“Do you think the production and/or distribution of pornography, for personal and/or commercial use, should be illegal?”

RussellsParadox, a visitor to our AntiPornographyBlog YouTube channel, asked the above question. The space to reply at YouTube was limited, so we are posting the full response here. The simple version of it is as follows:

1) If you are referring to the United States, regardless of what anyone think, most pornography is actually technically already illegal. It just isn’t prosecuted.

2) We believe that there are legal measures that can and should be put into place that can significantly reduce the harm done to individuals during the production of pornography. (And as a result of what happened during that production.) These measures can also reduce the harm done to women, children, and society in general from the existence of, consumption of, and influence of violent, degrading, and sexist pornography. Such measures would include: restricting access of Internet pornography and other types of pornography to those who are 18 and over, raising the age of participation in pornography to 21 years old, and improving the health and safety standards of pornography production in a variety of ways, including implementing mandatory condom use.

So that’s the short answer. For a longer and more detailed response with references included, please continue reading. (But be forewarned: there is very graphic, disturbing, and likely triggering content ahead!)

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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.”

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Jenna Jameson’s 25 Good Reasons Why No One Would Ever Want to Become a Porn Star

INTRODUCTION: Jenna Jameson, the world’s most famous and successful “porn star”, is one of the best anti-pornography spokespeople there are. (Whether that is her intention sometimes or not. Hopefully it is.) Just read below to see why. Thank you, Jenna. You say it all so well! :^) (But very graphically, so proceed accordingly please.)

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From a CNN interview August 27, 2004

ANDERSON COOPER: And if your daughter one day said to you, if you had a daughter, if she came to you and said that she wanted to get into that industry?

JAMESON: I’d tie her in the closet. Only because this is such a hard industry for a woman to get ahead and get the respect that she deserves. I fought tooth and nail to get to where I am, and it’s not something that I would want my daughter to go through. It’s not something that any parent would choose for their child.

COOPER: So you would advise young women not to get involved in the industry?

JAMESON: Not unless they had their head on completely straight and they knew that this is what they wanted to do. For my child, hey, I want them to go to college and be a doctor.

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“ The job of a porn star is not a calling – or even an option – for most women.” Jenna Jameson (pg. 325.)

All quotes in this compilation (except for the CNN one at top) are taken from the autobiography “How To Make Love Like A Porn Star, A Cautionary Tale”, by Jenna Jameson (with Neil Strauss), Hardcover edition. Copyright 2004. (Highly recommended for anti-pornography activists! :^) It is indeed a very cautionary tale.)

In the introduction to the book Jenna says: “For two decades I looked men in the eye and denied everything. And then for years, in private, I wrestled with myself. The truth won. The following, then, is a true story.” (A story that includes having been raped three times as a teenager: 1. By her date when she was fifteen and lost her virginity, (pgs. 284-286), 2. By her abusive boyfriend’s uncle, (pgs. 16-17), and 3 .By a group of high school boys, who severely beat her and then left her for dead. (Pg. 391-394.))

Jenna Jameson’s Twenty-Five Good Reasons Why No One Would Ever Want to Become a Porn Star:

1. Being a pornography performer can be bad for your emotional, mental, and physical health, and you will likely get sick at times as a result of your work.

“And so it began. I woke up at five every morning and got to the studio by seven for makeup. If I weren’t so young, my face would have looked like hell after all the sleep deprivation…. Suze, I soon realized is also a shark. Her specialty is naïve young girls – much like myself… Once she sank her teeth into me, she didn’t let go. She shot me until I was half dead.” (Pg. 105)

“For the girls who get penetrated in every hole in their first film, it’s physical and mental overload.” (Pg. 146.)

“Though every performer is required to have comprehensive monthly testing for sexually transmitted diseases, STDs are still a valid concern…. You never know what kind of lifestyle people are leading off the set.” (Pg. 326-328.)

“And before you even get into it, realize that it’s not that easy to have sex with strangers in front of other people. When you’re having sex, you’re at your most vulnerable. Only a handful of women look good fucking: everyone has a little cheese here and there. At the very least, most girls have to battle eating disorders at some point from seeing themselves jiggling naked on camera so much. And, speaking of exposure, every time you’re on set you’re swapping fluids with someone, so your body is constantly fighting colds and flus. You get sick. You get run down.” (Pg. 329)

“A week into shooting, I did a scene with Kylie Ireland, Felicia, and Vince Voyeur. That night, when I returned from work, I had a sore throat…. By the end of the movie, my throat was so swollen it hurt to swallow and I was so weak I could barely hold a conversation. When I returned home, I looked in the mirror and there were huge white lumps all over my throat…The doctor who finally saw me was a hack. “Okay, you have strep throat.’”.(Pgs. 360-361)

“…he said a woman in the industry had contracted HIV… Before this announcement, no one in the industry to any of our knowledge had contracted the HIV virus before. And condoms were rarely used in films that that time. We canceled shooting that day because no one could work. The next day, Steve told us that it had been a false positive. Everyone was relieved, but at the same time, we had all changed: we were now aware that something like this could happen.” (Pg. 377)

“Joy had booked interviews and photo ops for me every ten minutes. And I was excited to do all that work. I was willing to do anything to be someone who everyone loved. Looking back on it, it was just a new type of insecurity replacing the old one, and I was giving myself away to the needs and expectations of the public instead of the needs and expectations of the men in my life. It was just a new form of dependence developing. And it was equally detrimental to any sort of emotional stability.” (Pg. 401)

“I had become the main attraction in this whole circus, and it was taking a much bigger toll on my life than I realized.” (Pg. 415)

“Travel is a major staple of my life. It seems it’s all I do. I’m not sure the effect it’s having on me. I guess I haven’t taken the time to reflect. Obviously that’s one of the major problems. Reflection. I close myself off. Not wanting to let what’s in the mirror of my life stare back at me. I never take the time to feel the effects of my choices. Maybe it’s because I would be ashamed, maybe afraid. I realize I have avoided my pain for as long as I can remember. It’s what I’ve been taught. Be strong little one…Things can only get better. As life goes racing by me, all the while my soul goes on with sickness. Yes, sickness. It feels like it’s ailing. Because the one that should be nursing it is too busy trying to succeed and be accepted. I’m certainly scared that if I try to fix what has broken in me, so long ago, I may not succeed. So I go on faking that I am whole, proud, and strong… I almost laughed aloud when I turned my head down to wipe my tears on my shirt and saw the pen I was pouring my pain through. It’s a Radisson Hotel pen. Point taken.” (Pg. 418)

“Sometimes everything seems so surreal. Nikki used to call me her ‘Gypsy.’ I always laughed when she said that, because I know it’s not only from all my travels. My heart is a gypsy – continuously searching for a home, fighting within itself, wondering whether it is weak or even right for that matter to be searching in the first place. Loneliness is what it feels like. I don’t really know what the urgency is I feel: Loneliness or complete heartbreak? But I fight it, saying it can’t be broken. I still have hope that I will find peace within myself, and that must be what it’s about. – Confusion. – ” (Pg. 419)

“There are times when I wish the industry had a union, because the shooting schedules are inhumane. It generally takes a good three weeks to shoot even the crappiest independent film; we do it in one to six days.” (Pg. 454)

“By 2 A.M. on day three, I was exhausted. I had been in every scene, and still had two sex scenes left to film, which meant at least five hours of work to go.” (Pg. 453)

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Please click on “Continue Reading” below to read the other twenty-four good reasons Jenna Jameson has written regarding why no one would ever want to become a porn star. :^) (Long and definitely not light reading – but truly fascinating and extremely informative!)

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