Black Gay Porn Stars Tell The Truth About Creaming Creaming has become a point of pride for some Black gay adult performers, but the trend is not without potential danger.

By Michael Blackmon
Posted on July 29, 2021
JD Blackstone, a 33-year-old amateur adult performer based in Atlanta, has been working as a porn star — on-again, off-again — for about a decade. (He has a regular 9-to-5 job in public health advocating for HIV prevention and awareness.) But in his many years of experience, there’s one aspect of gay sex that, until he turned 25, remained a mystery: the act of creaming. “I never really knew what creaming was,” Blackstone said, “but I just knew that the tops would always say, ‘You creamy,’ and I would be like, ‘What the fuck is that?’”

While creaming can occur in straight sex, creaming in the context of gay porn is when the bottom, the performer in the receptive position, produces a translucent, sometimes white, substance from their anus, a reaction to the pleasure they’re experiencing from the top, the insertive partner. Online, especially on Twitter, there are debates over whether or not creaming is a legitimate bodily reaction (it is!) or whether it’s something the person producing the cream should get checked out by a physician (possibly!). You could argue it has become the ultimate signifier of mind-blowing sex, especially within Black gay porn. And with the rise of direct-to-consumer platforms like OnlyFans and JustForFans, creaming appears to be more popular. I spoke with both a proctologist about the science behind creaming and performers (who all chose to be identified by their stage names) about the trend and the lengths that some of them have seen others go to in order to make themselves appear to be natural creamers.

“I noticed that it was just common whenever I had sex,” another performer named Phatrabbitkiller told me. (Here’s what his stage name means if you’re curious.) “Again, [sex] was my only reference so I didn’t really know that this was some kind of anomaly,” he said. The 32-year-old DC-based performer has been making porn for three years after realizing that he could make being an adult star a viable career path. On the subject of creaming, specifically its absence in early-2000s porn and subsequent rise in studio porn today, he said, “I’m going to arrogantly take credit for this because I hadn’t seen it before [in studio porn].” His adult videos consistently garner thousands of retweets and likes and usually showcase a performer creaming, a feature that’s become a signature part of his videos. Because platforms like OnlyFans have made it easier for performers to make a profit off of their intimate videos, studios have had to find ways to compete by featuring kinks, fetishes, and trends that have become interests for the average porn consumer. “I feel like [creaming] was there before, and things were being edited out,” he said.

Performer Chino Blac, who has been working in porn on and off since 2016, agrees. He said creaming wasn’t popular in studio porn from decades ago, but that with the rise of sites like Xtube, which showcases amateur videos, creaming has become more popular. “We’re seeing more real people, real situations, and real things going on because in [studio] porn, you’re not getting to that place of being comfortable,” he said. “You’re in performance mode. So everything is about a performance aesthetic. When you’re having sex in your home, it’s just you. Those are natural body functions.”

“I’ve noticed a rise in my own interactions with people [discussing creaming],” said Tolliver, 35, a professional soul singer based in Los Angeles who has worked as a porn editor for the last six years, editing what he estimates to have been more than 1,200 scenes so far. Asked whether he’s noticed any particular focus on creaming in the kind of porn he edits, which feature mostly white performers, he explained: “When you’re editing white porn performers, if they cream, it’s not super visible. But I think in Black porn it’s like even more prized because, if I’m being very frank, that kind of thing is going to show up on our dicks more. It adds a level of visual stimulation,” he said. Other people in the gay porn industry speculate that the prominence of creaming in amateur porn is the next logical step, a way of standing out from other performers. “We’re in 2021. Everything is about [what’s] new, elevating, and evolution,” said Genuine Papi, a 21-year-old performer who lives in Georgia. “But creaming … that’s good sex that we’ve never seen before.”

Xaddy Corvinus, 29, has been an adult performer for four years, beginning as an exotic dancer before transitioning to amateur videos. He talked to me about the arguments he has gotten into— sometimes with fellow sex workers — about creaming, something he said has naturally happened for him since he began having sex. According to Corvinus, who lives in Atlanta, which has become a mecca for Black gay men, the debate about creaming — with people questioning if it’s real or not — is “literally like a weekly topic. It’s actually kind of irritating,” he said. “People kind of insinuated, ‘Oh, you must have an STD, you must have this, you must have that or this must be wrong,’’ he said. “And so to make sure that I was speaking fact, not fiction, [I said], ‘I’m gonna go get tested.’” Corvinus said everything came back normal but that didn’t stop detractors, who were then convinced it was the type of lube he was using. But that wasn’t the culprit either. Eventually, he just came to accept that this was something that naturally happens to him during sex. “So it was like, ‘Huh, I’m not going to go back and forth with these people trying to convince them that what’s coming out of my body is not manufactured, not just put on for a show, no, I’m not going to do this.”

