Spoony Oyster

Porn, James Deen and Scapegoating 

Is it possible for a news outlet to have a civil and critical discussion about porn without falling into Reefer Madness-like hyperbole, oversimplification and stereotype?  

Judging by this segment by ABC’s Nightline, I’m not so sure. 

The whole segment is a clever condemnation of pornography (which is to be expected seeing as this is mainstream news) and about as subtle as a sledgehammer in its delivery. And for condemnation to really work, you need a scapegoat and in this case, that scapegoat (a scapegoat with a huge shlong) is James Deen. It’s a new angle to work because, well, James is about as popular of a male pornstar there is in the industry and to have young women be a part of that porn fanbase is something new. 

The scare-tactic bullet points that they try to make aren’t well thought out but they do deserve a breakdown.

But to me, the worst part is that it totally misses a great opportunities to ask some relevant and critical questions about porn. Because of that, I’ve included what would’ve been useful to ask: 

1. “James Deen is porn’s Guy Next Door—so normal he kind of looks like he doesn’t belong in a world where macho is king and bigger is best.” James Deen is not, visually, your average male macho porn star. And…this is somehow a bad thing? If anything, I think that’s a positive representation of a different kind of masculinity that is seen as sexual and attractive. 

An interesting question ABC could’ve posed is the (lack of) diversity of penis size in porn and consequently the tired porn-narrative that says that a woman orgasms only when she’s being penetrated. As we all know, vaginal orgasms are like freckles: some have them, most don’t. Yet the picture we get form porn is that while women do like oral sex (giving and receiving), they only really get off of when James (or Nacho, Manuel, whoever) goes balls to the wall). That porns almost always end with the male performer’s orgasm is another angle to approach that questions some of the sexist elements in porn. 

And why is it bad that James looks “normal”? The fear that’s being mongered here is that porn stars (gasp!) are like us! This is the Sasha Grey thing all over again. People don’t want to believe that pornstars are people. It’s easier to paint them with a broad brush so you don’t have to look at them critically (like we do with other people). There are two ways of getting to know others in life. You can either ask yourself “How is this person like me?” or “How is this person not like me?” The former comes from a place that wants to understand. The latter comes from a place that wants to judge. 

2. James Deen does porn parodies. Did anyone else notice ABC seemed to almost exclusively use clips of him in porn parodies that would immediately be recognized as kid/teen’s television a la The Simpsons and Family Guy? This isn’t a coincidence. This sample is a deliberate skew of his work. To the uninformed parent who is watching this, it portrays James (and the industry) as child-snatchers who are creating porn deliberately aimed at kids. If you’re trying to work the OMG hide your daughters! angle like this news piece is, using only the porn parodies is a brilliant idea—you don’t have to admit that most of James’ porn is, you know, of the more adult-themed variety and lately more on the BDSM kick. 

An interesting question ABC could’ve posed was around James’ recent experience with Brazzers and PornStarPunishment (I’m not going to link to it but be warned: triggers for rape and sexual assault, the site is incredibly graphic). If you follow his blog, you’ll know that essentially, James felt uncomfortable with doing scenes for PSP  because the storyline was centered on rape. James pulled out (no pun intended) and then Shyla Stylez, who was going to do the scene with James, also pulled out because she wanted to work only with James. The folks at Brazzers/PSP relented and let James do the storyline his way so it didn’t seem, to James at least, so “rapey” to use his words. At its core, this is a small but remarkable example of challenging rape culture from the inside out. Now that is something I would’ve asked him about.

I would’ve also asked him about some of the violent imagery on sites such as PSP. To me, there’s BDSM and there’s men’s violence against women pretending to be BDSM. Where is the line and how does one tell the difference? I think a lot of people would look at PSP and say that while James might’ve gotten the rape scene thrown out (a small victory), it still certainly looks like sexual violence against women. 

3. “I’m the wicked witch of the west.” I really don’t think it’s a coincidence again that they decided to include this clip of him saying this completely out-of-context. One of the major themes/allegations of the segment is that James is subverting all of these young girls/women out there who are fans into porn-obsessed robots. Would anyone really be saying this about a female pornstar who had a large young-adult male following? Would they be saying “Oh my, you’re turning our poor boys into hound dogs!” No, because the accepted idea is that boys already are. The accepted notion for girls is different because society says that girls don’t and shouldn’t enjoy sex. Nobody bats an eye when a guy has a poster of Jenna Jameson on their wall and masturbates until he blacks out. But a girl having a poster of James Deen and possibly masturbating to that? Good God, the world might go up in flames if that happens.

So the question ABC could’ve asked here is, “You’ve got a lot of young female fans out there that are maybe seeing your films and getting their first ideas about sex and pleasure. What would you hope they get out of that?” To which James could’ve said, “Well, I hope they see that sex should be about both parties satisfying each other and of course sex being consensual. Sex doesn’t have to look exactly like this or that but it’s about what feels right for those involved. What I like and what feels right for me might not be what you like or what feels right for you and your partner.” 

[“Shocking footage of women abused on the porn set”]

Trigger Warning for sexual assault. It is very graphic and disturbing. Be advised. 

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Last night, I started to write a post about porn and the side of the anti-porn movement that works to get women out of the industry. Most of these organizations are faith-based and people who are pro-porn are thoroughly disinterested in anything they have to say (especially because they are faith-based). Whatever side of the argument you stand on though, I hope we can all agree that much more can be done to make workplaces in porn safer and more responsible to its employees. 

