Fem Porn

Fem porn. Those two words in a 100,000 word book on porn are about as much coverage as the genre earns through sales. But in these PC times, one must waste space to deal with myths.

As director Jean-Luc Godard put it: "The history of cinema is the history of boys photographing girls."

Historically limited to one half of the population, some pornographers seek the Holy Grail of "couples porn", a mythical form of sexually explicit entertainment that attracts women as much as men. That it doesn't exist doesn't stop those with an agenda from seeking it. Like Jews waiting for the Messiah and Christians for the Second Coming, pornographers like VCA and Vivid seek salvation through feminine porn, an oxymoron.

When magazines such as AVN use terms like "fem porn" or "couples films," they refer to X-rated videos with more dialogue and character development than most, and less raunch. More talk and less cum. Examples include many of Vivid's productions and those from Candida Royalle.

"Fem porn" receives publicity out of proportion to its popularity because, if ever created, it would bring more dollars for pornographers (why they promote it) and more bullets for ideologues (why the liberal media loves it). If porn sold to women as much as men, producers like VCA and Vivid would double their gross. And commercially viable porn for women would tilt the significance of nurture over nature in the psychosexual makeup of males and females, erasing what appear to be painful differences between the sexes.

"It's a nice idea to have women erotica stars as directors," reads The Couples Guide To The Best Erotic Videos, "but we can't say that their day jobs have made them any better, or given them more insight into the making of an erotic tape."

If pornographers truly wanted to make product for women, it would go something like this, writes Joe Murray, editor and publisher of the Lufkin (Texas) Daily News. (From a 1989 article in the Chicago Tribune)

BUY, BUY, LOVE
"I got the big promotion and raise today," he tells her. "You can buy everything you ever wanted."
"You're sweet," she says, giving him an extra peck on the cheek.
"Before I forget it, love of my life," he says, as he pulls a folder from his pocket, "here's the airline ticket for your mother to come and visit.
"I just wish she'd change her mind and stay longer. Six weeks hardly gives her enough time to get unpacked."
IT'S PLAYTIME
At this point their beautiful, perfectly mannered, honor-student children - a boy for him, a girl for her - come rushing into the room.
"Daddy, Daddy!" they chorus. "Come play with us."
"Darling children," he exclaims. "Playing with you is what I looked forward to all day long."
Off they go into the back yard, leaving the wife free to watch her favorite TV program, chat on the phone and glance through the latest decorator magazines.
Later in the evening, after the husband has painted the garage, worked in the flowerbed, folded clothes and fixed dinner, he takes the children upstairs to prepare them for beddy-bye.
They'll sing songs, read their favorite bedtime stories and say their prayers.
PRIVATE TIME
Afterwards, while he's busy in the workshop refinishing an antique armoire she bought while on a trip to England with the girls of her travel club, she enjoys a quiet period during which she dwells on the events of the day: shopping, bridge, lunch at the country club, tennis, exercise class. She sighs.
"Sometimes I just don't know how I find the time to meet all my responsibilities as a wife and mother."
Suddenly, her face reveals that she remembers something. She crosses the room to her antique French provincial writing desk and checks her appointment book. Sure enough. Tonight's the night.
The camera sweeps slowly around the beautifully appointed bedroom and comes to rest on her antique Italian dresser. A drawer is opened and we see her hands removing a lovely silk and lace sleeping gown.
Then, as the camera retreats down the hall, we hear her voice calling to her husband.
"Come to bed, darling. I need you…to cuddle me."
Final fadeout.

Porn belongs to alone males masturbating. Go to any sex shop and you'll rarely see a woman for women rarely masturbate to pictures. Though there are thousands of sex magazines for men, there's only one for women - Playgirl - and mainly gay men buy it. When a man's pants fall down in a movie, everybody laughs. When a woman's skirt drops to the floor, nobody laughs. (Dennis Prager)

Female contributions to creating porn are negligible though their names appear frequently in the producing and directing credits. Several male pornographers use female names, such as Jane Waters (John Keeler), Judy Blue (Paul Thomas) and Loretta Sterling (Ed deRoo). Much ballyhooed female "pornographers" such as Gail Palmer left the real work for directors like Bob Chinn and Robert McCallum. If no woman had ever made a porno, the medium would be essentially unchanged say such leading female directors as Jane Hamilton.

