SPECIAL AGENT DALE COOPER

every boy with a blog watches "girls" and imagines that he would be hannah (and the gay boys especially so after that bit of dialogue between hannah and the woman who sees her at the std clinic in episode two). but then i got a text message. he'd watched the show, and the one who reminded him of me was adam. huh. but i took it. if only because he looks so good out of those pants. and anyway, adam wouldn't give a shit.

but then we're in bed, and at one particular moment in the action he tells me that with my mustache i look particularly like dale cooper. i couldn't recall kyle maclachlan ever sporting any facial hair in "twin peaks," but i took it. adam, after all, wouldn't give a shit.

but then i went online. and as it turns out, this dale cooper looks pretty good out of his pants himself. what's more, it might very well be that my peers (and the gay boys especially so) are more familiar with dale cooper the porn performer than they are with the character from that early nineties david lynch series. i watched some videos. and i enjoyed them instead of wondering what my enjoyment of porn videos starring a performer who i'd been told looked like me meant about the dimensions of my fantasies. but i don't think that dale cooper would give a shit.

i'd found some videos, but i'd also found dale's website, as well as links to the articles he's written for the "gay voices" section of the huffington post. and i might have been surprised at the quality of the latter if i hadn't already checked out the books on the amazon wish list that's posted at the former. granted, the articles are a bit overly jargony. they smack slightly of the zealousness of a first foray into sexuality studies and postmodern cultural theory (check that wish list). this dale cooper is ultra-keen on social praxis and agency. and that's not to say that we shouldn't be, only that maybe not in so many words. some of us have read that book or been to that lecture before. some of us have had our lives affected directly by one or another of his topics. on the other hand, cooper's chosen lexicon is also a demonstration of the keenness of his pursuit of the knowledge represented by that wish list; and to hear a person so responsible for the construction and perpetuation of (certain) sexual fantasies hold forth on the less fantastic social and economic implications of the market for those fantasies isn't just refreshing, it's refreshingly welcome. i'll take it.

but maybe this dale cooper, for the simple fact of being a porn performer, isn't as responsible for the construction of those fantasies as we might like to simply assume. as cooper himself writes in his response to the new york times obituary of erik rhodes: "unfortunately, as in similar cases, the escapades [and death, in this case] of a porn performer are ultimately tied to some abuse by the industry, as if the explicit erotica business were the only or even the chief producer of sexual fantasy, not hollywood, or the advertising business, or the tabloid industry, or television. as consumers, of this obituary and of the overall story of mr. rhodes as told through his social-media outlets and his porn, we need to be aware that we are complicit in the structuring of a double bind that says, 'give us our sexual fantasy,' and, at the same time, 'you will get what is coming to you.'" rhodes' life ended at thirty as a result of maybe cooper's interest in perceptions of the porn industry -- and of sex work in general -- are self-interested, but every industry should have such an articulate advocate. what's more, cooper's writing on the porn industry (which i trust and respect more for his proximity than for his reading) also poignantly address problems surrounding general perceptions of homosexuality.

i won't go much further. i'll assume you've read the book or have already been to this lecture. we know that gay is only okay if it's male, affluent and white, and that the fight for gay marriage is battling us paradoxically toward our general conservatization. and we know that all of that is part of a more general anti-feminist trend. we know that we need to universalize health care, and that the system of capital that denies it from the people most in need is the same system that underclasses them. we know that what sex workers do is valuable, legitimate work. hiv/aids isn't over, and complacency isn't just frustrating, it's dangerous.

but there's something special about a picture of a man who's been idealized primarily for his sexual prowess reading barthes (while stroking that prowess) bespectacled in bed. unfortunately, i wonder if enough people are reading him. of all of cooper's articles, the one that drew the greatest response (and by far) was his article on the growing trend toward "douchebaggery" on the gay app grindr. and don't get me wrong: in the article cooper very much addresses some important issues of queer identity and community as they're being affected by tech-driven interactions in the age of the smartphone. it's just that the dozens of people seemingly concerned with the hegemony of the (white) "masculine young professional" on grindr could probably stand to lend an ear or a voice to the other issues raised by cooper in his other articles as well. but oh well. at least there's a dale cooper writing the articles he does at all.

then again, if you watch a smattering of his performances, it definitely seems like cooper has put on some handsomely toned weight during his time in the business. and the characters he plays don't seem to break any sort of molds. does that represent a double standard? or is it simply an example of the very contradictions of the industry standard on which the porn performer dale cooper writes? i don't know anything about his background and so i can't speak to issues of social or economic class, but this dale cooper isn't someone that anyone would reject on grindr. (after watching one particular performance of his, i realized that i'd sent him a couple of messages myself while i was in l.a. in october.) should we give a shit?

i suppose that the important thing is that he's bringing it up. plus, one of his bios at huffington does say that he's a social worker and activist in addition to being a porn performer and writer. (incidentally, although he doesn't play one himself, in one of his movies he does blackmail a secret agent.) given cooper's professional vantage -- and its potential stigma -- is he due any extra credit? should there something to be said for just putting it out there? shall we take it at that? i will.