Sock It To Me!

Contributed by Mark Weiler

I am often asked how it is possible for a man to do a nude love scene with a beautiful naked woman without getting aroused. First, it is very difficult to do a love scene WITH an erection. Primarily, where would one hide it? And apparently it needs to be hidden because Hollywood doesn’t yet seem evolved enough yet to embrace the striking visual imagery of the male erection. Secondly, there’s nothing worse than leaving a set with blue balls. Unlike most day-to-day erections, set erections are usually left unsatisfied.


To assist in this process, we are not entirely nude. Men wear “socks” (or "booties") made from knee-hi nylon stockings, and women wear “patches,” which are actually giant band-aids, over their genitals. Both items can be found at any pharmacy in America.

The sock is pulled over the sack and shaft. Excess can be tucked in or tied off. Some wardrobe techs (who are responsible for providing the socks to the performers) also offer a hair tie (rubber band) to secure the sock in place. I do know one particular performer who needed the rubber band to keep the sock from slipping off. His response was, “What do you want from me? I’m Asian!” On the Emmanuelle series, a new make-up artist was curious to peek in on a pending love scene from afar. She gasped and ran back in the room to announce that the male performer was deformed. I went and check and reported that he looked normal to me. She said, “but he has a extra layer of skin down there!” unaware of the sock phenomena.


The sock acts as a numbing agent from stimulation. It also, is a bit of a psychological reminder to the rules of the game. After many years in the genre, the visual of a naked woman is not that arousing to me. It’s a very common, natural state found in any anatomy book. Physical contact and intimate chemistry is what turns me on the most. The general agreement among performers is that there will be no genital contact, and it’s a little difficult to have real intimacy when surrounded by ten fat, hairy, old, clothed crew guys pointing metal objects like mics, cameras, lights and bounce boards at us. However, there have been times when a woman will break the rules and grab or lick me, and I’ll get aroused. At that moment, the sock may then pop off like a slingshot and we’re left with the original dilemma… where to hide it?! I’ve found that pressing it up against the woman’s ass cheek to be the most effective until the director yells cut and re-adjustments can be made.


People also ask me why there is no full frontal male nudity in erotic cinema, and my response is that it is cinema. It is illusion and fantasy. Showing a flaccid penis kills the illusion of true love-making. The sock acts as protection for the artist so that the production company can’t use the full frontal nude photos for profit. We don’t get paid for that, and leaving some things to the imagination can be far sexier.

Unlike hardcore pornography, there is no necessity for male performers to get erections, therefore shyness, nervousness or equipment malfunction aren’t problematic to the production.

Also, unlike pornography, performers are not required to be tested or necessarily use contraception. Therefore it’s safer to leave the temptation out of the equation and just wear the damn sock. Besides, kissing is just as much fun and not nearly as much drama!


Mark Weiler has starred in over twenty erotic films including Visions of Passion, Sex Spa 2, and Naked Players. He also is a regular on the CW series, "What I Like About You," starring Amanda Bynes and Jennie Garth. Mark Weiler is repped by Ben Scantlin at Imagination 9, (323) 874-9991.