Textual Intercourse

intimacy. money. Danny Wylde.

2011-03-14T12:46:00.000-07:00

I met Danny Wylde on Tristan Taormino's set about a year ago. His scene with Keni Styles and Adrianna Nicole was the first time I'd seen porn being made in person, and I was fascinated and impressed (and probably very awkward about it). I had seen Danny in scenes previously, but something about seeing the production process in person was an especially powerful experience. Afterward in the green room, talking with Danny and seeing him interact with others, it struck me that he's not much older than most of my students. However, my job would be significantly less depressing and more interesting if more of my students were as insightful and articulate as he. Lately I've been following in his blog, Trve West Coast Fiction, and learning something every time he updates.

Recently he shared a very personal story on his blog about his experience with a fan. The story blurs the solid line we pretend exists between sex work and other intimate experiences. I found myself relating to it on a very personal level, while also recognizing that it was outside my experience. I am always interested to read sex workers' stories, but many come off as quite sensationalistic, seemingly written "in character." Danny's writing never seems to go there- this piece is genuine, open, and very human. Spend the time reading it completely, you'll be glad you did.

Thanks again, Danny, for sharing a piece of your life with us.

Green Sex Toy Giveaway!

2011-02-28T17:34:00.000-08:00

For a while now I've been thinking about shifting the topic of this blog from porn scholarship to commentary on all kinds of sexual things- sex toys, sex positivity, new sexuality research, etc. I have been far too caught up in my own research thus far to follow though, but Epiphora's awesome new toy giveaway gave me the kick in the pants that I needed to follow through on this!

She's giving away ten awesome GREEN sex toys! They all look lovely, and I trust Epiphora to only pick out products that are safe and amazing. Go check out the entry for ways to enter-- because EVERYONE needs a green jeweled glass butt plug. Really and truly.

New HIV case in the industry

2010-10-13T11:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning, a porn performer in the valley tested positive for HIV. As a result, two of the major studios, Vivid and Wicked, have shut down temporarily.

This is going to be a quick and dirty update-- I wanted to post something about this but don't have the time to subject myself to the usual three day agonizing I do before I share anything I ever write. There are some really interesting conversations happening on Twitter right now between people in the industry, and I want to highlight a few of them before they are overtaken by the ever-churning Twittercourse. (Like discourse... but on Twitter. Get it?) Okay, I did say this would be quick and dirty!

Within 24 hours of news of an HIV case in the industry, the homophobia and transphobia comes right out. Luke Ford encourages performers to put "any male OR female who has had sexual relations with a gay (or bisexual) male performer, and any male or female talent who has had sexual relations with a tranny" on their 'No' list (a list of performers they will not work with).

A few recent tweets that reflect the same idea:

@MiaAdultTalent @DukeSkywalker I agree tho I wouldn't shoot a gay guy for straight sex statistically gay males are more prone

@misskyleereese @ARosanoXXX its true pick a fucking side. If u Fuck dudes Fuck dudes stay out of pussys

Across several tweets, @Nica_Noelle had this to say:

I see nothing wrong with the porn community posting/tweeting our concern, panic and outrage over the latest HIV scare/situation. The fact that our group is so relatively small means that when an active performer becomes infected, we should all be worried. Spreading rumors is different than showing a reaction or concern. Mainstream media likes to depict us as oblivious fools who pay no notice. I think the fact that we all react with such alarm and spring into action proves most of us are a responsible, caring group of people. I hope nobody chooses to lash out at gay or bisexual performers as a way to animate their fear. I won't support anyone who goes that route.

More generally, a conversation about porn performers having sex with "civilians" (those outside the industry, who therefore are outside the scope of monthly AIM testing):

@VivalaDommyB @KatieSummersXXX @MiaAdultTalent you don't know what performers are fucking civilians off camera. That is the problem right there #justsaying

@KatieSummersXXX @VivalaDommyB @miaadulttalent I rarely fuck civilians but if I do I make sure there are condoms fuck that im not putting myself or co worker in that position!!

@MissBrittanyXXX @MiaAdultTalent I Produce mainstream films and the most imp thing is safety of actors. Its sad in porn the exploitation of womens health.

@MiaAdultTalent@MissBrittanyXXX I also produce for our new sites and I agree but at the end of the day condoms do and can hurt sales.

@MiaAdultTalent @MissBrittanyXXX BUT I agree I think it should totally be up to performers as it is on our sets

@MissBrittanyXXX @MiaAdultTalent and its sad to here another woman use money as a justification to put other womens lives in danger. SAD!!!

@MiaAdultTalent @MissBrittanyXXX I agree it is sad

Dylan Ryan is a fellow grad student in the industry who I had the fortune to meet on set last year. She had this to say, and then got into a short dialogue with Sinnamon Love:

@thedylanryan Folks! Before we immediately engage in Twitter hysteria about the positive test result, let's consider the person who got it, shall we? #calm

@thedylanryan Is the language of quarantine really necessary? It's HIV, not the bubonic plague. Geez.

@thedylanryan Exactly. RT @pariskennedy: @thedylanryan I know, I hate that word. It's not a fucking zombie apocalypse!

@thedylanryan You know what's awesome? Reinforcing HIV stigma and perpetuating stereotypes about our own/our industry through how we talk about this.

@SinnamonLove @thedylanryan I think it is... because that's what it is. Its a "quarantined" list of people that are unable to work.

@thedylanryan @SinnamonLove Instead: reserved, held, kept. They need not be isolated/secluded. It's not contagious or infectious necessitating quarantine.

@SinnamonLove @thedylanryan But in the context of unprotected sexual intercourse, it is contagious. And since most of the business is non-condom...

Clearly there's a lot more to say about this. I posted some of my thoughts quite a while ago about condoms in porn, but I still have quite a few reservations about this idea of mandating condom use in straight porn. Right now I just want to put this out there and leave you with a question; not whether or not condoms should be used in straight porn, but- who should get to decide?

Inspiration

2010-04-29T19:39:00.000-07:00

My inspiration to study porn and sex comes from different places. I am genuinely interested in the topic-- I don't think anyone should devote six (or seven, or...) years of their life to something that doesn't hold their intellectual curiosity.

I also get inspired by people opening up to me and telling me that they've had some of the same thoughts or feelings that I've had, but they didn't know how to express them or were too ashamed to. I am not sure how or why I should have the authority to give people permission to explore their sexual selves, but some people- I would say perhaps most people at some point- just need to be told by someone that it's okay to be a freak in bed/kinky perv/wanton slut/whatever. I am more than happy to be that person! That's very inspirational to me.

But the inspiration I've been most struck by lately is the type that comes from seeing the truly horrifying consequences of repression, exploitation, and sex education gone terribly horribly wrong, and being so pissed off that I can't imagine doing anything else with my life than combating it. Let me show you what I mean.

Exhibit A

Orgasm, Inc is a film by Liz Canner about the medicalization of "female sexual dysfunction." I cannot wait to see the film, because I was outraged by just the preview:

(Sidenote: Shame on you and your misinforming scare tactics, Oprah.
YAY for you and your topographical map of the clitoris, Carol Queen!)

Exhibit B

As many of you know, I have joined a very awesome sex toy company called Love U*. We sell only body-safe, non-toxic, high quality stuff, and I am so excited to be a part of it. However as part of my sex toy demonstration, I went hunting for some "scary" products to show people What Not To Buy. And I quickly came up with several. One example:

The Stinging Jelly Bacteria Trapper

As one reviewer notes, "it has that awful chemical smell, which prevents me from sucking it (like my husband enjoys). It also irritates my anus..."

Yeah... that awful chemical smell and irritating burning sensation would be because it contains... AWFUL CHEMICALS. Which can be absorbed through the skin, while the porous jelly material traps bacteria. From your butt. Oh joy.

Exhibit C

The ever-vigilant and brilliant Epiphora and her lovely partner in crime Carnivalesq hunted down and lampooned some sketchy guy named Doug who runs a website called HealthyStrokes which, as far as I can tell, exists to tell teenage girls desperate to find out if they are "normal" or not that they must only masturbate

- on a bed
- on their backs
- lightly
- with their fingertips

all to prepare themselves for "sexual success" in hetero missionary-position sex. Possibly with their brothers.

Some days it can be tough to put all my time and money and energy into becoming a sex educator. Days like this, it's easy.

*More on this later, once I figure out how to improve my temporarily lame website.

Video in which I talk about porn in front of 500 people

2010-04-11T19:31:00.000-07:00

Last quarter I was a TA for Soc 1: Introduction to Sociology, a gen ed course that covers a wide variety of concepts related to sociology. During the week about gender, the professor asked if any of us grad students would like to share our gender-related work with the class, so I volunteered to talk a bit about my project.

I forgot until recently that one of my friends took a video of my talk, and I wanted to post the video as a very brief, very basic introduction to my current project. I cut out a bit at the start where we had some technical difficulty with the Powerpoint-- it would not project correctly with my notes, so I gave this talk without any notes whatsoever. Also, unfortunately my camera ran out of space before my final conclusion and the questions from students at the end- but you get most of my talk and a bit of my data.

After the video cuts off, I conclude by relating the story that several of my female participants became much more comfortable in the course of the focus group, and several actually asked me for copies of the porn I showed them during the groups. I told the students that creating open, positive spaces like this and normalizing sexual curiosity for women is an important avenue for change.

The students were actually quite receptive, despite it being 8:30am. The first question I got from a female student was, "What exactly IS feminist porn... and how can I find some??"

I guess I'm doing something right.

TWINCEST.

2010-02-16T11:17:00.000-08:00

A recent post on Queerty ("Free of an agenda... except that gay one") announced that a new boundary had been crossed in porn: sex between gay identical twins.
GAY. IDENTICAL. TWINS.

If these were a brother and sister having sex, there would be prayer meetings and phone banking and marches happening. Why? Well, parts of the straight world (the especially straight parts) have pretty much written off gay men as morally corrupt, lost souls capable of any acts of depravity. So seeing "proof" of this depravity in the form of gay twincest only confirms their beliefs. Horrible and disgusting, but what else could you really expect from those kinds of people.

