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UMJ "Too Dark, Too Hairy, Too Much!"1: Representations of Arab Men and "Arabness" in Contemporary Gay Male Pornography EVANGELOS TZIALLAS A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULLFULMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS GRADUATE PROGRAM IN FILM STUDIES YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA AUGUST 2009 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 OttawaONK1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-53836-4 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-53836-4 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1*1 Canada Abstract This project explores the changing representation of Arab men and "Arabness" in contemporary gay male pornography, before and after 9/11, investigating how evolving ideologies, social movements and technologies influence these racial constructions. The paper takes an in depth look at several European and American films and studios, as well as the emerging "do it yourself XTube culture, analyzing how the cultural specificity of each text or production site influences how they both appropriate Orientalist tropes, while simultaneously deconstructing their own racial constructions. Although many of these texts traffic in conservative and racist cliches, I argue that via parody and performativity these sexual moving image texts also allow for interesting, if ambivalent, moments of resistance. IV Acknowledgements First and foremost I must thank my Supervisor John Greyson for his endless dedication. He went above and beyond what was required and showed a self-less passion and interest in both this project and my short career at York. My time at York would not have been nearly as fruitful, productive or successful without his insight, intelligence, and zen-like tenacity to both criticized, support and guide. I am eternally grateful for the honour to have worked with him on such an important and foundational project. To my readers Brenda Longfellow and Sharon Hiyashi for their support, encouragement and intellectual challenges which really forced me to address inherent flaws in the project, thereby, strengthening the thesis as a whole. The Film and Video department's amazing Graduate Program Director Michael Zryd. To my copy editors Michael Keill and Tyler Rooney for their quick responses and eloquent alterations. To my external committee for the lively debate and engaging questions. To my friends and sister for helping me find my way through the density of this project with humour and open arms. And to my mom, who encouraged me to keep moving forward and pushing through even when I wanted to give up. v Table of Contents Page# Content i Title Page ii Copyright Page iii Certificate Page iv Abstract v Acknowledgements vi Table of Contents 1 Introduction) Histories, Fantasies and Resistance 17 Chapter 1) Orientalism: Histories, Fantasies, And Evolutions 36 Chapter 2) European Gay Arab Porn: Orientalism, Poverty, Ethnography 62 Chapter 3) American Gay "Arab" Porn: Re-inscription, Revision, Resistance 87 Chapter 4) The Democratized Sexual Image: Regress and Progress 99 Conclusion) Blogs, the Internet and the Future of Porn Studies 104 Works Cited 110 Endnotes vi Introduction: Histories, Fantasies and Resistance The title for my project was inspired by the title of an online gay porn blog which attempted to assess the desirability of new gay porn actor Huessein. Huessein broke into the scene as a Raging Stallion exclusive and shot to fame when he starred in Chris Ward's 2005 award wining film Arabesque. In this particular piece, the author found Huessein's stardom a bit perplexing as his physical presentation seems to be excessive for his liking. For Nightcharm, Huessein was simply too masculine, too ethnic, too hairy... and yet too irresistible. It is that very last word, "irresistible," which alters the discourse of his piece, and epitomizes the focal point of this thesis. This project is about the modern manifestation of the West's sexual desire for Arab men. The author writes: The name is surely intended to capitalize on — now how shall we put this without causing riots, bloodshed and the storming of embassies throughout Europe — the hair-trigger horniness of guys coming from a certain backward-looking culture where women are hidden in plain sight, casual sex can be punished by beheadings in public squares, and where the nights are full of young men and boys contemplating an enormous, empty sky full of stars. As well as each other. Yes, men coming from puritanical, anti-sex cultures are often on a hair-trigger — furiously horny, furiously masculine, and just plain furious. We need look no further than our shores to figure that out. (Nightcharm, Oct 27, 2006) This small paragraph manages to succinctly summarize some the most pertinent Western attitudes that this project studies, including the association between Arabs and violence, the inherent sexualization of this racialized violence, the attraction to that which disgusts us, the appeal to and transformation of Orientalism, and popular gay fantasies of hyper- masculinity. 1 Huessien's body becomes a site for the projection of white Western fantasies and anxieties about "The Middle East". Terms and phrases such as "backward-looking" are mixed with the belief that Muslim men are somehow awesomely sex-deprived in comparison to the over-sexed West (a perceptual switch from the construction of the East as over-sexed and bad, to the East as undersexed and bad), and that "they" only need half a second to be overcome with a sexual aggression and excitement equal to a force of nature. Within this short paragraph the author even manages to inject a bit of classical Orientalism, invoking the image of a homosocial gathering out in the desert's wilderness, "contemplating an enormous, empty sky full of stars. As well as each other". In contrast, let us now turn to a similar paragraph, written a full century earlier by T. E. Lawrence: .. .Our youths began indifferently to slake one another's few needs in their own clean bodies—a cold convenience that, by comparison, seemed sexless and even pure. Later, some began to justify this sterile process, and swore that friends quivering together in the yielding sand with intimate hot limbs in supreme embrace, found there hidden in the darkness a sensual co-efficient of the mental passion which was welding our souls and spirits in one flaming effort. Several, thirsting to punish appetites they could not wholly prevent, took a savage pride in degrading the body, and offered themselves fiercely in any habit which promised physical pain or filth (14). The above quote was taken from T.E Lawrence's opus travelogue The Seven Pillars of Wisdom and is an excellent example of how Western culture has historically exoticized and sexualized Eastern cultures, particularly Arab, Persian and Berber cultures. The highly sexualized and homoerotic language foregrounds some of the project's central themes and highlights how romanticized and eroticized depictions of Middle Eastern culture have often been produced from a white, male's personal perspective. Despite 2 Lawrence's authorial position, his work was received as journalism, a literary documentary about the Middle East and its Arab civilians. Edward Said used the term orientalism to refer to the tendency for Westerners to read fiction, especially European travelogues, and academic works by Europeans about the Middle East, as authentic facts, rather than biased opinions. In the beginning to his groundbreaking book Orientalism, Said states: Taking the late eighteenth century as very roughly defined starting point Orientalism can be discussed and analyzed as the corporate institution for dealing with the Orient—dealing with it by making statements about it, authorizing views of it, describing it, by teaching it, settling it, ruling over it: in short, Orientalism as a Western style of dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient (1994,3). Orientalism according to Said was not a purposeful project undertaken by the Europeans, but rather an "area studies" academic inquiry into European ideas, beliefs and writings of, and about, the Middle East. Said's project criticized 19l and 20l century European and American literary and political writings in order to expose their professed "truths" as racist and inaccurate.