i read this forwarded email today and responded on it ... so i figured i'd post it.
Further To The “America Broke Sex” Argument
06 Nov
In this post-feminist era, some sex pundits have promoted the idea that “porn is good,” but what some pro-porn post-feminists have failed to do is discern between porn the product and porn the industry. As long time readers of this blog know, I have spent some time around the adult movie industry. A decade ago, I entered that world with the same assumptions as the pro-porn post-feminists. Over the years, my attitude changed. Eventually, I began referring to the porn industry as a meat grinder for the human condition. In my opinion, it is a lot to ask someone to get fucked in the ass for a living. Shalom Auslander has put it thusly: “I have never had a day as bad as a woman named ‘Cloey’ had the day they shot the video that appeared on that webpage — that is to say, I have never had a day where someone wrote the word ‘Cockwhore’ on my forehead with lipstick, tried to shove their entire fist down my throat and then ‘choke-fucked’ me with their penis until I barfed on their testicles.”
i tell ya, i'm ambivalent about porn. just like any male growing up in this country, i grew up wanting to watch porn, that taboo brand of film, and became accustomed to it. a few years back, in preparation for workshop i was about to do with a Young Men's Group, i researched male sexual patterns, sexual abuse and rape. what i found was not only alarming but also tied to porn. a lot of these are exploited, let's not get it twisted, exploited from either when they were small and were either molested or violated and found no other recourse than a life selling their body. most pornstars, if asked, were raped at some point or another, a good book on this subject is the autobiography of Jenna Jameson, a heavyweight in the porn industry.
i remember having a convo with a supervisor of mine who divulged to me that she liked rough sex ... being slapped in the face, choked, that sort of thing and i couldn't understand why until she told me that her first boyfriend had raped her. then it all made sense, in some ways and in some cases it's a perpetuating cycle.
i'm not saying that there aren't women who don't actually enjoy some of these things naturally ... but these are rare and far in between. take this statistic and mull it over,