I wanted to find someone who could give me definitive answers about creaming, so I reached out to Evan Goldstein, a 45-year-old proctologist based in New York City. Goldstein specializes in queer men’s sexual health at his practice, Bespoke Surgical. “Look, everybody can get off with different things. A lot of people feel as if they’re like coming out of their asshole and it becomes like, ‘Can I make somebody come out their ass?’ And it becomes this achievement,” said Goldstein. But he mentions that there are a few things to take into consideration. “If someone is creaming, we need to really first make sure that there’s not an STD, because sexually transmitted diseases can create so much mucus that it looks like someone is creaming, but they may have chlamydia or gonorrhea and not even know it,” explained Goldstein. “So the first thing, when someone says, ‘Oh, I’m a big creamer,’ I’m always like, ‘OK, well let’s first make sure there’s no STD.’” The second concern is that “people [who have anal sex] are douching a lot, and they’re over-douching.” According to Goldstein, over-douching leads to excess mucus production. This “causes so much damage to the insides [that] the microbiome and the protective lining of our intestines actually gets washed away. And because things are so irritated, the body produces this mucus as a protection,” he said. “And that mucus becomes creamy and looks like cum, and people think, Oh, it’s sexy and it’s creamy, but it’s actually not only over-douching, it’s using the wrong substance to clean out.”

This doesn’t mean that creaming is inherently bad, or not real. “Maybe they have a gland that’s a little bit hyperactive and responding,” Goldstein told me. “But with that said, I honestly think that probably most creaming can have consequences.” Creaming occurs when the anus releases protective rectal fluid. As we age, Goldstein explained, the anal cavity may become looser, meaning that someone could leak that fluid involuntarily. “So I honestly think it’s mostly an irritant that’s causing it, but I understand why people love it,” he said.

Some performers love creaming so much, they have tried to induce it by taking illegal drugs. Blackstone, the performer who works in public health and told me he only considers porn to be a “hustle,” said this particular trend is called a “booty bump.” (It’s also known as “boofing.”) “Bottoms now are taking drugs [such as cocaine or meth] and sticking it in their booty, and it’s giving them this wet sensation, this everlasting high, creaming sensation,” said Blackstone.

“I’ve done it. It’s pretty awesome,” Papi told me, referring to sleeping with someone who had participated in the “booty bump” trend. He said it “made the sex better” and that although he was the top, he was “lit for an hour or two” afterward. “I don’t think that [administering drugs via the rectum] induces creaming at all,” which differs from what Blackstone believes, “I feel like it might dry you out a little bit.”

Sticking illicit substances in your rectum can be dangerous, Goldstein told me when I followed up with him. Because of how vascular the anal and rectal cavities are — meaning there are lots of blood vessels — this part of the body is “perfectly situated to allow for rapid uptake and initiation of the properties specific to each substance,” he said. “Many people boof not only for the mind-altering effects, but more often to help fully relax anally, allowing for complete gaping and better bottoming. However, people need to be careful because the short-term effects include the complete loss of pain receptors that, from a sexual perspective, could lead to anal damage without even knowing it,” he said. And in the long run, there could be damage to the tissue within the anal cavity. “Anal sex can be traumatic on its own and adding something like boofing can just exacerbate it. I tell my clients: make sure you can bottom (or be fisted) without any substances, whether it’s alcohol, narcotics, or even poppers. This will ensure the skin and the muscle are truly able to accommodate whatever or whoever you’re playing with.”

While some people speculate that performers use Albolene, a thick white lubricant, to make it look like someone is creaming, Papi said it isn’t something he would ever do, boasting that he “can make anybody cream.” He added, “When they’re not creaming, I’m pretty bored. I’m asking myself, ‘Why aren’t they? And am I doing it right?’” His thoughts echo something Phatrabbitkiller said, speaking specifically about why making another person cream feels like such a triumph. “Now it is not because you’re just a dick-throwing master, but also it is because you’re a dick-throwing master,” he said with a laugh. “So if the conditions are right, it is going to happen. However, there are ways that you can stroke and enter and penetrate the hole to ensure [your partner will cream].”

For other performers, like Corvinus, being a creamer is just another way of displaying sexual arousal. “I mean it’s the same thing as heterosexual sex. It’s pretty much the art of — it’s like, damn, I got him wet as fuck — it’s like a next-level wet.” Several of the performers I spoke with told me that experiencing this level of pleasure with a sexual partner usually requires a high level of vulnerability and connection.

Though you may not be able to cream naturally, there’s no reason to fret. Goldstein said there are a variety of lubes that will give you the particular creaming aesthetic you’re going for, including J-Lube and certain brands of fisting lube.

And for people looking for a safer alternative to douching, Goldstein recommended a douching kit (which he sells via Future Method, a company he cofounded). “The liquid that we use needs to be what’s called isotonic, meaning it cleans out, but it doesn’t irritate the cell. It doesn’t change the microbiome. It doesn’t cause issues.” Although he suggested the product, he also explained that douching isn’t necessary if people have a healthy diet.

“The reality is most of us don’t need to douche,” Goldstein said. “If you’re eating correctly, if you’re doing a high-fiber diet, if you’re in a good routine exercise. And I tell people, you know, try using toys on your own without douching so you can see that most people are clean.” Still, Goldstein knows people will continue to douche, but he advises staying away from water, enemas, and shower hoses if you choose to do so.

The most important takeaway from all of this is to trust your body and have fun. “I think people are testing their limits and that’s what is so fun about [creaming],” said Andreas Dederas, aka ICECREAMMFREEK2, a 27-year-old Florida native who relocated to Georgia a couple of years ago. “You know, for me, it’s like extreme pleasure.” Dederas doesn’t identify with any particular sexual orientation, saying, “I don’t really know what to call myself. To me, if it’s beautiful and I like it, I might try.” That approach perfectly sums up his feelings on creaming — a practice he’s done to others and experienced himself.

“I think it’s a cool superpower, [and] I think as long as the person knows what they’re doing, that’s all that matters,” he said. “You have to enjoy yourself.” ●