The most productive women, such as Jane, Patti Rhodes, and Gail Force, usually align themselves with men.

Pornographers routinely exaggerate female contributions to counter the criticism that porn exploits women. Carlos Tobalina's wife Maria, who knew virtually nothing about making movies, served one year as president of the Adult Film Association as did Svetlana Marsh.

The smut media gladly participates in these deceptions as do many male viewers. "Look honey, it's a real movie."

"[E]rotic scenarios typically cast the participants as a single gender," writes Dr. Joseph Slade in the 7/97 edition of the journal Wide Angle. "Straight male-oriented pornography depicts females as insatiable and aggressive; straight female-oriented pornography depicts males as caring and tender; gay male-oriented varieties depict heterosexual males as secretly homoerotic; lesbian-oriented genres, now coalescing, depict women as drawn inevitably toward their own reflections."

Adam Film World: "Gail Palmer is a breath of fresh air. As the producer, writer and director of Hot Summer in the City and The Erotic Adventures of Candy, two of the highest grossing erotic films, she demonstrates a remarkable feel for people and what makes them get off. Not only has she brought some of the highest production values the erotic film industry has ever had, but she has also been one of the prime movers in the movement to have erotic films understood - even if not totally accepted - by the mass of American adults.

"That she wields a big stick - despite being a woman in a man's industry - and has an entrepreneurs knack for good business at the age of 23, makes her a phenomenon. She is a tall, statuesque country girl whose raw beauty and sensuousness is matched by her warm personality." (AFW V.23 N.12)

"A lot of the directors are men," Gail told AFW, "and I don't think they use their heads or listen to the public because they always portray women as either hookers or nymphomaniac housewives. And that may be a turn on to them, but the public is sick of it.

"The majority of women like love stories. I thought we had gotten away from it with liberation, but I'll tell you how I know. I got thousands of letters from women that said Manuel (Candy's first lover) was so handsome, put him in all your movies, etc.

"Now, Manuel is not the handsomest. He's short. But it was the way I portrayed him and the way I directed him. The whole love scene was shot in soft focus. You built up to the point that Candy kept looking at him. You knew she wanted him. She dreamt about him as Fernando Lamas, the hot Latin lover. You felt her get ready to go to bed with him. And that's what women need. Women need to feel they were talked into it or at least they thought about it a while before they jumped." (AFW)

Gail "produced" 1983's The Young Like It Hot. Jim Holliday worked on the film and says it's director's Bob Chinn's picture - an '80s attempt to recapture the fun of Candy Stripers.

Chinn directed many of the films credited to Gail Palmer. Despite the hype, Gail was little more than a pretty face who happened to be the mistress of mob pornographer Harry Mohney. She showed up on the set of movies credited to her, but her input was minimal.

Harry threatened journalists who considered revealing the truth about Gail. The future Palmer-Slater was "bad luck". Nasty things such as broken legs happened to persons who displeased her. Journalists Hunter S. Thompsen and Peter Wolfe number among her victims.

A true filmmaker, though an uninspired one, Roberta Findlay made films with her husband Michael until he died violently in 1974. She produced 1974's Slip Up, starring Jamie Gillis as Herman Killacunt who invents an electrotesticular cock erector at the Tighttwat Institute for Sexual Research.

Findlay received credit for "writing" and "directing" 1979's Angel on Fire about a woman-hater who dies and returns to earth as a woman.

Phil Rupp worked for Roberta. "While not terribly talented and one of the most irritating people I have ever met (and I worked in the psych ward at Bellevue for a year) I can vouch that indeed directed and photographed many features, was fully in charge and in control. Walter Sear also co-did lots of stuff, but it was more like grandpa trying to help grandma in the kitchen - "Walter, I need help!" Five minutes later. "Oh Walter, let me do it! We don't have forever!" Working for them was like the Gin Game performed on a Greyhound bus."

At last word, Findlay produced B movies out of New York.

Svetlana claims she directed her first porno 800 Fantasy Lane before she'd even seen a hardcore flick. (Adam 12/81)

After studying acting at such schools as Lee Strasberg, she debuted in Myra Breckinridge with a small role and then appeared in numerous horror-exploitation movies. Her lack of success in mainstream entertainment pushed her into porn.

