Four and a half years ago I wrote on this blog that porn stars were being replaced by models in gay culture. Writing about model Edilson Nascimento, I said:
He's a fashion model, but he is almost always nude, or close to it. What is he selling in these pictures? The couture or his own perfectly formed chest? Are you looking at the swim trunks, or his clearly delineated genitalia? In the past it has always been the accepted wisdom that the model is there to show off the clothes. Nowadays the clothes are almost irrelevant, sometimes non-existent. I'm not complaining. I'm just saying.
Now, consider these photos of Domincan model Mikle Cortina Conde, taken by Justin Violini for Coitus Online, mostly. Can these photos exist for any other reason than to incite the sweet sensation of sex? Mikle, God love him, is pure sexual object here, although to be fair, I've seen photos of Mikle fully clothed in which he still manages to look like a very expensive sex doll.
Consider the very existence of Coitus Magazine (or Hero, or Electric Youth, or Client). How do these publications differ from the physique magazines of the 1950s and 60s? They have higher quality paper, modern color reproduction, expensive "legitimate" models, professional fashion photographers, and once in a while a piece of designer clothing. But other than that? Look, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it. I own every issue of the print edition of Coitus, and keep them in zip-lock bags. It's just that I like to call things by their right names.
