Wednesday, December 1, 1999
First They Came For The Gays
Rumdar writes: Luke..It is time for your column to take a serious bent momentarily. I suggest you try to tie in the international smut industry with the WTO riots now occurring in Seattle. Are porn issues on the agenda? I have heard poor unfortunate girls from the Asian countries are sold into the sex industry by their parents. This would be in direct contrast to the drug addled, moronic trollops from the USA who seem to involved for other reasons. What are these reasons? Did they fail computer skills in high school? Are the third worlders better off licking some John's rank butthole in a whorehouse in Bangkok, or working 16 hours a day for 10 cents an hour in a Nike factory? Educate us Luke. What is going on?
Eqseg writes: Numerous articles have been published about poor asian parents selling their oldest kids to whorehouses. It's a case of basic economics. They sell the oldest ones so they can feed the youngest ones. The kid becomes infected with any number of STD's by the time she is 13 and faces a bleak existance for the risk of her short life.
Any more info on Shay Sweet getting DPed by a couple of black dudes?
Cindy Plenum writes: Dear Luke: OK, enough of my struggle to maintain my dignity in the face of the slut Debbie Glucose's slurs. This is serious. I need your help, and the help of everyone in the community of pornography. The congress of the United States is moving on legislation that will directly limit my ablity to earn a livelyhood. First, consider the following article, which appeared in a newspaper today:
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PULP LEGISLATION BY JASON VEST
Congress Brings the Crush Video Industry to Heel WASHINGTON—This town is incredibly sexually repressed, and hardly a session of Congress passes without a legislative attempt, successful or not, to reign in some aspect of sexual behavior, usually of the commercial variety.
Oftentimes, despite the private predilections of members, support for these bills is unanimous. Such a measure passed just moments before Congress went home two weeks ago, but this one may ring true in its unanimity; even several Washington dominatrices with Capitol Hill clients were so disturbed by what inspired the bill, that—while stopping short of endorsing a regulatory solution—they were nonetheless for it in spirit.
While it didn't get a lot of attention, passage of HR 1887 did, nonetheless, provoke conversation, like at an "end of the session" party right after Congress adjourned. Sitting on a porch, beers in hand (as a coterie of chic young women stumbled out of a nearby house they'd quickly popped into, clutching their stomachs in that all-too-familiar post-hit-of-heroin way), a few Hill rats tried to parse the behavioral question behind the new law: Exactly what is sexually gratifying about watching a dominatrix in stiletto heals crush the life out of small rodents and amphibians?
Clearly this would have been a delightful discussion to observe in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body. But perhaps still reeling from the tawdry details of Bill Clinton's oral copulations presented at trial earlier this year, with nary a word the august members of the Senate decided on November 20 to quickly and unanimously pass a bill criminalizing the interstate sale or distribution of so-called "crush videos." A sort of subniche of the foot-fetish segment of the porn industry, and often referred to as "animal snuff films," in crush videos, all manner of beasts—from chirping crickets to squealing mice to even writhing kittens and puppies—meet their demise in a foot-stomping, heel-grinding frenzy, all in the service of the viewer's masturbatory gratification.
For evidence of the enthusiasms of crush fetishists, one need look no further than the Internet; on one site replete with still photos, one surfer recently wrote of a crushed scorpion series: "I would have liked to see it sticking to your sole or mushed to pulp by twisting on it with your whole weight. I love these sneakers and specially the sole which so great on tits . . . It's like a saw on them." Another visitor, who noted he likes to see animals "stomped," said of photo depictions of squished, ground vermin: "I really like you new pictures with the mouse and the frogg."
While all manner of curious bills are introduced each congress—and while many a legislator or staffer has perused pornography in the name of "research"—this measure was, by turns, exceptionally offbeat and unsettling.
"It might be quirky, but it really is a big problem," said Caitlin Hills, legislative director of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). "I don't know much about the porn world, but I understand that these types of fetishes grow stronger and more popular, and that's what we've been seeing."
Crush videos first came to the Humane Society's attention eight years ago; since then, the group has not only seen the number of titles grow to 2000, but, over the years, has noticed a disturbing shift in content. Whereas the first crush videos involved the squashing of bugs, says Hills, they've gradually gone up the size ladder, from insects to amphibians, then to mice, next to guinea pigs and up to puppies and kittens.
