What You Can Do, 102: Support Adult Industry Reform from Within. I.e. Via Jenna Jameson & Other Performers Who Support Positive Change

Some of you may not be aware that there are some individuals within the pornography industry itself who are speaking up directly about the harms of the pornography, and who are advocating for positive reform. For instance, besides writing her book that exposes the harsh realities of the industry, “How To Make Love Like A Porn Star, A Cautionary Tale”, Jenna Jameson has openly advocated for raising the age of participation in pornography to twenty-one:

“I have major misgivings about talking to girls who are eighteen or nineteen years old about signing a contract. At eighteen years old it’s hard to make a life choice. I truly believe there should be an age verification at twenty-one years old for this industry.” (Full interview with PR.com here.)

Another performer, Devyn Devine, who is a newcomer and not as well known, (and who is also a sociology student), wrote an article for Adult Industry News, (AINews (dot) com), called Does Porn Dehumanize. In it Devyn writes:

“There is a correlation between mass media and violence. Using my last column as a springboard, if mainstream is doing it, then the porn industry takes it to the next level.”

“Think about it. We see nudity in mainstream movies, but see full-fledged, over exaggerated (Really, honey, do the implants NEED to be that big?) full frontals in porn. We see simulated sex in mainstream, and we see full on, get down and dirty, give it to me baby harder and harder sex in porn. Now we see ads that promote female violence and portray us like we are nothing more then a piece of trash to be walked on. What desensitizes us to things is the recurring image and message over and over again.”

Devyn continues: “So when we see these ads in normal life, it may take someone awhile to get the message and act on it.”

“The way this is all connected is because the advertisers are using sex to sell, and these sexually implicit ads are promoting the message that women are trash. So someone can make the connection in his (or her) mind when watching porn. This is a sexual act, these women are just fantasies and not real, and its ok to hurt them because they are less human than me. If you don’t think there aren’t crazies running around saying that, then you are seriously mistaken! We work in an industry, which promotes hyper femininity in a world the embraces hyper masculinity, and eventually the two are going to clash.” (For the full text of the article, which includes Devyn sharing some specific and documented violent harms of pornography, see here. To read Devyn’s other excellent article on the same topic, When Did Extreme Become Sexy & Where Do We Draw the Line?, click here. It’s very informative, but be forewarned, it is also very graphic and likely to be triggering and disturbing – especially for women.)

**************

At the end of the article Devyn writes:

“…does it (porn) do more harm then good? My mind isn’t made up and I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject! Email me at Devyn@AINews.com”

So I did exactly that quite awhile ago. I emailed Devyn and I commended her for writing that article and for raising the issues that she did. I shared some of the pertinent references from this site, such as “Pornography As a Cause of Rape”, by Dr. Diana Russell, PhD. (A book excerpt from “Against Pornography: The Evidence of Harm”. Read excerpt on-line here.)

Devyn was very receptive to what I shared and wrote me back a couple of times. I was apparently the only one who gave her positive feedback, though. I would think it would encourage further speaking out on the connection of pornography to violence if more people had written and commended her. So feel free to do so! (Hopefully Devyn is still reachable via that email address. The article was written awhile ago.)

*************

If anyone one pornography performer has the power to create change within the industry, it is Jenna Jameson. So her positive efforts and her idea of raising the age of participation in pornography to the age of twenty one should be fully supported. Having the age of participation raised would save countless thousands of young women in their teens from the many of different types of traumatic and damaging exploitation that Jenna describes in her book.( “How To Make Love Like A Porn Star, A Cautionary Tale”.)” A few examples of such exploitation are as follows:

“Most girls get their first experience in gonzo films – in which they’re taken to a crappy studio apartment in Mission Hills and penetrated in every hole possible by some abusive asshole who thinks her name is Bitch. And these girls, some of whom have the potential to become major stars in the industry, go home afterward and pledge never to do it again because it was such a terrible experience.” (Pg. 132)

“In a worst-case scenario, a gonzo director will take a girl to a hotel room and have their friends shoot a cheap scene in which she is humiliated in every orifice possible. She walks home with three thousand dollars, bowed legs, and a terrible impression of the industry. It’ll be her first and last movie, and she’ll regret it – to her dying day.” (Pg. 325)

“In other scenarios, she’ll work for two weeks until she’s only getting paid seven hundred dollars a scene and then, finally, no one wants to use her anymore. So she’ll agree to do double penetration or drink the sperm of twelve guys just to stay working.” (Pg. 325)

**************

Please do what you can to help thousands of young women avoid the above sorts of traumatic exploitation and abuse. (For more information see 101 Things You Can Do To Combat the Harms of Pornography, specifically #75, and this article here, “The Adult Film Industry: Time to Regulate?”. Also Jenna Jameson’s Twenty-Five Good Reasons Why No One Would Ever Want to Become a Porn Star.)

Thank you for caring and for helping! APA, :^)

Contact info for Jenna Jameson:

1) Via Jenna’s MySpace.com page, here, a) by clicking on the link “Message Me”, b) By writing your message in the space provided for comments in her “About Me” box, or c) Just by commenting in response to one of her posts. (You have to be a MySpace member or quickly sign up to become one.)

2) Via Club Jenna (her main website) at either support@clubjenna.com, or at legal@ClubJenna.com. (Or contact Legal by mail at 8390 E. Via De Ventura Suite F110 #258, Scottsdale, AZ 85258.) Perhaps they would forward an email or letter to Jenna if you say that you are in support of Jenna’s goal to raise the age of participation in pornography to twenty-one, and would like to know what you can do to help bring this about.