Part 1 of our interview with one of Mpls's premiere Intimate Male Photographers Marlen Boro of Male Boudoir
I like it like it
In 1857 Pope Pius IX was so worried that the "Accurate representation of the male form" (aka naked dude statues) would send the nuns (and perhaps some of the priests?) into such a tizzy that he grabbed his favorite mallet and "censored" all the naked male statues. I don't know which image would be more comical to see, the Pope smashing the penises off the male statues (that should have been in your S&M music video Rihanna), or to see the poor janitor sweeping up piles of penises. (I wonder what he did with them...hmmm)
Fast forward 150-ish years and straight guys are still freaking out about seeing another dudes wang.
I hate the term Erotica
When I went to meet Mr Boro, I had all the details lined up. The time, the place, what I looked like (even showed him a picture of me). I arrived at the coffee shop, eager and excited. I had my background research and my list of questions, I was set. It wasn't till I had ordered and sat down that I realized, I had NO CLUE what he looked like. (give me a break, we're busy over here). Naturally, I gave big warm smiles to every man who walked in the front door, hoping one of them would be him (FAIL). But give it a try sometime, the looks are priceless.
I looked down for a brief moment, to respond to a friends text, and before I could press send, POOF Mr. Boro was sitting in front of me. Considering he is one of Mpls's premiere erotic male photographers, I was shocked by his look (yes MOM, you were right, never judge a book by its cover). He looked more suited for reading behind a librarians desk then photographing men with giant boners. When he spoke, it wasn't rough, edgy and harsh like I imagined, it was sweet and calming. He would be the perfect candidate to record audio books about kittens.
After the small talk, we dove right in to the interview. I had a simple solid opening question, "What lead you to erotic photography?"
With sweet and warm smile he replied. "I hate the term "erotic" or "erotica." I think porn and the whole notion of pornography is this hetero-normative phrase and as gay people we need to stop using the term and rejecting it."
If you think about it, he has a very interesting point. The thin line between art (good) and porn (bad) is what society deems to be appropriate or offensive. And whoooooom in society is making that decision? Why, straight-dudes of course. Naturally the idea of a man presenting himself in a way to visually please another man would freak out straight-dudes, labeling it "bad" and labeling it "porn."
A Naughty Housewife Marlen Boro elaborated his point with a story about one of his photographer friends.
She was a sweet suburban housewife. With a minivan full of children, she took great pride in her strong moral values. As a fellow photographer, she had great admiration for others in the trade. One afternoon, she moved her mouse over to her old friend's website maleboudior.com. After exploring the pages and pages and PAGES of scantly (or not) clad men, she sent her friend an email. The email opened with, "Im really sorta turned on and fascinated by your photography, but its porn, but I like it." The poor woman was having a mini-moral crisis. If Boro's photos of naked guys were "art" than she was free to spend all afternoon studying the curves on Boro's men. She really liked the photos, she wanted to see more. Unfortunately in her mind, Boro's photos were "porn." To her, that ment she wasn't suposto like them, or enjoy seeing them, or even want to see MORE.
The poor housewife was conflicted, was it art or was it porn?
Our interview with Marlen Boro will be continued next week in part 2
Check out Marlen Boro's Blog HERE (you can see the REAL photos, without our green box over them)
follow him on facebook by becoming his fan HERE