"We even have one with a monkey," says Hills. "There was an interview I saw with the producer of one of these films, who was trying to make his clients out as misunderstood people who have a need for crushing for sexual gratification," she says. But, she adds, the issue is not fulfillment of a need, but the reqirements of that need for increasingly larger animals to achieve rapture. "A roach will only struggle so much," she says. "Eventually, you need to see something bigger [to get off]."
The cricket as "gateway drug," fetishistically speaking? While this area of sexuality has not, to the Humane Society's knowledge, undergone serious scientific, quantitative analysis, there is some anecdotal backup for Hills's contention. In the realm of fetishes, as some may know, one in particular deals with fantasies that revolve around giant women, or being crushed by giant women. According to Hills and others, while some crush video viewers relate to the crusher's heel, the majority view the squirming animal as a proxy for themselves.
"They want to be crushed by a woman in high heels, so they project themselves into the animal as a way of doing it over and over," she says. "On one level, this is just a different level of the domination standard of trampling," says a veteran Washington dominatrix. That said, she concedes, it's "still pretty f---ed up."
For more realistic simulation, the larger the animals, the better; for more realistic sensation, however, something much, much larger is required. Which is how one crush video aficionado recently met his demise.
Two months ago in Okeechobee, Florida, the body of Bryan Loudermilk was discovered in a shallow, specially dug trench under a plank of plywood—which just happened to be under the wheel of his SUV. Police concluded Loudermilk's pulpy demise came as a result of an attempt to fulfill his ultimate crushing fantasy. Up until his death, Loudermilk had apparently been deriving additional but perhaps incomplete pleasure from videos of his wife Stephanie letting her boots and heels fly on mice and rabbits. (Though no charges have been filed in Loudermilk's death, the widow was charged with cruelty to animals, which carries a maximum five-year prison sentence.) Save that case, the only other fatalities in crush videos have been the unwilling animal actors.
Bringing their assailants to justice, however, has not been any easier. Perhaps the first investigation of crush video-related mayhem took place on Long Island in 1998, when 28-year-old Thomas Capriola was arrested after the local SPCA chapter noticed his online sales of films depicting everything from toads to turtles being tortured under the boot. His case has been stalled for over a year (it's finally scheduled to be heard on December 14).
After a yearlong investigation into crush video producers, prosecutors in Ventura County, California, discovered last year that most of the tapes essential to their case fell outside the very short statute of limitations on state animal cruelty laws. Ventura County prosecutor Tom Connors then brought the crush video issue to the attention of his congressman, Republican Elton Gallegly, who in short order held the first congressional hearings on crush videos. It was not, by all accounts, a pleasant affair.
In addition to an array of still photos depicting crushing, the Humane Society showed a three-minute clip of a guinea pig being tortured. (That there were 22 additional, unseen minutes of footage ultimately culminating in the rodent's death was all the more sobering.) The issue of dead animals brought a couple of career-dead celebrity activists out, too: M*A*S*H's Hot Lips denounced the videos, as did Mickey Rooney. From there on, the bill sailed through Congress, meeting only with brief, bizarre opposition by Representative Bob Barr, Republican of Georgia, who apparently took the hardline conservative view that this simply wasn't something that merited federal legislation.
Nonetheless, the House voted 372-42 in favor of Gallegly's bill prohibiting the interstate sale and transport of crush videos; the Senate version of the bill, championed by the right-wing troika of Orrin Hatch, Jon Kyl, and Bob Smith, met with no objections, and became one of the last pieces of legislation passed by the first session of the 106th Congress.
An animal lover who, like the other dommes she knows, would never consider torturing animals in her scenes, Mistress 2K—a Washington domme who has "disciplined" some of Capitol Hill's denizens—nonetheless sees a certain irony in Congress taking action against crush videos. "No one was better suited, really," she says, "as they know all about crushing small, helpless, beings."
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Cindy Plenum: OK, there you have it. My life's work, which includes sex with mosquitos, after which I crush them, is about to be outlawed by an act of congress! And what am I supposed to do then, get a job as a secretary at a funeral parlor, and cause some older secretary to lose her job? Or maybe they want me to go into straight porn, where I would run the risk of catching HIV. Yes, this bill would cause the spread of aids. would that make them happy? Luke, you have powerful friends in important places, including the Free Speech Coalition. Please tell your friends to lobby for the defeat of the Gallegly bill.
