The Mainstreaming of Pornography

by lisa, Nov 11, 2009, at 10:26am

Sociologists have observed that pornography is becoming increasingly mainstream, especially among people who are now in their teens and twenties. No longer something for men to hide under a mattress, pornography is now considered, by many in these generations, to be a routine and regular part of everyday life for both men and women.

I was struck by this normalization of porn while watching a special on the technological challenges facing pornographers today. The show, Vanguard, does special in-depth reporting on a different topic each episode. Here is a screen shot of the most recent episodes available on Hulu. You’ll see that recent episodes cover the war, revolution in Cuba, and illegal and legal drugs:

Capture1

I found out about the program because it was on the front page of Hulu:

Capture

So, just to be clear, this program was just plain ‘ol, regular programming for regular folk.

And the program treated pornography as if it was just any other industry; it could have been a discussion of the car industry in light of the economic downturn or pig farmers in light of swine flu.

It’s not that I necessarily think that the show should have been all “Oh and, by the way, we know this is porn and porn is bad OOGA BOOGA!” I was just shocked by how easily it brushed off any such concerns (with a few employees explaining that their job is just like any other job) and moved onto the “isn’t it interesting how the industry is coping with these new challenges.”

I feel like I’m having a tough time explaining it. If you’ve got 22-minutes, see for yourself:

(I’m sorry non-American readers! I know you can’t watch Hulu! You maybe able to watch it here.)

See also our posts on pornification of everyday life here, here, and here.

Comments

Quijotesca 10:30 am on November 11, 2009 | # | Reply

You can also view it on the Current TV site. No idea if it’s friendlier to non-Americans, though.

http://current.com/vanguard-journalism/
- christina 11:42 am on November 11, 2009 | # | Reply
  
  Canadians can watch this one ^_^
  - Quijotesca 12:27 pm on November 11, 2009 | # | Reply
    
    Dang!
    - Quijotesca 2:13 pm on November 11, 2009 | # | Reply
      
      Whoops. Thought you said they can’t for some reason and…smiled about it? Yeah. I dunno what to say. ;p
- lisa 2:03 pm on November 11, 2009 | # | Reply
  
  Thanks Quijotesca. I updated the post.
- Agawa 4:38 pm on November 11, 2009 | # | Reply
  
  Thanks so much! Hulu’s playing an old CBC program not available in Canada on it, and it drives me up the wall. Glad to see some of the content is available elsewhere.
Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist 10:39 am on November 11, 2009 | # | Reply

American society has such confusing, double standards about porn, sexuality, and nudity. Apparently, a woman is a “SLUT” if a secret sex tape with her comes out, yet porn stars are celebrated and even revered. If a woman poses naked for Playboy, she’s admired. But if a woman accidently have a nipple slip, she is called a SLUT.

this all comes from my observations with the U.S media and even mainstream attitude in many American folks, whether male or female.

Make up your mind, Americans.
- shale 7:31 pm on November 11, 2009 | # | Reply
  
  I remain baffled by our capacity to practically eat, sleep and breath sexual innuendo but never really say anything meaningful or important about it. In fact, I’m pretty sure most people aren’t even having sex (they might have something useful to say about it if they did!); if they are having sex, I suspect that that sex is probably pretty bad (the feminist in me suspects it might even be unhealthy).
- Quib9 12:18 am on November 12, 2009 | # | Reply
  
  One aspect of this dichotomy I find particularly interesting, is the reaction to how “real” subject matter is presented. I highly doubt any of the movies produced in the series would be concerned acceptable for mainstream distribution, but because the series takes a “behind the scenes” approach, a story within a story if you will, it’s fine.
  Even more interesting is when such differentiation is applied to fictional stories. For example, there’s a scene in Juno where the characters watch a pretty graphic scene in a horror movie. That sort of imagery would quickly cost a film its family appeal, except that it’s presented as unreal.
- rachel 2:41 pm on November 12, 2009 | # | Reply
  
  Well, the way I see it, all women are “sluts” according to society whether the nipples come out accidentally or on purpose. Or don’t come out at all.
Lucia 11:30 am on November 11, 2009 | # | Reply

It’s NOT seen as a regular part of women’s daily life. Porn is mostly targeted toward men. There is a huge difference between the standards for male porn stars and female porn stars. If porn was made for women, there would be more attractive male actors. Also, I know for a fact that female porn stars are more celebrated.
- Alex 11:53 am on November 11, 2009 | # | Reply
  
