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Porn Diaries: How To Succeed In Hardcore Without Really Trying
Be afraid, darling. Be VERY afraid. For the very first time, the collected thoughts about (gay) porn from the one and only Advocate for Fagdom! The notorious cult director and “Reluctant Pornographer” Bruce LaBruce is a well-known key figure of the New Queer Cinema. Starting in the late 80s in Toronto with queer punk fanzines and Super 8 short films, and later entering the international independent movie scene, LaBruce was already writing and taking photographs for magazines such as "Honcho", "Inches", "Exclaim!", "Vice" and many more. This compilation covers the thought-provoking, political, opinionated and cleverly-pointed articles the director has written about pornography. A glorious read - if you aren‘t afraid of good, old-fashioned obscenity! Includes a conversation between LaBruce and gay porn legend Peter Berlin, numerous essays, articles, stories, and three shooting diaries, for SKIN GANG, THE RASPBERRY REICH and L.A. ZOMBIE. Includes numerous pages of still photography, artworks and Portraits.
284 pages, Paperback
Published July 5, 2016
About the author
Bruce LaBruce
19 books17 followersBruce LaBruce is a Canadian writer, film-maker, photographer and underground gay porn star based in Toronto.
LaBruce was born Justin Stewart in Southampton, Ontario. He first gained public attention with the publication of the queer punk zine J.D.s, which he co-edited with G.B. Jones. He currently writes and photographs for a variety of publications including Vice, Nerve.com and BlackBook magazine, and has made a number of controversial films which merged the artistic techniques of independent film with gay pornography.
He has also previously been a columnist for the Canadian music magazine Exclaim! and Toronto's Eye Weekly, and he was a contributing editor and photographer for many years at New York's Index magazine. He has also been published in Toronto Life and the National Post as well as the UK Guardian.
LaBruce was born Justin Stewart in Southampton, Ontario. He first gained public attention with the publication of the queer punk zine J.D.s, which he co-edited with G.B. Jones. He currently writes and photographs for a variety of publications including Vice, Nerve.com and BlackBook magazine, and has made a number of controversial films which merged the artistic techniques of independent film with gay pornography.
He has also previously been a columnist for the Canadian music magazine Exclaim! and Toronto's Eye Weekly, and he was a contributing editor and photographer for many years at New York's Index magazine. He has also been published in Toronto Life and the National Post as well as the UK Guardian.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 13, 2026
Having viewed some of BLaB’s stuff I was keen to read about the making of these arty porno films.
He writes well: insightful, witty, interesting and funny. Quite a bit of repetition since some of these articles were pulled from different sources and publications, so this was inevitable..
He writes well: insightful, witty, interesting and funny. Quite a bit of repetition since some of these articles were pulled from different sources and publications, so this was inevitable..
January 2, 2025
3.5/5
I found Bruce LaBruce’s Porn Diaries to be an intriguing and engaging read, though not without its flaws. What I loved most was his humor, candor, and the sheer intelligence that shines through his writing. The book felt like a peek behind the curtain, offering fascinating insights and stories that kept me turning the pages.
However, the scattered format of the book made it feel disjointed at times, and the repetition throughout (especially in the beginning) was frustrating. Some of his ideas felt underdeveloped, leaving me wanting more depth or clarity. One thing that bothered me was his cynicism towards modern pornography—especially since he admits he doesn’t follow it very closely. It felt like a weak spot in an otherwise thoughtful exploration.
The inclusion of images also fell short for me. For a book about porn, a good number of the images felt like an afterthought, thrown in without much description or context. On top of that, they were hard to make out in the black-and-white format and, to my bigger annoyance, censored.
While the book has its shortcomings, it’s still a fascinating dive into LaBruce’s world. If you can embrace the chaos and imperfections, there’s plenty here to appreciate.
I found Bruce LaBruce’s Porn Diaries to be an intriguing and engaging read, though not without its flaws. What I loved most was his humor, candor, and the sheer intelligence that shines through his writing. The book felt like a peek behind the curtain, offering fascinating insights and stories that kept me turning the pages.