And remember the words of that German guy talking about that other german guy: "First they came for the homosexuals, but I was silent, because I was not gay. Then they came for the communists, but I did nothing becasue I was not a red. Then they came for the jews, but what did I care as I was not jewish? And then they came for the Crush actresses, but what concern was it of mine, since I did not crush mosquitos for erotic effect? And then finally, they came for me, Mr. and Ms. Pornography, but by then, no one was left to stand up for me."
AVN Bypasses Houston
Houston, who probably earned more than any other porn star in 1999, was totally bypassed by the AVN Nominations.
She made over one million dollars last year according to a good source. Between her stripping in clubs, doing videos, merchandise and special appearances... She starred in the year's best selling tape, the Houston 620, her gangbang effort where about 100 guys banged her about 620 times. Houston also did a bukkake video (where more than 40 guys splooged on her face).
Houstonchannel.com debuts this week.
Houston is upset that she was passed over for an AVN Award. She feels dissed. "She was destroyed, very upset about it," says a source.
Insiders suspect that AVN skipped Houston because Metro has not been paying its bills, including possibly to AVN. Metro has bounced several checks on Houston but made them up.
Houston appeared 22 times this year on the Howard Stern show (including repeats).
Are We Defining Deviancy Down?
Mad Jack in Las Vegas sent along these photos:
20/20 Profiles Hookers
From NYPost.com: Duran Ruiz is a 41-year-old street walker and drug junkie, while Cosi Fabian is a 52-year-old high-priced call girl, a la "Pretty Woman," who advertises on the Internet Fabian -- who charges $250 for her services -- is also a recovering alcoholic who says the self esteem that she gained by becoming sober gave her the strength and confidence to become a whore at age 42.
Salon.com Exposes IEG
Several times over the past few months, Luke has written about thievery by Seth Warshavsky's IEG, the media's favorite porn site.
Vivid Video based much of their internet operation Vivtech on IEG's methods, sources have told Luke. But Vivid has cleaned up its internet operations and Luke's heard nothing but good things over the past few weeks as far as Vivtech paying its bills.
Here are some excerpts from today's Salon.com report:
The three onetime associates sued by IEG -- chief operating officer Bert Reitsma, editor Evan Wright and onetime counsel Eric Blank -- secured a pile of affidavits from former employees alleging that IEG created revenue by overcharging customers who had given IEG their credit cards for access to Clublove.com, IEG's flagship porn site, and other sites in the company's network. According to the affidavits, which were sent to Salon Technology by an anonymous source, the former employees say that IEG billed customers several times over and reactivated closed accounts. (Salon Technology was not able to reach all those who signed affidavits, but did speak with six former IEG employees.)
In one affidavit, Ron Chao, IEG's chief technical officer from June through August 1999, says that Warshavsky several times asked him to program the company's computer systems to double-bill customers. "Shortly before I left," Chao wrote in his affidavit, "Seth demanded that I cause the billing system to generate between $400,000 to $2 million on various occasions." Chao's affidavit also asserts that Warshavsky told him that improperly charged money should never be returned to customers unless they called to complain.
Several former IEG customer-service representatives signed affidavits saying that in the course of their work, they saw accounts that were charged several times and regularly received complaints from customers who said that their accounts had been reactivated without their permission.
These ex-employees suggest maneuvers like this may have added substantial amounts to IEG's bottom line. One customer-service representative, John Zicari, wrote in an affidavit: "In July of 1999, almost every account I came across in Clublove.com was billed two or three times and some were billed as many as a dozen times in a single day."
Newshour on Net Porn
Kate Seelye, a producer with Jim Lehrer's Newshour, is talking to various internet porners for a coming segment of the program.
Kate ( kseelye@KCET.pbs.org) writes Luke: "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer is doing a segment on the growth of e-commerce and the marketing strategies utlized by dot-coms to grow their business. I would like to find out more about how the adult industry is also taking advantage of online business. What are some of the major adult entertainment marketing/retail sites and whom in the industry can speak about online adult businesses and their strategies to attract and keep customers? How does adult online marketing differ or resemble traditional online product marketing?"
