportunity - just so members could say the MEANEST things they wanted, behind the models' backs. And I do NOT believe that being kind, polite, civil, or DECENT to people is a
burden.
Therefore, I hope things will stay just as they are; that our favourite models will KEEP ON POSTING; and that when they are pissed off, or have something they want to say - they will always feel free to SAY SO ~ and that we shall RESPECT THEM for SAYING SO.
Sincerely, yours,
"A" XOXOXOXOXOXOXO
"He ain't heavy - he's my BROTHER" ~ Rufus Wainwright
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0j2W0u3kis