  I do agree that most porn is targeted towards men. However, I assure you that the standards for male porn stars in gay pornography are different than the standards for them in straight pornography.
- Samantha C 4:45 pm on November 11, 2009 | # | Reply
  
  I agree that a majority of porn is targeted at men, but I think the ‘mainstreaming’ that’s referred to is that it’s a lot less shocking for a woman to admit that she watches it. Or alternately, reads it; smutty romance novels have been around forever and those are far more often targeted at women.
christina 11:47 am on November 11, 2009 | # | Reply

Porn is one of the few industries where women are higher earners than men, some people even argue that in a way porn can be feminist.

I acknowledge that some people do it as a last resort, but professional pornstars are doing it for a reason, they can earn ALOT of money.

I agree with Lucia that porn is not geared towards women, but you can find feminist porn out there (I have no idea what it is like), and most porn is very obviously shot for the male gaze. However, males are the highest purchasers of porn, so why would they cater to an unknown audience?

I’m not saying that porn is good, it presents a ridiculous suggestion of what is “good sex,” changes the perspective of both femininity and masculinity (porn creates stupid standards for men too, for once).
- Sabriel 12:22 pm on November 11, 2009 | # | Reply
  
  If you want an example of porn by/for women, check out Liger Beat. It’s a bit too penis centric for me, but I have friends who love it.
  
  I don’t know how feminist it is, but it’s female directed and sex-positive, which is a good start. I am friends with one of the photographers and she is constantly quizzing me about what kind of scenarios I think they should film.
- Alyssa 1:53 pm on November 11, 2009 | # | Reply
  
  I take some issues with the women are higher earners than men in porn argument.
  Yes they earn more, but they are also expected to get plastic surgery* (boob jobs at the very least). On top of this, they have to spend a lot of money on appearances that men don’t (everything from fingernails to a**hole bleaching). If they are expected to spend more money that the men, shouldn’t they be paid more?
  Add to this that there are several women for every male porn star, so if they aren’t willing to do something they may be uncomfortable with (sum on the face per se) there is another actress who will. Because of this, their boundaries are constantly being pushed.
  Add to this that the “shelf life” (I hate myself for just using that phrase) of a female porn actress is much shorter than that of the male.
  The higher pay is far outweighed by the higher standards placed on female porn actors. There is nothing feminist about paying women more in this industry. If you expect more from female porn actors, you must pay them more.
  *Keep in mind that I’m talking about mainstream porn, not feminist porn.
  - JessMess 2:32 pm on November 11, 2009 | # | Reply
    
    Agreed!
    “The higher pay is far outweighed by the higher standards placed on female porn actors. There is nothing feminist about paying women more in this industry.”
    YES. Why doesn’t anyone ever talk about how fucked up it is that the only place women can make more than men is in the porn industry and at strip clubs? How the hell is that a feminist thing? For women to ‘use their sexuality’ in order to gain some type of parity with men’s salaries is disgusting.
  - distance88 3:08 pm on November 11, 2009 | # | Reply
    
    Spot on.
  - Nicola 9:49 pm on November 11, 2009 | # | Reply
    
    In many cases you may be correct. Jemma Jameson certainly said herself that she was told she had to get a boob job to get on the cover of films she was in, and she did it, and regretted it.
    
    I think there may be a shift away from that, seeing as one of the biggest earners at the moment and most popular performers is Sasha Grey, who certainly hasn’t had a boob job and said she never will. That said she also acknowledges that part of the reason she’s so popular at the moment is that she’s so young, and when she gets older she will find work elsewhere.
    
    I can see how the argument could be made that being in porn is a feminist thing to do, and could even be construed as liberating. But I’m not sure at the moment where I stand on the issue.
    - Alyssa 1:08 pm on November 12, 2009 | # | Reply
      
      This is exactly why I made the note that I was specifically talking about mainstream porn (male-heterosexual oriented). I do believe that porn can be female oriented. I do believe it can be feminist. But the majority of mainstream porn isn’t. Yet, I’ve heard a lot of people argue that it is because female porn stars are higher paid. In short the “well they are paid more so it’s okay” is a BS argument that ignores several things mentioned in my above comment and in some of the replies.
      - Andrew 1:26 pm on November 12, 2009 | #
        
        I guess “some people” really do say that female porn stars getting more money makes the business “feminist,” but who are these people? Where are they saying this? And why on earth is anyone arguing against them when they’re not here?
        