Svetlana made films with her husband, writer-producer David Marsh. They controlled their product from concept to distribution and even ran their own video mail-order company.

800 Fantasy Lane seems an impressive debut but that's largely due to "cinematographer" Robert McCallum, the true director. Many persons credited as "cinematographers" in porn movies, such as Jack Remy, Jane Waters, Bob Chinn, Frank Marino and Ralph Parfait, are the true creators of much porn. X-rated movies revolve around sex, which the cameraman-cinematographer usually directs. That's why "directors", such as Mitch Spinelli and Scott Fox, often leave the set during sex.

"I shot the dungeon scene in San Francisco for six hours," says Svetlana, exaggerating her role. McCallum handled the camera. "For six hours Jamie Gillis worked with an erection. When we got halfway though, I couldn't do it anymore. I couldn't stand it. I'm not into S&M. They were doing so much screaming I feared the police were going to come.

"There was this crazy guy, a sort of Hare Krishna with a pony tail, standing outside holding this long shotgun and smoking pot. We were afraid that he was going to blow someone away at any minute.

"The actors were getting into it and improvising. They were hypnotized and there was no way to tear them apart. I told Jamie to continue like he was and I left.

"When I got back, Jamie was urinating all over Heather. Serena had yelled that she had to go to the bathroom and Jamie said, "Save it, honey." Then he started peeing all over the girls.

"The second cameraman started running off the set, screaming, "I'm never going to work for these f---ing people anymore. They're sick, sick, sick."

"The guy with a shotgun must have though that that was his cue, because he started cocking the shotgun and pointing at everyone." (AFW)

Svetlana and her husband proceeded to make R-rated horror films during the 1980s with little success. Her abrasive personality holds them back from connecting with people.

David and Svetlana Marsh made the 1993 R-rated feature Stormswept. Bob Gallagher (moviebob@earthlink.net) writes:

"Svetlana had almost nothing to do with it. The only thing she produced was utter chaos on set. She is a nightmare to work for. David directed the film and I produced it. I was happy with the look of the film but felt let down with the story and direction. Svetlana had the local police (film was shot in Louisiana) arrest our art director when a local bank was robbed-he spent 5 or 6 months in jail. She had me locked up in the local jail for a week (grits for breakfast, Baloney sandwiches for lunch and dinner) for cursing. Since I did it in front on her brat kid Michelle, I was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She tried to have our grip arrested for stealing license plates. …The woman is nuts. I am owed many thousands of dollars. While in jail, she entered my hotel and stole my contract with them. I have yet to be paid. I have not heard or seen then since the bank evicted them from their Nichols Canyon home. They filed bankruptcy and f---ed over a lot of people..."

"Couples" films "appeal to squeamish suburbanites seeking a walk on the wild side without getting their shoes dirtied," writes HEVG's Mike Albo. "Lots of lingering, longing glances heavy with "meaning," sappy muzak, and no cum shots. Femme films like Christine's Secret, Three Daughters and Sensual Escape are the porn equivalents of Harlequin Romance novels."

A woman in Pomona, California wrote to the Video Guide: "Why do you pornographers make such crappy movies, and is there any company that makes stuff that women might like to watch?"

Albo replied: "Would that include movies in which the female protagonist castrates her mate with a butcher knife? If so, don't overlook John Wayne Bobbitt's debut effort in Uncut. Barring that, any number of releases from Vivid might fit the bill and keep both you - and your husband - happy with their combinations of knock-out babes and stories that are perfect for couples, without descending into the dreaded "couples" genre of X-rated video. In other words, guys can still jerk off to Vivid movies. However, if you don't want your man doing that (and leaving those God-awful stains on the shag carpet), you can always check out the stuff from Candida Royalle's Femme Productions. As the name implies, this stuff is for girls only, and that means girls who don't like pornography."

If all you read about porn came from mainstream publications, you'd think Candida Royalle ranked as the genre's leading director. Though articulate and thoughtful, her "non-exploitive non-sexist erotica" is lite porn - porn for people who don't like porn. Her contributions to pornography rank with Kato Kaelin's contributions to acting.

