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Gay Mexican Pornography at the Intersection of Ethnic and National Identity in Jorge Diestra’s La Putiza

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Abstract

This article aims to offer an analysis of the way that issues of national and ethnic self identity are structured and constructed in Mexican gay pornography. Unlike theorists who regard pornography as a matter of sex discrimination and argue that it simply undermines any positive attitudes towards homosexuality, this article argues that Mexican gay male pornography has served as a point of self reference for homosexual men in the country, while it has also helped to foster a degree of visibility for the gay community in mainstream culture. Through an analysis of the film La Putiza (2006), made by the emerging porn house Mecos Films, it will be demonstrated that Mexican male homosexuals do not regard pornography as a cultural product intended to the objectification of the gay community and its members. This film clearly stresses ethnic and national identity as the basis to contest the hegemony of Anglo-European gay pornography in which notions of Latin(o) identity have been caricaturised and heavily troped. This film borrows elements that are pertinent to the specificity of the national gay imagery, as well as film genres that are regarded as quintessentially Mexican. Therefore, the combination of Aztec heritage narrative and wrestling subtexts permit to posit this film as an alternative to the kind of images of Latin(o) homosexuality that are portrayed in Western pornography, while it also stresses national identity by using themes that circulate in the national imaginary as exclusively Mexican. In short, the emerging Mexican gay pornographic industry and the film that it produces prove to be a site of contestation of the hegemony of “Latinised” images that have been offered in foreign pornographic accounts, while they also become a site of validation for gay men whose physicality or ethnic heritage has been rejected within the politics of the erotic.

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Notes

  1. Mixed race.

  2. Presents typical examples of black men as homosexual symbols, with penises of huge dimensions and equivalent sexual appetites.

  3. “Diamante” is an unskilled wrestler who wishes to become a pro in the ring. “The Master” offers to give the mask of the powerful Verga Azteca (Aztec Cock) that provides powerful and endless erotic powers and will transform him into a legend. However, in exchange, he must fulfil a number of sexual tasks without pouring a single drop of semen. Will Diamante come out unharmed from his battles? What mysteries does the Verga Azteca mask hide? Will Diamante become the sexual hero that everybody awaits?

  4. Furthermore, any interpretation of artistic creation (any cultural product such as pornography) is arbitrary, and other interpretations may be possible according to the cultural, social, political, sexual, amongst others backgrounds of the viewer.

  5. Free wrestling.

  6. Wrestler.

  7. Wrestlers do not play themselves in the matches, but instead play a character that has been invented by himself or his manager/promoter and that is morally coded.

  8. Pertinent to the diegesis (storyline) of the film.

  9. Without wasting a single drop of semen.

  10. Technical wrestler.

  11. Is full of strength, valour, honour, fearless, very muscular, confident in his good deeds, compromised with both people and himself.

  12. Verga Azteca Jr. versus the masked Cock Suckers.

  13. Very macho-acting homosexual men who only take the active role during sex.

  14. More androgynous homosexual men who take both an active and a passive role during sex.

  15. Insatiable greedy man.

  16. Pays homage to old wrestling films while it also satirises certain elements of the nation’s popular iconography: from lottery cards to the classic neighbourhood calendars, as well as soap operas, comic books, music and children’s games.

  17. The Insatiable Mariachis.

  18. Mexican cowboy.

  19. Mexican identity.

  20. It is the most important popular theatre in Mexico, a playful melodrama that involves basic theatrical elements such as the mask, costumes and characters that act out dramatic scenes. Such scenes have a very specific setting, with a very specific script and with a very peculiar relationship with that audience as they become accomplices to the performance.

  21. Ejaculatory Maniac II, Deep and Black Abyss, Crazy Cocks and Erecting Volcano.

  22. The vulgar mainstream terms to refer to male sexuality in terms of a penetrator versus penetrated dichotomy.

  23. Mixed raced.

  24. Latin american identity.

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Filmography

  • La Bruce, B. (2004). The Raspberry Reich. Germany and Canada: Jurgen Bruning Filmproduktion.

  • Diestra, J. (2004). La Putiza. Mexico: Mecos Films.

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  1. Coventry University, George Eliot Building, Priory Street, West Midlands, CV1 5WL, UK

    Gustavo Subero

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Subero, G. Gay Mexican Pornography at the Intersection of Ethnic and National Identity in Jorge Diestra’s La Putiza . Sexuality & Culture 14, 217–233 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-010-9071-0

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