        It’s not the same thing, but I would say that the mainstreaming of porn makes it more plausible for people with different points of view – including the feminist perspective – to create and distribute work that competes with the MOR product. This does not mean that the majority of porn is ever likely to be feminist in nature – an improbable overhaul in consumers’ fantasies would have to happen first – but you’ll find an ever-increasing diversity of alternatives on the market.
        
        If only this were true for non-pornographic film and TV, which are incredibly difficult media for subversive artists to find an audience in…
      - The Nerd 1:32 pm on November 12, 2009 | #
        
        On the flip side, by underpaying male actors, they’re denying the value of the female gaze. It’s a vicious cycle: women supposedly don’t enjoy porn, so porn producers don’t cater to the hetero female market, so those women can’t find anything to watch, etc…
      - Alyssa 2:06 pm on November 12, 2009 | #
        
        @Andrew:
        This is what my comment was responding to:
        “Porn is one of the few industries where women are higher earners than men, some people even argue that in a way porn can be feminist.”
        This argument ignores a lot of factors.
        As for the mainstreaming of porn: I have nothing against it. I would really like to see female and gay oriented porn become mainstreamed as well, but as far as it goes now, I think those are considered “boring/unsexy” and gross (respectively) by the general population. From what I’ve seen, heterosexual male oriented porn is what is being mainstreamed. Being that the female, homosexual, and person of color viewpoints are rare in mainstream non-pornographic TV/movies, I find it unlikely that female and gay oriented porn will make it out to the mainstream any time soon.
      - Alyssa 2:14 pm on November 12, 2009 | #
        
        @The Nerd:
        Male actors in mainstream porn are still part of the male gaze. They aren’t particularly attractive so the (male) viewer can easily insert himself in that role.
        I think pay for male actors in mainstream porn has little to do with how much porn is available with a heterosexual female audience in mind. I could be wrong about this, but I think the actors in mainstream porn has little overlap with the actors in non-mainstream porn.
      - Andrew 9:33 pm on November 12, 2009 | #
        
        @Alyssa – regarding your comment on porn with a gay, female, or nonwhite perspective, I think you’re mistaken here.
        
        Gay male porn is the easiest example; never in modern history have images of men kissing – let alone all the other stuff – been so readily accessible. You might have to talk to a much older gay man to understand how meaningful this is, as he may remember the difficulty and even danger of obtaining the sort of pictures that now appear in coffee table books. I don’t think current gay porn is exactly a high point of the queer movement, but as pornography became easier to get in private and cheaper to distribute, all impediments against gay male erotica in western countries vanished. Now, many popular websites default to gay and straight porn being offered alongside each other in the absence of filters. Gay porn might not be sought out by straight males, but it’s certainly not unfamiliar, no matter what they tell you.
        
        As long as it’s available to those who want it, it has no reason to be any more mainstream than this, in my opinion. I don’t think gay men need for Roger Ebert to be reviewing Anal Adventure IV anytime soon.
        
        Also, unlike most pop media, porn is very cheap to self-produce, easy to distribute, and quite likely to find an audience. It can be made for extremely obscure specialized tastes and still delivered through mainstream channels. For it to be mainstreamed does not have to mean that it’s become more appealing to popular tastes. Rather, it’s an available option in the same market, with no particular fear of transgressing norms attached to consuming it.
        
        And you’ll notice that porn has a much more visible presence in the gay male community than any other. This isn’t just a guy thing – it’s also a side effect of what happens when your sexuality is erased from all other pop culture.
  - Mikhail 6:40 am on November 12, 2009 | # | Reply
    
    You should check the drug stuff male actors take for these erection sizes.
    The harmless boob job is nothing compared to that, this is some dangerous stuff. And that for a lot less money.
    and btw a**hole bleaching is not women-only also.
    - KD 9:19 am on November 12, 2009 | # | Reply
      
      Breast enhancements carry the risk of death from surgery, leakage, cancer, loss of sensation in the nipple, loss of ability to breastfeed, and permanent disfiguring from botched jobs, among other things.
    - rachel 2:44 pm on November 12, 2009 | # | Reply
      
      You’re fucking kidding, right?
- branigan.wddp 5:47 pm on November 11, 2009 | # | Reply
  
  Women only make more money than men if you only look at the performers. If you include the owners, who are overwhelmingly men, then you get an entirely different picture.
  - JessMess 6:04 pm on November 11, 2009 | # | Reply
    
