This was far and away the most fun story I've been involved in. Bend Over Boyfriend (www.bendoverboyfriend.com) is a series of videos devoted to the fine art of male anal play for heterosexual couples. BOB 1 (the cute acronym for the series) is mostly an educational video, detailing the, um, in's and out's of how to pick a harness, strap on a dildo, and get your boyfriend to bend on over. BOB 2, subtitled "more rockin' less talkin'" looks more like porn featuring women penetrating men and then men penetrating the women (so as to be fully equitable). One of the most charming things about both videos is that they feature real people (in most cases real couples) and are done with a sense of humour and fun.

When I approached the show's director with this idea he liked it, in a squirm in your seat kind of way. We agreed though that it would be crucial to get men talking on camera about why they liked this kind of sex play. As is often the case, this was a major stumbling block. It's one thing to talk openly about your sexual desires in the privacy of your home, with your lover, it's another thing entirely to discuss it on television for the world to see and hear. Where were we going to find heterosexual men willing to talk on camera about the joys of being penetrated? The answer, of course, was San Francisco. Off I went...

I was confronted with an interesting choice while interviewing Keith and Daphne (a couple who starred in BOB 2). Every interviewer has their own style; their own ways of asking questions and making the interview subject feel comfortable. One of the things I picked up from the show's director is this habit of disclosing a certain amount of personal information during an interview so it feels more like a sharing and less like a "take, take, take" experience for interviewees. So rather than simply ask "how does it feel to have done such and such" I might talk about my experiences with whatever the topic is, and then ask the interviewee for their experience. As I worked through the interview questions with Keith and Daphne ("how did you get involved in BOB?" "has it affected your sex life to have been in a sex film?") I was aware that I was getting close to the "can you describe the feeling of being penetrated as a man" question. Do I, or don't I, come clean, so to speak, about my own experiences? Is it unprofessional? Will it freak the sound guy out? By the time we got to that point of the interview, I was so excited by everything Keith and Daphne were saying (if you haven't seen the story they are this incredibly sweet, articulate and cute couple) that I couldn't contain myself any longer. So disclose I did. No one seemed to care and the interview continued along its merry way.

Cory Silverberg
Head Researcher, SexTV