"Candida wants to make something that she can live with," says Ron Sullivan, an authentic pornographer. "She'll cut edges to make it more palatable for herself - to give justification to her past behavior as a performer."

Though unable to create in her films either a complete story or sexual heat, Candida alone among pornmakers regularly receives positive coverage from the mainstream media. In the inept 1996 book Working Sex, Mariane Macy spends most of her section on the X-rated industry profiling Royalle. That's like spending most of a book on football discussing the rare girl who plays for her high school.

After an unhappy childhood, Candida, while living in San Francisco, "got in [porn] for the money."

"She was so hot, she used to f--- the pizza delivery boys. She was young and slender and sweet-looking with this heart-stopping long raven hair, and she was drugged all the time," remember one of her directors.

Candida debuted in Spinelli's Cry For Cindy. "Porn wasn't the sleazy thing I thought it would be. A lot of filmmakers at the time moonlighted at porn. Everything was professional. You had a script and a huge crew. There were budgets. Much to my boyfriend's chagrin, I decided that if he could do it, I could do it.

"I liked not having to work in some creepy job. I've always had a wild imagination... I liked the hours and the glamour and dressing up...

"I hated the sex scenes. The crudeness of them... They'd stick the cameras up your legs... And some of the people were creepy... Every time I did a few, I gained weight. I realized this was my body's way of saying, 'I'm not comfortable with this'."

After 30 films, Candida tired of sucking cock on camera. "The movies were crude...embarrassing.

"I grew up Catholic, in a conservative atmosphere.

"Actresses [in porn] have to understand that we are seen in a negative light - we have broken the worst taboo. There's got to be pain... If you don't feel it, you're in denial. That leads you to do things that keep you from feeling, like taking drugs."

Royalle joined an informal group called Club 90, whose other members included Gloria Leonard, Annie Sprinkle, Veronica Hart, Kelly Nichols, Veronica Vera, Sue Nero and other performers. They made a play Deep Inside Porn Stars, which took porn, stereotypes and turned them inside out.

Candida wrote and starred in her own film Blue Magic which planted the seed for the Femme Productions. "I couldn't figure out what format to use. I didn't want to just do a Hollywood movie. Everyone's trying to do these high production value, highly scripted movies and they're still in the same old formula.

"The media is such a powerful tool - the ability to put ideas across to other people. I take that responsibility. I don't think it's fair to make a movie that portrays sexuality as the same old high school formula sex. The guy's gonna look at these women going mad because they have the privilege of having him come on their face. That's not reality." (Blowfish)

Candida and Peter released their third film in 1984 - Christine's Secret. Using men more beautiful than the women, they try to tell a story but fail again.

Urban Heat appeared in 1985. "Ms. or one of the women's magazines should review adult films, or at the least, interview Candida Royalle," dreams Bob Rimmer. "There's a big market for her Femme series, but she probably won't be able to reach it easily through conventional channels. Like the previous Femme tape, this one continues a series of slice-of-life vignettes...like watching sexual chamber music. (Guide, p. 441)

After a long hiatus, Candida directed 1993's Revelations, the height of Politically Correct and boring erotica.

Pat Riley: "This is strictly a softcore presentation, in which case I expect good make-up, camera-work, story, erotic build-up to sex, full frontal views.... I'm still waiting. The whole production has the washed out appearance of the '70s movies and all the people look like the dirty hippies that populated those movies. The segments on America's Funniest Home Videos have better production values…. Don't expect too much… [just] more of the motivationless touching and feeling that seems to be Candida's stock in trade. It's enough to make one move over and join the real men at Hustler Erotic Video Guide." (X-Rated Videotape Guide 4, p. 476-477)

The biggest sexvid-by-mail operation, Adam and Eve, bought Femme productions in 1995 and hired Candida to shoot for them. "No one has discriminated against my work because I'm a woman. If my tapes are good, they'll buy them. It all comes down to money. Porn is more open to women filmmakers for that reason; not because manufacturers and distributors are a bunch of sweet guys, but because there isn't that much money at stake. I'm doing fine."

Despite her gentle product, Royalle struggles with her fellow feminists who generally oppose pornography.