    Yes, so then another loss. Gross.
  - sarah 5:31 pm on November 12, 2009 | # | Reply
    
    Also, female pornstars generally have shorter careers. Generally they earn more when they’re younger.
  - Mnemosyne 6:38 pm on November 15, 2009 | # | Reply
    
    I’ve heard that there’s actually quite a few directors in porn who are female.
Cute Bruiser 1:07 pm on November 11, 2009 | # | Reply

I’m not particularly disturbed by the mainstreaming of pornography. I have my issues with it, but having people be more open about it can only make it easier to talk about. I am, however, a little bothered that they chose to use an image of what looks like some sort of abduction-rape-fantasy porn as their advert …
Jenn 3:38 pm on November 11, 2009 | # | Reply

In the beginning of the clip, the female porn director says, “I think porn is becoming a choice; it’s not something you do because you can’t do anything else”.

Wow, way to sweep that issue under the rug Current TV!

I really dislike how when people talk about porn they talk about how fun it is, and how educated their staff is, and how much people enjoy doing it. Do we really need more images of the “happy hooker”? Not to say that these people are lying about their good experiences in the industry, but they aren’t typical. Sex workers, including pornography actresses, are still extremely vulnerable to abuse and assault by directors, producers, and other actors. And that’s just American mainstream porn. The rise of “home-made” pornography means that you can’t know if what you’re watching is consensual, if the models are of age, or they’re doing it because they want to. Hell, even some of the biggest companies, like Playboy and Hustler, have gotten in trouble before for using underage models. It goes all the way to the top.

I feel like this clip is just pandering. It’s just a pat on the head to dudes who wank to porn. You don’t have to think about it, or feel guilty about a system of economic exploitation of women’s bodies. Look at all these happy and healthy porn stars! All of them are happy. The unhappy ones are abnormal or rare. There’s nothing wrong with porn. Wank in peace. Don’t think about it. Don’t question if what you’re watching is legal or consensual. Just pull one off, and we’ll all scramble to make the excuses for you.
- KD 4:17 pm on November 11, 2009 | # | Reply
  
  I couldn’t at first place what it was about this that bothered me, but I think you just described it. Thanks.
- shale 7:24 pm on November 11, 2009 | # | Reply
  
  This is an interesting point. It’s true that most, if not all of the mainstream coverage of porn, only covers the really successful parts of the industry. I suspect that there are seedier things going on elsewhere, although I don’t think that this tendency too focus on the legitimate and sunny is unusual for any coverage of labour in America.
Alexicute 7:25 pm on November 11, 2009 | # | Reply

There was a great article about abuse of female pornography workers and about the organization I have linked to below, in the New York Times a few back. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the article but do check out the website.

http://www.thepinkcross.org/

In the NYT article, the head of the organisation, who is herself an ex-pornstar, says that many women in porn use drugs and alcohol to cope with long painful rough shoots and are treated like crap by their male co-stars. This account really changed my attitude with respect to porn. I wholly believe that if she really wants to it’s a woman’s right to participate in this industry and I don’t believe that these women are somehow buying into an ideal of fame and glamour through sexuality. But when you’re autonomy is compromised by drugs, alcohol and the economic dependency substance abuse can cause, who knows.
- splack 7:37 pm on November 11, 2009 | # | Reply
  
  Is this the article? It mentions the founder of Pink Cross but it’s titled “AHF to File Cal/OSHA Complaints Over Porn Industry’s Blacklist on Condoms”
  
  http://markets.on.nytimes.com/research/stocks/news/press_release.asp?docKey=600-200908200012BIZWIRE_USPR_____BW6121-1S5P2K6OGH26J8UG8JVMP7AT4R&provider=Businesswire&docDate=August%2020%2C%202009&press_symbol=undefined
- Olympia 6:40 pm on November 12, 2009 | # | Reply
  
  http://www.nationalpost.com/arts/story.html?id=2073591
  
  Dunno if its the article you are talking about but this one shocked, disgusted me and opened my eyes to a lot of things.
The Nerd 8:48 pm on November 11, 2009 | # | Reply

I was struck by how overwhelmingly male it was. Men men men, plus women who are on display for men. The notable exception seemed to be Nichole, who as far as I could tell is a trans woman.
Duff 4:04 am on November 12, 2009 | # | Reply

The calmness with which the employees of Kink.com talk of their daily business (”it doesn’t even seem like porn to me”) reminds me of Hannah Arendt’s “Banality of Evil.”