However, female twincest is celebrated by dominant sex culture. These are the Playboy twins, Kristina and Karissa Shannon:

These all-American girls even star on Girls Next Door, the E! reality show that follows Hugh Hefner's rotating, ever-youthful girlfriends. The twins live with Hef, and "sometimes share his bed." Do images like these evoke comments about destroying the family, the fundamental institution of human civilization? No. But there are lots of comments about how the twins are too flat-chested and are due for twin boob jobs.

Gamelink even has a "Top Porn Twins" list, featuring mostly blonde female twins that "didn't get it on with each other, but they came close... they continue to share boyfriends, girlfriends and toys on their website and in countless online clips."

As with most lez-bunny porn, these women are portrayed as wildly bisexual, the "naughty girl-on-girl" action forever catering to straight male voyeuristic sexual pleasure rather than the subjective pleasure of the two women engaging in sex. This is just another confirmation that as far as most straight men are concerned, two women having sex is all fun and games- after all, it's not REAL sex-with-a-penis sex, so they're really just playing around. Right?

Back to the story about the male twins-- the comments on the blog post are quite informative:

"Hmmm, I see your twins and raise a set of triplets!!! " (link is very explicit)

The Visconti triplets pose naked together, have group sex in which an unrelated man has one brother's cock in his ass and another down his throat, masturbate to one of the brothers having sex with an unrelated male, sometimes give each other handjobs and share double-ended dildos. But since they are not shown having penetrative sex with each other, as the next commenter notes, "they don't do anything together, do they?"

I'm guessing he means that the triplets don't actually fuck each other, they are merely fuck-adjacent. Any action less than penetration by a penis isn't anything, doesn't count as sex? I'll have to remember that.

One of the triplets has said, "We have gotten questions about our sexuality. To tell you the truth, we are a smorgasbord of anything and everything. We’d like to try anything…well except each other because that may be pushing the boundaries; however, it’s not to say that it’s impossible. But as we speak, there are no plans of us “doing” each other."

What? Sexuality is on a spectrum? You're not fully 100% gay like your ads say? *gasp* No!

Back to the comments on the first article:

"This is really disturbing. Making incest look cool is bad. Firstly incest is not appropriate…unlike gay marriage IT DOES HURT the family structure – what next, gay fathers being sexually intimate with their adopted son (even if above 18)? Can you imagine a similar shot showing brother-sister or mother-son? And then gays wonder why people object to them marrying? If the gay culture in US thinks incest is OK, everything needs to be done to ensure that they can not get married, have a legal family etc. Btw... a gay man here."

This person apparently thinks that this is an example of Gays Gone Wild, and if those crazy US gays are going to do horrible things like incest, better not let them have rights! This also plays upon the myth that gay men are more likely to be pedophiles or try to "recruit" adopted children into the "lifestyle." I especially like how this comment is capped off with a claim of insider identity that is supposed to lend legitimacy to his statement. So while "gay culture in the US" is invariable, this gay man (presumably not in the US) has nothing to do with it.*

So what have we learned?

1. Twincest is gross and wrong when the twins are male.
2. Twincest is sexy playful fun when the twins are female.
3. The Visconti brothers are fine as hell.**

Heteronormativity is safe and sound, kids.

*The gay rights movement is no stranger to its more conservative elements condemning the flamboyant behavior of other gay men in a bid to secure respectability and acceptance from hetero culture.

**Oh, don't tell me you didn't think it too!

My Year Without Shame

2010-02-08T13:12:00.000-08:00

The anti-porn community struck again, linking to this article by a former porn camera guy called "Why I Had to Stop Making Hardcore Porn".

The erotophobes* took this as evidence of their tenet that the mainstream hetero porn industry is hopelessly misogynistic and even further, the whole porn industry should clearly just be shut down. Maybe they missed the second page of the article, because at the end he notes,

Moreover, within the world of heterosexual pornography, it’s clear that not every scene is degrading. Some are directed by women, others by alt-porn types who fancy a pink mohawk and maybe a bit of plot more so than your average everyday, run-of-the-mill gang bang; many films, happily, are simply produced by people who don’t seem propelled by anger. Some are just plain damn sexy.

At its worst, though, porn can represent with shocking clarity the inability of a modern society to empathize. We are living in an increasingly individualistic, over-privatized, fragmented society, and it's not going to get any better any time soon. Perhaps the character of our generation will be judged in how we react to the images that run before us on our screens: do we wish for the objects of our desire to be punished, humiliated? Or treated with respect? The answer is in our collective consciousness. It is up to us.

Maybe they just didn't get that far. This guy is refreshingly introspective about his motivations in the industry and the choices he made that could have been better, which I really respect. I still feel his conclusion is a bit essentialist: only women-directed, alternative, "punishment"-free porn is actually sex-positive and acceptable?

I have such a hard time when people ask me what feminist porn is and why I chose to study it. Depending on who is asking, I usually give them the canned, "30 seconds in the elevator" sanitized version, full of academic language and mentions of Foucault. Sometimes I decide to give them a choice: Do they wanted the sound bite, or do they want the real story? Not everyone gets the real story, because it's very personal and risky. And because I allow myself to be shamed into silence.

The truth is, I was interested in studying porn because I have felt strong ambivalence for years about the kind of porn that really gets me off: the "violent and degrading" stuff that so many feminists rail against in very general terms. I used to say I was the "worst feminist ever!" for enjoying scenes of male dominance. But so much of my frustration came from not being able to find porn of this type that is clearly consensual and delightful for all parties. I don't want to watch some poor girl getting slapped around and faux-moaning because she's getting paid to perform that scene, I want to watch women fulfilling their fantasies of power play and submission and getting off on it. Which is still pretty damn hard to find.

This isn't something I'll admit to most people, because I've gotten my share of disgusted reactions from females (and sometimes males) or too-interested and creepily proprietary looks and comments from males. Even men with the best intentions can get this twisted and assume this means they have some kind of special access to me or permission to say whatever they want to me because I've admitted I sometimes like it rough, so I must be "that kind of girl." (Doesn't mean I want to have rough sex with you, buddy!)

Yes, I like being submissive. I like being spanked, slapped, scratched, bitten, held down, tied up. I like being called all the words we have for sexually immoral women. I think having the trust and communication with a partner who truly gets it and can do these things with me with nothing but respect for me is one of the most exciting and intimate experiences I've ever had.

And no, to answer the question that everyone seems entitled to ask: I haven't been raped or sexually abused, though I've had my share of tough experiences. Though for those women who may have been sexually assaulted and are working through their trauma with roleplay involving dominance... so what? What right do we have to judge their choices? Guess what, women (and men) have to deal with the aftermath of assault and pain. It doesn't invalidate their ability to make choices for themselves. Sexuality is a life-long process we all go through, and I have little patience for people who like to police and criminalize and condemn the journey of others.

But back to me, and the fact that I like being pinned down and called a slut.

Part of my journey is trying not to live in shame about who I am and what I enjoy. The personal is political, and if I want to make a real difference and change how people think about women's sexuality, I can't keep tiptoeing around the issue and cloaking my personal story in pure and immaculate academic interest. Some sociologists can live with doing research that removes them from the equation, where they can sit back in the shadows, a mysterious authority on other people's experiences. I can't. Not anymore. The work is too important for me to hold back.

Knowing that friends, family, professors and students have the link to this blog is making me pretty scared about hitting the "Publish Post" button on this one, but this is my resolution of the year: No more living in shame. Here it goes.

*Thanks to Marty Klein, author of America's War on Sex for this deliciously descriptive term.

2010 AVN Award Winners

2010-01-11T21:53:00.000-08:00

The AVN Awards were in Vegas this weekend. I would have loved to go, but I was busy answering 50,000 emails from frantic undergrads... Anyway, I don't really have time to do a full breakdown of the categories and nominees but I wanted to offer my congratulations and condolences to a few favorites:

Congratulations to...

The cast and crew of The 8th Day, who won Best All-Girl Three-Way Sex Scene, Best DVD Extras, Best Editing, Best Makeup, Best On-Line Marketing Campaign- Individual Project, Best Packaging Innovation, Best Special Effects, Best Video Feature, and Best Videography!

Tristan Taormino for Best Educational Release for Expert Guide to Threesomes!

Sasha Grey for Best Anal Sex Scene, Best Oral Sex Scene, Jenna Jameson Crossover Star of the Year!

Penny Flame for Best Supporting Actress in Throat: A Cautionary Tale!

Mr. Marcus for Best DP Scene with Bobbi Starr and Sean Michaels!

Who's Nailin' Paylin? for Clever Title of the Year (though I also liked Coctomom and Jon and Kate Fuck Eight)

Derrick Pierce for Unsung Male Performer of the Year (I couldn't agree more!)

Condolences to...

Sasha Grey, Hillary Scott and Roxy Deville who lost Best Actress.

Hardcore Circus, which lost Best Art Direction.

On My Dirty Knees and Throat: A Cautionary Tale which lost Best Couples Sex Scene.

Erika McLean, who lost Best Director Non-Feature to William H.

Tristan Taormino's Rough Sex, which lost Best Specialty Release (other genre).

Joanna Angel and Belladonna who lost Director of the Year.

Who knows, maybe someday I'll be able to give live reports from Vegas! I hear it's really more about the spectacle than a legitimate awards show, but still sounds fun.

Porn Studies

2009-11-20T12:24:00.000-08:00

When I tell people I took a class in Feminist Studies about pornography and am now studying porn for my MA, I get mixed reactions ranging from amusement and envy to shock or derision. "Wow, they give you a degree for anything these days, huh?"

