Our recent influx of movies from Ty Lattimore Entertainment has reminded us that there's a hell of a lot more to 'ethnic' porn than the whole "big black cocks" cliche. Yes, it is a fact that many black dudes are blessed with larger than average members, which may be why interracial porn is so popular in the straight world. But when we saw the black on black gay action in some of these movies, big cocks were the last things on our minds.

See, it's not easy for black guys to be gay, and as for starring in gay porn movies - well that's downright dangerous. There's not many places homophobia is more prevalent than in hip hop culture, with a disturbingly high number of popular artists releasing songs full of anti gay lyrics which range from everyday 'faggot' insults to outright death threats.

This is the music embraced by and influencing black culture, music that reinforces exaggerated images of straight black masculinity and discredits anything outside that image. And being gay is about as far from the 'pimp and thug' image as it is possible to be.

Going on the down-low has long been a source of controversy in the black community, not only for the shame inherent in betraying traditional family and church values, but also the dual issues of HIV and homophobia. And until being gay is less stigmatised in ethnic culture, these men will be afraid to come out of the closet and continue to practice high risk, often unprotected gay sex in secret - and the AIDS situation will get progressively worse.

All this is the backdrop to an already complex issue - black men in porn. Black dudes have to fight the wideheld notion that they're merely a token sexual niche, or that they're not hot in their own right. They're reduced down to their horse sized cocks, and are expected to have large, muscular bodies. And white performers usually earn far more per scene. Many won't work with black pornstars, and of the ones that do, many refuse to bottom to them. Of the few that will bottom to them, they usually won't bareback.

This is why we're all admiration and aching hardons for men like Ty Lattimore. He may have a 9" cock, but he's far more than that - and I don't mean the stereotypical big black muscular body type either. This man is real all the way through, from his thick carpet of curly body hair to his average physique, to his pierced nipples.

Ty isn't afraid to buck the trend and face the music as a visible black gay porn actor. In his films, he also uses the kind of black guys you'd meet on the street - not the ripped, unrealistic donkey dick steroid type models so common in much American ethnic porn. And he himself really cares about making a product that's honest and down to earth sexy - not fake. In an interesting interview he did with 'brotha2brotha', a weblog aimed at black gay men, Ty describes himself as very passionate:

When you watch one of Ty's movies, you might just see ethnic porn in a new light. Here's some of our favourites: