‘3 Eras Of Gay Sex In 3 Mins’

The new short film 3 Eras of Gay Sex in 3 Mins by NYC-based artist and filmmaker Leo Herrera does just that, spanning three distinct eras in the history of gay sex. It's a fascinating piece, relying almost solely on atmosphere, imagery, and random sounds to bring you instantly into a world where cruising and leather give way to modern app-based encounters.

The film's description on Vimeo (link below) is almost longer than the film itself, but provides some great context for this fascinating piece of work.

Instead of presenting gay history as sexless or focusing solely on AIDS, the film celebrates Gay Communication in its most sensual form, through the glances, codes and technological breakthroughs that have allowed gay sex and gay communities to flourish through generations of oppression.

Taking us on a time machine into archetypes of Gay Sex and the unspoken communication methods of these communities, “3 ERAS of GAY SEX in 3 Minutes” informs us and a wider audience, of the rich sexual history of the modern gay male; the symbolism and power of our once ‘secret’ encounters; and a glimpse into the infrastructure of deviant gay communities that are the foundations for the modern gay civil rights movement.

There is a love for gay culture and iconography that vibrates in the film, from the setting of historic landmark Julius, the SF army barracks and a sex dungeon, to the soundtrack, which features poetry from Walt Whitman, Truman Capote and human pup play master, Pup Boss Jyan. The film stars Gay Hip-Hop artist, Rikki Crowley and HIV Activist Zachary Barnett. It touches upon the themes of technology, PrEP, the closet and gay S&M in a way that’s tasteful and romantic.

“This film is about sharing a facet of our history that is rarely represented in mainstream gay media,” said Herrera. “While I applaud the strides we’ve made in our mainstream visibility, it sometimes comes at the expense of our sexuality. Gay fetish is treated as a punchline, or punished with disease. The drag queens and gay characters I see on television do not represent what I see at Folsom Street Fair, or at a Brooklyn gay warehouse party on a Saturday night or any of the Eagles in the country. There is an inherent romance to cruising, a jolt of electricity to our secrets and codes, that’s what this clip is about.”

“The idea that as a culture we DO have a past, present and future is something that is very, very powerful. We didn’t come out of nowhere, and we haven’t been standing around waiting to be “accepted”, and we aren’t this monolithic culture that will just be part of any “mainstream”, there are too many facets and subcultures. Who better to tell these stories than ourselves.”

"3 Eras of Gay Sex in 3 Mins" Film by Leo Herrera from Herrera Images on Vimeo.