LOS ANGELES—Men.com is considered one of the most influential studios in gay porn. Always pushing the boundaries with award-winning content and some of the most prolific gay performers active today, the Aylo-owned brand has a reputation for high-end productions and top-notch execution behind the scenes.
In early May 2024, Men.com took another historical step by featuring the studio's first plus-sized male star.
A scene titled "Gobble That Cock" showcases the talents of popular independent content creator Santana XXL in his first studio scene alongside bisexual performer Michael Jackman. By all accounts, the scene was well received and was heralded by the performers, especially Santana, as a positive development in the evolution of gay pornography.
Santana explained that he's been active as an indie gay content creator for nearly a decade. "I've been working that long, making my independent content," he told GayVN.
He recollected that he was simply having fun making content until he started receiving award nominations and winning. In 2023, Santana won the Fleshbot Award for Best Bear. Since then, he's received nominations at other industry award shows, and recently won the 2024 Urban X Award for Gay Performer of the Year.
"Men.com was the first studio work that I've done," Santana explained, noting that principal photography took place in February. "I know they want me back for more."
A spokesperson for Men.com confirmed this and lauded Santana XXL's debut, revealing that the studio is expanding "Gobble That Cock" into a multi-part series.
"He has brought a refreshing quality to Men.com and reaffirmed what our creative team had already suspected: that our audience has an appetite for diverse content," the spokesperson told GayVN.
Elaborating on his career path, Santana said that he began creating content and selling it before platforms like OnlyFans and X (formerly Twitter) became mainstream and made this type of work accessible to millions.
"At the time, I was in a relationship with someone who wanted to record a video with me," he said. "I recorded that video, and I posted it online to several platforms that were available at the time. When I posted that video, it got over a million views, and it essentially went viral. After that, I saw the success and I just started making content over and over. Also, I really wanted to represent bigger boys like me because you don't really see bigger men in gay porn."
Santana explained that he wanted to normalize bigger men appearing in gay porn rather than it being a niche fetish.
He explained, "In the gay porn community, bigger boys are looked down upon. We don't get the same respect. ... When I started in the business, there were some major gay porn stars who were really mean to me. They told me that I was never going to be successful and nobody was going to work with a plus-sized talent. That was another thing that drove me to be successful."
He characterized bigger men in gay porn as "not talked about." People expect these larger performers to strictly work with others like them, he added. A part of what he wants to see change in the adult industry is a focus on the inclusivity porn should represent. Men.com, Santana explained, gave him a platform to defy systematic norms of beauty in the gay segment and is successfully showing that anyone is capable of achieving high critical acclaim.
"The type of men that I film with are like the men I have in my everyday, personal life," Santana concluded. "The thing with me is that I like it when people doubt me. It gives me this drive and this mindset of, 'I am going to show you.' When people doubt me, it keeps me going. It is a force in me that will allow me to reach success."
Santana's critics might be rethinking their insults at this point.
