GAYLETTER

San Francisco’s Folsom Street Fair is the world’s largest celebration of BDSM and leather subcultures. It takes place on Folsom Street between 8th and 13th, in the San Francisco neighborhood named for being South of Market, SoMa. The first event was held in 1984 in part to protest the redevelopment of SoMa which supported a thriving LGBT community, including many leather bars. The event was also conceived as a fundraiser, the donations taken at the entrance gates going to local and national charity groups.

My Folsom project began when Visual AIDS, a nonprofit supporting HIV-positive artists, asked me to set up a pop-up photo booth at New York City’s Folsom Street East in 2015. It was enlightening. I met and photographed so many incredible fetish enthusiasts in their gear. That experience inspired me to keep photographing and to explore the other iterations of Folsom, Folsom Street East, and World Folsom in Berlin.

My adrenaline always starts pumping when I near the entrance to Folsom and see all the fetish enthusiasts pouring in alongside me. I love to witness the BDSM and leather communities out in broad daylight, smiling, laughing, and flogging. The camaraderie between spectators and strangers is infectious. From Barbie to gas mask fetishists, and a whole spectrum of exhibitionism in between, it’s all there, and that’s why I love Folsom so much. By documenting Folsom, I’ve been able to explore my number one fetish, photographing people embracing their deviant side. I’ll definitely be back next year with my cameras in tow. …

There are many ways to shut a lover up. You could, for instance, kiss them. But if you pine for drama, you might opt to plug the cosmic reach of their speech with that planet-shaped device called a ball gag — a sphere, typically made of rubber or silicone, kept in place with a strap that orbits the head of its wearer. Like many implements adopted by BDSM and fetish communities, the forebear of the ball gag is inextricably linked to several sordid, interwoven histories of torture, subjection, and animal “care.”

Deriving from the Old Norse adjective gag-háls, meaning “with head thrown back,” premodern iterations of the gag, or gag bit, were used by equestrians to hold up the sloping heads of horses from the insides of their mouths, as aid to teeth cleaning, balance lessons, showing off, and reining in. A more figurative usage of gag appears in the mid-16th century and refers to an implement used to suppress vocalization, as of a heretical Catholic or gossiping woman. Consider a 14th-century Scottish invention, the Scold’s Bridle, which encased the gossip’s head in an iron mask that came attached to a small metal disc to penetrate her open mouth. Early American lawmakers further perverted the use of the gag, expanding its speech-suppressing qualities to include unsurprisingly debased forms of civic disenfranchisement: a 1798 gag law curbed certain freedoms of the press; and the gag rule, instituted by the U.S. House of Representatives between 1836 and 1844, forbade the House from considering any petitions against slavery. …

Valentin Amour doesn’t want to be pinned down — figuratively, at least. Born in a small town near the west coast of France, the 29-year-old was trained as a ballet dancer until shirking the art form in their early twenties. Any who have recently encountered the performer through social media, Onlyfans, or scenes for Lucas Entertainment will understand that Amour’s appeal requires little explanation. With a penchant for jockstraps and an ever-arched back, they’ve captured the attention of hundreds of thousands.

The theatrical moniker “Valentin Amour” is a marriage between the performer’s given name, Valentin, and their pseudonym “Amour” — chosen with help from their mentor, Austin Wolf. Beyond its ring, Amour was drawn to the the name for its campy allusions to sex and romance and representation of Amour’s heritage.

Despite the relatively conservative climate in which they were raised, as a child Amour was free to express their sexuality. Like many, they found joy in playing dress-up with their mother’s frocks, fashioning makeshift nails, and dancing ballet. After taking weekly classes in their hometown, they attended a boarding school and later a conservatory for dance in their early teens. At 20, after completing a masters in contemporary dance, they joined a professional ballet company with a focus on modern techniques like Martha Graham. However, Amour’s ballet career was short-lived. After one year dancing professionally, they felt bored by the discipline’s petty politics and quickly left ballet.

In the years that followed, they found their footing as a porn star. …

Matthew Camp has worn many hats, but rarely a shirt. Originally from the Bay Area, the professional sexpot moved to New York City in his twenties. By Go-go dancing at downtown gay bars and starring in the 2013 pseudo-documentary Getting Go, he was canonized “New York famous” by the early 2010s. Around that time, Matthew also released an eponymous fashion line, as well as a fragrance, cheekily named 8.5, which was sold in poppers bottles. In recent years, Camp’s projects with porno juggernaut Men.com and various non-adult film work have won him a national reputation.

While Matthew initially turned down offers to act in porn, he was eventually convinced. Though many of his films are glossy and well-lit, these days Matthew prefers “the documentation of sex as opposed to the dramatization of it.” Accordingly, his recent OnlyFans content is markedly lo-fi, mostly recorded on a webcam in his home. Perhaps unsurprisingly, life imitates art. In his own words, “porn has really made me take stock of my priorities. And by priorities I mean sex partners. And by stock I mean cum.”

Nowadays, Matthew lives upstate in the relatively secluded Hudson, New York. Despite his retreat from the frenetic pulse of Manhattan, he remains as active as ever. In addition to the content he’s constantly releasing on OnlyFans, Matthew recently appeared on Slag Wars, a reality show helmed by the Cock Destroyers, Sophie Anderson and Rebecca More, as well as on Iconic Justice, a reality court show best summed up as a yassification of Judge Judy. …

Since his first scene in 2004, porn star François Sagat has been dominating the erotic film world with his beefcake figure and rugged good looks. A muscular Frenchman of Slovakian descent, his career boasts an eclectic mix of mainstream adult acting and non-pornographic projects (including a brief appearance in Saw VI). Over the course of his nearly two decades-long career, he’s also released several songs as well as the dance EP Chamelia (available on Spotify), played the lead role in the 2010 art film Homme au bain, had his genitalia replicated for a line of signature dildos, and been the subject of a documentary exploring his multifaceted persona.

While much of this work was put on hold during the pandemic, he hinted that his months of quarantine were still full of life, rhythm, and drama. François has no intention of being tied down, by a relationship that is. A quick dive into his Instagram will reveal a cheeky dance with a green blanket, BTS shots from an upcoming music video, film stills of glossy 1980s studs, and more.

During our conversation, it became clear François has a wild imagination and few inhibitions. On the subject of sexual fantasies, the actor highlighted his interest in having intercourse with a François Sagat clone (a fantasy many of us share). His drink of choice is Champagne rosé and his favorite city is Paris — though it’s a love-hate relationship. According to François, the best sex tip he’s learned from a fellow porn star is to avoid salad before douching. …

Tell me about the name Teesaddy. It’s just like a name that stuck in high school. That’s what people would call me. It was also my Myspace name.

I thought your name was a play on the word zaddy. It’s not directly related.

When did you start posting sexy photos of yourself? I guess I started posting selfies in college to get attention from guys that I liked.

What were you studying in college? I was president of a small fashion newspaper in college. I started writing for a few fashion journals. My dream was to sit in the front row and analyze things. I used to post on Twitter, and a lot of the tweets that I would make about fashion wouldn’t get any attention at all, but the shirtless pictures that I posted after the gym would get lots more attention. In order for me to get featured as a writer, I would have to have a following, so I was like, “okay, I’ll just throw a jockstrap on!”

Hiring people based on what their social numbers are is silly. It’s really crazy that skills are less important than the amount of followers you have.

Are you interested in modeling? I wanted to go to New York and study design, so I have been interested in menswear and of course male models.

What’s your favorite part of your body? My legs are long.

How did you get into OnlyFans? My ex-boyfriend, he lives in Michigan where I lived during the pandemic. …