"The feminist fight against dirty pictures has generated countless books, magazine articles, essays, college seminars, slide shows, rallies, and marches," notes Rene Denfield. "It has spawned numerous organizations - From Women Against Pornography to Feminists Fighting Pornography - and has become a major focus in women's studies classes."

Candida belongs to the porn-funded Feminists for Free Expression. She denies the frequent feminist assertion that women in porn are all rape victims. "I was never forced or coerced to do anything. They [feminists] couldn't have cared less about whether we were victims or not. They never spoke to us. They would never know if were victims. They had no idea what was going on. When we tried to tell them, they didn't want to hear it. They don't want to hear that I made the choice to do this."

Rene Denfield: "Many of the feminist activists working against porn are middle-income and well educated women. The subjects of their attacks (porn actresses and nude models) are predominantly lower-income and less-educated people - and usually not boasting choice jobs at magazines or universities."

Candida: "...Porn is not for the weak of heart. Women should definitely have their wits about them as this industry will chew you up and spit you out record time. But one's experience is based on what one brings to it. If you're a clever girl, you can pick your projects carefully, make a name for yourself, invest your earnings wisely and get out when you want. The trouble is that many of the women who choose this line of work are young, inexperienced and prefer to spend their fast bucks.

"The most difficult aspect of this work for women is having to work in a culture that condemns us for what we do and assumes that we could only be victims or losers with no place to go.

"May the actresses in "pornland" maintain the sense their strength so that they do not fall prey to either exploitation or the misguided concerns of those who would condemn us."

"Pornography is not, should not, and cannot be for broads! Ever!!!" says Selwyn Harris. "Halfway through the Reagan era, a semi-hysterical, utterly fruitless brouhaha was created by former professional genital swallower Candida Royalle's Femme Productions. Over a decade later, with fewer than half-a-dozen endeavors to its credit, Femme Productions allegedly still exists, though only as fodder for the aforementioned hype machine.

"Femme's raison de'tre - according to Royalle - was not to show off her ritzy, salt and pepper spike do on the heavy-breathing editions of Phil Donahue or to see her wrinkles splattered across the pages of clueless fanzines, but to create "erotica by women for women."

"This woman-produced porn has proved an oxymoron. Not one feature made under the Femme banner has been ever remotely arousing... Women are inherently sexy, but all attempts to capitalize on this in any fashion other than on their f---ing knees have been laughable. Hire a man to run the show, Candida..." (HEVG)

"My motto," says Annie Sprinkle, "is let there be pleasure on Earth, and let it begin with me."

Born 6/23/54 as Ellen Steinberg, she grew up in suburban LA a chubby and timid child of two academics. Ellen lost her virginity at age 17, entered prostitution at 18 and began porn at 19 after an affair with Gerard Damiano, 27 years her senior. She took on the name Sprinkle because of her ability to urinate.

"In the early days you couldn't do anal, but every movie I was in had an incest and a rape scene. Golden Showers used to be OK."

Deep Inside Annie Sprinkle, the second best selling videotape of 1982, begins with Annie showing pictures of herself at age three, five and 16. Then come photos of her lucky parents. Later, Annie pisses on a guy eating her vulva.

During the '80s, Sprinkle starred in "educational" stage shows where she gave her views on sexuality and allowed audience members to examine her clitoris.

Gauntlet magazine: "One of the first superstars of the original '70s porn era...this patron saint to the sexually disenfranchised and rebellious... developed a new church of adherents in her current incarnation as a sex workshop teacher, erotic photographer and uninhibited performance artist."

Annie believes that she's evolved onto a higher plateau of sexual consciousness and reincarnated as Anya, a New Age Sex Goddess. From her internet bio: "Unlike Ellen or Annie, Anya is an older and wiser ancient persona concerned with raising awareness of the AIDS era and expanding our concepts of sex through a combination of Eastern philosophy, yoga, meditative breathing and spiritual healing… Her "Guidelines for Safe Sex in the '90s" accept our generation's reality by assessing and demonstrating the integral omnipresence of condoms and the playful love of latex."

Annie says, "I can't even look at a porno anymore if it's not safe sex. It makes me throw up. I've lost too many friends."

Sprinkle's new persona nauseates many former fans such as Selwyn Harris. "I loved jerking off to Annie Sprinkle. She was a near obese, kosher beast with huge breasts who became famous for urinating at unconventional junctures.

