Porn Journalism Ethics - Contradiction in Terms?
Mike Ross writes: "From the outset, as rational human beings, we have to realize that it is traditional for reporters to receive and use "samples" of products they are to report on. Even so, many go out of their way to remain "neutral", and many papers and magazines have created "systems" that to protect that neutralitiy.
"As for reporting between Luke F-rd and Gene Ross, I find it hard to believe that in the industry you both report on, neither one of you have not been "approached" with a free pass, game, toy or sexual favor in some fashion (I include being on the set to watch sex acts for movies as a sexual favor).
"And what do I base this on? As I mentined earlier, not only is it common for "PR" representatives to offer free samples for "reviews purposes" (like with games or movies), but I was offered sexual "favors" from several of the stars, and I turned them down flatly, first and foremost I don't have sex with clients; closely followed by a personal reason..... I don't think I could personally please a "star" sexually - for me, its just too intimidating.
"In my opinion, the positions I have taken have kept me neutral, and if professionals in my position stay neutral, then so should others ranging from management to the press."
Prometheus Books porn critic Pat Riley writes on RAME: "Has everyone been following the utter garbage on www.geneross.com and www.l-keford.com about Black, Van Damage, Bone, and other luminaries of the porn world. This is like the elementary school playground: "He said this," "No, I didn't", "Yes, you did and I can prove it, Nah, Nah." Unfortunately, unlike the playground where the teacher just pats them on the head and tells them to grow up, these people are supposedly adults and can cause real damage.
"Case in point is Black's assertion that both Van Damage and Tiffany Mynx are infected with Herpes and at least Van has worked while it was active. Good work! I wonder how many unsuspecting starlets he has infected with what amounts to an incurable disease. If what Black says is correct would you want to screw Tiffany?
"And then we have Mitchell's
statement on 4/7/98 in the context of testing an internal vaginal liquid
condom: "and see if the STD rate goes down, which is skyrocketing, by
the way. Everybody's got
chlamydia. It's that time of the year."
"Time of the year? This is not hay fever or asthma we're talking about. AFAIK, there is no seasonality to chlamydia. Or, maybe the sleazebags who work in the industry are just looser than normal in March/April. A young man's fancy... These people need a keeper!"
Luke Visits New Playboy Headquarters
While Luke's therapist observes the final day of Passover in the appropriate way, Bad Jew Luke got in touch with his wounded inner child this morning at the new headquarters for Playboy Cable TV at 5055 Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles.
I spent an hour schmoozing with Playboy Home Video Senior Producer Eric Mittleman and Helmetcam man Gary Gray. "Playboy cable TV hit its stride about three years ago," said Mittleman, a bald man in his mid'30s who stands about 5'3". "A lot of it had to do with Jim English [President of Playboy Networks Worldwide] coming into the network."
Eric gave me half a dozen videotapes of Playboy shows, including The Profession, a Red Shoe Diaries style series about hookers. "The wraparound is a woman interviewing prostitutes about johns. It's funky and got cool visuals."
Greg Dark shot the first two editions a year ago before hitting it big as a music video maker.
"The Playboy production process is just like any other TV show or movie," said Mittleman. "Mainly the post-production is much more involved than hardcore. I've visited a couple of hardcore places and they're cutting from camera masters. And they're online [editing] is their offline. There's no real process or preparation there. It's just two people going at it...
"About two years ago we hit a production groove of designing stuff for the soft core market. Shows like Nightcalls, Strip Search, Sex Court... On last night's show [Nightcalls], we pushed the limits. I think the host of the show talked on the Howard Stern show about how lawyers come down to the set and say you can spread your legs at this angle, and not that angle. Last night we were able to go this angle [widespread] because we were demonstrating dental dams. The girls were covered with a think pink latex.
"Every article you every read about safe sex mentions dental dams. But I've never used one... So I sent my assistant out to get 16 for the show..."
Mittleman flipped through the sex channels on his cable TV outlet, as we observed and discussed the differences between Playboy, Spice (owned by Playboy) and Spice Hot, now owned by Vivid. Spice Hot shows penetration but no cum shots or anal sex. Playboy is the softest of the three, but all three are getting raunchier. Spice and Spice Hot tend to air the same movie at the same time, said Mittleman.