Gossip
A source tells Luke: "I DON'T KNOW WHO, okay, but one of the guys from Extreme f---ed a girl anally and w/o condom, off-screen. It wasn't Tom nor Rob. Fact is, the Brazilian girl is HIV-Pos."
JTVideo writes: "havent seen any more info on ur site about the death of hemephrodite, chance rider. ive heard he/she went into a coma after overdose of drugs rx by his/her shrink and died a few days later in early november. FYI: JTVIDEO CO-PRODUCED "THE DRAG KING" WITH LORRETTA STERLING AKA TOTALLY TASTELESS VIDEO."
Nelson Ayala, Legend PR man, writes: Legend Video has received 32 nominations for the upcoming 2000 AVN Awards. Heavy hitters JM Productions, Max Hardcore, Jerome Tanner, "Wild" Bill Witrock, Adriane GOld, and Kid Vegas -- yes, Kid Vegas -- all received multiple nominations for their contributions to true pornographic filth.
Legend Video is also excited to declare Kid Vegas as a runaway hit! With only ten months and a shy member underneath his Gen X belt, the Kid has earned two AVN Award nominations and is selling 3200 units out the door upon release. The phones are ringing off the hook with orders. Legend's website, www.LegendDirect.com, has been innundated with requests for Kid Vegas info and merchandise, and has had to hire a whole new special team of sales people to handle the demand. Legend has seen the future of porn, and its name is Kid Vegas!
The Kid's next film will be a visual bonanza presented in 70mm, with dolby stereo surround sound. It will be the first film in history to be rated LSD. Kid Vegas action figures (complete with AKA 47 and whore-grip) are also planned, as well as a comic book series drawn by the Kid himself! Legend Video will also sponsor a Kid Vegas SKateboard Giveaway. All proceeds will go to the Kid's favorite rehab centers.
Cindy Plenum writes: "Dear Luke - thanks again for that great profile of me you wrote for your web site it really captures who I wuz, who i am, and who I might yet bee. I just wanted you to know that that bitch Debbie Glucose ("the sweetest girl in porn" my ass!) has been spreading lies about me the way she spreads her legs, without any concern for decency. Please do not believe what she says or print any of that crap it is not true. Thanks you!"
Brandy vs Bianca
Bianca Trump writes Luke: "hmmmm stupid? 175$ at the ranch? I think not I am closing on another house thursday 2 houses 2 cars a portfolio to retire on and a job to go to tommarrow 5 web sites, 2 corperations, 6 didget income, whoo's stupid? I must be confused tell her that while she lives in a flee bag shack with a broke down car her site is coming down I promise you that I give it 2 weeks tops I filed the suite today i see ya didnt post my reply? I forgot one thing my meta tags reflect buisness i do with stars for porn vixens site we now feature a monthly star too none of those girls are copyright names that is the big difference besides when was this about meta tags anyways?"
Truehart writes Luke: "I'm sure I dont need to point out the MANY errors in Bianca Trumps note of outrageous claims. correct me if I am wrong but that guy is correct that this thing with her started back with her boob troubles. At that time she was begging for money on her web site to pay for fixing the boob she blamed the porno industry for supposedly making her get. It was that comment that Brandy Alexander said life is tough. Thats not all she said tho, she wasn't that cold and some other people said the exact same thing. But i need to ask which time was bianca lying. this recent time where she claims to have corperations (any doofus can incorporate any number of names. she is trying to make is sound like she owns companies like Microsoft when all it is is paper) and a 6 FIGURE income, or was it the time less than a year ago when she cried that she was poor because she couldn't work, not having saved a dime at the time for a rainy day trying to get others to pay for the boob? She's a lying loser! and your site is better off cutting her name and bulls--- out of it. Brandy rules and she knows it. That is really all this is about."
Dave writes: Bianca: "6 didget income, whoo's stupid"......well.... Luke any chance of you hosting a spelling bee between Bianca and Jenna. Brandy takes offense to be included in a list of high school dropouts even though she dropped out. Of course for HER it was different, SHE was in lust with John Leslie. Oh, okay, I'm sure that makes her case unique from anyone in the history of porn. Oh and she choose it because it was there.....what insights of this truly complex persona. At least with Bianca we know what we're getting, it just seems to be the price that is under debate.