The more I read and research and talk to people about porn, the more it becomes obvious to me that Porn Studies could really be its own undergraduate major and graduate emphasis. Don't believe me? Look at the range of classes we could offer:

Porn Studies 101: Intro to Pornography
History of Porn: The Americas
History of Porn: Ancient Greece and Rome
History of Porn: Asia
History of Porn: Europe
History of Porn: Africa and the Middle East
Methodology of Porn Studies: Surveys
Methodology of Porn Studies: Interviewing and Focus Groups
Methodology of Porn Studies: Content Analysis
Who Watches What? Demographics of Porn Use
Porn and Media: from Postcards to Streaming Video
The "Golden Age" of Porn: Late 60s-Early 80s
Race and Ethnicity in Porn
Gender Representation in Porn
Porn and Religion
High Culture or Low Culture? Class Conflict in Porn
What is Obscenity? Pornography and the Law
Playing it Safe: Porn and Health
The Labor Market of Porn Production
Porn Marketing and Advertising
Erotic Capital: The "Ass" in Financial Assets
Pornography and Feminism: 1970s-90s
Pornography and Feminism: 90s-Today
Lezbunnies and Dykes: Lesbian Porn
Twinks and Muscles and Bears, Oh My: Gay Porn
Outside the Box: Indie Porn
Historical and Post-Modern Erotic Art
Dirty Poems and Erotic Stories: Porn Literature
Sex Ed: Instructional Porn
AltPorn: Suicide Girls and Evil Angel
BDSM and Kink Porn
Porn in Pop Culture: from Boogie Nights to Zack and Miri
Child Pornography in Cultural Context
Legal and Illicit Drug Use and Porn
Porn Addiction: Fact or Fiction?
New Technologies of Porn
Porn Analysis and Critique Practicum

I'm sure I'm missing some, please feel free to suggest more. I can easily see designing each of these to be its own class, bringing in literature as well as video and other media. Each subject would necessarily delve into other disciplines as well; this major would explore culture, histories of various nations, methodologies of social science, media studies, race theory, gender theory, feminist theory, class conflict, labor markets, advertising, health and epidemiology, religion, LGBTQ history and theory, forms of resistance, the law, art history, literature, education, psychology, and technology.

This discipline is actually more comprehensive than many other well-established academic majors. So the next time (or first time) you hear someone identify as a porn scholar, don't scoff. Take that opportunity to learn a thing or two.

Can using porn be spiritual? Does it have to be?

2009-11-11T12:31:00.000-08:00

Jayson responded to my comments below, and brought up an interesting view that I haven't really thought much about. Here is his comment:

"Excellent comments! You and Chris are helping me see a wider lens. True, my stance is a problem centered as many men I deal with it is labled and treated as a problem. The men are not “troubled” nor would I label them as such. However, they “feel” troubled and ashamed, scared, angry, etc.

And yes, I am generalizing a great deal. Here’s another sweeping generalization—most people are very locked up when it comes to sex and their sexuality, which is the real issue here.

Lastly, you mention the larger context of sexuality here which is the deeper issue. When sex or porn is done in a “conscious” or open hearted way, and when two lovers can express themselves openly (with an open heart), sex and porn become a service to open others, a vehicle to touch the ultimate, to experience God, to become one, all through the healing power of love. I believe too often porn is in the “animal” realm of human consciousness. Tantra on the other hand sees sexuality as the route to enlightenment and freedom. When sex becomes a spiritual practice perhaps anything goes.

Thanks for your wisdom and factual notes to support your view. Very helpful and I’m learning a lot from your comments. Keep ‘em coming!"

(Again, his blog post is here).

My response:

"Thank you for discussing this with me! Sometimes I wonder why I do the work I do, and it's great to have a reminder about why this topic is so important.

I definitely did not intend to use a stigmatizing label of "troubled" for men who seek counseling about sexual issues! If any person is feeling troubled, ashamed, etc. about a behavior then it is indeed a problem for him/her, and not something to be trivialized or disparaged. I was just inquiring if this sample has shaped your perceptions about porn and the role it plays in men's lives. I think it would be valuable to preface posts like this with something like, "IF you experience porn as a problem, THEN here are some solutions you should think about."

I am not blindly pro-porn regardless of the consequences; I feel like porn is a bit like alcohol in that way. It can be a healthy, relaxing, enjoyable addition to your life, but it could also be a destructive force in one's life if used improperly (which is subjective). I object to implications some people make that porn will necessarily lead to addiction, misogyny, shame, or any other negative experience. That is subjectively and empirically untrue.

You mentioned this experience: "One client recently told me when he feels anxious, he goes to porn, gets the job done and feels less anxious for a little while." I wonder... is that such a bad thing? Obviously I haven't talked with this client, but just based on that statement I wouldn't identify porn as the problem. People have all kinds of anxieties and frustrations in life-- why not use porn (or a glass of wine, or a good movie) to distract yourself for a little while? These things won't solve any deeper conflicts, but I don't believe they would (necessarily) contribute to them, either.

I think using porn as part of a spiritual sexual experience the way you describe is a great thing, but not the only kind of experience that is valid and enriching. Sometimes I simply watch porn to get aroused, have a fantastic orgasm or three, and go to sleep naked and satisfied. I do experience that as a form of loving myself, but experiencing God really isn't a part of it-- and I think that's okay.

My point is just that Tantric sex with a partner is fantastic, but in my view it is not the only fulfilling way to experience porn or sexuality.

Something also occurred to me while reading this and looking around the site a bit more: this is a very hetero-centric discussion. I'm not sure if that's deliberate or not, but I wonder if you have thought about the way gay men relate to porn by themselves or with a partner? This mostly takes any misogynist element out of the equation (I believe some gay men may watch porn involving women but I imagine that's more rare), though gay porn has its issues, too. Do you work with queer men or women at all?"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What do you think? Can watching porn be a spiritual experience, a connection to God/the divine? Does this necessarily involve a partner? Is it okay to use porn without that spiritual component, in an "animalistic" way just to satisfy yourself?

My immediate reaction is that constraining pornography and sexuality to the spiritual realm is just a way of validating porn use and sexual feelings that would otherwise be considered shameful, hedonistic, dirty, indulgent, selfish, and otherwise unacceptable. Maybe your religion restricts sexual expression and that is the way you can experience sexual pleasure without guilt. Okay. And I'm not saying that watching something like the DVD on the left with your honey while breathing deep and listening to Desert Rose isn't awesome and fulfilling and definitely worth doing once in a while. I'm just saying that I would quickly get bored and frustrated and start throwing things if that's the only way I had sex.

Coupling porn use inextricably with spirituality seems like a way of sanitizing a part of human experience that can be powerfully primal and secular. Sex and porn can be messy and ugly and raw. Isn't that part of why we love it?

"The Number 1 Reason Why So Many Boys and Grown Men Surf Porn (and What to Do About It)"

2009-11-06T17:01:00.000-08:00

Recently a friend mentioned a blog post he found about the problems men have with porn. He suggested that I would find it both interesting and infuriating, so of course I had to check it out. For the sake of continuity, here is the bulk of the article followed by my response.

The Post

"If you’re honest with yourself and you’re a dude, you’ve surfed porn at some point in your life. I know I have. Maybe it was a phase, maybe you’re still doing it. Do you pay for sites? Just browse the free ones and leave, deleting your cookies and any trace of your porn tracks so no one knows your little secret?

If you ever meet a man who denies surfing porn, I’d call BS on him right then and there. I’ve never met a man who hasn’t surfed porn at least once. What’s the problem with a guy who wants to surf a little porn now and again anyway? Initially, nothing.

In my opinion, nothing is fundamentally wrong with masturbation and your own sexuality, despite what strict religious organizations may tell you. The issue is not masturbation or even surfing porn, although many women might disagree. And for good reason. (The porn industry itself condones the abuse of power men have over women, many porn sites have aggressive imagery, and what the industry teaches or trains us about our sexuality are all important issues that need to be addressed).

I write this post for four reasons:
1. No one talks about it, so let’s go there. Bring on your comments.
2. To help you understand why you hide your porn use and why you feel bad about it.
3. To raise your awareness and help you understand what drives men to porn
4. To take some action in relationship to your porn use

Before we go any further, let’s look at some important, but not surprising porn stats from Tech Crunch in 2007:

* Every second, there are 28,258 people surfing porn
* Every second, $89 is spent on porn
* 266 new porn sites are put on the web daily
* “Sex” is the most searched word on the web
* $2.84 billion in revenue was generated from U.S. porn sites in 2006
* 72% of porn viewers are men (A 2001 Forrester Research Report had a slightly different number: 77% of online visitors to adult content sites are male. Their average age is 41 and they have an annual income of $60,000. 46% are married.)

To see other fascinating porn stats, click here: http://www.blazinggrace.org/cms/bg/pornstats

The numbers are clear. Even with the statistics, many men deny surfing porn. For the brave men that admit to surfing porn, there is little understanding and awareness around their use. So, why are the numbers so high?

According to a Kinsey Institute survey which asked “Why do you use porn?” respondents had this to say:
* 72% said they used porn to masturbate/for physical release.
* 69% – to sexually arouse themselves and/or others.
* 54% – out of curiosity.
* 43% – “because I can fantasize about things I would not necessarily want in real life.”
* 38% – to distract myself.

From my perspective, we have to ask two important questions:
1. Why does a man hide his porn use and then feel bad about it?
2. Why is he surfing porn in the first place?

To answer the first question we have to look at our culture. With so many messages from religion and conservative groups telling us that sex is bad and wrong, many people in our culture end up repressing their sexual aliveness. At the same time, the media and pop culture oversexualize everything. Watch any beer commercial or MTV video. It’s no wonder we are so confused about sex and sexuality. Repression + oversexualized imagery & messages = confused, disconnected shameful relationship to one’s own sexuality.

For example, in my work with men, at some point a man typically owns up to his porn use with me. And, almost without fail, he feels shame and guilt about it. Often he’s married or has a girlfriend and surfs porn quite a bit without ever owning up to it with his partner. Understandably, this sets up a difficult dynamic with himself and with his partner. Shame begets shame.

Think about it. What guy wants to admit that he doesn’t know how to manage the sexual life force raging through his body? Men get mixed messages about sex, and with all the conflicting information, and nowhere to go to sort it out, it can end up coming out sideways in the form of strip clubs, constantly objectifying women, porn use, hookers and much more.

To answer question number 2, we have to investigate two of the responses in the Kinsey report: ”for physical release” and “to distract myself.” What is a man “distracting himself” from and what is it that he is “releasing” aside from the obvious?

In my professional opinion, this is the number 1 reason so many boys and men surf porn:

Guys surf porn to “check out” or to “distract themselves” from certain uncomfortable feelings they are experiencing, period. Said another way, surfing porn is a symptom of some underlying discomfort a man is experiencing . It’s this simple.