"This is Playboy's Most Wanted," narrates Eric as we watch naked women gyrate on screen. "And each edition we focus on a body part. This is Private Parts." We watch pussy shots.
Regarding male erections, Eric says Playboy has a 45 degree rule. Up to 45 degrees, erections are ok. More than that, forbidden. We have a lot more women at Playboy Channel now... I have no desire to look at erect penises. Women want to see erect penises, at the women at this channel do."
Eric has a beautiful blonde girlfriend (and a tall sexy personal assistant).
"TeN is Playboy's only competition. Spice Hot is more of a friendly relationship. When we bought Spice, we had to find a buyer for Spice Hot. Because of the longstanding relationship between Vivid and Playboy, Steve Hirsch was the natural person to go to.
"If nudity drove people to the magazine, it is sex that drove people to the [Playboy cable tv] channel.
"I've been here eight years, doing Hot Rocks, which was non-nude wraparounds of music videos. You might occasionally see a breast or some explicit language... Then I started Nightcalls and Strip Search three years for the new Playboy. Until Jim English arrived, we did no taped movies. Everything was film. And what's been most successful has been the reality-based shows while anything that is narrative is competing with new releases [mainstream and hardcore] and doesn't do as well.
"We kinda have ratings, such as buy rates for a night. We purposefully put Nightcalls on a Wednesday night because it was a dead night for us.
"Before the channel, they had PlayboyVideo Magazine (in the early 1980s), which, when the channel started, grew into Playboy Home Video. If the budget is under $100,000 an hour, it's a TV show. If it's $250,000 an hourm it's a home video shot on film."
Luke: "Is it true that Playboy Playmates have to sign a release that they will not do pornography?"
Eric: "I don't think they have to sign a release. But from the Playmates I've dealt with, once you've dealt with women who are going to take some amount of clothing off for a living, they all have that limits. For strippers, the topless girls hate the full-nude girls and the full-nude girls say, 'oh, we don't like her because she spreads.Or does lap dancing.'
"Most of the girls who become Playmates, Playboy is all she will ever do. Even to get a Playmate to do her video with a guy somehwere in the video, not necessarily having contact, is a major accomplishment. They do pledge to not do any nude work for anyone else for 18 months.
"The internet has taken off so well because it eliminates the gate keepers. The only thing that stops pornography from being multi multi-billions is the gatekeepers. You get jaded in Los Angeles and New York because you can get pornography. If you live in Des Moine, there'd be that one store 20 miles away, a shack in the middle of nowhere. Thanks to the internet, once you punch in your credit card, you get live sex 24 hours a day.
"I think the [porn] industry is f---ed in the head because everyone is competing for a slice of the pie that is already there. I hear the same thing from people at every single major porn company. Everyone is thinking, 'how can we get our numbers up, to sell movie A over movie B.' Instead of, 'how do we expand the audience?'
"The audience is out there because the curiosity is out there. I literally can't go anywhere without someone asking me a million questions, 'what's it like to work with this person or that person?' So, the curiosity is there but the accessibility isn't. The industry's challenge (and Wicked has done some good things in this direction because many of their girls have hosted shows on E! [channel]) is to get that guy in Des Moine who wouldn't normally buy a porn film. He sees her on TV, thinks, 'wow, she's hot,' and then he clicks on the computer and buys something.
"But then there are downsides to the expansion of pornography. It's a Catch 22 because you can only get a real perspective on the business by working in the business.
"What's the difference between pornography and obscenity? I don't think it's pornography to watch two people have sex on screen. I think it's obscene to give them $200 apiece and then not pay royalties on it. I just come from an artist's perspective. If you're creating a film of visual entertainment, you should share in the profits, which is never going to happen."
Eric Mittleman Eric Helmetcam Man Gary Gray Helmetcam man with (L-R) Juli Ashton, Alexandra Silk, Helmet, Tiffany and Sydney
Luke: "Do you really have a big long black dick?"
Gary Gray: "That's an actual likeness. Not many people would expect me to have a 24-inch doubleheader down there, but I'm chockfull of surprises."