It’s not objectifying women and sexualizing violence, it’s just another day at the office.

Furthermore, this unusually hip San Francisco porn company is an anomaly in the porn industry which is small and mostly based in southern California. Typically “the industry” does in fact involve high rates of HIV transmission, heavy drug use, and blatant exploitation of the young and often lower-class women involved. Most porn stars do not have benefits, a 9-5 schedule, and a 401k, but gonorrhea, a bleeding uterus, and a meth habit.

The interview with the Wicked Pictures guy was ridiculous. Poor porn companies who can’t afford to shoot such “high quality” productions due to internet piracy. THEY’RE A FRACKIN’ PORN COMPANY! Their very name is “wicked.” This is like a meth dealer complaining about kids making meth in their basements, cutting into profits and lowering the quality of meth in the marketplace. I love at the end of the second segment how he threatens that there will be no more porn if everyone keeps stealing it! Oh no! What will we all masturbate to!

This whole show seems like an infomercial for the porn industry. Pornographers are losing their jobs, “it’s really hurtin’ us.” Poor, poor porno producers, who’s job it is to turn a woman into an object for their profit.

According to the virtual sex dealer, the future of porn is “more interactive, more community based…people like to communicate.” Apparently people don’t like to communicate enough to actually have sex with each other, because real live human women aren’t actually horny 24/7 like the mechanical devices he is selling.

The “interactivity” the featured porn star shares with her fans on Twitter and her website is just driving deeper the mythology of porn, that porn stars are always sexy even in their “authentic” and mundane lives, constantly horny, etc. Instead of exposing the illusion of sex as simulacrum, the porn star in question becomes the illusion–like a “pro” wrestler, she can no longer take off the mask, but becomes the character. And she “definitely believes this is the future of the industry, I really do 100%.” The future of an industry based on illusion is not waking up from the dream, but driving it towards ever deeper deception.

Part of kink.com’s high-technology involves suspending a woman above the ground in a cage to simulate torture. The future of porn according to them is to make porn a community activity. After all, nothing says community like sitting around and sharing a little objectification of women for profit. While we’re at it, throw in a tiger mauling a Jew and a gladiator match to the death! All streaming in HD please.

I find it highly irresponsible that there was not a single critical perspective represented. For a very different perspective on this “industry,” may I recommend Chapter 2 of Chris Hedges’ latest book, Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle.
- Lex 5:25 am on November 12, 2009 | # | Reply
  
  THANK YOU!
- mirja 5:45 am on November 12, 2009 | # | Reply
  
  Yes, thank you.
- Mikhail 6:35 am on November 12, 2009 | # | Reply
  
  You lost me at Legal porn company = meth dealer comment.
  Are you freakin’ serious? “Banality of Evil.”???
  
  Your way must be of course to illegalize the porn and throw the legit and regulated companies out of the business.
  Yea, that would erase the DEMAND for porn (which you perceived immoral or what?) altogether, right?
  
  As seen by the drugs business, making it illegal, caters better for everyone – the illegal porn producers, certainly take good care for the women.
  
  Get out of the church and smell the real world, my man.
  - rachel 2:54 pm on November 12, 2009 | # | Reply
    
    Porn is legal, therefor it must be completely ethical.
    Meth is illegal, therefor it must be completely unethical.
    THEREFOR it is unfair, UNFAIR i tell ye, to compare porn to meth!
    
    And illegal porn producers would definitely abuse women…therefor, legal porn producers could not possibly abuse women. Nope.
  - Olympia 6:50 pm on November 12, 2009 | # | Reply
    
    Banning porn completely with the world in its current mindset, is practically impossible. Pushing it out of the mainstream and gradually reeducating people on the subject of sex is, I believe, a much more realistic long-term goal.
    - Andrew 8:51 pm on November 12, 2009 | # | Reply
      
      Who do you think should have the power and responsibility of “reeducating people on the subject of sex”? I can certainly see the benefits of better and earlier education for children and teenagers, but “reeducation,” its Maoist overtones aside, implies that some sort of social engineering for adults is in order. It’s not the sort of discourse I’d want to see anyone in charge of.
      
      And when it comes to pushing porn out of the mainstream – who would you propose do the pushing? You surely realize the extent to which porn has already been excluded from the mainstream, despite its immense popularity and profitability. Who deserves the power to increase restrictions on freedom of expression?
      