Guys report feeling “off” inside and surfing porn becomes a way to “get rid of” (another way of saying “physical release”) the discomfort. It is very much like a quick high, a jolt of energy that feels great for a microsecond during orgasm. It works like a drug. It is a dopamine surge. If you have ever taken drugs or even use them in moderation, you know that getting high or having a drink can seem to “take the edge off” and for those fleeting moments, you feel better. Masturbation is no different.

But much like getting high or even taking a nap, reality has a way of creeping back in and, almost without fail, seconds after ejaculation shame and guilt set in as a guy attempts to hide his tracks and close his computer’s browser. One client recently told me when he feels anxious, he goes to porn, gets the job done and feels less anxious for a little while.

Since most guys surf porn between the 9-5 hours, one would think they are just “bored” at their desk job. However if you investigate further, it turns out most of these men are just not happy with themselves, their job, or their life. They have an uncomfortable feeling inside that they are unwilling to feel or relate to."

He goes on to suggest solutions for these "problems." Read the full post here.

My Response

Hi, Jayson.

I'm a graduate student in sociology doing research on feminist pornography, and I am very interested in how men use and think about porn. I appreciate you tackling this topic, but I have quite a few comments and questions about this post. (I apologize in advance for the tome this is certain to become!)

Generally, it seems like you're taking a very problem-centered approach to the topic. After reading your qualifications I realized that your experience involves treatment and counseling, not research. I would imagine you mostly hear from men who are having negative experiences with porn and/or intimacy, and come talk to you about how to overcome these problems. They mention their porn use to you as a therapy topic, and so it is no wonder issues of shame and trouble with partners are mentioned. I definitely applaud this effort, as I know people of all genders can have difficulties related to sexuality that should be addressed with therapy.

However, you should consider that this does not give you an accurate depiction of "most" men or even the average man. This is a self-selected group of men who have come to you with problems, and so it makes sense that you would start to see porn use as generally problematic for men. Without including data from random-sample surveys or qualitative studies including men who do not feel that porn is a problem for them, I question the validity of your conclusions and would ask you to consider re-framing your professional experience as that which primarily deals with self-identified "troubled" men. How might your conclusions change if you talk to men and women who lead active, healthy sex lives that involve pornography?

I would also challenge your premise that no one talks about porn and sexuality. People may not always discuss sex in a productive way, but as your blog and hundreds of others illustrate, people are definitely talking. You might read Foucault's History of Sexuality vol. 1 in which he discusses the repressive hypothesis; he argues that our culture actually proliferates discourse on sexuality, and if you look at virtually any modern medium (internet, TV, movies, magazines, books, journals, etc.) you will see that this is true-- porn has been a very hot topic of the last few decades, and has largely consumed feminist discourse with its ubiquity. You may be interested to know that there is actually a field of research dedicated to the scholarship of pornography. What do you think is lacking in the discourse about porn?

You state, "The porn industry itself condones the abuse of power men have over women..."

I believe this statement does something very dangerous: it homogenizes the porn industry under the blanket charge of patriarchy. I will not argue that historically the industry has not been dominated by this power dynamic, but I think it's important to contextualize this statement and provide specific examples. I would also encourage you to explore parts of the industry that directly challenge this dynamic, such as the Feminist Porn Awards (http://www.goodforher.com/Feminist_Porn_Awards.html).

As Chris commented above, women like Annie Sprinkle and Nina Hartley are feminist sex performers who encourage the use of porn as part of healthy sexual exploration for both men and women. Add to this list Tristan Taormino, Audacia Ray, Candida Royalle, Betty Dodson, Shine Louise Houston, and many many others. Also, check out Peggy and Tony Comstock's production company, which features real-life couples having sex in a documentary-style. The porn industry is complex and diverse, and it does a disservice to subsume these powerful, innovative, brilliant women (and men) who produce quality pornography under the umbrella of patriarchy. Perhaps the men who come to you with problems don't need to stop watching porn, they need to watch DIFFERENT porn.

You say further, "many porn sites have aggressive imagery..."

This is true, and there are many porn producers such as Rob Black & Lizzie Borden who have been sanctioned for showing aggressive imagery that goes too far, especially since consent was not transparent and reasonably established. However, I am wary of sweeping statements about "aggressive imagery," because many men and women find aggression in sexuality very erotic and empowering and I believe this can be done in a safe, sane way that enriches sexual experience. For examples, see www.kink.com, as well as Tristan Taormino's Rough Sex series and Penny Flame's Guide to Rough Sex.

Last, "...and what the industry teaches or trains us about our sexuality are all important issues that need to be addressed."

I completely agree with this statement! There are important issues that need to be addressed. I am just not sure that we share a clear picture about what the issues actually are or how to address them.

What do you think, readers? Any men want to weigh in on this?

Methodology, Ethics, and Rough Sex.

2009-10-12T11:19:00.000-07:00

Summer is a rough time for research.

Since June, I have been trying to get the space, equipment, resources, and participants necessary to conduct my focus groups. It is unbelievably difficult to get five adults in the same place at the same time-- especially when they aren't being paid to be there. But I am resolved not to pay people for their participation in this project for three reasons:

1) I only want people to participate if they WANT to come and watch porn and talk with others. I don't want any element of coercion or exploitation with this study, real or perceived.
2) I hear that paying participants requires, um... what's the word... funding.
3) I simply refuse to pay people to watch porn and eat homemade brownies.

So for that and other reasons I've been stuck in the planning stages for months, which is getting entirely frustrating. But now that school is back in session it looks like things will finally come together for me soon; by the end of the month, I hope. Academic deadlines aside, I'm really ready to start working with actual data.

But of course when one thing comes together, something else happens. Last week I was talking with a friend who I respect for her sensibility as well as her knowledge of feminist methodology. I mentioned that I was planning to show my participants a clip of pretty rough porn, involving men slapping women on the face and breasts, light choking, fellatio involving gagging, name-calling, etc.

One of the particular scenes I picked out was between Derrick Pierce and Penny Flame in Penny Flame's Guide to Rough Sex (Check out a great review of this DVD with screen shots at HeyEpiphora.com). I like the scene because there is great chemistry and communication between them, and though Derrick gets pretty rough with Penny it's clear that she loves every minute of it. I also like that the scene does include the traditional male cum shot, but doesn't end there-- after Derrick leaves, Penny grabs her handy Hitachi and gives herself another intense orgasm before the fade out. Plus I think they're both extremely hot, which definitely doesn't hurt.

For someone who is used to watching a fair amount of mainstream porn, a scene with this much violence/physicality (for better or for worse), is not uncommon or especially shocking. As Tristan Taormino mentioned during her guest lecture in our class, gonzo porn has gotten more and more violent as of late. It's getting to the point where it just seems unusual if there's not at least some spanking and face-fucking.

When I described this scene, my friend pointed out to me that for people who are not used to watching porn, something this violent might have more of an intense impact than I intend. It's true that my research procedure involves informed consent, and that participants are told more than once that they are free to stop watching and/or leave at any time... but I think if it got to that point I would have basically failed as an ethical researcher. I cannot foresee all negative consequences for my participants, but I certainly don't want to cause any emotional distress if it is at all avoidable. (As is standard in social research like this, I will be offering participants references for local counseling services if the experience does trigger some negative emotions they need to process). I still thought that the Penny Flame scene might work, as long as I was very honest with my participants about what they were going to see.

I went to the local "adult store" and asked the store employee for some rental recommendations for mainstream scenes I could show to compare to the above clip. I asked for some relatively rough hetero porn. With a certain amount of delight, I might add, he directed me toward some Max Hardcore movies. Having already seen some of his work and subsequently learning that I do in fact still have a gag reflex, I opted for something else that I hadn't seen: a couple films from the Tough Love series by JM Productions. Once I got home and started watching them, I realized they weren't all that different: cheesy but stomach-turning scenarios of women being hit and sexually degraded because they shopped too much, or asked too many questions. After watching a woman get fucked with the guy's foot smooshing her face into the kitchen floor (uncomfortable for both of them, I would imagine), I realized this was not the porn for me. I could NOT in good conscience show people who have never seen porn but bravely volunteered to watch and discuss it to benefit my research project a woman being forced to lick the inside of a toilet. Just, no.

So, I'm going to go in a different direction. I considered various threesome scenes, but I kept coming back to this b/g scene at the start of Chemistry 3 between Roxy DeVille and Derrick Pierce (Okay, so it's possible that I have a little porn-crush on him!) I just love the... well... chemistry between them. I can't help it; the series is aptly named, and I think the dynamics of the whole project set an amazing tone that let the performers do their best work. When I watched the scene again with this in mind, I realized there are parts that get a little rough- Derrick chokes Roxy, Roxy chokes him, there's some light face slapping and even some dick-slapping. But it's all done in such a playful way, and the pre- and post-interviews do much to mitigate any misgivings. I don't think it's impossible that someone might have a negative reaction to this scene, but I think it's well within the bounds of what someone could be expected to be exposed to in the course of a porn study.

Now I just have to find a "simple" boy/girl mainstream scene to compare it to. If you have suggestions, please send them my way! Hopefully this time the search won't inspire another week delay and long blog update-- as much as I love and value the learning process, I'm ready to dive in and do the research!

The question of condoms

2009-09-10T14:06:00.000-07:00

In the same anti-porn community I mentioned last time, someone recently posted a link to this article: "Porn makers challenged for not mandating condoms."
"An AIDS advocacy group filed complaints with state officials against 16 production companies that show unprotected sex in porn movies."

The article cites Larry Flynt, who infamously makes the argument that pornography is about fantasy, and since condoms are about reality, they don't belong onscreen. I think that would be a fine argument if we're talking about softcore porn, with no penetration or exchange of fluids. But the state of pornography today is such that people demand to see proof of penetration with close-ups of genitals. (There's a term for this, but I think it's disgusting and refuse to propagate its use). People aren't easily fooled by angles and camera tricks any more, so if you want to sell hardcore porn it's pretty much put up or shut up.

