‘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…
The portrayal of women in porn is a complete degrade and disgrace. It leads to make people think all the gore and violence is a part of sex. No wonder there are men out there who verbally abuse a respectable author because she’s uncovering this ugly truth.
When will men realise that mainstream pornography is degrading to women and promotes sexual violence?? They’re geniunely not aware that it’s wrong! Which I assume is why those people reacted badly to your article.
It’s gotten to a point where it’s not pornographic anymore, it’s grotesque. I don’t feel anyone in their right mind could find it appealing.
If those men don’t want to see the fact that porn is degrading for the women, and bring their deniance to the point of bashing you, I feel very sorry for them.
It’s a fact that watching porn really affects your brain very badly. Which is one of the reasons why I’m against it.
My point is, porn must have fried away the brains of these addicts who have tried to bash you on Twitter lol
Let the haters talk, and comments all the disrespectful stuff they wanna say. It only shows how ugly they are on the inside. You’re a respectacble intellectual. You will never stand on the same level as them.
Hey Everybody,
It’s so refreshing to read such positivity. Thank you Ladies. I can’t not be candid about this as we all know the majority of porn is one big sickening carnival that is twisting men up. The sex industry is generally not in the interests of women. There are a few producers who are innovating and cater for us women by not totally objectifying us but they are being swamped by gonzo, male market porn. There will always be disagreeable genres but the sheer ubiquity of this is affecting children and us women now. It needs paywalling.
Celebrity and Ambassador of Women’s Rights, Simonetta Lein, has pledged support through The Wishwall Foundation with Sara, President of Protea of Human Rights, Italy.We have four proposals to take to the UN.
Come and support us on this link:
https://desideriamo.it/desideri/protect-human-rights-pornography-2/
Please come and voice your opinions to this vital debate Ladies.
Bests
Vikki Dark
I completely support your cause! Just shared the link above on Facebook, hoping that my 3000 something friends will be useful for something for once 🙂
Thank you so much Celine! We will never give up xxx
Such a beautiful article! Your words never fail to inspire me. We speak out because we care. The truth is often overlooked or ignored. Too many people react and get mad because they they refuse to hear it. We must have an attitude of pursuing the truth no matter where it may lead us.
“The further a society drifts from truth the more it will hate those who speak it.” – George Orwell
🙂
I think addiction to anything is harmful, but men will always experience sex from a “male perspective” so there will always be a demand for this type of porn. And not everyone is a young basement dwelling loser who should have better stuff to do. What about a disabled vet in his 60s should he be denied porn because it objectifies women?
As long as we have material bodies we will objectify each other- the damage isn’t in the art the damage is in whether or not you do enough of it to poison your perspective on women in the real world.
Axaus, your comment is well meaning, but demonstrates the type of sexual entitlement that porn encourages in men. You have proved the author’s point.
Nobody is entitled to women’s sexuality, not even 60-something disabled veterans. Men like that can ‘help themselves’ without the use of prostituted women.
Your comment implies that women have no choice or vote, because men like it, and male entitlement takes priority. This is why we have law and order in the first place — to prevent the ‘wants’ of some from thwarting free and equal society.
Absolutely Agree Briana. There are collectives who support prostitution to ensure disabled men get theirs. This too suggests women as sexual fodder is utterly natural. We are human beings not objects like men want and try to keep us being. Women who act in gonzo porn are not sexually free either; they’re earning a crust from a misogynist’s world. The ‘art’, Axaus, is the problem I’m afraid.
You seem very little concerned about the male performers who are presumably ‘degraded’ and ‘objectified’ and ‘prostituted’ by porn, and to add insult to injury, don’t earn as much doing it. Unless you can show that women have no choice in the matter porn is a voluntary activity at both ends, performer and consumer. Women have the choice not to do it, as well as the choice to do it. I have yet to hear of anyone in the West starving because they didn’t drop their knickers on a porn shoot. Therefore your talk of entitlement is not relevant to the issue.
Wow – what a fantastic quote. I hope you don’t mind if I re-use that in the event that I should get further abuse!?x
Wow – what a great quote! I hope you don’t my if I re-use it, in the event that more abuse comes knocking?! x
Of course! Honoured to hear that you’ve found it fitting. 🙂 x
Please come and support us on this link. We have real chance of change. We are taking this to the UN.
https://desideriamo.it/desideri/protect-human-rights-pornography-2/
Please come and voice your opinions to this vital debate Ladies.
Bests
Vikki Dark
Took my time and read the whole article, and all comments. And I must mention that I agree with all of them. People hate to hear the truth about themselves. In my opinions those guys were sent into a rage of denial that made their blood boil, causing us to unleash a verbal attack on you. You know this is exactly where the saying, “The Truth Hurts” comes from. Humans absolutely HATE to hear about their faults. Your article must have made them feel so guilty about themselves!
Awesome! Great writing and I agree with what you write. Very powerful and I so needed to read this right now. The effects of porn addiction are long-lasting. Your post reminds me of the quote “Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed”. Thank you beautiful for being such a light in a sometimes cloudy world.
Thanks Cornelia. It’s ridiculously prevalent now. The government needs to take safeguarding measures. These profiteers do not care about effects on the children. How dare they keep aligning it with ‘freedom of expression? This convinces the young that it’s what liberalism is. Its BS. How can it be free when visibility is so lopsided and degrading to women and not men?