"Why then did Sprinkle have to douse my inflamed infatuation with her by dumping bucket after bucket of smug, libido-destroying sowdung into an already polluted universe?

"Sprinkles one yenta campaign to equate prurience with nausea began sometime in the '80s when she bilked dupes into shelling out the bucks for the opportunity to stick their heads up her whelp gutter, nose plugs not included, in the name of education. She has since attempted to convert her "philosophy" into a cottage industry...

"Reality to Annie Sprinkle: There are no goddamn goddesses, and if there were, I doubt they'd be gargling testicles for a couple of hundred bucks a month, you bogus, self congratulatory, ink-ravenous bitch. Go squat on a menora the next time you feel a statement coming on." (HEVG)

The LA Times agrees. They called Annie's one-woman touring show of 1997 - "self-indulgent fluff that inadvertently raises issues Sprinkle determinedly glosses over.

"As a spokeswoman for pornography, Annie Sprinkle does have a great advantage over the stereotypical, strident anti-porn feminist. Sprinkle is warm, personable with a wistful touch of innocence. And like an attraction in a freak show, she cheerfully trots out her bountiful, pendulous breasts. At intermission, audience members can have Polaroids taken of this twosome bouncing on their heads.

"Certainly, Andrea Dworkin or Catherine McKinnon never have displayed such voyeuristic charms. In her new show, Sprinkle attempts to answer feminist critics, passing slight claims as solid arguments."

Veronica Vera's testimony before the 1986 Meese Commission revealed a classic male - female difference.

"Myth: Women in porn have unhappy childhoods...

"Reality: I come from a loving [Catholic] family. That core of love has always been my strength.

"Myth: Porn women are all bodies and no brains."

Reality: Vera was always a good student and boasts a degree in English.

Myth: Women in porn don't know how to do anything else.

Reality: Vera sold stocks on Wall Street.

Veronica unintentionally illustrates the male - female macro vs. micro dichotomy as described by Dennis Prager. Because her life supposedly contradicted these "myths", they are invalid, she claims. But the truth of generalities is not refuted by one example. Even if Vera earned a degree in English, it says nothing about whether women in porn tend to be intelligent and educated.

Veronica's testimony to the Meese Commission was classic in another sense - she lied. Vera told the commissioners she had a happy loving childhood free from abuse while in an article in Puritan, "Beyond Kink", she revealed a history a sexual abuse. She describes how, in 1980, "Mistress Antoinette" placed her "in beautiful bondage" on a tree from which she was "bound and suspended" while "her husband silently took pictures."

Kelly Holland AKA Toni English, part of the new wave of pornmakers that includes Greg Steele and Brad Armstrong, is the real thing. Porn's leading female director of the '90s, she pours out product for Vivid to pay her bills and developing her filmmaking skills until something better comes along.

A tall slim redhead in her 30s, Toni spent ten years acting in commercials, industrial videos and the occasional TV show. Tired of Hollywood in the mid '80s, she spent six years crafting leftist documentaries about Central America.

Another example of a prim Catholic girl gone wrong, English, educated in a convent, retains some of the values inculcated in her. She doesn't like asking performers to do explicit acts.

"I'm not comfortable with the language. I'd say, "Uh ahhh, would you take your penis...ah...and put it by ah uhhh her face. Everyone thought it hilarious. It was the standard joke to try to get me to say something. I still have two girls on a set that have a running bet on when they can con me into saying certain things.

"I just came across my Kindergarten report card and the teacher had given names to all of us. I was "Our Little Miss." I look back on the pictures of me and I always wore little white clothes. I was prim and proper until I hit 16 and became a hippie."

Given the large number of female performers from Catholic upbringings, it seems that Church schools unwittingly breed porn stars. "There's so much religion and repression. It's a response. Many female performers come from conservative families. P.J. Sparxx's parents are fundamentalist preachers."

An atheist, leftist and opponent of marriage, English, as of 1997, lives with and employs in her editing bay at home two former lovers and her current lover. She says everybody gets along but they don't do four-ways.

"I'm a nice Catholic girl.

"I had a production company and until 1991 I was going to Central America to make documentaries up to three times a year. I'd sell them to PBS, to colleges, the BBC, Australian and Canadian TV...