BrandyAlx1: Tell Dave that he's right. It looks ridiculous to have someone complain about being called a dropout when she is one. However, since he's attacking the nuances of intelligence, might I suggest he go back and reassess the implications of paragraph IN CONTEXT, unless that would prove to ruin his personal attack. Indeed, a dropout is a dropout, but I was addressing the implied reasons for it and a little brush-up on reading comprehension might serve him well.
Gary writes: At the risk of having Bianca Trump attack me for the rest of my life, I must comment. She may not be stupid, but is obviously uneducated. In her paragraph reply you posted 11/30/99, she made 11 spelling or capitalization errors. (I hope you copied and pasted her comments and these are not your typos.)
Actual Correct
1. 175$ $175
2. thursday Thursday
3. tommarrow tomorrow
4. corperations corporations
5. didget digit
6. whoo's who's
7. flee flea
8. suite suit
9. i I
10. ya you
11. didnt didn't
I didn't take time to correct the punctuation.
Dave writes: Bianca Trump's Top 10 Meanings for Cease and Desist
10. L.A. King's goal by Murray, desist by Palffy
9. Some 1980's musical duo
8. I'm down with the lingo, de Bro, De Sis,.....whatever
7. My 2 lawyers who are going to sue your sorry ass
6. I had da cyst but my doctor removed it
5. I not sure but I'm willing to do it for an extra $100
4.Broadway Musical: Bring in da Funk, Bring in desist
3. 2 of my 6 corporations
2. The nickname I give to the implants I took out
1. Who cares what the%$^$ it means I got houses, cars and more money
than that pain in the butt Brandy.
Lord Peter Luther Christian writes: Dear Mr. Ford:
Might I suggest that, in lieu of the usual bottle of wine that you send your porn actress correspondents for Christmas, you instead send a good dictionary? Judging from some of the woeful prose that has appeared on your site of late, courtesy of Bianca/Brittany/whatever, a good dictionary would be a godsend. Also, in looking with such unblinking eyes upon the illiteracy of these young (and not-so-young) women, are you not guilty of the very crime for which the dark-skinned son of Noah was condemned when he looked with glee upon his father's drunken shame? I suggest that in the name of Christian charity, you correct these persons' spelling and grammar before publishing their missives. Or are you guilty of the sin of sloth as well?
Luke: I love it! It has been too long since I've heard from you... BTW, Chaim Amalek stopped by my place Sunday night... I asked him if he was you, he said no... You. Peter Christian, must make a pilgrimage to visit me and I will give you my blessing.
Chaim Amalek writes: Shalom: As virtually all porners must know, the Jewish Festival of Lights will soon be upon us. Given the ethnicity of the producers of porn and the Christian upbringing of so many of the women who appear in porn, this is the best time of year to consider the following question: Christmas v. Channukah - which is the better holiday? I do not want to see this thread degenerate into one that only a merchant could love. Instead, I would like to see each side (Christian actresses v. Jewish producers) pitch in with their favorite memories from childhood, and then reach into theology to defend their preferences. Why don't you kick this off Luke, since you have seen both sides? (By the way, will you have a Channukah bush this year, or are the Hebrew Honeys of LA still playing hard to get?)
Chaim Amalek, Friend to Christian and Jew; Omega to the Porner's Alpha
Fred Jew writes: Dear Mr. Ford:
Thank you for posting e-mails without editing or correcting spelling errors. Bianca's writing is amazing. (One can tell that Brandy used to be a secretary, and Bianca has never held a position requiring any form of written communication whatsoever.)
All of this leads me to the following question. Obviously, some actors/actresses/managers are absolutely lacking in writing skills, and some are articulate. I don't think I've spotted a spelling or grammar error in anything written by Brandy Alexandre or Asia Carrera. Since you are fond of pointing out the ethnic background of people in this trade, do you think that Asian/Mormon/Jewish background porn stars tend to be more literate than the others? Do you think that Asian/Mormon/Jewish porn stars are more likely to be capable of earning decent money in other fields, but do porn work by choice, whereas the others are less likely to be capable of earning decent money in other fields?