      This is not to excuse the very real abuses that are occurring in the trade, although as Mikhail suggests every industry is far more dangerous when it’s driven underground. But if you have a corrective in mind for masturbatory habits that don’t suit your ideals, I’d be very interested in learning just what kind of social structure gets to implement it.
- JessMess 10:01 am on November 12, 2009 | # | Reply
  
  TRIPLE thank you!
Andrew 6:22 am on November 12, 2009 | # | Reply

Both the source video and the discussion seem to have fallen into the same fallacy, so this is probably a good place in the discussion to remember that porn is not a monolithic industry. Rather, it’s a product – an extremely popular and widely varied product in which untold numbers of industries, large and small, complete with a vast range of budgets, tactics, means, levels of production, and degrees of ethics, for different shares of different markets, using different distribution mechanisms and for wildly different prices. Just as it would seem absurd to discuss “The Internet Industry” or “The Art Industry,” porn defies easy generalizations once you look past your biases.

It’s perfectly fair to point out individual companies’ abuses from a labor-rights and human-rights perspective, and to discuss our relationships with the product through the aperture of sociology, gender relations, or whatever lens fits. But discussing porn itself in those terms becomes even less realistic as technology embeds it more deeply in the mainstream. Just try finding a single way to characterize some seedy, sexist, faceless pornographer stereotype in a way that also applies to a randy couple in Wyoming with a popular XTube channel!

With that in mind, I’m a little irritated by a criticism of an internet video that essentially comes down to “they didn’t pay lip service to my talking points!!”
a 8:14 am on November 12, 2009 | # | Reply

The real thing of what is mainstreaming pornography is that people actually consume it relatively lot. If it was not such popular thing for people to watch in the internet it simply would not be such opportunity that would be taken up by a professional business men as the owner of Kink.com in this video. There is something with the nature of primal human behaviour such as sexuality that does fit in with the moralist ideology of how things should be in the society.
- Evan 9:27 pm on November 13, 2009 | # | Reply
  
  HA!
Evan 9:26 pm on November 13, 2009 | # | Reply

Thanks to Porn, this site exists. Porn $$ built the internet.

But more to the point, whether or not we agree with the methods some or most production houses produce and market their materials. A positive aspect of the mainstreaming of porn in American society is tearing down the ridiculous notion that sex and sexiness are taboo or outside the mainstream.

My question is how sex can be a niche product? We all rely on it for our existence.
- KD 10:07 pm on November 13, 2009 | # | Reply
  
  What makes you say that sex is a niche product?
- rachel 10:59 pm on November 14, 2009 | # | Reply
  
  Cite your sources.
  
  Because as I remember…the Internet existed, and people participated in it, back when it was just text, not pictures. Therefor, what the fuck, dude?
- rachel 11:00 pm on November 14, 2009 | # | Reply
  
  btw, sex does not equal porn.
- rachel 11:02 pm on November 14, 2009 | # | Reply
  
  ALSO porn is a common noun.
  - anon 6:43 pm on November 15, 2009 | # | Reply
    
    Also, therefore has an ‘e’
    - rachel 11:30 am on November 17, 2009 | # | Reply
      
      Oh, yes…so you’re right…I acknowledge that “thereforE” needed an e…that does not negate the fact that “Porn” is not special, just plain old porn…
      
      funny you didn’t choose to point out the lowercase r in my name…that one I saw coming, actually…
bobsfrankenbeans 1:04 pm on November 14, 2009 | # | Reply

Perhaps this episode IS in relation to the failing economy, the threat to traditional broadcasting, etc… the porn industry is one industry that seems almost indispensable – even, no-particuluarly during economic unrest… people seem ‘need,’ their porn in American society…

So… it is a normal capitalist venture, and a quite successful industry at that! In fact, my friend and I used to kid that we would start a porn production company to fund the documentaries we wish to make about society and culture… the more we learn about the production industry, the more this idea seems valid…unfortunate or not. (The funny thing being that we’ve found a multitude of straight male actors interested, but no females- and, oddly enough, none are interested in gay action… which opens a whole new can of machismo and homophobia…).

As far as the normalcy of porn – I agree, being on the border of the x-y generation, the idea is that people in our generation watch porn, or they don’t – regardless of sex/gender/sexuality… and most have at least SEEN it, back in middle school…
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