That is the question.

It used to be "to be or not to be," but times change.

I have never been satisfied with the the four basic answers:

A. Money.
B. Daddy didn't love her enough.
C. She likes the attention
D. She really is that horny, so she might as well make a buck.

A lot of the stuff on the Internet is downright nasty, such as Max Hardcore and Bang Bus.  Those guys chew through so many models the money can't be that good.  Exchanges such as this kind of unnerve me:
College age woman blowing two guys:
Guy 1: Who's your daddy?
Guy 2: He asked you a fuckin' question, bitch, who the fuck is your fuckin' daddy!

It's the denegration and the anger that doesn't sit well with me. 

I just have trouble understanding why a woman wants to put herself through that crap and potentially have her parents, family, and co-workers see it.
???

I'm just trying to understand it a little better.

Too be honest, I haven't looked at "real" porn in years. (I don't consider nudity to be porn). About 90% of what's on the internet is quite vile, disturbing shit though. Maybe it's a little bit of D & C. I'm sure theres better ways of earining money, unless it's a weird 3rd world country. So I wouldn't think A.

I dunno.

Maybe they do porn because they have the hots for Ron Jeremy.  :P


Cat

I am not anti-porn.  I am a porn consumer.  So are most of the anti-porn crusaders; they're just hypocrites.  Sexuality has always been a double-edged sword with me, so I'm not surprised I have ambivalence about porn. I'm also curious.  I want to know.  I don't want to just draw conclusions.
The anti-porn crusaders mainly two types and they both jump to conclusions:
1. Religious moralists.
2. Militant feminists.

The moralists have a simplistic point of view as usual. All people who produce, participate in, or consume pornography are fallen sinners on their way to hell. We decent folk must protect our children and communities from smut.  Of course, any porno person is welcome to find Jesus and redeem himself or herself.

The militant feminists, such as Catherine MacKinnon and the late Andrea Dworkin, declare pornography a violent form of male supremacy into which innocent babes-in-the-woods women and children are dragged, forced, drugged, brainwashed, ravaged, raped, beaten, and killed.  Women who say they like participating in pornography or enjoy looking at pornography are brainwashed victims of the patriarchy. 

MacKinnon spoke of the "snuff film industry," though there is scant evidence that any "snuff" exists, let alone a snuff "industry."  Dworkin famously remarked that all heterosexual intercourse is rape. Boy, they sure had a high opinion the power of women!

The anti-porn feminists used the late Linda Lovelace as the postergirl for porn victimhood.  There is evidence that Lovelace's husband, Chuck Traynor, abused her and that she was paid almost nothing for her role in "Deep Throat."  Not much else.  "Every time you watch 'Deep Throat' you're watching me being raped."  That was her tagline on the anti-porn lecture circuit. 

What do I think?  I think Lovelace matured and in middle age regretted doing porn.  I suspected thousands of women who did porn in their youths would come to grief about it in middle age.  Here again, evidence to back my suspicion is scant. 

It's not that Linda Lovelace is the best example, it's that she is the only example the anti-porn crusaders could produce!

In 35 years you would think hundreds of women (and men) would emerge with horror stories.  They haven't.  Maybe they're out there and keeping mum.  Maybe not.

My research into the matter produced anectdotes of isolated cases of abuse in production or transmission of STDs.  Mind you, I've never done field research!

Now, you would think the anti-porn movement would with all their resources find some hapless porn vets and drag it out of them.  Nope, just Linda.

Traci Lords wrote a book in which she talked of her sexual abuse in childhood, and how she didn't know what she was doing when she got into the business; however, Lords proved herself to be one of the smartest, coldest, most calculating individuals ever to fuck on camera!  No one believes her much, nor should they.

On the other hand, the "sex positive" feminists have made a cottage industry of enthusiastic porn vets to sing its praises--Annie Sprinkle, Nina Hartley, Candida Royalle, Susie Bright, etc. 

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence--but it sure as hell ain't proof.  Until evidence emerges that a million women are walking around shell-shocked from post-porn trauma, well, it's all conjecture.

I do have contempt for certain anti-porn activists (such as MacKinnon and Dworkin) because they got into bed with the religous crazies (ie. MacKinnon at the Meese Commission) and were little better than Victorian censorship prudes masquerading as feminists. 

However, most of the people who take issue with porn are simply sensitve, earnest folks who don't like what they see.  The answer "don't watch" does not suffice, because it's out there all the same!

We might be overlooking our own psychological factors. We might be projecting our own reactions to pornography onto the participants.  This seems quite likely to me.  Sometimes porn gave me a sense of anxiety, depression, and shame; however, these are all parts of my psychological profile.  Logically, if the women and men fucking and sucking on screen felt aghast at what they were doing, don't you think they'd stop doing it?  Of course.  No one is pointing a gun at their heads!

