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from www.sfweekly.com – People are often surprised when I tell them that I never really liked porn. It is not a judgment call; porn just never did anything for me. After being exposed to different parts of the industry in the past year, though, I realized that wasn’t completely true. Most of the porn I’d seen before 2010 was mainstream porn, which always looked staged. I fuck, I watch people fuck, and that’s not what it looks like to me. But when I was exposed to queer porn, a new door opened. I couldn’t pinpoint what was different, but something definitely was.

Last week I was invited to watch a day of filming on the Crash Pad Series. The series and website is based on Pink & White Productions’ first film The Crash Pad, which was released in 2006 and remains popular. (Pink & White was named Best Dyke Porn Studio by SF Weekly in 2009.)

“Its premise is that somewhere in San Francisco there’s a secret apartment,” says performer Jiz Lee. “If you’re lucky enough to be given the key, you can visit the crash pad and have the best sex of your life. There are rules, which include only using the key seven times before passing it on.”

Shine Louise Houston, the head of Pink and White productions, explains “the premise of Crash Pad was inspired by Essex Hot Tub, a 112-degree hot tub located in a beautiful yard in the back of a house. The owner changes the keypad code every now and then; it is one of Berkeley’s best-kept secrets.” (Read an interview with Shine Louise Houston posted during last year’s Good Vibrations Indie Erotic Film Festival.)

I arrived Saturday morning to a house in San Francisco that has been turned into a porn set. I was greeted by Lee, Houston, and Tristan Crane. Our talent for the morning was Estelle and Christoph. I walked into the living room, which led to the set. Houston explained they had just redecorated with a new bed. To decorate it they hired a bed stylist — who doesn’t have a bed stylist? apparently it’s a real profession. Across the bed was a cupboard filled with sex toys such as plug-in vibrators made by Hitachi.

I was led to the kitchen where I set up my laptop on a table. (When the crew starts to film, the people who are observing sit in the kitchen and watch a live feed.) Once all the people who are needed on set were ready, the talks began.

Estelle and Christoph had to decide who was going to be the top. A pair of dice appeared and they threw them in order to make this decision. After this, the models pulled out the toys they wanted to use on one another — a glass dildo and a We-Vibe 3, a remote-controlled, wearable vibrator. I quickly caught on to the fact that no direction was being given. The models were given total autonomy, and everything that occurred was of their making.

Lee explained that they just choose the models and the models tell them what they are going to do. This was when I realized why I liked queer porn more than mainstream porn. Everything that happens between the models is organic and natural. For example, I watched Estelle wipe her hand on her underwear because she couldn’t quite grip the glass dildo without it slipping out of her hand. Unlike some mainstream porn, with its detailed direction and high production values, all the really hot — as well as the really awkward — was captured between these two individuals.