The job was interesting, and I there were a lot of fun aspects to it, but it was really starting to wear me down. Not just physically (the shifts were longer than I'm used to, and it was an hour of busing a day), but mentally and emotionally.
I went in to the job fully aware that pornography is problematic in a number of ways, but all I really thought of before going in was it's sexist, patriarchal aspects. I know the women in porn (het porn, for the most part) are treated like objects, and are subjected to countless humiliations for the enjoyment of the (predominantly male) audience. Women get pissed on, get cum in their eyes, get thrown around, etc. One of the only reasons I could tolerate these films was because the women are (for the most part) consenting adults, and well-paid ones for that matter. Would I let someone cum in my eye for several thousand dollars? Probably.
What I didn't consider before taking the job, was the tremendous cis-sexism and racism in the porn industry. I worked with adult movies when I was at Video Difference, but we didn't really have that much selection. At VD we had a huge gay section, a really stellar lesbian section (and not just "girl-on-girl" shit aimed at straight men, the lesbian section was probably the most tasteful selection in that store. Women of every size and colour were represented), and a "regular" section. We had maybe one or two titles that included trans-women, and a few "interracial" ones. Everything VD was sent was totally random, so there weren't enough of the same kind of movies to make sub-categories.
At X-Citement, they have a whole "interracial" section. One of the issues I had with this was that they didn't even just limit it to actual interracial couples, but if there was a woman of colour on the cover, it would be included in that section even if it was a black girl doing scenes with a black man.
Then there was the horrifying titles like:
This girl probably can't get a job without someone mentioning the fact that she's Asian. While there are issues of sexism and nasty treatment of women in "normal" porn, the women in those films (let's say Pirates, Body Heat, Fallen, Older Women Younger Girls #3, In Anal Sluts We Trust, etc) are overwhelmingly white. Women of colour are consistently cast in films that are entirely based around fetishizing them. If there's an Asian porn actress without a gag reflex, she still probably wont get cast in a blow job movie. She's Asian first, a woman second. It scares me to think how the person that gets off to these movies will treat or even think about the women of colour they see on a daily basis. It's the same for black and latina women.
Then there's shit like this:
The other problems I've been have are with the trans porn. Not only is the selection of queer films at X-Citement pitiful and embarassing, the "Transgender" section is hard to stomach. These women are referred to as "she-males" and "T-Girls" and are either "tricking" men with their "naughty secret" or are being tortured. It really makes me feel like an extremely unsafe world is being created (perpetuated?) for trans women.
I do believe there is such a thing as tasteful porn. I do believe that people of all genders and races can be portrayed in a sexual, respectful way. I want there to be Thai trans girls expressing themselves sexually, I want white girls to have sex with black men, I want everyone to be able to own their sexuality and if they want to make a career out of it, I just want everyone to be respected as HUMAN BEINGS for fuck's sake. I just can't hack the objectification and fetishization and belittling and humiliation any more.
Also, I only got like, a 10% discount on vibrators and that simply will not do.
No comments:
Post a Comment