Taken from my site's blog:
Now, prepare yourselves for an exceptionally long rant. I was browsing You Tube and ran across a segment of the Tyra Banks show which featured Sasha Grey, a young and famous pornstar, alongside an ex-industry female and a sixteen year old prostitute. The theme was Teenage sex workers; I was taken back by the grotesque portrayal of Sasha Grey who looked increasingly uncomfortable throughout the later parts of the interview as a victim.
Why are people so intent on living their lives judging and commenting the lives of others. The 25 year old has not lived the life of Sasha or the teen prostitute, she has lived her own life and made her own choices, yes it may have been a 'slippery slope' but she made the choice to begin and continue and ultimately made the choice to leave.
There can never be a debate on Porn, never! Simply because a show similar to this episode of Tyra arguing for porn will never get the time of day on a mainstream network so a balanced and FAIR argument can not take place.
I don't understand at all the reasoning other than to sensationalise the topic that they put Sasha on with a Teen prostitute. It's clearly not the same, the line between pornstar and prostitute is fine and/or incredibly blurry but there is one crucial difference that separates the two cases SASHA IS 18, AN ADULT DICTATED BY LAW and as such can make that decision for herself. Her choice. 100%.
And let's think about it for a second if you don't like porn or it offends you don't have to watch it. It still hasn't reached the point where hardcore pornography is on billboards or buses yet. If you're fighting against the fictitious 'harm' to society caused by pornography perhaps attention should be turned towards bigger problems of the world with physical and real impact on its inhabitants.
As for Tyra, its easy for her to judge and pass it freely over others because she's made her life in almost as a shallow and superficial way as Sasha, effectively selling her body as a supermodel, and unfortunately she's been given a show that she can use as a weapon against an issue she doesn't like. I'm not saying she hasn't earned her life and I'm certainly not saying she doesn't deserve it, but what has she or for that matter what can she or anyone ever do to earn the right patronise a young professional to her face, a professional in a profession that she may not wholly agree but a professional nonetheless.
I understand there are elements of the Adult Industry that can be and should be considered seedy, sleazy and abusive like agent-wannabes who are in fact pimps and keep the majority if not all your earnings. There are those companies and producers who fail to respect the model and their use of language such as: slut, whore and general lack of appreciation of the females risking their social status and acceptability to appear before their camera. However those elements can also be applied to everyday life and everyday media, for example: a rap star referring to the female dancers in his video as hoes, magazines labelling the wife of a hotshot footballer as a gold-digger or worse
This general lack of respect isn't just confined to the realms of pornography or adult media; it's engrained in society and behaviour from the very beginning of life. People would have us believe the way to regain this respect and adopt an attitude of respect and admiration for women and quell the horrors of Abuse would be to ban and make pornography illegal; all that would achieve is more criminals, forcing porn (an already established part of life for a lot of people) underground and under the radar and increasing the chances of abuse.
Porn could be accurately described as an addiction, a habit, perhaps even a 'bad' habit but so can smoking, drinking and T.V. Should we ban everything in order to force such afflictions out of society, would that even work? I think not. The only possible solution is the Adult Industry itself, a statement Anti-porn activists certainly will not like. It's up to the industry to begin regulating itself and imposing pressure on other companies and/or individuals with questionable methods and operations. They are the only ones who can implement a big enough action within the closed community of adult production, if they're product is sex then it's their social responsibility to be sex positive much like a company polluting the environment might attempt to offset the pollution by planting trees per so many units pollution; so although the pollution remains there is also a positive aspect. There are a number of companies involved in promoting a healthy attitude toward sex and adult entertainment; most notably Kink.com, checking them out will firmly eradicate the theory that all adult production companies and producers are honey easels preying on women who supposedly can't choose the complete opposite in fact.
I have never liked the text that accompanies video releases, pay sites and other such distribution that refers to the performers as sluts, whores, trash etc. I fail to understand how that sells, as with everything I suppose it has its market, this is a practice that if and when I make it I will not follow. Selfishly because it doesn't 'get me going' at the end of the day though it's not referring to the performer as such, the woman in the video is the product and that is to whom the text is referring. Something I suppose is easy to slip ones mind when concerned with producing argument points against pornography and in favour of a society where we will no longer be able to choose as adults' weather or not we want to watch two or more adults engaging in consensual legal sexual acts.
