Torso (May 1988), Part Two

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Torso (May 1988), Part One

After replying to an advertisement for male models in Frontiers in 1984, Jim Bentley began a long career in the adult film industry, starring in dozens of films over the span of nearly three decades, including Falcon’s Splash trilogy, and publishing an autobiography – Last Time I Drew a Crowd – in 2005. In this 1988 interview for Torso, he discusses the two-year hiatus his former boyfriend made him take due to fears of AIDS. As Bentley explains: “He brought a lot of things to my attention, including the AIDS crisis and the things I was doing.” Following their breakup, Bentley returned to the industry; however, safe sex became a primary focus for him. Also featured in the first half of this issue (which has been broken into two parts) is a review of the adult film Thick ‘N Creamy, the winner of the 1987 Torso Coverman Search Contest, and a photospread titled “Executive Privilege.”

Blueboy (May 1980)

This May 1980 issue of Blueboy contains an article on the attempts of Paul Tsongas, a senator from Massachusetts, to amend Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include sexual orientation as one of the qualities protected from employment discrimination. Despite Tsongas’ work, senators Paul Laxalt from Nevada and Larry McDonald from Georgia launched a vehement campaign against the change, killing the effort. To this date, sexual orientation and gender identity do not appear on the list of protected traits, but the 2020 Supreme Court case Bostock v Clayton County did rule that gender identity and sexual orientation were part of sex and could not be used by employers to discriminate against employees. In addition to the article about Tsongas’ amendment, this issue also contains a showcase of men in sportswear.