Meaning of Amateur?

[jer468]

I'm always confused about the meaning of "amateur" as it pertains to porn.

I always assumed that "amateur" meant 'not professional' ... in other words, videos like Sneek Peak or maybe Milit*ry Classyfied etc. But in looking at some of the tag lines I see videos with people like Jeff Palmer, Orion Cross or any of 10,000 recognizable Czech dudes directed by Vlado Iresh which are described as "amateur". Given that these guys are clearly professional pornographers, I don't understand what the "amateur" refers to.

Does "amateur" versus "professional" refer to a story line and set and costumes? So if the guy is playing Lawrence of Arabia getting pummeled in a dessert then he's professional?

I guess I don't understand why the word "amateur" is used at all unless it is Vinnie giving Buzz head.

 

[ggold]

Could it be simply that people don't care what they put as a category? Works for Twink too, and Gay, and ...

 

[jer468]

Could it be simply that people don't care what they put as a category? Works for Twink too, and Gay, and ...

Fair response except that there is actually a company called Gay Amateur Video that would stock all of the examples I referred to above. I'd have to think that their name must have meant something.

 

[ggold]

I think it meant that they wanted customers to come, even if they were a bit off point.

 

[bjlegs]

Could it be simply that people don't care what they put as a category? Works for Twink too, and Gay, and ...

Couldn't agree more. You get posts labelled as Twinks with Bears and Hunks only in them all of the time - even get bareback posts with condoms lol.

 

[likeme]

I have never really understood the meaning either. I thought it also meant that they do not have much experience either in sex or something.

 

[MattFla]

I agree with all of you. especially posts here that seem to just go anywhere

 

[HustleMe15]

This is actually a pretty good question, especially with today's explosion of self made porn from phones, or video sites like Chaturbate, Omegle, and the like.

The actual definition of amateur is someone who engages in an activity as a pasttime, rather than a profession. So if someone is on Chaturbate goes online to make money for food, rent, clothes and stuff, he would be a professional. But if they go online just every so often to make a buck maybe to get a toy or something, then they would be amateur.

I would think that about 95% of the stuff that is made by the people in the videos would be amateur. If you're doing a scene for Helix, or BoyCrush, ACM, or another established studio, and you're a frequent person in them, say like Ian Levie, Rui Melo, Scotty Clarke, then you would be a professional.

At least that's my take on it.

 

[gb2000ie]

The root of the word amateur is "amour" - an amateur is someone who does something 'for the love of it' - be that sculpting, painting, porn, railway model building, anything. Whether or not you make money at it actually doesn't matter.

A professional is someone who does something as their profession - that is, as their primary source of income.

Professionional and Amateur are not acyually antonyms for each other - you can do something both for the love of it, and as your primary source of income!

Also, you can make money at something and not have it be your profession. The chances are a lot of models are NEITHER amateur nor professional - if they do porn to augment their income they are not professional, and if they do it because the need the money, then they are not amateurs!

The words amateur and professional have been successfully perverted by marketing executives to sell men DIY equipment!

B.

 

[gorgik9]

"In the beginning" was the latin verb amo(amare,amavi,amatum) meaning to love or to like, to be fond of. Odi et amo is the beginning of a well known ancient latin poem: "I hate and I love".

All the modern Romance languages has its origins in latin, so we have:

catalan: amar
french: aimer
italian: amare
portuguese: amar
spanish: amar

But there are also lots of latin loans in English: amorous

Gb. socio-economic analysis of the pair of concepts amateur/professional is just brilliant! Thanks!

 

[brmstn69]