“You connect with people through these sessions,” he said. According to Marcus, the action on these platforms not only provides fuel for his bate, but it also provides a sense of community with other like-minded bators who enjoy the art of self-pleasure as much as he does. Social media apps are connecting people around the world for a myriad of reasons, including sex, with solosexuals and self-identified bators utilizing apps such as Twitter, Telegram, and Band to connect. “So now, instead of going to porn and masturbating any time of the day, I'm now masturbating at specific points of the day when these group bates are happening. “I'm seeing real-time stroking, real-time nutting, real-time everything,” said Marcus. But the pandemic changed his bate routine after he discovered the pleasures of virtual bating, which he says is hotter than bating to porn. Marcus tells The Reckoning that his day usually begins and ends with bating, usually to porn streamed from PornHub or MyVidster to his television.
![gay men jacking off and edging gay men jacking off and edging](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/AZAAAOSw7xlfP0iI/s-l400.jpg)
“I know for sure it's going to get done right.” I’ve mastered the art of pleasuring myself,” he said. Unlike sex with a partner, Marcus describes his solo bate sessions as one without pretense or expectations of anyone but himself. “There was a point where I was up to two to three times a day,” says Marcus, 41, an Atlanta resident and account manager who identifies as solosexual. For these men, and perhaps, many more like them, getting off solo is not a substitution for “the real thing,” their sex lives are real and so are the mind-blowing orgasms they experience multiple times a day. While this reality may not be revolutionary, especially considering the data from one study that suggests 92% of American men masturbate, these three Black gay men are doing two things the majority of the population refuse to do-they’re talking openly about their masturbatory practices, with two of the three men exclusively identifying as solosexual-individuals who prefer masturbation (or “bating” as it’s commonly called) over other forms of sexual activity. These men are taking their pleasure into their own hands.