I would be quite proud to be considered part of the adult industry; I'm male so I fall under to theory that I would be proud because I would be more accepted and socially rewarded for declaring such an affiliation, but I don't think that would be the reason at all. I'd be proud because its a gated community and hard to break in to, the constant barrage of attacks from the government, politicians and activists against porn from all over the world have made it that way, and also because it is an industry that is so heavily saturated with 'products' and ideas that for me to make I'd of truly created something original and not widely, if at all, seen. I'm not a woman but I can't help feel that if I was I'd be empowered and though ultimately in the minds of many people, fans and critics, I may be being degraded for nothing more than money, I would still be in charge and would still make the choices.
In fairness I reside and shoot in the U.K, our laws are different and we tend to talk about sex and sexual activities a lot more freely than America as a country as a whole. Te reason for singling out America is two fold; the adult industry is at its largest there and secondly that's where the war on porn initially erupted. I have been feeling slightly worried regarding certain proposed legislation and comments made by our, British, politicians and members of government and feel that we are edging towards following Bush in to yet a third war. It's worrying for me because I'm just starting out and though only interested in following a soft-core route initially, if I enjoy it and begin to make my investment back I will want to pursuit my stake of the adult Industry, but now there is confusion over what regulations are in affect and a bunch of other legal trappings that could wind me up with a custodial sentence. It is bad enough having to maintain paperwork dictated by another country let alone keeping abreast of your own country's legal changes, but that is the nature of the best and I hope I never have to conclude that sentence with, we are at war.
My final thoughts on the matter: as long as there are women who want to earn money by having sex or getting undressed for a camera, as long as there are producers who want and willing to shoot and pay women to do so and whilst those involved ensure everyone has made their choice under no duress, the are comfortable and most importantly of legal age and sound mind to do so. Why must they be questioned, stopped and persecuted?
Now, prepare yourselves for an exceptionally long rant. I was browsing You Tube and ran across a segment of the Tyra Banks show which featured Sasha Grey, a young and famous pornstar, alongside an ex-industry female and a sixteen year old prostitute. The theme was Teenage sex workers; I was taken back by the grotesque portrayal of Sasha Grey who looked increasingly uncomfortable throughout the later parts of the interview as a victim.
Why are people so intent on living their lives judging and commenting the lives of others. The 25 year old has not lived the life of Sasha or the teen prostitute, she has lived her own life and made her own choices, yes it may have been a 'slippery slope' but she made the choice to begin and continue and ultimately made the choice to leave.
There can never be a debate on Porn, never! Simply because a show similar to this episode of Tyra arguing for porn will never get the time of day on a mainstream network so a balanced and FAIR argument can not take place.
I don't understand at all the reasoning other than to sensationalise the topic that they put Sasha on with a Teen prostitute. It's clearly not the same, the line between pornstar and prostitute is fine and/or incredibly blurry but there is one crucial difference that separates the two cases SASHA IS 18, AN ADULT DICTATED BY LAW and as such can make that decision for herself. Her choice. 100%.
And let's think about it for a second if you don't like porn or it offends you don't have to watch it. It still hasn't reached the point where hardcore pornography is on billboards or buses yet. If you're fighting against the fictitious 'harm' to society caused by pornography perhaps attention should be turned towards bigger problems of the world with physical and real impact on its inhabitants.
As for Tyra, its easy for her to judge and pass it freely over others because she's made her life in almost as a shallow and superficial way as Sasha, effectively selling her body as a supermodel, and unfortunately she's been given a show that she can use as a weapon against an issue she doesn't like. I'm not saying she hasn't earned her life and I'm certainly not saying she doesn't deserve it, but what has she or for that matter what can she or anyone ever do to earn the right patronise a young professional to her face, a professional in a profession that she may not wholly agree but a professional nonetheless.