This has lead to a culture in the industry that shuns safer sex. In 2004 there was a HIV outbreak in the industry that scared people into mandating condom use for a short time, but the mandate was quickly lifted. These days if you want to work in porn, you won't make much of a living if you insist on using condoms. People just won't hire you when there are plenty of people willing to do it bareback. If there is no incentive for allowing (or perhaps more accurately, requiring) actors to protect themselves, most directors will not do it. They are not necessarily villains for not requiring safer sex, they are realists. If actors were required to use condoms, people would easily be able to find pre-regulation or amateur condom-free porn on the internet. An underground condom-free market would surely thrive, and amateur porn between fluid-bonded couples is pretty much impossible to quash.

In the article, Steve Hirsch (head of Vivid Productions) concludes that "the adult film industry would likely leave California if the use of condoms became mandatory." Currently somewhere around 80% of the porn industry is based in and around Hollywood, but if HIV activists succeed in getting a policy put in place that requires condoms, that may change.

True as that may be, I'm in favor of providing production companies with incentives for mandating condom use. As with most social policy, I would prefer to see positive incentives for good behavior rather than sanctions of undesirable behavior... better to keep the government out of the adult industry. But I think some changes need to be made, for two reasons:

The first is ideological. As the head of The AIDS Healthcare Foundation Michael Weinstein points out, many people do still get their sex education from pornography. You may laugh at this and insist that people with any intelligence can tell the difference between real life and porn-- and to some extent that's true. But even for the most aware, the ideology of imagery can be insidious. Seeing positive examples of hot people in hot situations using condoms can only help encourage people to practice safer sex.

Second, for people involved in the professional production of pornography, that is their JOB. The government may prefer to pretend that pornography isn't a multi-million dollar industry, much bigger than the mainstream film industry. But it is. And just like any other laborers who put their bodies on the line, porn performers deserve a safe work environment. And that absolutely includes minimizing risk of disease.

This is where the positive reinforcement v. sanctions comes in: It's difficult to argue that these actors are being exploited if they are not advocating for their own safety. I would be reluctant to support a measure that includes punishments for noncompliance, because I think that treats porn actors like children who need to be protected because they don't know any better or don't have good values or some bullshit. But in such a competitive industry that is not that different from other entertainment industries, the culture itself needs to change before people feel secure enough in their livelihood to demand protection.

The bottom line: just because it's difficult to implement and regulate something like this doesn't mean it's not worth doing.

***************

As always, your thoughts/comments/disagreements are most welcome. Even if you don't want to comment, please vote in the poll on the right!

Purpose.

2009-08-11T11:43:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I wrote this post about shame and pornography (and sex in general), and I had an encounter recently that reminded me of it. This weekend I was in San Francisco for the American Sociological Association conference. On Saturday I gave a talk about Obama's rhetoric and the "Yes We Can" phenomenon. (I do have academic interests that don't involve sex, you know!) I think it was pretty well-received, and I had a few people come introduce themselves and ask me questions about the project.

One woman asked the inevitable question that all grad students get: "Is this your dissertation work?" I explained that I was still at the master's level, and that my project had nothing to do with political rhetoric, but rather I was studying feminist pornography. Her reaction was almost cartoonish: From the attentive, interested grin right through confusion and straight to horrified shock.

"F-f- feminist.... ?" She didn't even take a stab at the second word. I nodded enthusiastically, and started explaining that I would be conducting and videotaping focus groups of people discussing and watching pornography. "WATCHing??" Her eyes flickered down to my name tag: I knew she was checking my affiliation to see which school would possibly approve such a project. She awkwardly exited the conversation soon thereafter.

I recognize that I'm taking a bit of delight in her reaction, in part because it seems unlikely that this person will have much of an impact on my future. But I have to admit that while it was easy enough for me to be confident and unapologetic with this person, had the same conversation happened with one of the "academic celebrities" in the room I may not have been so cheerfully unrepentant. It's intimidating to be a 24 year old ~~girl~~ woman in a room with established and respected men who all know each other.

When I approached this topic I was more fearful than I really should have been. It's the truth with this and with so many things that if you apologize for yourself and your interests, others will doubt you in turn. I try to remind myself who I am and what I want out of this, but it's not always easy. Some people feel this kind of work is offensive and unacceptable, or perhaps worse, think it's silly and inconsequential. Something to play at.

But I'm starting to see such skepticism not a deterrent; it's inspiration. I can't really say yet where this work will lead me, but I know that it's important. Otherwise it would be easy and no one would ever challenge me except out of intellectual sport. Whose heart and mind would that ever change?

I started questioning norms about sexuality when I was fourteen, which made my teenage years especially... interesting, so to speak. In the last ten years I've only gotten more outspoken, more confident, and more educated. I very much long for an opportunity to educate others and encourage them to be outspoken, too. This isn't just a project to finish and put on a shelf, it's something deeply meaningful to me that really want to share with others. I know there will be awkward moments at conferences and in classrooms and probably at family dinners.

I say... Bring it.

A glimpse from the other side

2009-07-20T11:51:00.000-07:00

If you're not involved in feminist politics or pornography scholarship, this fact may shock you:
Anti-pornography feminists are NOT in fact extinct, but alive and well. And blogging.

For the past few months, I have gone "under cover" and infiltrated one of their online communities. To become a member you must send a statement explaining why you want to join, agree to their lengthy list of rules, and have your profile checked out. I slipped under the radar somehow, and have been monitoring the community without comment (as they reserve the right to ban you if you espouse any pro-pornography views).

Yesterday someone posted a link to an outside blog entry, and I almost blew my cover by writing an angry response. This is the text of the entry:

When I posted a link to Glenn Greenwald’s column the other day, I was unaware of his history as an advocate for torturers. Greenwald has vigorously championed torturers’ rights, has explicitly privileged their version of events over that of their victims, and has asserted — in agreement with the torturers — that “no real pain was inflicted” on the victims.

Of course these aren’t the torturers at Gitmo or Abu Ghraib. It’s the film company of “Max Hardcore,” an extreme pornographer who grossly abused women while filming the proceedings for the entertainment of other men. Hardcore claims his victims were thrilled to be tortured, and Greenwald accepts this point of view unquestioningly.

Amazing what a difference gender makes, huh?

And if you’re thinking that it’s not a question of gender, that the real difference is between prisoners of war and allegedly volunteer performers, think again. I’ll help you:

Imagine that instead of Max Hardcore, we have a U.S. Army dude stationed in Iraq with a sideline in homemade porn. Imagine that this homemade porn is of a very special kind, involving Iraqi boys and young men off the streets, the ones who are scavenging in garbage dumps and living hand-to-mouth. Our imaginary Army pornographer offers these guys $20 each to be in a porn video. Many of them say yes — after all, $20 is a fortune in Baghdad.

Each porn video consists of heavy-duty homosexual sadism and racism. The young Iraqi victim in each film is violently penetrated, choked, beaten, urinated on, masturbated on, fed his own feces, and forced to crawl on the floor while saying things like, “I’m a filthy sand nigger” and “Mohammed is a pig-fucker.” The Army pornographer screams racist epithets at the young victim throughout — that is, when he’s not too busy raping and kicking and pissing and force-feeding shit down the Iraqi’s throat. By the end of each video, the Iraqi victim is shrieking in pain and sobbing uncontrollably. When the camera finally shuts off, he collects his $20 and gets the hell out — shocked, shattered, humiliated to his core.

So think about that. Think about this imaginary series of homemade porn from Iraq, and imagine that it’s widely popular — on Army bases, stateside, anywhere white men enjoy fantasizing about torturing exploited Iraqis. How do you think people like Glenn Greenwald would react? Do you think Glenn would be talking loftily about the Army pornographer’s First Amendment rights? Do you think he would say that the videos are simply entertainment? That no harm is being done, to anyone? Would he insist that the central fact of the matter is that the Iraqis are exercising perfect free will? And that by honoring their desire to be humiliated and tortured for $20, he’s respecting them as people?

Of course not. If porn like that existed, there would be an uproar. Christ! People would throw up after 10 seconds of one video. What kind of sick shit is this? The racism! The hatred! The sheer breathtaking cruelty! And the whole surrounding exploitation — god! Paying these garbage dump kids all of $20 to be tortured! It’s too sick to believe. And what kind of insane people get off on this shit anyway? What’s wrong with them? Is our society really that vicious? Liberals all over the blogosphere would be writing long posts about the black heart of American fascism. And people like Glenn Greenwald would be saying that if this shit isn’t illegal somehow, then by god, we need to find a way to make it so.

That’s if the victims were men.

In the real world, of course, there is porn just like that: it’s what Max Hardcore specialized in. But his victims were female, you see. And that makes it okay. You can do anything to a woman — anything at all — and as long as some dude gets an orgasm out of it, it’s okay.

(And I cannot resist noting the extent to which the orgasm, in our current bizarro era of human-rights-as-defined-by-Larry-Flynt, has assumed preternatural importance as a kind of all-purpose salvific justification. If you’re a guy who likes seeing women get beaten up and raped and mauled, but you don’t get any kind of sexual charge out of it, you’re a creep who hates women. But if it gives you an orgasm, then by god, it’s a healthy and beautiful thing. And anybody who says otherwise is a prude.)

A few points to concede:

1. Max Hardcore is an ass. I'm not sure what the exact details of his charges and conviction were, but I can believe that he deserved it. I am still wary about the idea of obscenity charges for the content of porn videos (as opposed to, say, charges for an unsafe work environment) but if any porn could be labeled obscene, that would be it. Professionally, I defend anyone's right to make any kind of porn they want, as long as it is truly consensual. Personally, those videos make me sick to my stomach.

2. Women do get exploited in the porn industry. Not all women, and not JUST women... but it does happen, and that's a horrible thing.

3. I believe we are indeed too focused on the male orgasm in our sexual culture. Both in pornography and in mainstream media, the male orgasm is viewed as the ultimate goal of sex, which I believe is detrimental not only to women, but also ultimately to men.

Now.

Beyond other minor points I could pick apart, I have two major problems with the above:

First, the horrifically inappropriate, culturally ignorant, and generally fucked-up comparison of the porn industry to the torture inflicted on prisoners in Abu Ghraib by the American military. The fact that this person thinks the way to make her point about gender exploitation is to transpose her perspective of porn in the US onto the unlawful military occupation of another country and subsequent detention and torture of some of its people is SICK. Her hypothetical about Iraqi men being forced into violent pornography erases all political and cultural context from the situation in an attempt isolate gender, and it completely fails. These are very much the words of an older white American woman. American audiences may be more tolerant of seeing women in violent porn (often women of color) than (white) men, but in the real world-- no hypotheticals, now-- we are perfectly fine with the mounting death toll of Iraqi men. And women. And children. Even trying to make such an analogy belies such ignorance.