This is where the utterly unproven claims of MacKinnon & cohorts come into play.  A pornographer once informed MacKinnon that all his models sign a consent contract.  She snapped, "If you can force a woman to have sex with a dog, you can force her to sign a contract."

So take the most vicious dog under the porch, Max Hardcore.  Even we hate that prick! Wouldn't the Justice Dept. just looooove to bust this guy's ass and send him to prison?  Yes.  They've been trying for 15 years. Even the women he has injured have not filed suit claiming they were coerced.  One of his models did complain to the porn press that MH fisted her so hard she was hospitalized, and that he said he'd pay the bill and he didn't.  Well, honey, you gotta file a police report if you believe MH assaulted you.  The AVN isn't the cops.  I can only conclude she didn't want the law involved. 

What "sensitive" persons like me don't always realize is some people are very hard (not what I mean, wiseguy).  Eating a guy's bunghole on camera won't phase them now and it never will.  If the law says they can do that, and they're not complaining, who is Catherine MacKinnon--who am I--to tell them they don't like it and they don't want to do it?

If you've read this far, you have too much time on your hands.  I was just trying to answer my own question.  I guess it will always be somewhat of a mystery to me!
;)

"In 35 years you would think hundreds of women (and men) would emerge with horror stories.  They haven't.  Maybe they're out there and keeping mum.  Maybe not."

A good number of them are dead:

http://www.francesfarmersrevenge.com/stuff/archive/oldnews/deadpornstars.htm

While the accidents listed probably have nothing to do with the industry, a high percentage of murders, suicides, ODs and AIDS deaths probably came as a result of working in the industry.

The thing that bothers me most in recent porn is the non-use of condoms in a lot of scenes. While porn stars are tested regularly for HIV, having unprotecting sex (and often rough sex at that) is akin to sticking a partially loaded revolver up your hoo-ha or butt and pulling the trigger.

Then there's the reverse end of stupidity: putting condoms on dildos. I dunno know though, maybe they can't sterilize them properly and need condoms.

Ant




That's a lie the industry perpetually repeats.  It's safe and clean and everybody gets tested.  Well STDs and STIs are rampant in the porn biz. The ATM stuff is really dangerous, but it's a porno staple.  I wondered what these women would tell these kids about what they did when they were dumb 19-year-olds.  Well, thanks to clamydia, they won't be having any kids!
:o

ATM? There's a fetish with having sex with cash machines? AND it's a porno staple? How have I missed this!  ;D

Ant


Well they'd heard about safe sex but just got a bit confused

No doubt partially due to my avatar.

I just googled "ATM sex" - thanks, urbandictionary.

ATM is the surest way to get JWB'ed in a normal relationship.

Ant

I just learned the acronym a while back.  Lowers my maturity quotient by several points when somebody says, "Hold on, I gotta stop at the ATM."
Uh-huh-huh-huh-huh...he's gotta stop at the Ass-to-Mouth!
:D

Why do women do porn?

Money,money,money.

ATM stands for a lot ::)

ATM? There's a fetish with having sex with cash machines? AND it's a porno staple? How have I missed this!  ;D

Ant


ATM fetish?!  :o :D ;D

LMFAO

I'll be waiting for the otaku on 4chan and iichan to start threads on the fetish boards request anime chicks fucking ATM machines....

You know what... I should do that thread on 4chan as a joke! ;D :D

Who the heck is Max Hardcore?

From a few glances of descriptions.... I'm afraid I'll be scarred if I find out.

Edit: Took a quick look... Yep, that's enough to scar me.(Didn't even have to look for no longer than a second) My tastes have never been in humiliation, although I don't mind mild domination.(kind of a playful master/slave thing)

ATM fetish?!  :o :D ;D

LMFAO

I'll be waiting for the otaku on 4chan and iichan to start threads on the fetish boards request anime chicks fucking ATM machines....

You know what... I should do that thread on 4chan as a joke! ;D :D




I'm fairly sure it doesn't stand for Automated telling machine, in this case

I'm fairly sure it doesn't stand for Automated telling machine, in this case


I kinda figured that.  ;)

I just wanted to turn it into a silly joke.

Still is tempting to post a thread about on a request board as a joke.

Edit: The type of reply you did to me is familiar...

I used emoticons to show that I was joking.

I did actually look up the ATM term as well...

Ick. :P

I did actually look up the ATM term as well...

Ick. :P


Never say these boards aren't educational!

Never say these boards aren't educational!


Yeah... I knew it wasn't money machines... But didn't know what it stood for... It's a good way to get a disease.

:P  :D

Never say these boards aren't educational!

Gotta know your ABC's (of hepatitis).
:P