Saturday, April 18, 2009

Pornography is not about sex

I stumbled across two very interesting articles over the past few days. Neither one of them are religious in nature and both of them expose the darker elements of pornography. Both of them are written by individuals who are or were in some way involved in the porn industry.

The first is by Evan Wright, perhaps most known for his book Generation Kill which was the basis for an HBO miniseries. His new book is Hella Nation and it was because of this book and an interview with him that I learned of his past. Wikipedia contains a link to his article on Salon.com describing his experience as entertainment editor and chief pornographic reviewer for Hustler magazine (in his interview he discussed, quite humorously, how he landed this job).

The article discusses his experience and how it caused him to wonder if it had made him misogynistic or if it drew out the misogyny already present.

CAUTION: This is not for the fainthearted. Though there are no photos, the descriptions are blunt and graphic. Addicts are at once repulsed and yet drawn to the darkness of the things described herein.

I'm reminded of the words of William S. Burroughs from Naked Lunch (no pun intended):

Look down LOOK DOWN along that junk road before you travel there and get in with the Wrong Mob...

A word to the wise guy.



The most recent article is from AdBusters magazine and this one came via email as I've semi-followed AdBusters for many years now. This article is by Douglas Haddow, described as "the last of the great film-school slackers." The article discusses the rise of the porn industry and its relation to the "fragmented state of modern masculinity."

CAUTION: This one is even more explicit (i.e. there's lost of profanity and graphic description of "sex" acts). The language is harsh and the subject matter is described in all its rawness, no holds barred. Again, it's not for the fainthearted but it's spot on.

Here's a snippet:

In order to compete with porn, the mainstream media appropriates the pornographic, which in turn forces porn producers and websites to create more vicious and chaotic content. The mainstream becomes porn and porn gradually edges closer to snuff.



It's refreshing that such critiques and exposes are being brought openly to the mainstream.

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