i am the last to argue the difference between passion, desire and lust, but what makes joe oppedisano‘s work so attractive to me is that i don’t have to. his brawny pornesque style exposes a strong, hard and masculine image, often sparsely lit and seldom shy. what’s really more interesting to me is how different male objectification is viewed within the boundaries of traditional perceptions of sexual exploitation. it probably comes with the territory, where this type of masculinity is about a lot of powerful things, even powerful vulnerability, but never weakness; which is presumably also why it appeals to such a large audience. there are various ripples surfacing against the more muscled and manly divergence within the gay community and living in a city with a healthy leather bar life, i can concur that while this particular scene has many flavours and tastes, eventually what it all aspires to is a certain maleness, not a complete one. this fantasy of fetish and flesh is what i believe typically drives the carnal demand and nobody portrays it better than jerk off joe.
his published work j/o and testosterone is available from bruno gmünder
