All Comments on 'Rio, Ex-Pornstar Pt. 11'

For me, it’s very hard to get invested in a love story where both guys say “I love you” and seem sincere about it, but in their inner thoughts they are unsure if they really do love each other, or if they just lust for each other sexually (though they aren’t gay!). Couple that with each of them fucking others, being cool with an open relationship, yet each feeling conflicted (probably jealous) about what that means for them as a couple. If they don’t respect their relationship by being exclusive then it’s not really much of a love story. I’m sure others likely disagree but it’s losing its spark when they don’t actually commit to each other in any meaningful way.

Thanks for commenting, I really appreciate it!

I don’t see this exclusively as a love story. It’s intended to be much more complex, and hopefully more interesting to the reader, than that.

When I try to imagine what it’d feel like to be in a relationship with a pornstar, monogamy would surely be impossible. Rio could only be ‘exclusive’ to Jay by giving up his career, and Jay doesn’t want Rio to ever have to make that choice. And Rio’s position is that it wouldn’t be fair to Jay if he’s able to have sex with others, but Jay can’t.

This is the first same-sex relationship for either of them, and maybe they’re still figuring out how to make it work. Rio is full of self-doubt because of the way his last big relationship ended (see chapter 6) and maybe he’s scared of the same thing happening again, especially just as his career is coming back, so maybe he’s still finding it hard sometimes to know what to say and to understand how he truly feels.

Rio is investing heavily in a deep, deep companionship, but the reason he isn’t sure whether it’s ‘love’ is because he’s had so little exposure to love in his past. Rio isn’t taking Jay’s love and company for granted: he treasures it deeply. He just doesn’t know how to reciprocate.

Like they say in the classics, it’s complicated!

Thanks for the explanation author and for a long chapter. Life is often complicated as you’ve said. You know even straight couples sometimes have a problem where one person has really never known love and may take a long time to figure that out, if ever. I guess I don’t know how pornstars live in real life in relationships be they open or not. I would suspect some of them, perhaps older, are able to invest in loving and committed relationships (except for one’s job requirements) at least I’d hope so otherwise they will be awfully lonely in life.

I don’t live too far from Chicago so I have enjoyed those references. Rio is working hard to understand Jay and it’s really endearing. Now if Jay can finally imagine them ‘sitting and reading their novels on their couch with their feet touching’ (they already do this at bedtime).