Second, this rant does what most feminist rants against pornography do: Goes on and on about the atrocities committed against women and humanity by these sadistic men and the horrific exploitation of women who turn to sex work (usually porn is denounced, not prostitution, dancing, phone sex, etc.) out of financial desperation... without offering any structural solutions.

If you're going to point out that some women go into pornography because they don't have better labor options, great. How are you working to improve things like equal opportunity, living wages, health benefits, childcare options, etc. so that these women have other options? What are you doing to address the real culprits of women being forced into ANY kind of exploitative employment, whether it be pornography, fast food, or retail? Women (and men!) "consent" to all kinds of violence and exploitation for money when they don't have better options; it is in no way limited to sex work.

Hardcore pornography may be a convenient red herring, and exciting to rant about on and on with big words and scary pictures. But until you're promoting actual social change that will MATTER in people's lives, you can keep your Dworkinesque ranting to yourself.

Movie titles: from silly and fun to entirely problematic

2009-06-16T19:13:00.001-07:00

Well, the porn class is over, and I'm currently writing up my paper on feminist porn. I still intend to continue with this blog, but maybe a touch less formally than my previous posts. I do still want to bring the academic into the discussion, because I think that's really important. But there might be some silly stuff, too.

Speaking of silly. After spending some time clicking around the Internet Adult Film Database (which is a great resource: www.iafd.com), I just can't believe some of these titles. When someone asks what your current project is, how do you say with a straight face, "Jam It All The Way In My Ass" or "Bang My Juiceboxxx" or "Cum In My Mouth I'll Spit It Back In Yours..... 5"? You really couldn't come up with a more creative title?

And how do women of color stand making movies with titles like "Fuckey Fuckey My Asian Ass" and "Slant-Eyed Sluts" or "Black Trash" and "Get That Black Pussy You Big Dick White Bastard Mutha Fucka"? I wish I were making these up. I can't imagine how that feels. I wonder what the white male actors think about enacting these roles of whiteness as well. It all makes me feel very dirty... and not in a good way.

The Annabel Chong Story

2009-05-18T16:15:00.000-07:00

We recently watched a documentary in class pithily entitled "Sex: The Annabel Chong Story," which explores the career of Grace Quek, aka Annabel Chong in the porn industry. I mentioned her in this previous post about shame. The documentary cleared up some of the details I was unclear on: Annabel engaged in 251 sex acts over 10 hours, 5 at a time, concluding by having sex with Ron Jeremy.

Celine Parrenas Shimizu writes about the representation of Asian American women in pornography as hypersexualized and exotified, and describes how Annabel Chong creates a "new subject of feminism: the Asian female sexual pervert... she 'defiles the lure' of Asian women as passive victims by becoming the active participant in sex." (Shimizu 2007). Her consideration of Annabel Chong and race-positive sexuality cannot be left out of this discussion, but she expresses these thoughts better in her full article than a summary here could (so, go read it!)

There is an aspect of the situation that Shimizu doesn't really talk about, though: In the documentary Grace was asked about the fact that the gang bang may have exposed her to HIV. Many of the non-industry men involved were tested, but false negatives are possible, condoms break, etc. When confronted with this question about risking HIV (which in the video was portrayed as equivalent to death), she responded, "I think sex is worth dying for."*

I was completely horrified by this. Sexual pleasure may be worth certain risks, yes, but to knowingly accept the heightened risk of a deadly disease for such a transient thing? How worthless a person must feel to express something so fatalistic!

I tried to challenge my own feelings about this statement, and ended up reexamining what she might mean by "sex." I don't think she was expressing a hedonistic view that the pleasures of sex are worth dying for. It's possible. But to listen to her talk about her beliefs and desires, to understand her background, it's clear that "sex" to her means more than lots of orgasms. She sought to represent herself as a stud for fucking so many men, instead of the Orientalism in porn that casts Asian women as exotic, passive sluts (left, for example). And yes, maybe it was about pleasure, too: She seemed to genuinely enjoy some parts of the gang bang. And maybe it was about building her reputation as Annabel Chong, world-famous porn star, too. But aren't men allowed to fuck for fame and fun? Why not her, too?

As Annabel Chong (right), she set out to make a political statement by this act. She says that "sex is worth dying for." Substitute "sex" for "freedom," and this statement isn't so easily dismissed. This is part of what political protesters do: put their reputations and very bodies on the line to make a point. But there's something special about sexuality that makes a statement of embodied activism like this less heroic and more easily dismissed than others in history. Whether she succeeded or failed in empowering herself or others, her actions doubtlessly made a statement and forced people to think.

The documentary paints a somewhat simplistic picture of her as a girl who was born in Singapore, grew up in a repressive environment in London and was gang-raped in a public space, and then went on to a life of porn and drugs, eventually disgracing her family by becoming the notorious queen of gang bang.
If presenting her background like this may be a way of pointing to some implicit explanations for her behavior:

She is rebelling against the traditions of Singaporean culture or her religious upbringing in London, which have some very restrictive ideas about the sexuality of women
She is acting out sexually after experiencing sexual assault
She was caught up in a lifestyle involving crystal meth use that rendered her judgment impaired

This stereotype of victimization that, whether because of her lived cultural experience, her sexual assault, drug use, or some messy combination thereof, that Grace was not willing to accept. As pointed out in class, we want to be able to fit people into neat and tidy categories, especially when it comes to sexual behavior. It is easy to judge this person for what she did with this one day of her life. She fucked 251 men in one day: Case closed. What more is there to know? Black and white, good and bad, normal and perverse: She is sexually--and thus morally-- spoiled.

We don't like to have to confront the messy journey that so many of us take in our sexual lives. Think of how much your beliefs about sexuality, your likes and dislikes, your attitudes and fantasies have changed over the course of your life, and how much they may change in the future. For so many of us this is not a linear path toward the Ultimate Enlightened Sexuality, but rather a stumbling, surprising, sometimes painful process. Despite what people would like to believe and what would make us more comfortable, it is rare if not impossible for one person or even one act to be easily categorized and summarily judged.

We may not agree with or respect Grace's choice to do the things she did as Annabel Chong. Maybe it was harmful to her in some ways, maybe it was healing for her in some ways, maybe it was a grand political statement or mere theatrics. But removing that one day of her life from her personal context, from a specifically racialized historical context, simplifies the necessarily complex and messy action that any sexual choice is bound to be. Such easy simplification does more to cheapen the power of sexuality than any pornography could.

*According to the documentary, she did not contract HIV from the experience.
Sex: The Annabel Chong Story. (1999). Directed and produced by Gough Lewis.

Shimizu, Celine Parrenas (2007). "Queens of Anal, Double, Triple, and the Gang Bang: Producing Asian/American Feminism in Pornography" in The Hypersexuality of Race: Performing Asian/ American Women on Screen and Scene. Duke University Press.

Project proposal

2009-05-09T15:49:00.000-07:00

My personal and professional life has been in a bit of upheaval lately, and I've found it's pretty difficult to isolate one from the other (if you're doing it right). Namely, I have realized that I'm entirely bored by my thesis topic and thus it is going nowhere. This means I have to find something that DOES interest me that WILL go somewhere, and I must get on that as soon as possible.

Okay, I have to back up. I came to graduate school to study conversation analysis (simple intro to CA if you're interested). I'm also into sexuality and gender, which led me to take this class. Thus far my research has been heavy on the CA and zero on the sexuality; I picked a very technical CA project on the use of names as a resource in non-recognitional person reference. I thought would be a strategic move academically, but really isn't holding my interest. So, almost at the end of my second year, I'm trying to come up with an entirely new project, which is scary as hell given the ludicrous bureaucratic time constraints we're under.

Anyway, I've come up with an idea for a mixed methods project that I think will sustain my interest through the MA thesis and give me something to build upon for my dissertation. My basic idea is to conduct one or two focus groups exploring some aspect of pornography and videotape it, to give me data to analyze with CA methodology. This is potentially awesome, but definitely tricky.

Focus group(s).
Basically I would get a small group (4-6) together, have a discussion about perceptions/experiences with pornography initially, watch some porn, then talk about it (possibly rinse and repeat with another clip). In focus group methodology, questions are formulated before research is conducted. This informs how you design your focus group, choose participants, write a discussion guide, etc.

Conversation analysis.
To do conversation analysis properly, no questions or hypotheses are formed before data is collected and analyzed. The only guiding question is something very general like, "What is going on in this interaction?" or "How do people talk about pornography?" This allows the researcher to see the intrinsic features of the interaction, without imposing their own agenda.

The Plan:
1. Design a focus group, following the methodology of standard focus group interviewing.
2. Conduct focus group, videotape the interaction.
3. Transcribe interaction and use CA methods to explore the interaction in itself.

(Sometime in here, write brilliant CA-focused thesis and earn MA)

4. Go back to focus group methodology and explore the themes and questions that I started out with, using my CA findings to enrich my analysis.
5. Write a dissertation proposal based on all the above, do new and interesting related studies.

(Ph.D. to follow "shortly")

Issues/Challenges/Questions

Exactly what would my research questions/themes be for the focus group?
How should I choose my participants? (gender composition, convenience sampling, etc)
What kind of porn should I have them watch?
Should I be an active participant in the focus group, sharing my own perspectives?
Can I get away with doing a single-case CA study of this interaction?

I have some ideas about how to tackle these, but I need to leave that for another post-- I just wanted to start to get some ideas down. Any suggestions/questions/encouragement welcome!

This Is A Test... involving sex toys and gender.

2009-05-09T15:34:00.000-07:00

I think I need to shake things up a bit in here, because I know various people are following this blog but don't actually comment. So today I have a game for you. And you might even learn a thing or two if this is foreign territory.

This is a video where a woman is describing and demonstrating (kind of) the use of a harness. You have to be very attentive to detect.... is she talking about having sex with a man or with a woman? How do you know?

