I spent some time on the phone yesterday with Bill Stackhouse, the director of the Institute for Gay Men’s Health at GMHC. They had requested we send over a few copies of Damon and Hunter: Doing it Together for their education and outreach, and I was curious to hear how the film was going to be used.
What Mr. Stackhouse told me is that he thought the film would be particularly valuable with men who are not yet having anal sex, but are curious about it. Bill felt that between the frank depiction of Damon taking Hunter anally (including lubing up and donning a condom), and the candid testimony, it would help these men get a more realistic impression of how anal sex happens in real life than they might get from other sources.
We’re also sending a few copies out to San Francisco Sex Information a sex information hotline that’s been serving the Bay Area for over 30 years. For much the same reasons cited by Bill Stackhouse,Thomas Roche thought D&H would be a good tool for volunteer education (M&J and X&D are already in the SFSI library). There are precious few resources, straight, gay, or lesbian that show people having “everyday” sex.
Of course our films aren’t convieved of, or offered as educational experiences. My hope is simply to entertain and arouse; two noble purposes in and of themselves, but too often given the short shrift when the subject is sex! But it’s great to hear that our (hopefully entertaining and arousing) films can also educate and inform people about sex in a positive way!