A few new trends in the adult entertainment industry have started or continued in this eventful 2018. Being already in November, it is time to start reflecting about this past year.
New Trends above the Industry
The Blue Wave in the midterm elections was a strong rejection of Trump presidency. It may start a new trend towards a more progressive political culture.
We will focus this post in the Adult Entertainment Industry (porn, stripers, and sex work) and will not address other new trends. However, we cannot ignore the wider context. Specially right now, when basic rights we thought were granted, like freedom of speech, are under attack by the Nationalist Authoritarian surge.
Although Americans love feeling exceptional, this is not an American trend, and it is not Trump’s fault either. It started way before Trump, and started in Europe as a reaction at internationalism and the tensions of the post industrial economic revolution.
Right now we are obsessed with Trump and Bolsonaro, but this ugly wave began years ago in the Eastern European countries and quickly moved to their Western counterparts. Brexit was its last significant byproduct, and soon we will probably have bad news in the next round of national elections. The last Blue Wave gives us some hope in the USA, but Europe looks really bad.
So far the only attack in the States that affected our industry directly was passing SESTA/FOSTA. You can not argue that this hit was part of the reactionary wave. Many liberal and even Left Wing politicians also supported the new legislation in Puritan America.
However, the consistent aggression against the press, the recent cancelation of a White House corresponsal’s credentials, and the controversy around regulating speech in social media, are all concerning signs.
New trends after SESTA/FOSTA
Mintboys has just updated their design and added premium advertising. Great upgrade.
Whether or not this new legislation is part of the Right counter strike, its consequences in the sex work and trade industry have been significant. Although it is interesting to note that so far the regulation has not been used against any outlet, and all changes have been a preemptive reaction. The shut down of Backpage was not related to SESTA/FOSTA.
As a handful of websites and online services vanished, the activity migrated and consolidated in a handful of surviving outlets. Rentmen’s position in the market is stronger than ever. Without challenging Rentmen’s hegemony, two alternatives have also been favored: Mintboys and Friendboy. These three outlets concentrate most of the open gay sex trade.
By the way, you should take another look at Mintboys. They just updated their interface, added new locations, and started Premium advertising. It looks like a great upgrade.
Nevertheless, next to this open market there is a thriving alternative. Amongst the strongest new trends is indeed sex trade via social media. These are not advertising escorts but porn stars that can be discretely hired from their accounts, or professional models, or just hot guys who are open to offers.
The key word is discretion. All social media outlets are heavily policed by their admin teams, and any explicit reference may cause the account cancellation. Besides the apps admin teams policing work, there are also users who report those breaking the rules. Therefore, social media is a thriving mine of sexual gold, but you must be very careful.
Not so new trends in escorting
Carlos Aleman, a Venezuelan sex god available in Buenos Aires
Despite an initial panic reaction after SESTA/FOSTA approval, the activity continues thriving. There are no new trends that this blogger can identify this year, but several pre started ones that have been clearly consolidated.
Let’s start with the oldest trend. Street cruising and trade are definitely dead. Even when you go the bar, everyone is hooking up in the apps. The last public places to hook up with a professional are the striper bars, and they also are an endangered species.
Another not so new trend: forget about phone calls. If you are into younger guys, get used to texting. No one talks in the phone anymore, and emails are considered too formal in the Millennial and post-millennial universe.
Also related is the trend towards videoconferencing. Forget about asking for selfies to verify the pictures in the ads. Instead, set up a videoconference. The young guys who are not fakers love it.
Bargaining is in the raise. It is a practice very controversial in the USA, but globalization works sometimes in both ways. That is what I think happened in this case.
The Venezuelan diaspora is also effecting an international trend. Reports of excellent gay male escorts of that nationality are abundant. Visitors to Colombia, Argentina, and Brazil, they all are commenting on the hot and talented-in-the sack Venezuelans they are meeting.
There is one brand new trend, but I am not very confident about it. It is related to the SESTA/FOSTA migration and concentration of sex trade outlets. This blogger thinks that, perhaps, this concentration is exposing former Backpage hustlers to new demands and standards, and pushing them to learn the craft and improve their service.
New trends in porn
Pablo Bravo, one of the few gay porn stars that is successfully running his own studio and growing as a multitalented artist. He may be creating his own trend.
The porn industry is one of the most dynamic fields right now. We addressed in previous posts some of the changes brought by the Internet Era.
Not surprisingly, the overwhelming offer of amateur material via pornhub, OnlyFans, JustForFans and others alike has saturated the consumers.
Besides that, many porn stars that thought would be able to break ties with the studios and connect directly with their fans are discovering how challenging it is to manage your own career and productions. Many greeted OnlyForFans as Liberation, many are now disappointed.
Therefore, there is what it seems a revival of the studios now reconverted and adjusted to the web market.
To the upgrades highlighted before, we can add a revamp in GayHoopla and Cockyboys, just to mention two. We also have two new players in our niche market: Noir Male and RawCityTwiks. And this is only in my own porn hunting court.
VR is starting to play in the industry. I have seen the offerings but not yet tried them. I am pretty confident it is too early and the experience will be disappointing, although the future is indeed in that direction.
Next to porn, there is one interesting hub to look at. Atlanta is attracting a great deal of smoking hot Black talent, and producing gay themed web series of quite good quality. The acting and the edition will probably surprise you, they are very good. They do have much to improve in their scripts, though.
New trend on new trends
I LIKE PINGA en español, an expression of the new trend in the blog towards more internationalism.
We have to be careful when we talk about new trends. I do not want to be one of those guys talking about “new technologies” when discussing smart phones, computers, and the Internet. Those technologies are not new no more.
We are aging and the older we get the hardest is to adapt and keep up with a fast changing environment. When we talk about anything “new”, we may be actually saying too much about our own outdated brains.
Despite unusual nostalgia attacks, in spite of rare longing for the old street cruising days, I am keeping up quite well so far. I encourage you to do the same. If you are feeling that the old times were better, you already lost the battle.
A new trend is also starting in my life. After moving to the States in 2002, I stopped traveling and limited my trips to my annual family visit to Argentina. I want to go back to my traveling mode from the 90s. That is the new trend I am starting in 2018.
To begin, we will be visiting Salvador, Brazil, in December. To follow, we go to Mexico City in April. Finally, a stop in Rio is planned during our annual visit to Buenos Aires. This is just the beginning of our quest for the best escorts around the world.
Stay tuned, you will find my reports and my recommendations here in the blog. Support us, we hope you find our service useful, besides entertaining.
Hasta la próxima pinga, amig@s!
