How I Got Tongue-Lashed By Porn Addicts

‘Striking a chord’ is an understatement when I think of the last article I wrote for Urbanette. The article discussed the detrimental effects of gonzo pornography (ie. the type that’s especially degrading to women, shot from the male perspective). Following its publication, my Twitter account was set ablaze with protestation, all but drowning out the voices of supporters.

Thousands upon thousands of tweets arrived in my notification box channelling – well, ‘hate’. These ranged from insults about the way I look and my supposed ‘jealousy’ of pornstars, to accusations of having been ‘kiddie fiddled’ as a child (yeah, that was a new term to me, too). Amidst all of this were the shocking threats of brutal violence; not from a few, but from many. The tweets came from porn stars themselves, like current flavor, Mercedes Carrera (who I recently became aware of); the ‘die hard’ fans (who are a law unto themselves!) and many, many very angry men (to be explained…!).

All because I spoke out against pornography.

And yet it wasn’t all bad. I was simultaneously receiving messages from both women and (a few) men who understood and supported the article’s message of exposing sex industry abuses. They elevated my spirits, lifting me out of the deep swamp of negativity. Although I felt like a moving target, I saw this backlash as opportunity. What was revealed was what we don’t usually get to see in academia. This was real-time, visceral feedback and findings on degradation-porn’s relationship to its fans.

As the days unfolded, and the varying degrees of abuse hit my inbox, I quickly realised that I had incidentally kicked a hornet’s nest. The anger conveyed was akin to a religious fundamentalist’s response after having their belief system challenged. Or the reaction you’d get after expressing support for Millwall FC at West Ham United match in the UK (they hate each other!).

For the porn fans, was it the threat of having their comfort zones examined? Had they become so accustomed to high speed vast arrays of hot babes getting dp’d that they now couldn’t live without them? The answer, technically, is yes.

You see, gonzo porn, in its full degrading technicolour glory, has created a society of helpless (but not hopeless) addicts. And this type of addiction is the same as that of a hard drug — it’s a bonafide physical dependence. Science has shown us that real neurological changes happen in the porn addict’s brain. Yes, porn actually physically changes the viewer’s brain. New neural pathways are created to accommodate the unnatural speed of arousal when viewing boundless quantities of extreme, explicit imagery.

As the porn addict slowly adapts to this unnatural, digital environment, there are consequences. Erectile dysfunction, and becoming desensitized to real sex and lovemaking, is not the least of them. You can read more about that in This is Your Brain on Porn.

Many consider pornographic actor, producer, director, Max Hardcore (AKA Paul Little) to be the father of degradation porn. Max initiated the puking, choking and fisting of women as solid codes of porn. As it turned out, demand was huge and he made millions. I find it interesting that he was brought to trial many times for child pornography distribution and obscenity, but it regularly resulted in a ‘hung jury’. We have to ask ourselves whether Max, and his love of sexualizing children and brutalizing women, struck a certain mutual approval with members of the jury, aiding him in his many acquittals. Although his influence permeates the the gonzo genre, whilst not using children in his scenes, Little often makes the actresses admit to being ‘twelve years old’ on camera. He eventually spent two and a half years in prison convicted of obscenity after extreme, degrading content relating to children and women were seized by FBI.

I guess what I expected the least was the reaction from women currently working in the sex industry. A far cry from solidarity amongst our gender, in its place arrived a show of anger and hate with declarations of how much they love sex. But it isn’t real sex that we are talking about here, it’s pretending to like porn-sex for money; more money than a working-class women could earn. Of course they pledge allegiance to an industry that will feed their kids and pay for the roof over their heads. After all, how many of us ever consider biting the hand that feeds us?

But this is the patriarchal bargain. For their mistreatment and the graphic display of their bodies, they get to buy the necessities – and a bit more.

And even if they lie about the empowerment they feel (when the truth is they hate the perving strangers), at least in bringing these issues to light, they will be forced to acknowledge the unavoidable truth: that it’s all a lie. It’s not in alignment with true liberalism at all. None of us like the perverts. It’s just a way to survive. Gonzo porn is the least liberally progressive phenomenon of our time, and as oppressive as the extremely racist speeches of the far ring-wing circa Donald Trump.

Now, read the article that sparked all the controversy: The Sex Industry, Gonzo Porn and Me…