I understand there are elements of the Adult Industry that can be and should be considered seedy, sleazy and abusive like agent-wannabes who are in fact pimps and keep the majority if not all your earnings. There are those companies and producers who fail to respect the model and their use of language such as: slut, whore and general lack of appreciation of the females risking their social status and acceptability to appear before their camera. However those elements can also be applied to everyday life and everyday media, for example: a rap star referring to the female dancers in his video as hoes, magazines labelling the wife of a hotshot footballer as a gold-digger or worse
This general lack of respect isn't just confined to the realms of pornography or adult media; it's engrained in society and behaviour from the very beginning of life. People would have us believe the way to regain this respect and adopt an attitude of respect and admiration for women and quell the horrors of Abuse would be to ban and make pornography illegal; all that would achieve is more criminals, forcing porn (an already established part of life for a lot of people) underground and under the radar and increasing the chances of abuse.
Porn could be accurately described as an addiction, a habit, perhaps even a 'bad' habit but so can smoking, drinking and T.V. Should we ban everything in order to force such afflictions out of society, would that even work? I think not. The only possible solution is the Adult Industry itself, a statement Anti-porn activists certainly will not like. It's up to the industry to begin regulating itself and imposing pressure on other companies and/or individuals with questionable methods and operations. They are the only ones who can implement a big enough action within the closed community of adult production, if they're product is sex then it's their social responsibility to be sex positive much like a company polluting the environment might attempt to offset the pollution by planting trees per so many units pollution; so although the pollution remains there is also a positive aspect. There are a number of companies involved in promoting a healthy attitude toward sex and adult entertainment; most notably Kink.com, checking them out will firmly eradicate the theory that all adult production companies and producers are honey easels preying on women who supposedly can't choose the complete opposite in fact.
I have never liked the text that accompanies video releases, pay sites and other such distribution that refers to the performers as sluts, whores, trash etc. I fail to understand how that sells, as with everything I suppose it has its market, this is a practice that if and when I make it I will not follow. Selfishly because it doesn't 'get me going' at the end of the day though it's not referring to the performer as such, the woman in the video is the product and that is to whom the text is referring. Something I suppose is easy to slip ones mind when concerned with producing argument points against pornography and in favour of a society where we will no longer be able to choose as adults' weather or not we want to watch two or more adults engaging in consensual legal sexual acts.
I would be quite proud to be considered part of the adult industry; I'm male so I fall under to theory that I would be proud because I would be more accepted and socially rewarded for declaring such an affiliation, but I don't think that would be the reason at all. I'd be proud because its a gated community and hard to break in to, the constant barrage of attacks from the government, politicians and activists against porn from all over the world have made it that way, and also because it is an industry that is so heavily saturated with 'products' and ideas that for me to make I'd of truly created something original and not widely, if at all, seen. I'm not a woman but I can't help feel that if I was I'd be empowered and though ultimately in the minds of many people, fans and critics, I may be being degraded for nothing more than money, I would still be in charge and would still make the choices.
In fairness I reside and shoot in the U.K, our laws are different and we tend to talk about sex and sexual activities a lot more freely than America as a country as a whole. Te reason for singling out America is two fold; the adult industry is at its largest there and secondly that's where the war on porn initially erupted. I have been feeling slightly worried regarding certain proposed legislation and comments made by our, British, politicians and members of government and feel that we are edging towards following Bush in to yet a third war. It's worrying for me because I'm just starting out and though only interested in following a soft-core route initially, if I enjoy it and begin to make my investment back I will want to pursuit my stake of the adult Industry, but now there is confusion over what regulations are in affect and a bunch of other legal trappings that could wind me up with a custodial sentence. It is bad enough having to maintain paperwork dictated by another country let alone keeping abreast of your own country's legal changes, but that is the nature of the best and I hope I never have to conclude that sentence with, we are at war.
My final thoughts on the matter: as long as there are women who want to earn money by having sex or getting undressed for a camera, as long as there are producers who want and willing to shoot and pay women to do so and whilst those involved ensure everyone has made their choice under no duress, the are comfortable and most importantly of legal age and sound mind to do so. Why must they be questioned, stopped and persecuted?
The You Tube video can be viewed/linked to at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06SHWu1ebc0
There are more YouTube videos from that interview, i chose the one that frustrated me the most.
My original article is located at: http://www.benyatesonline.com/blog/?p=30