The Porn Post

Disclaimer: This is a blog about pornography and it's place as a medium. If you do not feel comfortable reading an article that delves into these matters, you should probably stop reading immediately.

It doesn't matter if you watch porn or not. It has nothing to do with anyone else and little to do with this article, because regardless of whether or not you do watch porn you have an opinion about it. You have assumptions and considerations about that industry and you might even have problems with it. Take the latter, there: a lot of people seem to have problems with porn. It's one of the last great social taboo's and although by the day that particular wall is being chipped away at by people who become more vocal about sexuality it'll never really fall.

So people are becoming more vocal about it? Of course they are, it's not an overnight thing and it's not even as bad as it sounds. 'Becoming more vocal about it' sounds almost braggy and show-off-ish, so perhaps a more appropriate way to phrase it would be that 'people are becoming more comfortable with it' in the same way that 'people' (generally, as a society) have become more comfortable with sexual diversity, with transgender (although Chrome doesn't seem to believe that 'transgender' is even a word, fascists!)
But back to brass-tacks, how do we know people are becoming more comfortable with it? Well, check out the media for one. Hollywood has always been an industry to run scared whenever they're afraid of offending anyone so when approaching how society has evolved, or devolved as the case may be, over the years, never be afraid to look at cinema. Compare two films with distinctly sexual overtones spread decades apart, Lolita (1962) and Closer (2004). If you've never seen these films, my point is simply that by modern standards, Lolita is an absolute safe way to play sex in movies, whilst Closer seems positively crass. And let's not forget the hot-topic in motion pictures this year seems to be sex for the sake of sex with two movies carrying out that premise in No Strings Attached and Friends With Benefits. Nevermind that both of these movies probably end up following the tedious Rom-Com plot development from the second act onwards, the concept is the important part here.

So we've established, we're more comfortable than ever regarding sex in any facet of our culture. Why does that not necessarily apply to porn? There are, clearly, no concrete answers to be found but I think it's primarily as a result of peoples pre-ordained opinions on porn-stars and why they're involved in the industry. Any number of movies will make reference to porn-stars being attractive girls with daddy issues and close the book right there on them and it wouldn't especially surprise me if that was the case with most people if you were to ask them about their opinions on porn-stars, if you were capable of redirecting the conversation from the rote "Well, they're quite attractive." route. With the birth of internet-porn about a million jobs opened up for attractive girls to make a quick buck and quite like teenage models or strippers a lot of girls have been known to get involved in this industry solely to put themselves through college. But then some stay and some sign up for the first time after having finished college.
One of my more eccentric hobbies has been reading blogs of porn-stars. It probably started out as an attempt to see what sort of backlash they would throw against anybody that criticised their decision to be involved in pornography but the thing that struck me most was how genuine they seemed. These are people who have jobs, more interesting than most, sure, but also more criticised. The porn industry made changes and moved on after just about everyone working in the 70's got AID's, but public perception of the industry seems mostly the same. Take for instance the blog of Asa Akira. She's a Japanese porn-star, fairly new on the scene over the past year or two and her blogs, whilst perhaps not as spell-checked as some, offer an insight into what sounds like a professional and diverse opportunity for work. She explains in detail how she's been trying new things which have altered her immediate opinion significantly and how she is genuinely enjoying her work. Could this be pro-porn propaganda? It's entirely possible, but not especially likely. Porn isn't something worth arguing about because there are enough people who enjoy it (whether in secret or not) and those who don't simply won't be swayed. For those not convinced, why not check out Stoya's more personal blog, which acts more like anybody elses blog but incorporates thoughts on the porn industry from time to time. Take for instance Stoya vs. The Facebook (that link is Not Safe For Work) in which Stoya muses on her web-relevance due to her not having a Facebook page and even goes so far as to criticise the User Interface (really, how many porn-stars did you think would have any idea what a UI is?)

Porn will never really be accepted by society as a whole. It certainly won't ever exist on the same level as cinema does and it really shouldn't. You can call them both films, sure, but they have entirely different points and purposes. As much as I'd like to see a genuinely artistic porn film, I doubt we ever will, but we don't need to have that to simply look at porn-stars for the people they are. I've never understood the disdain with which people have always spoken about the industry, I've never understood the criticism. It's pretty weird how much porn-star's personal perspectives clashe with public concensus. It's pretty weird how much I agree with them.

Also posted on Screened.com on 24th March, 2011