3 Rapid’s success in 2018 appears to have been buoyed by his highly publicized bareback debut a few years earlier (in 2015, in a series known as Johnny Rapid Goes Bareback), which forms the focus of this article and raises questions that are still relevant at time of revision and publication (in June/July 2021). 1 He was also named as the second most searched for gay porn star in Pornhub’s 2017 “Year in Review” annual analytics report (beaten to the top spot by relative new-comer William Seed, also a Men exclusive) 2 and was the 2017 recipient of Str8UpGayPorn’s Best Gay-4-Pay Performer award. At time of writing, toward the close of the last decade (November 2018), Rapid was just five scenes short of his 200th scene with the studio, and while his age was beginning to count against him, remained a major player-ranked Men’s “most liked” performer with more than 6,800 audience ‘thumbs up’. Johnny Rapid began his porn career at the start of the 2010s as a fresh-faced 18-year-old, shooting scenes with Boys First Time and Bukkake Boys before signing with Men as an exclusive and releasing his first scene in November 2011. Through this reflection, I arrive at the conclusion that the time was right for an aging twink performer to be freshened-up by a transition to bareback-similar transitions of which have become widespread across the gay porn landscape in the intervening years between the 2015 Johnny Rapid Goes Bareback event and the present day, thanks in no small part to advancements in HIV prevention technologies. I read the case study in line with the concept of time, which has particular resonance with bareback. Yet I also take the opportunity-writing several years after this critical moment in Rapid’s career-to reflect on the success of the campaign. The analysis reveals a decidedly negative reception of Rapid, the promotion of bareback as event, and the quality of the bareback performance itself, all of which I read in accordance with what these narratives have to tell us about bareback at the time. More research is needed on the diverse health issues of a vulnerable and underexamined population.Īdolescence behavioral issues gay health issues men of color psychosocial and cultural issues.This article explores a critical moment of going bareback in the career of arguably the biggest gay porn performer of the 2010s, Johnny Rapid. This review concludes that studies on Black YGBMSM health places sex at the forefront to the neglect of other critical health domains. Last, there was a noteworthy deficit of qualitative studies and research exploring intersectional identity and health. Important sociostructural factors, including sexual networks and race-based discrimination, were poorly represented. Data on health care delivery/receipt and health insurance were underrepresented tobacco use and substance abuse were seldom addressed. Few articles included content on psychosocial functioning, including bullying/harassment, suicide, and racial/ethnic identity. Out of 54 articles, most were published after 2004 ( N = 49 90.7%) and addressed some aspect of sexual health ( N = 50 92.6%).
A coding sheet was created to collect information on all content areas and related subtopics and computed descriptive statistics. An extensive literature review and content analysis of health-related peer-reviewed articles (1988-2013) was conducted that targeted Black YGBMSM, examining five content areas: sexual health, health care, substance use, psychosocial functioning, and sociostructural factors. Black young gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (YGBMSM) are at high risk for negative health outcomes, though this population is underrepresented in the health literature.