Porn Perspectives

Reign of Tera!

I was delighted to see Tera Patrick on the cover of FHM (July 2006) at my local newsstand the other day. Not so much for any incisive account of the tender psyche of this adult star-turned-entrepreneur (indeed, despite her brains and business chops, the feature included one paragraph of copy and about eight pages of semi-nude photos…ah, American journalism), but rather because it further evinces a trend I descried in my thesis.

Namely, women who were once relegated to the role of nameless sex object are taking control of their image and replacing men as central profiteers of that image. Feminism!

Here’s an excerpt of what I say in my thesis about Tera:

Actress Tera Patrick says she felt “emotionally soiled” from making porn. She felt something was missing and was constantly being taken advantage of—“no matter which way I turned I was getting fucked” (2005, 110).  But eventually she did find enjoyment in her work. 

Patrick says the turning point was her recognition that her power lay in her looks, which she decided she would no longer allow men to exploit for money. She would take back control through the formation of her own company with the help of superstar Jenna Jameson. Patrick created ClubTera.com, her own production company Teravision, and also signed an exclusive deal to become a prestigious Vivid Girl. Shortly after its release, Teravision’s first feature, Reign of Tera (2004), became the number-one selling adult movie in America.

Tera’s success is clearly still on the incline. Her appearance on the cover of a mainstream magazine is evidence of both her continuing popularity and also of a “mainstreaming” trend wherein porn becomes more accepted by the mainstream. (This “mainstreaming” is a whole other issue, but to editorialize for a minute….Frankly, I think it’s a good thing. I’ve had enough with American repression and hypocrisy. Let’s go ahead and bring porn into the open; we all look at it, so why not just recognize that?)

Way to go, Tera! It's about time Jenna Jameson gets some company up at the top.

More About SG

I'm amazed at how much momentum anti-Suicide Girls sentiments are gaining. At the same time, isn't this typical of any subculture that becomes too popular? People will put up with a lot of crap in order to associate with a cool subculture; once that subculture becomes mainstream, the now-lost cache needs to be replaced with something else (money, anyone?). Check out this fantastically comprehensive list of articles/blogs discussing SG and the controversy.

Making it Real

Now that the thesis is done, I’ve been thinking of ways to bring the ideas explored in it into the “real world.” I always said throughout the research and writing process that I would hate to work so hard to just leave the paper at school, never to be heard from again.

But figuring out how to best approach this transition into mainstream publishing is another matter. I’ve decided against the book idea…I don’t have enough time to make my research as comprehensive as it should be, and besides I question whether a 22-year old has any business writing a book explaining the state of some aspect of the world. Yes, I’ve done lots of research, but I have the feeling I have much to learn about the world and about porn before publishing my conclusions in such a definitive format.

The most attractive and realistic path, at this point, is publishing an article in a magazine. I’m thinking of starting from the angle of a young feminist attending a porn convention…I’d go into my reactions and experiences being in Vegas last winter, then branch into a larger analysis of the economics of the industry, obviously focusing on the evolving role of women. Does that sound snazzy? Would you want to read that?

I’ve never written a large feature piece for a magazine, so I’m a little hesitant as to where to begin. I suppose not doing anything is the worst strategy, so I’m going to just begin writing and see what happens. Wish me luck—and advice is very welcome!

Maybe I can use this blog as a way to explore ideas I wish to include in the article…as you can probably tell, I’m still trying to figure out how to go about this blogging business. I’ll hopefully hit my stride one of these days.

Psychopathia Sexualis

Last night I saw the film “Psychopathia Sexualis,” an artistic rendering of the case studies written by the Austro-German psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing in the late 1800s. Considering that he is the man responsible for coining the terms sadism and masochism, I was surprised I had never heard of him before (maybe I had but just had forgotten?).

The film was pretty good…lots of heavy-handed music and dramatic lighting, but when you’re dealing with Victorian fetishism, what choice do you really have? Interesting points raised included the Victorian conception of homosexuality and, by extension, the role of women (“women are lovely and were created for man”). To the Victorians, nothing is more perverse than a man rejecting the woman who is created solely to please him and serve as a “receptacle for his desires.” Women, meanwhile, have no sexual desire, but instead find their utmost pleasure in childbearing.

Oh those crazy Victorians…

Even while our society’s views on homosexuality have changed, the scenes involving fetishism really could be set in the present day. We really haven't evolved on our position vis a vis fetishism--it's still considered freaky and kind of gross. In the film, a man who enjoys having women walk on him visits a brothel and hires prostitutes to do the act. A man who enjoys the taste of blood goes to a mental institution to be cured of his unhealthy desire. The film was surprisingly mute as to its position on fetishes…considering that the film portrays homosexuality as natural and misunderstood (but healthy), I’m surprised it didn’t get into deeper questions about fetishism…are people born with it? What causes someone to be fixated on specific objects? Is fetishism a sort of sexual orientation that, like homosexuality, appears to be deviant and unhealthy but with time will come to be accepted?

Fetishism raises such fascinating questions...it always serves as a great intellectual exercise when I'm pondering my position on various sexual orientations or acts. More on this to come, I am sure.

(On a housekeeping note, I must apologize to readers for being so remiss in updating. I just graduated from college and moved to NYC, so things have been crazy for me…hopefully as the dust settles I’ll manage to find a regular writing schedule. Thanks for continuing to check back though. Everyone who reads this gets a gold star!)