This has been on my mind for years. Coming across this gallery from French site Explicite Arte just kind of triggered the ongoing debate in my brain about Euro male porn performers versus domestic American ones. The men in the Euro sets seldom disappoint. As I’ve toiled in the porn mines (I’m actually the canary) for a decade and focused on creating female-focused community and resources both online and offline, it’s become evident to me that female viewers who voice their opinion on such matters tend to prefer European male performers. I know that attraction is a very personal and individual thing, but I’ll go out on a limb and share my observations from what I’ve seen and heard repeated over the years from female porn viewers about the guys they see onscreen. The generalizations I’ll put forth are these:
* Women dislike that mainstream (corporate, SoCal-flavored, American) porn uses all the same guys over and over.
* That the guys in mainstream porn are generally not attractive.
* Straight girls’ interests in porn are stifled by the lack of hot male talent (typically domestic).
* When women self-disclose male stars they love, they tend to repeat very familiar Euro porn names like Rocco Siffredi, Nacho Vidal, Manual Ferrara, Axel Braun. It’s few and far between that women name American stars; the two I see named often are Mr. Marcus and James Deen (and long ago, Julian).
* Overall, I read in women’s comments referring to domestic porn that they think the men in gay porn are hotter (for example lots of women love Sean Cody‘s site).
So: what do you think? Are European male stars hotter than domestic mainstream performers? And if so — why would they be? I know I have my own theories…
If you stopped by this post for the porn, here are the rest of Explicite’s galleries from this week: Angel by the pool (above), Charlotte in the bath (photos; video), Yoko strips in blue veils, and striking pale redhead Aurora in red veils.
I am not sure if I should revive an old thread or not but Ill dig in anyway. Has anyone noticed that all the Pornstars that women claim to be hot are known for ‘rough’ sex scenes. Even Mr Marcus and James Deen are known for rough sex scenes.
I do feel the Euro males have an advantage in looks and charisma and their performances suggest that they really enjoy having sex with women as opposed to humiliation and circus sex type stuff associated with American performers. Having said that Evan Stone comes to mind as an American who has charisma with good looks …It also helps when performers male or female can actually act.
I have thought about this for years as well. As a lover of porn, I find myself watching either queer female porn, gay male porn, and if I get stuck with straight porn, I mostly listen to the female sounds and try to avoid the image.
I feel like men in American porn are not attractive because American men don’t want to “accidentally” be turned on by men and they want to have a good chance of being more attractive than them. Heterosexual men frequently don’t have a very high ideal of attractiveness to live up to in this country and I am pretty sure they like to keep it that way.
Rocco, Axel, and Claudio Meloni (who I’ve only seen in Axel’s squirting 101 video — any suggestions on others?) are all much hotter than US male porn stars. They just seem like they’re more passionate and having a better time.
Well, just look at the best-known male porn stars in the US vs Europe. In other words, Ron Jeremy vs Rocco Siffredi. ‘Nough said.
For my part, I think, on average, the *women* in European porn tend to be better looking on average than their American counterparts, especially the Central and East European performers. Then again, the average for American female porn stars gets better by the year, to the point where you have a fashion model like Zoe Voss crossing over into porn. Another thing about American porn stars is that the top ones tend to have a star quality that the Central/East European girls often lack, since much European porn tends to treat them as anonymous and interchangeable, unfortunately.
I haven’t seen too many porn videos, but I love to look at hot men. I find myself always wishing there was more man-flesh on sex web sites. I find that pictures of men – nude or not – are quite rare even in today’s ‘pro-porn for women’ environment.
European porn has always been better than American porn. Much more passion and less faking. The performers, male & female always appear to really be into the sex. Their bodies are also more natural. I don’t think that porn in Europe carries the stigma that it does the US. Europeans are not scared of sex like Americans are.
American male porn stars are all about massive dicks pumping like freight trains. That’s just plain boring (no pun intended). European males have more skill and are in generally much more attractive. The women actors seem to actually enjoy the sex instead of looking like they’re in pain.
My SO complains that the US men (and many of the wonen) almost always appear to be synthetic. Its like they are designed by committee. Pretty much every black male porn star is a clone of Mr Marcus. Many of the white guys are downright ugly.
Another rather bizarre trend in US porn is the way they moved from the obligatory anal scene to the obligatory rimming scene. My SO finds rimming a total turn off.
“That the guys in mainstream porn are generally not attractive”
lol true that, guys in mainstream porn are better than a cold shower
I agree with MissAndree. I’m Asian and I have an American boyfriend. I have gone through many porn sites, but I always go back to ones that feature European men because most of them are lean, not overly muscled, and have that Hugo Boss/GQ defined bone structure that I’m fond of.
Yes, yes they are. I think what differentiates European male porn stars from their U.S. counterparts is a very simple thing: the face. It seems European porn usually casts men who are attractive overall: model/GQ good looks with a nice face and a lean, healthy, not overly pumped body. On the other hand, it seems all a man needs to make it big in U.S. porn (forgive the bad pun, I couldn’t resist) is to be well-endowed. In addition I think that wherever you are, foreign men always have a certain allure and appeal (exotic, romantic, mysterious) that local men lack. (I think that goes for women, too.)