Male Sexuality

Gay men discuss sexuality, masculinity and relationships in a documentary filmed just before the outbreak of AIDS.

From clubbers at Heaven and cruisers on Hampstead Heath to academics and journalists, gay men offer their candid views on sex and relationships. They give a brief history of cruising, rue the dashed hopes of Gay Lib, and, most interestingly, critique the goal of emulating the traditionally masculine ideal of the heterosexual man, a self-loathing trait still prevalent among gay men today.

There's great poignancy to the interviews with the liberated and proudly promiscuous men seen in this documentary, shot a couple of years before the AIDS epidemic ravaged the community and radically altered representations of gay men in the media. It includes excellent interviews with erotic illustrator Oli Frey, art historian and later AIDS activist Simon Watney, and wry magazine editor Roger Baker. This intelligent and admirably unsensational exploration of homosexual men’s sexuality was filmed for Gay Life, London Weekend Television’s landmark series dedicated to LGBT topics.