Anyone catch it?

Edit: Yep, some of you caught it! Initially she uses the term partner, but toward the end of the video she refers to that partner as a woman.

I was actually looking for something else on YouTube, and found this video. I thought it was interesting how she first uses the gender neutral term "partner" for the person being penetrated by the strap-on she is modeling, and then later refers to the recipient as a woman.

While strap-ons may typically be portrayed as something for women to use with other women, there has recently* been a new direction for porn: Queer people-- namely lesbians-- making instructional videos for straight people. Last week we read a couple of articles discussing Bend Over Boyfriend (affectionately known as BOB). BOB is a video featuring Carol Queen that teaches women how to give a male partner anal pleasure.
*By recently, I mean in the last decade... the original BOB was released in 1998.

Besides teaching some techniques that might be useful, this and videos like this disrupt some of the common stereotypes in pornography. If all you know about sex comes from watching mainstream porn, you're likely to be a disaster in bed. This video implicitly challenges some of the toxic assumptions that people may get from mainstream porn:

MYTH: Porn is a good way for males to show their women what they "should" be doing in bed, or otherwise coerce them into mimicking the kind of sex shown in the videos.

Candida Royalle, feminist pornographer extraordinaire, purposefully doesn't show women penetrated anally. When a (male) porn distributor suggested that her videos were missing this and would sell more if husbands could take this home to show their wives what they wanted in bed, she was horrified (Carnes, 2007) and made the decision to run distribution herself.

BOB shows females introducing their male partners to this kind of sex through this instructional video, or at least couples exploring this area together. This is NOT portrayed to be any kind of "revenge" for the males-- you don't see the women cackling holding a massive dildo while the males cower and look frightened. Quite the contrary, this is framed as being in service of male pleasure, and Queen mentions that the person being penetrated should ultimately be in control of the situation.

MYTH: Anal penetration is only for straight women or gay men.

When we watched this video in class, my friend made a really important comment about how penetration is often read as feminizing for men. I think BOB, and videos like it, seek to complicate the link between gender and certain sex acts like penetrating (In her article Heather Butler uses the term "penetratrix," which I love and will be using in everyday conversations as much as possible). The point is, you can be a masculine male and enjoy being penetrated, just as you can be a feminine female and enjoy being a penetratrix. Or if you like gender play, men and women can explore gender roles that are otherwise unfamiliar to them, and take pleasure in that.

MYTH: Anal sex hurts, and is something that must be endured.

This is something I talked about a little in this post: So much of the mainstream porn industry (made by and for white, straight men) is obsessed with anal sex. Actresses get paid more for doing it, and it seems like a website or video can't be massively successful without it. But the only pleasure that is portrayed (realistically, at least) is that of the male penetrator. If you're a straight man, used to watching How Not To Have Anal Sex (aka, virtually all anal scenes in straight porn), you're not likely to be terribly excited by the idea of having something in or near your own ass. Other videos, notably Tristan Taormino's Ultimate Guide To Anal Sex for Women, work on undoing these misperceptions in women's minds, while BOB focuses on the men.

MYTH: If you're good at sex, communication with your partner isn't necessary.

In BOB, the importance of communication between partners is emphasized in a "tell and show" manner: Queen explains how essential it is to maintain communication with your partner during anal play, and suggests that women should also learn how to communicate this way during other kinds of sex play (what a concept!) Then, we watch and listen as couples communicate vocally and specifically to their partners, something that's especially important with this type of play since the penetratrix cannot feel her partners' reactions with a toy the way she could with her fingers.

Beyond these attempts to dispel such myths, in her article Butler makes the point that BOB "advocates a conscious commodification of sex toys and safe sex, thereby effectively displacing the commodification of female bodies that typically occurs in most heterosexual porn" (p. 191). "The all-important penis is replaced by the more important dildo... the penis is not ignored; like the dildo, the fingers, the breasts, and the mouth, it becomes a part of the entire sex act without becoming its focus" (p. 190).

To me, this is perhaps the most important thing to take from such a video. Instead of reducing women to orifices to be penetrated and reducing men to penises to be pleasured, videos like this (and others, for example) take a more holistic view of pleasure as a whole-body experience for both men and women, even showing how sex toys can be incorporated into all kinds of sex play. De-centering the penis as the ultimate focus of sexual pleasure may have untold rewards for both men and women.

Butler, Heather (2004). "What do you call a lesbian with long fingers? The development of lesbian and dyke pornography," in Porn Studies, ed. Linda Williams.
Carnes, Michelle (2007). "Bend Over Boyfriend: Anal sex instructional videos," in Pornification: Sex and Sexuality in Media Culture, eds. Susanna Paasonen, et al.

Shame.

2009-05-04T03:03:00.000-07:00

What makes pornography so inflammatory, anyway? It is such a hot topic (ha) for many, evoking swirling emotions of disgust, anger, arousal, envy, contempt, self-expression, amazement, fear, on and on and on. In class the other week, someone made a very insightful comment about sex and shame. Sex and shame have pretty much been intertwined for all of human history, or at least since the Garden of Eden if you want to be all Biblical about it. Sex should be private. All but the most Annie Sprinklesque of us internalize this to some extent (and I bet even Annie has her private moments).

This is something that is learned, of course. Anyone who has been around young children knows that they feel no need to keep any sexual curiosity, interest, or even pleasure very private. Adults must tell them (often repeatedly) to wear clothing, not masturbate in public, and not ask complete strangers if they have had sexual intercourse. Kids "don't know any better," and so adults show them-- ideally through a process of education and affirmation, but more often, through the simple process of shame.

We get even better and better at connecting shame with sex as we get older. From religious indoctrination to schoolyard gossip, we are conditioned to keep sex private, and to show humiliation and guilt if details of our sex lives are revealed.

So to willingly have sex on camera for a viewing audience may be the ultimate target of shaming. Not only are you having sex, but you are allowing it to be filmed, knowing that it will be shown to many many people. I would argue that this has the potential for more shaming than even prostitution, despite the legal disparity (but that's for another post). How much more embarrassing for your parents, moreso than that time when you were 2 years old and masturbated in the middle of the grocery store-- to parents who learn their child is involved in pornography, this may be a sign to all the world that one of their basic socializing functions as parents, teaching their child that sex should be private, has failed.

In class someone mentioned the woman who held the record for biggest gangbang. (I think she was referencing Annabel Chong, but since I can't be sure let's leave it hypothetical). This woman had sex on camera with hundreds of men over about ten hours.

This makes me think of Eleanor Roosevelt.
(I'll give you a second to enjoy that imagery).

Eleanor Roosevelt famously said, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." According to the story, Annabel was pretty proud of her accomplishment afterward, and called her mom to tell her about it. After talking with her mom, she wasn't so proud any more.
Now, I'm not necessarily saying Annabel Chong or others in the porn industry should remember this quote and be proud of what they do. I'm just saying that they should realize it's a choice: pride, or shame. There will always be external pressures to feel one or the other, but real pride or shame should really come from within.

Even for those of us who aren't porn stars, shaming about sex, from parents or colleagues or doctors or strangers or best friends happens all the time. People love to judge the choices of others, and especially love to police others' sexual behavior. Of course it doesn't feel good when people are cruel to you or ridicule you and reject you based on your behavior, but it's ultimately up to you to decide to what extent you will internalize such things. Feeling inferior, feeling shame is not a solitary achievement-- you have to consent.

(I intend to do a follow-up post about how this relates to me and to sex research-- hopefully I will find time soon!)

Reflections of Sins Past

2009-04-14T09:53:00.000-07:00

In an article titled "The Colonial Harem" published in Feminism and Pornography, 2000, Malek Alloula describes the production and distribution of erotic and exotic postcards, "exotic" in that they depict women of color (usually from 'a land far away') in various states of undress. These were notably produced at a time when it was illegal to distribute photos of naked white women. In class our professor passed around a collection of some of these actual postcards, and two things struck me.

First, how widely the facial expressions of these women varied. Some of them appeared to be having fun and unabashed about their nudity, staring at the camera in a knowing way with a slight smile. Others were shy, and others appeared uncomfortable, awkward, scared. And second, how YOUNG some of these females were! Girls nowhere near puberty, their femininity only evident by barely developing breasts and hairless vaginas.

These two observations do not have a direct relationship, though: it is not always the young girls looking scared and uncomfortable. Some of the grown women appear confident in posing and displaying their sexual appeal, while some look all too aware of this exploitation of their sexuality. And some of the young girls look similarly aware and bothered, though others appear uninhibited and unconcerned about being photographed.

I cannot know what these females were thinking and feeling. Perhaps some of the women (and even some of the younger girls) were aware that these photos were meant to sexualize them, and were okay with that. Perhaps others were unaware of exactly what this white stranger with a camera was up to, but nonetheless felt uncomfortable about the experience. Based on these dimensions of awareness and comfort level, I can think of four conditions these females may fit into:

Aware and comfortable: The ideal condition for any pornography.
Aware and uncomfortable. Females aware of being exploited as a sexual object, and uneasy or positively unhappy about it.
Unaware but comfortable: Uninhibited in their nudity, though unaware of their sexualization.
Unaware but uncomfortable: Perhaps the worst possibility; younger women and girls who do not fully understand what is happening, but do not like it.

This is a video by my professor, showing some of the women who appear very uncomfortable. Some of these images include men posing possessively with young girls or even violent imagery, highlighting the exploitative nature of these photographs:

These photographs have a specific historic context to them, and much can be said about the way these women of color are being treated as exotic objects of intrigue for the consumption of the men in power at the time (please see the article cited above for more elaboration).

But they also make visible to me the meaning and importance of fully informed consent in this kind of work, no matter the historical context. Today, the industry standard that participants in pornography must be 18 and likely sign contracts of various kinds may help with the awareness level, but of course the money involved always complicates the reality of participants being fully comfortable. Some may make the statement, "I want to make porn." But how many of them actually mean, "I want to make porn because this is the best way I know to earn this kind of money this fast"? There is something familiar about the vacant stares and feigned cheer in the expressions of these exotified and commodified women, something recognizable in the faces and vocalizations of some young girls in videos even today.

just a little something I stumbled upon...

2009-04-13T05:27:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure whether to be disgusted or amused that my blog uses the same template as this one.