Helmetcam Man aka Gary Gray, for his day job, dubs programs into Brazilian Portugeese, Latin American Spanish, and Castilian Spanish for the overseas branches of Playboy cable TV. I'm responsible for making sure that all the top women in the adult business speak foreign languages.
Eric asks Gary for a copy of the tape Best of Night Calls. It's a very small tape. Ba boom.
Gary: "We've found that when we language dub it, it looks better than the original because at least they're now moaning in sync."
Eric: "The two professional organizations that don't usually do adult content love us - Close Captioning Institute for Night Calls and a translation service."
Gary: "Mom and dad didn't know what to name me. They were at a Red Sox game in Boston. They decided that whoever hits the next home run, that's who we will name him after. So Rico Petraselli lines one out of the Park. So they say, so much for that, I guess we'll call him Gary. True story."
Eric: "Rico Gray as the Helmetcam man."
"I created him."
Gary: "He put the helmet on my head. I came up with the personality."
Eric: "I was hot off the trail of watching Jenny McCarthy's career, so I figured Gary would be my next one.
"It's a typical Playboy story. Nightcalls is a successful 90-minute show. Some bean counter decided that we could do an extra half hour at virtually no cost. I said, 'that's no longer TV. That's radio. As it is, I think Nightcalls should be an hour long.' They said, great, just fill that half hour and spend no money doing it."
Luke: "Gary."
Gary: "They brought me in for $5 a show. And then I realized what they were paying everyone else, and I got it up to $10. I didn't have an agent. Now the half hour costs them a big bundle of money."
Luke to Gary: "Did you ever f--- Jenny McCarthy?"
Gary: "I was not inclined to go down that road. I couldn't give her her sitcom deals that she needed."
Eric: "Yeah, and you weren't married."
Gary: "One of my early jobs for Eric, when Jenny was a Playmate, was picking Jenny up from the [Playboy] mansion and taking her wherever we were shooting when I was PAing for the company. She was one of the first Playmates I met who had a personality. The average girl back then did not have much to say, before Playboy became so multi-media."
Eric didn't f--- Jenny either. "From the day we hired her, she was dating her manager behind her manager's wife's back."
Luke: "How do you spell his name?"
Eric: "P-I-G. No, Ray Manzella."
Luke: "She wasn't interested in you, even though you created her?"
Gary: "She won't even return his phonecalls, that bitch.
"My best Jenny story. We were at a party and talking. And David Spade came over, who's big on Saturday Night Live, and he's trying to work on her. And she says, 'do you mind leaving us alone, I'm talking to Gary.' And he was shocked. I was just a lowly PA then.
"My first paying job in Hollywood was as a PA for Playboy, but I didn't know it at the time. I was 22 years old, fresh in town from Boston. I worked on a free short movie and the coordinator really liked me and asked if I wanted to work on this thing next week. So, the day before the shoot, she calls me up. 'I know you're supposed to start at 7AM, but I need you to start at 6AM, because you have to pick up the Playmates.'
"I said, 'Why do I have to pick them up first thing in the morning, I'll pick them up tonight and keep them in my house. It seems foolish to get out this early in the morning. Everything's going to be closed.' She said, 'what are you talking about? Not those kind of playmates. Playboy Playmates.'"
Eric: "If you meet any Playmate from the '70s, the first thing she'll tell you is, 'you really missed the great days.'"
Gary: "I go to my first Playboy shot and am completely flustered. All these gorgeous women are walking around naked."
Luke to Eric: "Has success spoiled him?"
Eric: "No, Gary is the only one who keeps thanking me for putting him in the position he is..."
Gary: "It certainly has jaded me. You can't spend years around these women and not view life and sex differently. I had Houston on my show last night. She just did her 620 person gangbang. Just one more eye opening experience. The best email I got today about last night's show simply said, 'well, that was interesting.'"
Eric: "When Jenny's TV series got cancelled, I called her manager and offered her work in craft service. He's not fond of me.
"When Jenny left Playboy for her MTV career, she did it in a bad way, badmouthing where she came from, just like Traci Lords denied she was a porn star. Jenny McCarthy hosted Hot Rocks [on Playboy TV] for three years before she went to MTV. The only reason she got to audition for the MTV gig was because of an interview she did on Hot Rocks with Paulie Shore."