However, the scattered format of the book made it feel disjointed at times, and the repetition throughout (especially in the beginning) was frustrating. Some of his ideas felt underdeveloped, leaving me wanting more depth or clarity. One thing that bothered me was his cynicism towards modern pornography—especially since he admits he doesn’t follow it very closely. It felt like a weak spot in an otherwise thoughtful exploration.
The inclusion of images also fell short for me. For a book about porn, a good number of the images felt like an afterthought, thrown in without much description or context. On top of that, they were hard to make out in the black-and-white format and, to my bigger annoyance, censored.
While the book has its shortcomings, it’s still a fascinating dive into LaBruce’s world. If you can embrace the chaos and imperfections, there’s plenty here to appreciate.
December 17, 2025
A very tongue in cheek read if you’ve ever been curious about what actually goes into the making of porn, or more accurately sexually explicit art house films as a feature length film of zombie porn serving as a metaphor for conformity and the brutalisation of the homeless does feel distinct from typical hardcore porn.
Bruce La Bruce has an interesting perspective on porn and it’s fascinating how blurs the boundary/plays in the gray space between explicit erotic art and pornography to stimulate both the intellect and the physical body at the same time.
Below are some standout passages and notions from his essays that I thought were interesting:
“In this era of rampant assimilationism and gay conservatism, I see pornography as the last refuge of homosexual radicalism”
“I always say that porn is in some ways like a vast collective sexual unconscious. Where all sorts of dark and politically incorrect fantasies can be worked out in a healthy and discreet and unharmful way.”
“I try to be as polymorphously perverse as I can, to make art and live in a state of sexual excitation. That doesn’t mean having a lot of sex all the time but just recognising that sexual energy is life energy and that you must happen into it if only by being conscious of it.”
“Making porn for me has to do with the rage of being forced to repress my homosexuality when I was a kid. For me it was like throwing down the gauntlet. It’s a kind of gay radicalism, like the ultimate expression of gay visibility and gay identity. There’s no dodging the issue like the gays now try to do by making homosexuality less threatening and more normalised toning down the sexuality and trying to adopt the idea of family values of marriage and children and buying into conservative institutions like patriotism and the military.”
“I don’t even incorporate [porn] into my sex life. One reason for this may be that like many gay men I tend to live my life as if I were a porn star anyway”
Bruce La Bruce has an interesting perspective on porn and it’s fascinating how blurs the boundary/plays in the gray space between explicit erotic art and pornography to stimulate both the intellect and the physical body at the same time.
Below are some standout passages and notions from his essays that I thought were interesting:
“In this era of rampant assimilationism and gay conservatism, I see pornography as the last refuge of homosexual radicalism”
“I always say that porn is in some ways like a vast collective sexual unconscious. Where all sorts of dark and politically incorrect fantasies can be worked out in a healthy and discreet and unharmful way.”
“I try to be as polymorphously perverse as I can, to make art and live in a state of sexual excitation. That doesn’t mean having a lot of sex all the time but just recognising that sexual energy is life energy and that you must happen into it if only by being conscious of it.”
“Making porn for me has to do with the rage of being forced to repress my homosexuality when I was a kid. For me it was like throwing down the gauntlet. It’s a kind of gay radicalism, like the ultimate expression of gay visibility and gay identity. There’s no dodging the issue like the gays now try to do by making homosexuality less threatening and more normalised toning down the sexuality and trying to adopt the idea of family values of marriage and children and buying into conservative institutions like patriotism and the military.”
“I don’t even incorporate [porn] into my sex life. One reason for this may be that like many gay men I tend to live my life as if I were a porn star anyway”
October 21, 2023
LaBruce’s acerbic vernacular and contemporaneous prose of his oh-so-many lives in film and revolution marks him as the truest rebel of queerdom.
“The mainstream gay movement wants to dissociate itself from its unruly, undomesticated members and sweep things like the leather community and pornography and prostitution under the carpet. To me they’re fighting for the right to be as bland and boring as the majority. It’s a kind of betrayal of the early roots of the gay movement”
“The mainstream gay movement wants to dissociate itself from its unruly, undomesticated members and sweep things like the leather community and pornography and prostitution under the carpet. To me they’re fighting for the right to be as bland and boring as the majority. It’s a kind of betrayal of the early roots of the gay movement”
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews