Well, this is the final entry on this subject. It's been a long haul and I'm taking a break after this. I did another super post because I can just trip over segues for each part. Anyway for the previous posts in the Destigmatizing Sex Work series, please click the following links:
Introduction
Strippers
Erotic masseurs & Tantrikas
BDSM & Fetish
Erotica writers, PSOs, Erotic photographers/models
I realized as I was reading my mother's
More magazine (for women 40+) which featured an article about the woman in Texas who was arrested for selling sex toys. In my introduction, I completely forgot about this segment of people I would definitely catagorize as sex workers:
sex toy independent contractors and
sex store proprietors. Of course I will also talk about the
pornographic movie industry.
Sex Toy Independent Contractors
Apparently the source of our orgasms is the government's business. Or at least in the south it is. Joanne Webb of Burleson, Texas learned the hard way that she was seen as more of a threat priority than, oh, say a murderer or rapist. While working at her husband Chris' construction company (selling sex toys with
Passion Parties on the side) as a secretary, she was approached by a couple looking to buy sex toys. After they convinced her to go home and bring something back they bought over $60 worth of toys. They also had audio and videotape to be used against this devout Christian, wife and mother of three.
Joanne Webb was charged with an obscure law passed in Texas in 1978 which states, "the use of or owning more than six obscene devices is a felony". Her husband Chris rounded up her inventory and took it across state lines to prevent them from being taken in a search and seizure. The Webbs suffered financial hardship because of this, Chris had a nervous breakdown and had to file bankruptcy for his business. Thanks to the public uproar and intense attention the charges were dropped against Joanne and the family is rebounding from the ordeal. This hasn't discouraged Joanne thankfully; she still working for Passion Parties.
Ridiculous, isn't it? I remember hearing about this on the news. One would think she was selling guns with filed down serial numbers out of the trunk of her car to gang members and terrorists. But no, she made the mistake of thinking a woman's (and man's) orgasm could be improved with the use of her toys. She could've gone to jail if the charges hadn't been dropped. Really, are the streets so dangerous with sex toy sellers out and about?
This is why prostitution needs to be decriminalized because forms of sex work like sex toys (which have been around for
thousands of years as well) sells wouldn't be attacked either. However sex workers have got to come together to get this done. Anyway, moving on... At home sex toy parties have made sexuality accessible for hundreds, nay, thousands of women previously intimidated by going to a sex store in public. Though sex stores are changing as well.
Sex Stores
In the seventies especially, people, mostly men, would go to seventies in their trench coat and a hat both positioned to obscure their faces. It was a shameful thing to have a sex drive or sexual curiosity. Admittedly some of those stores were a bit sleazy. The lighting, the clerks, just very yucky in some cases. But times have changed. As sex moved into the mainstream the stores have also. Many are on the internet. Working as a sales associate at a sex store is seen as or perhaps more exciting than working at a lingerie store.
I've seen this happen. Someone mentions working at a sex store at a party then all of a sudden they're treated as though they have a Ph.D in sexology. Though they should know more than your average person about sex being bombarded by questions is a bit unsettling. Anyway, this is probably the most acceptable form of sex work.
Toys in Babeland and
Good Vibrations are probably the most famous sex stores in the country or possibly the world. Or maybe I'm aggrandizing. Anyway, both are women-owned and Good Vibrations is women-owned
and worker-owned. Though they are women-friendly men are just as welcomed there. Both stores are great leveling grounds for sexually mature adults.
They're almost like department stores, you know like Marshall Field's and Neiman Marcus. Or even better, Sex U (pun intended :P).
Toys in Babeland and
Good Vibrations not only sell sex toys and adult movies, but each store offers sex advice (online), hosts events, shopping advice and education. See? It is a university! Good Vibes also has a magazine.
We also have
Xandria (sister company of the aforementioned
Passion Parties),
Blowfish,
Grand Opening (Boston, L.A.) and
A Woman's Touch (located in Madison, WI. Yes, that WI) among many others who are doing their part to give the human race accesible orgasms. Of course no trip to one of these stores is complete without browsing the movie aisle.
The Porn Industry
Two facts about the porn industry courtesy of
Constance Penley in a speech at the University of British Columbia c. 1996: (1) Porn is the only sector of the film industry where women make more money than men and (2) There is a higher percentage of female directors, producers and stars in the pornography industry than in the mainstream film industry.
Yet it's always accused of degrading and demeaning women. Oh yes, because all degraded people earn huge paychecks from their oppressors. That's not to say that there aren't some women in the industry who are discriminated against (especially African-American, Asian and Latinas) and that there aren't some women who were led into the industry on false pretenses (Linda Lovelace). However, just like with women forced into prostitution, they are in the minority. The sensational value and subsequent reinforcement of the sex-is-bad moral is what allows their stories to be come the norm.
All that being said, the porn industry is very lucrative. Just like other actors, they work long hours and on occasion have to deal with asshole directors and producers. Your look is everything and a significant majority of porn actresses have breast implants and quite a few men have penile enlargements. The porn industry is sexual fantasy embodied and for years primarily aimed toward the white, heterosexual American male.
I think that's why most women don't like porn. It wasn't marketed nor made for them. Most of the men (still, unfortunately) are unattractive (another minus for het women), flabby or overweight neither of which is allowed on the female stars.
Porn these days is made by and for everyone. More and more people are making homemade porn to be shown online or for sale and earning good money doing so. Sex-positive feminists such as
Candida Royalle have their own production companies and are producing women-friendly porn. African-American porn star
Vanessa Blue is venturing into producing what she terms 'pussy power' porn.
Gay and Lesbian porn is viewed by heterosexuals as well, especially those who are curious. I know several female friends (us fag hags) who
love gay male porn more than heterosexual porn. Now porn is truly serving it's purpose, getting everybody and anybody with a sex drive off.
I mentioned how much women make in this industry. In addition to the money is the fame that they have these days. Before it was a shameful thing to be a porn actress. In some circles it still is. It's like a more complicated version of prostitution. You're paid to have sex, but it's filmed. There's lighting, make up, costume, scripts, auditions....
Vanessa Blue, raised by open minded parents who approve of her work and began as a stripper then transitioned into porn, talks about
ageism and racism in the industry in an interview with DC Dancers. Young, blonde and eighteen is still the preference, but with the myriad of alternative porn, if you don't want to see that you don't have to. She talks about the philosophy behind the movie she directed and performed in for Hustler,
Slipping Into Darkness, saying
"I'm promoting the power of the pussy" and that she's allowing the girls to "fuck back". Yes!!
The men in mainstream heterosexual porn I mentioned tended to be at least plain or at worst ugly. They are supposed to be the average male in the film who's ultimate fantasy is to bed a woman with amazingly huge breasts and a super wet pussy. Nothing wrong with that. Now that more het women are buying the same porn the male stars are getting much better looking.
Namely for me the man is
Lexington Steele who was a Wall Street banker before going into porn. So he's not only attractive, sexy and well-endowed but he's intelligent and good with numbers. You should see the smile on my face...Anyway he hosts
Lex in the City with Vanessa Blue as the show's DJ.
The recent HIV scare in the industry has given a boost to the voices of disapproval. For them this proves the 'sinfulness' or the 'evil' inherent in the industry. Despite what those voices think, porn stars practice safe sex, even when there is no condom present. Many of the actors perform in groups, about four or six who only work with each other. They are tested for STI/STDs before coming on set on a regular basis. Far more regular than the average adult on the dating scene. Only
3-5% of all STDs in this country are related to prostitution to draw a parallel to the adult film industry. Even more precautions are taken but on the whole, this scare is an anomaly in the industry.
Adult Video News hosts the premiere awards show for the
adult film industry as well as several other events throughout the year. The AVN Awards were hosted on January 8th this year in Las Vegas. This is an industry that is self-regulated and committed to their art. Just like Hollywood and even Broadway, there are crap movies, horrible producers and over-hyped stars by the dozens. That isn't rare anywhere in this world unfortunately.
It's not a career choice for everyone, but for those who can do it, then by all means go ahead. In my view, it's just as valid as wanting to be on stage.
Links of Interest