The Cambria List

2009-04-12T18:02:00.000-07:00

Paul Cambria is an attorney who has defended members of the porn industry on various occasions. Just after the Bush administration took office in 2001, Cambria created a list of taboos to be avoided by mainstream pornographers if they wished to stay out of trouble.

I found this to range from hilarious to very sad. My comments in purple.

The Cambria List:

Box-Cover Guidelines/Movie Production Guidelines
Before selecting a chrome please check facial expression. Do not use any shots that depict any unhappiness or pain. (We want shiny happy pornstars!)

Do not include any of the following: No shots with appearance of pain or degradation
No facials (bodyshots are OK if shot is not nasty) (How does one craft a non-nasty bodyshot? Just curious.)
No bukakke
No spitting or saliva mouth to mouth (Kissing is just gross, guys.)
No food used as sex object
No peeing unless in a natural setting, e.g., field, roadside
No coffins (But, dead people are okay.)
No blindfolds (Seriously? Even softcore is all over this.)
No wax dripping (Again-- seriously?)
No two dicks in/near one mouth
No shot of stretching pussy
No fisting
No squirting (Gratuitous female pleasure? Very unsightly.)
No bondage-type toys or gear unless very light
No girls sharing same dildo (in mouth or pussy) (Ass to mouth is cool, though.)
Toys are OK if shot is not nasty (again... I want to see a "non-nasty" toy shot. Does she just look at the vibrator longingly?)
No hands from 2 different people fingering same girl
No male/male penetration (Oh goodness, no. People might start getting ideas.)
No transsexuals
No bi-sex (Ummm. Bi-sex? I'm not even sure what that means. Threesome?)
No degrading dialogue, e.g., "Suck this cock, bitch" while slapping her face with a penis (Thanks for that example, I wasn't clear on what "degrading" meant before you said that.)
No menstruation topics (Because when women bleed, they are dirty and must be kept away from all water sources and cameras.)
No incest topics
No forced sex, rape themes, etc.
No black men-white women themes

I can't even make a snarky comment about this last one, because I don't even know what to say. Sex between people of different races is on the same list as bukkake and rape and incest?

I have no words. Maybe later I'll come up with something insightful and scathing, but for now I'm just speechless.

American Porn, part I

2009-04-05T17:50:00.000-07:00

On the first day of class, one of the documentaries we watched was a PBS Frontline episode titled American Porn. The stern narration does a good job of setting the kind of tone PBS probably intended. I have A LOT to say about this, but I'll stick to this excerpt:

I. Rape Porn and Censorship

In the first segment, Frontline attempts to explore the 'dark' side of porn by going to a set of Extreme Associates shot by Rob Black and Lizzy Borden. Unfortunately the crew was (supposedly) too disturbed by the scene and had to leave without covering the shoot fully. Here is the entire PBS interview with Lizzy.* Note the liberal editing.

Janet Romano (Lizzy Borden) and her husband Robert Zicari (Rob Black) have plead guilty to charges of conspiracy to distribute obscene materials. They will be sentenced on July 1, 2009, and face a maximum total sentence of five years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both.

For this film, I believe PBS sought out some of the most disturbing, extreme, offensive content that pornography has to offer to expose pornography's evils to the public. Don't get me wrong, I have seen some of the Cocktail videos and they made me feel sick. I have a hard time understanding how that could be arousing to people. But on principle I don't believe portraying such things should be illegal. If a person gives fully informed consent to do such scenes, and has the ability to stop at any time, then fine. This Frontline film made it seem as though the actress in Forced Entry had not been told what she was in for, and was filmed being actually raped and beaten against her will. That, of course, would be completely unacceptable.

Unfortunately, PBS did not follow through and interview the actress to explore what her experience with this was like. It is worth noting, I think, that the same actress continued to do scenes with Extreme Associates. Pornographic films are made with varying degrees of scripting and direction-- sometimes each action and utterance is scripted, and sometimes it's just a rough outline of which sex acts will occur in what order. When the PBS narrator ominously proclaims that Veronica Caine "apparently doesn't know exactly what she's in for," they probably just mean that each epithet and slap is not scripted. But clearly, the actress knows "what she's in for;" her dramatized screams and yelps are as fake as the typical female orgasm portrayed in porn.

There is no shortage of people, both men and women, who find rape fantasy to be arousing. And as Lizzy points out some people do find sexual excitement from being physically abused. Yes, they also portray women being murdered in these films. What American viewing audience hasn't seen a depicted murder? Somehow when it's combined with sexuality, it becomes unacceptable and "obscene." Pornography is all about creating a fantasy, however unrealistic, that viewers will find sexually arousing. Portraying certain fantasies may be distasteful to some, but should it really warrant criminal charges and prison time? I worry that criminalizing content instead of real exploitation is a slippery slope toward censorship.

*The conversation analyst in me finds it interesting that Lizzy backs off of saying "She likes it [being hit]" and repairs this with the more vague, "It's good," possibly betraying an awareness that the actress is not necessarily enjoying herself. She then pushes the scope out to a generalized second person, and suggests that the interviewer should try "hit[ting] his wife a little bit." I wish we had the video of his reaction to that!

American Porn, part II

2009-04-05T17:49:00.000-07:00

II. The "Human Cost" of Porn

After the crew leaves in disgust, PBS uses this opportunity to transition to another set under the theme of the "human cost" of porn. They show a representative from Hustler denouncing the actions of a 'typical' pornstar:

Do you tell the guy of your dreams, or the girl of your dreams for that matter, that you've had sex with about 685 people, maybe 800 people. Actually you're not sure.... That's a killer.

The disapproving narrator goes on to note that Veronica Caine, the actress from Forced Entry, has been in the porn industry for three years and mockingly quotes that she'll "know Mr. Right when she sees him," as if there could never again be a Mr. Right for a woman like her who has had sex with many many people.

Actually, she explains that she's looking for someone intelligent and understanding who will realize that this was a business she was in that she had fun with and doesn't regret. She does talk about it in the future perfect tense: She is talking about her future with a partner, when she will look back at her porn career. It's understandable that being in porn may preclude an outside romantic/sexual relationship for some, but forever? The men commenting on her behavior seem to be saying that having sex with lots of people disqualifies her from being worthwhile as a traditional romantic partner in the future. I wonder if they would say the same about the frat boy who has sex with whomever he can during high school college and then "settles down" for marriage (after the requisite bachelor party, of course).

The real human cost I see here is with the blonde girl with braces who is having anal sex on camera for the first time, who says she has "done anal once before, but it was horrible." She admits she is only doing it now for the money. Somehow I don't think a day's worth of filming Porno Boot Camp and having anal sex with six men for the sake of the camera will win her over, and that's a very sad thing. Anal sex is such a prized commodity in the porn industry, but it is so rarely done properly that it's no wonder that this act has come to be seen as something only for male penetrative pleasure.

Not only does this do a disservice to women who may enjoy being penetrated anally if properly introduced to it, but I would imagine it also dissuades men from experimenting with receiving anal penetration, because it has been constructed as something painful that women must be paid for or persuaded to endure. Men sometimes have other issues with being penetrated, of course, but this can't help! As Carol Queen has wisely said, "Anal sex doesn't have to hurt, no more than toast needs to burn." This is one stereotype that I see being perpetuated over and over by the porn industry, and likely reified by the pleasureless experiences of its actresses.

American Porn, part III

2009-04-05T17:48:00.000-07:00

III. "Girl-Girl Action" vs. Lesbian Porn: Another False Dichotomy?

"Maybe they just do girl-girl to start." In the career trajectory of a porn actress, apparently sex with other women is a mere warm-up. Without the element of penetration with a real live penis, a scene of having sex with another woman may be less physically and emotionally threatening for newcomers to porn, and there's definitely a market for straight girls touching each other. Of course, most of the porn marketed as "lesbian" neither features women who are lesbian nor is intended for a lesbian audience. This is not considered to be actual sex, but a show for the men to lead up to the "real," penetrative sex. This may seem obvious, and many feminist scholars have pointed this out.

But this seems overly delineated to me, between the Real Lesbian Porn made for women, with women, by women, and the fake, unrealistic "girl-girl" scenes in which the only one having ANY fun is the guy watching. Why do these have to be the only options? Why can't women of whatever orientation have sex and enjoy not only each others' bodies, but also the exhibitionist pleasure of a male presence (either co-present or at home) watching, being aroused by their actions and genuine pleasure? This is something different altogether from man-free lesbian porn or hetero-boring porn, and it's something I think both men and women along the orientation spectrum would respond to.

Welcome.

2009-04-03T21:33:00.000-07:00

Hello, and welcome to my shiny new porn blog!

As a part of a class on pornography in Feminist Studies I'm taking this quarter, I'll be reviewing the materials we cover in class as well as all kinds of outside material. Goodness knows I wouldn't have time to blog if I weren't getting credit for it, so this works out nicely. Thanks goes out to my friend Kudla and the rest of his English seminar for the ingenious name. He gets a cookie from me-- my usual form of reward/bribery.

A few notes...

This blog WILL contain sexually explicit images and words. That's kind of the point. So if you are not yet a legal adult in your state/country* or are easily offended by such things, please look elsewhere.

I very much welcome questions, comments, suggestions, disagreements, etc. You are welcome to keep it anonymous if that makes you more comfortable. Just keep it respectful and spell-checked, and we'll stay friends.

Check out the fun and informative links on the right side: they were selected with love and hours of "wasted" time. Not all of them are strictly porn-related, and of course there is a lot of other great stuff out there that I didn't have space for. Feel free to send me suggestions for links, I can always use more research/procrastination material.

Also watch for the weekly poll on the right at the bottom-- Each week there will be some new porn/sex related question for you to answer. It is totally anonymous even to me, so vote away with delicious abandon.

I'm looking forward to seeing where this will take me, and exploring this topic with the justification of doing my homework!

With love and fisting,**

*Do you like how I assumed that this blog would become international? I aim high.

**On the first day of class, an undergraduate got up and walked out after the professor mentioned something about fisting. When she got to the door she turned around and blurted, "I didn't realize this class was about PORN!" and left. So, caveat legitor: This is a PORN BLOG about PORN.