BTW, regarding the list of web sites of porn actresses who hook on the side, Minka looks positively grotesque. Who the hell would be interested in boobs like that? Why in the world would anyone get plastic surgery like that, and what kind of plastic surgeon would be willing to do such a thing? Yech!!!! (It is the result of surgery, isn't it?)
Luke: "No, believe it or not, Minka's breasts are natural."
WMurray writes on RAME: "Could some of the people in the industry answer a question I've had for a while. Is Luke F-rd serious about his serial Conspiracy Theories, or is he performing some extended English-style dry humor?"
Luke: Sometimes I am serious and sometimes kidding and sometimes part serious and part kidding at the same time, and sometimes I do not know whether I am serious or not.
Chris English: Americans God love them, though I genuinely believe that they have (on the whole) these huge hearts, their humour is usually about subtle as a fart at a funeral ceremony.
She-Males
I should also note that I haven't met any trans-women here in the U.S. who refers to themselves or even likes being refered to as a she-male.
I might be wrong, but it sounds like it's a term created from within the adult industry who didn't know how to label a genre for the mainstream public.
Pat Riley: Typical raincoater (imagine heavy breathing and knuckles dragging on the ground) talking to video store clerk: "Yo, where's the she-male section."
Video store clerk replies (Imagine nose in air slightly puckered at the whiff of couch potato must and dried semen), "Why my good man, what you refer to so crassly as 'she-male' has now been re-classified as 'Travestis'. You'll find it just beside our collection of 'Experimental Films of Trans-Gendered Amerinds'."
Such pretention is a travesty of the English language . Oh, yeah and while we're at it. It's the "porno industry" or the "porn industry" or if you want to get really snotty, the "pornographic movie industry", not the adult industry (pretentious and inaccurate).
Lynne L-patin writes Luke: I would like to ask you a hypothetical question: Suppose a person were doing community service, standing behind a sandblaster, wearing baggy overalls with the paint stains, hair uncombed, no make-up, and a man came up behind close enough to be noticed and put his hand over mine to turn the ignition key. And being that this person might be an agency employee and could get into serious trouble for this type of behavior if it weren't absolutely discreet ... Would I hypothetically have some reason to anticipate a sexual situation if I wait long enough and am absolutely discreet as well? I think that hypothetically the guy could handle the physicality of the assignment. I've been spoiled by porn.
KendraJXXX: im upset that i always get discluded in everything on
other sites [geneross.com] where my work gets no recognition KendraJXXX:
where my movies get editors choice and spotlight picks ,and even nominations
for awards...yet i get no nominations
Luzdedos1: I'll give you a Lukey Award
KendraJXXX: where it mentions jasmin at wwf , but fails to mention me
not far away from her KendraJXXX: where vivid girls do music videos
and i get no credit. maybe i say things i shouldnt say... is someone
trying to tell me something??
Luzdedos1: perhaps you're discriminated against for being Jewish?
KendraJXXX: i am gonna become catholic, i think
Doin' The Masturbata
The Masturbata (sung to the tune of the Macerena)
Sitting in my house and I know that I'm alona,
Feeling kinda horny, got a jingle in my bona.
Go and grab a Penthouse it's the one with Sharon Stona.
Hey Masturbata!
I go it little faster and it's feeling kinda nica,
Once ain't enough so I have to do it twica.
If you wanna spank the monkey I can give you good advica.
Hey Masterbata!
I use some baby oil or a little Vaselina,
Laying on a towel so I keep my carpet cleana.
Never shake my hand 'cause you don't know where it's beena.
Hey Masturbata!
I do it in the car when I'm driving down the streeta,
One hand on the wheel and the other's on my meata.
I can't get out the car 'cause I'm stuck to the seata.
Hey Masturbata!
Since I was a kid I have been a Masturbata,
Choke the chicken, Humm the knob, Squeezing the tomata.
I've looked at Miss November now I'm gonna decorate her.
Hey Masturbata!
Buffing the banana, Mr Lizard shaking bacona,
Pounding on the flounder and it's mayonnaise I'm makinga.
Spank the plank, Wax the carrot, God my hand is achinga.
Hey Masturbata!