Gary: "The true pinnacle of interviewing is, can you hold your own against Paulie Shore."
Eric: "The only time I've heard Jenny McCarthy mention Hot Rocks was a line in her book. 'The only bone that Playboy ever threw me was that they allowed me to host this cable show Hot Rocks.' She didn't mention all the training we put her through."
Gary: "I mention Eric in every interview I do."
Peter Gilstrap on Marilyn Chambers
Today, the industry is a virtual nonstop flesh mill, with eager XXX neophytes lining up for their money shots and the easy bucks that accompany them.
"It's unfortunate, but because the market has become so saturated, it is kind of sleazy now in a way where there's not a lot of class involved with some of the girls and guys," Chambers states. "And I think that's a shame because we kind of strived to bring a bit of class into it. We weren't walking around saying the F-word all the time and chewing gum and swinging a big purse.
"I went to the [Adult Video News] porno awards show in Vegas a couple months ago, and it kind of encapsulates the point I'm trying to put across of the no-class part of it," Chambers continues. "The girl [Alisha Klass] who was cohosting it, every other word was the F-word, and 'I want that big cock up my ass.' I thought I was going to die. Couldn't they find someone to cohost the thing who had some dignity? She didn't need to talk like that. It's not necessary. I don't mean to sound like a prude, but it just turned me off so much; it really did." www.newtimesla.com.
Wrestling - Porno Scandal
Doe138@aol.com says that World Championship Wrestling is abuzz about the porno tape Live Bait because it stars a girl named Chastity, who manages WCW starlet Raven. "Beaulah, a former ECW starlet, did one too...just masturbation, but that one was hot too."
Email: "WCW has a wrestler named Val Venus who is billed as an "X-Rated Movie Star". I've searched RAME and have found no reference to anyone named Val Venus. Can you find out if this wrestler has ever starred in a porno or if its just like everything else in pro-wrestling... fake."
Doe: "Val Venis (Sean Morley) wrestles for the WWF. He was never in a porn movie, he formerly wrestled as Steel in EMLL Mexico and as Sean Morley in All Japan Pro Wrestling (Japan). He has been seen with several real porn stars in his vignettes, but is not a member of the industry."
Why Straight Men Like Lesbian Scenes
As a straight man who
likes lesbian scenes, and who has done some
thinking about what turns me on generally, I thought I would respond
to
the question of why straight men like lesbian (or g/g) porn.
1)An old observation
on the difference between gay and straight men on
dates goes that on a heterosexual date the man is thinking "boy, I sure
hope I get laid tonight." On a gay date both men are thinking "boy,
I
sure hope I get laid tonight." Naturally, the gay men are more likely
to have their wishes fulfilled when no one is "playing defense."
A large part of heterosexual dating behavior involves the man trying to persuade the woman to have sex. This is not to say it is all verbal. We constantly have to overcome barriers to get to the sex.
A very common fantasy of straight men is the sexually aggressive woman. This should be evident in the fact that it is portrayed in 90% of all porn aimed at straight men.
The constant struggle to overcome barriers to sex can be very tiresome. For example, one girlfriend of mine enjoyed sex very much. This did not keep her from always responding negatively when I suggested sex. Considerable seduction was required to get her to change her mind every single time. It also meant that while I would go down on her at the beginning of each session, she would often go to sleep before reciprocating or engaging in intercourse. It was only after several months of this that she finally told me that cumming made her so tired she could not reciprocate. She said that I should have asked her to go first. This did not fit with the fact that it was never really decided for sure whether we were going to have sex until I was eating her.
Our pattern (though not so crudely phrased) was like this:
Me: Honey, would you
like to have sex?
Her: Oh no, not tonight, it's so late
Me: Ok, well how about some snuggling?
Her: Sure {snuggling and making out commences}
Me: {start to undress her}
Her: Come on now, cut it out
Me: {retreat to snuggling and petting}
Time passes
Me: {start to undress her}
Her: No verbal response, positive body language
Me: {explore her body, kiss exposed areas}
Her: {writhe in pleasure}
Time passes
Me: {start to touch her vagina}
Her: Baby!
Me: {retreat to previous step}
Time passes
Me: {work my way down to perform oral sex}
Her: {stroke my head and upper body as I move down}
Me: Perform oral sex
Her: Wow, that was so good, you made me come four
times!