But Spoony, they are! You don’t know! I worked on a porn set! They’re safe! It’s emotionally tough work, what do you expect!?

I’m sure some are. That does not wipe away the reality that some aren’t. If we argue the legitimacy of porn as an industry and career choice, we need to do more to make it a safe and conscious one just like any healthy, functioning business. There are human resources guidelines and regulations. There are trainings, supervision, insurance to deal with workplace stresses, etc. I would hope the big studios have things like this. I’m just not so sure the gonzo stuff does. 

Safety, responsibility and an immediate concern for staff is what I expect. 

Sasha Grey has a lot of guts.

And I don’t know how she does it sometimes. If you see just 1/100th of the press that’s done on her, you’ll see that most of it is her defending herself from journalists/moms/talking heads. And seeing this video makes me realize two things: 

1. Whoopi Goldberg is the only one there that gets it. 
2. As a culture we actively work to dehumanize and oppress people (mostly women) who work in the adult entertainment industry.  

This is sexism against women in its most clever and deceptive form—one that is championed by women in supposed support of women. In other words, our culture has pitted women against each other and the net effect is that women continue to stay small in rigid stereotypes while sexism goes unchecked. It’s too hard to think that women and porn can peacefully co-exist. It’s too hard to think that there is the idea of choice in porn or that one can view porn as a host for many complicated issues (both good and bad). 

This was an ambush on The View. Instead of talking about the real issue here (why are people so upset about Sasha reading to kids and what does this say about our society?) they made the issue a personal one (not in a good way) under the guise of being a moral one. They made it personal in several ways: 

1. Sheri Shepherd, probably the dumbest person to be a member of The View, asking how she’s going to explain to her son what a pornstar is. If you as a parent can’t create a sensitive and age-appropriate answer, you are unfit to be a parent. Any parent with any parenting ability should be able to explain what a dentist does, what a pornstar does, or what a police-officer does. 

2. Barbara Walters questioning why Sasha would even want to do this in the first place? Why not? What’s wrong with volunteering for a local school? If you understand the simple concept that says: more affluent the area=the more parental involvement and volunteering where the less affluent the area=the less parental involvement and volunteering, you should thank her for wanting to donate her time. What’s more upsetting is that the question suggests that someone like her shouldn’t want to volunteer. It’s much easier to stereotype a pornstar or former pornstar as some vapid, wretch of a person with no sense of community or moral compass. But if you’re a good parent or a good educator, you show your kids honesty and integrity. You don’t have to play a DVD of Sasha Grey’s adult films but you can (if it comes up) have a conversation that is fitting: “Sasha is a TV actress but she’s also acted in adult movies where you have to be 18 or sometimes 21 and older to watch. These movies are for adults only.” What’s an adult movie? A kid might ask. “An adult movie is a movie made for adults by adults. You know how there are cartoons and shows where it’s for kids and adults really don’t watch those? There are adult movies where some adults watch those and kids don’t watch those.” It’s not that hard and that took all of 2 minutes to think of. 

3. Barbara saying that “being a pornstar isn’t something you hope your children aspire to be.” Sasha wasn’t forced into sex-trafficking at the age of 5. That’s something you don’t hope for your children. Someone choosing to be an adult entertainer is, to make this exhausted argument again, a choice. A lot of parents don’t want their kids to be in the military fighting a war that they don’t believe in or is possibly breaking international law. If a school wanted to have a soldier come in to read to the kids, what’s the harm? They’re not there to talk about covert operations in Kabul or the overspending of the military or the killing of innocent Iraqi civilians. The point of having people of all walks come in to read is to show that everyone loves to read. Reading is important. No matter what job you have, you will read. As the NBA used to say, “Reading is Fundamental.”

4. Whoopi shares a personal story about being a child growing up next to pornstars. This is perhaps the only sane moment in the interview because instead of heaping on women who do porn=evil garbage, she made it personal. Whoopi is saying these people are people. What a concept. 

5. And finally, Barbara chiming in as the old grandmother asking “what’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like that?” Before this, she questions why Sasha even entered the business if she believes in education and likes working with kid. I can’t believe this came out of Barbara’s mouth. We’re talking about a woman who pioneered the news industry for women. This question isn’t really a question. It’s more of a setup to try and get Sasha to break down and repent for all of her supposed faults. Actually, the entire interview has this tone. It’s difficult for society to accept that a woman might be in the industry and simultaneously be a good, clear thinking person. It’s easier to demonize someone and say that, eventually, they’ll wake up and realize how wrong their actions were. It’s a bully tactic that is based on the oppression of women: you don’t know what you were doing and you don’t have a mind of your own. It’s like an episode of Mad Men all over again. It just looks like it’s not oppression because it’s women doing it. It’s obvious that Barbara and co. don’t like the porn industry (that’s fine, not everyone has to) but their attitude informs their criticism of Sasha. You can criticize the industry, fine. But when you fail to see the person, the woman, behind it what you really do is create distance and isolation between people. Like Whoopi said, she lived next to and got to know pornstars when she was a kid. When you do that and have actual conversations with them, then you can create closeness and understanding.  

Sasha has a lot of guts. It’s just unfortunate that one has to have so much guts and take so much shit to be truly heard as a person.