Her: {fall asleep}
Me: {grumble to myself, and then masturbate}
This is somewhat of a horror story in that she would fall asleep after the oral sex, but up to that point any straight man who read that portrayal would recognize it.
As you can imagine, this is not the way I would have preferred our sex life to go.
The inevitable result of scenarios like this is that we fantasize about sex that does not require so much effort. It also means that we very often are unsure whether the woman wants to have sex or is just going along to placate us.
Lesbian sex scenes are exciting for us because it addresses both points. If the sex involves two women, they must be having sex because they want to. After all, there is no man present (lest you say no it doesn't - they are having sex for money and the crew is there anyway and they are just doing it because the director asked them to - remember that this is fantasy). Also, because no man is there, one of the women (or both) initiated the sex.
2) If sex = woman having sex with someone, then two women having sex is like sex squared, or at least like sex times two.
In article <rame.921811204p15345@bash>,
Tim Evanson writes:
>1) Misogyny. are misogynists who want to
>"degrade" women by forcing them into lesbian sex.
This is only one of your suggested reasons that has any resonance with me. However, I would not put it so harshly.
I have a very traditional idea locked in my head of what a "good girl" does and is like. It is exciting for me to see women doing things that are outside of that mold. This goes along with the old Madonna/Whore distinction. Men have always been sexually excited by the bad girl. (Voyager being a prime example). In my case, I don't look down on the bad girl, but she does sexually excite me.
A good girl does not have sex with other girls. Therefore, a woman who is having sex with another woman is automatically put into the sexually exciting bad girl role.
>2) "Hand in the cookie jar" syndrome. One could >argue that men are turned on by what they can't >have. Lesbians love women, and do not want to have>sex with men. Thus, straight male connoisseurs of >porn are arousedby seeing two un-have-able women >making love.
I am sure this is true for some people, but it seems like it would be true for fewer people than what I have outlined above.
>3) Epistemology of
the closet.
[snip]
> Sedgwick argues that there>are those whose feelings for the same gender
are too >psychologically threatening for them to acknowledge. >Yet,
the feelings must be dealt with.
[snip]
> Thus, Sedgwick argues that many "straight" men >enjoy watching lesbian
sex because it is one of the >ways in which they can get close to same-gender
sex >without feeling threatened by it.
This is bunk. Here is the argument she is giving:
1) Some men are attracted
to other men
2) These men are threatened by this attraction and can't express it
3) This feeling needs an outlet
4) Watching men have sex with each other would be too close to expressing
their true feelings
5) These men watch lesbian pornography to deal with their feelings
Huh?
Here is what she is
saying with some unstated assumptions made
explicit:
1) Some men are attracted
to other men
2) This is a homosexual feeling
3) These men are threatened by this attraction and can't express it
4) This feeling needs an outlet
5) Watching men have sex with each other would be too close to expressing
their true feelings
6) There is no difference between lesbian and gay sex because they both
deal with sex between two members of the same gender.
7) Therefore, Homosexuality is homosexuality.
8) Homosexuality being homosexuality, the emotional and sexual response
to any homosexual act is the same regardless of the gender that is actually
represented.
9) Men who can't express their feelings towards other men can just watch
lesbian pornography because this is functionally equivalent to watching
gay porn, as shown above.
Right.
Numbers 6, 7, and 8
should show you how ridiculous this idea is. If she
were right we would have to start asking your (Tim's) opinion of "Where
the boys aren't" because you would have the same interest in it that
you have in gay porn, seeing as how all homosexual porn is equivalent.
I realize that you might want to believe Sedgwick because her theories fit well with the common gay fantasy of a bunch of straight men hankering for some gay sex. I just don't think it is true.
If we are to believe the idea that sexual preference is hard wired, which I personally do believe, then we have to believe that sexual attraction is not transitive. It is a lot easier to believe that straight men are interested in seeing the gender they are attracted to performing sexual acts because it is sex and involves the object of desire, than to believe complicated theories of sublimation. If you believe Sedgwick you may as well believe the Christian Right idea that homosexuality is "curable." They both rest on the same idea that sexual desire can be channeled towards a different gender.