"Someone came to me wanting to edit pornography. And I didn't have a problem with it. They rented an editing bay. Then the next step was that they wanted me to edit some stuff. Fine. I didn't really care. I'd never seen pornography at the time. It was laughable, boring, unerotic, uninspiring...lots of lingering shots on orifices that are all interchangeable.

"By this time I was a good editor 'cause I'd been editing my own projects for six years. After being left one time in Nicaragua by the cameraman, I did a Scarlet O'Hara...'I will never be stranded by a cameraman again.' And so I learned to shoot and I was good.

"Then I shot a porno in 1994. Savannah RN. It was hilarious. The first people I worked with were Tony Tedeschi, Cal Jammer, Jon Dough and Tom Byron who was rude to me. I didn't know protocol on a set. I'd shoot sex and let them go [how they wanted].

"Feature film is not a good background to shoot this because in features you have plenty of time to study a shot. In this you have to cover it quickly like news or documentaries."

Toni's company Art Attack attracted increasing amounts of porn editing work. "We brought straight world technical and artistic sensibilities to bear on pornography. At one point I had six editors. I've scaled things back since I only work for Vivid now.

"When I started editing for Vivid, I met Marci [Hirsch, the sister of Vivid owner Steve Hirsch]. She asked me to shoot a wrap around. A few things happened on the set. The director fell out and so I stepped in.

"Shooters direct anyway. What do directors do on a set? They do one of two things. They either walk off the set during sex scenes, which is what Stuart Canterbury and Mitchell Spinelli do, or they sit back and try to direct their sex performers. And it's tedious to translate everything through the cameraman. It's really the cameraman who directs anyway. They're the ones who say "Turn your hand this way, do that..."

In the summer of 1995, Vivid hired Toni to direct features. She debuted with two girl prison movies, Lockdown and Strip Search. "Big commercial successes, they got great reviews and nominations for Best Video and other pointless things.

"I've started writing my own scripts because I tired of dealing with writers and having to explain to actors how to justify absolutely unjustifiable lines of dialogue.

"It goes against the grain for me to have actors do things that humans don't do. Have straight housewives who at the beat of a heart become raving lesbians who jump on their best friends. There has to be motivations for people to do things like that.

"Therein lies a dilemma. If I wrestle with any creative dilemma in this business, which I don't anymore but I used to, it is, why bother? Why don't we all do, knock, knock, "It's the pizza man. Let's f---."

"It's PT's opinion, but not mine, that is the best pornography. No dialogue. Just f---. But he has to make films with stories because Playboy [cable TV] demands it. I don't think that no dialogue makes a sexy movie. That's because I'm a woman.

"What's sexy is the psychology of a scene and you can't set the psychology if you don't know who the people are. And you can't know who the people are if you don't have plot and character development. The challenge is to make all dialogue and character development relevant to the sex. And it's hard not to get into extraneous stuff.

"If an audience knows that this is the husband cheating with his wife's best friend and you carry this tension through the sex, then you have something sexier than just two people walking in and f---ing. If one person is dominating another, or if one person is a john and the other is a prostitute, so that he has the freedom to objectify her more, that's a different sort of sexuality.

"Yet, I know that men just fixate on objects. I don't get it. I'm lucky to be with Vivid which has a huge contract with Playboy [cable TV] which demands story. I don't have to fight with my producers to do what I want to do.

"I despise people like Max Hardcore and John Bone. They're misogynists and they're happy to tell you that. They don't think it's good pornography unless the woman is screaming in pain, hence every scene is anal.

"I've done nasty scenes but never when anyone is in pain. I'm considerate of my actors.

"I don't find much pornography sexy. I don't find sex exciting when it's a viewing sport."

Though females earn almost twice as much as male performers, porn remains a male-dominated genre. Porn history would be essentially unchanged without such female "directors" as Candida Royalle, Bionca, Veronica Vera, Svetlana and Gail Palmer. Some guy could've stepped into their shoes and done as well.

Despite all the affirmative action the politically correct bestow on female pornographers, porn clearly "aint for broads," says Selwyn Harris.

"A woman's mouth is a f--- hole," says Ron Sullivan, reflecting a male attitude to sex. "It's made to stick your dick into. If she tries to talk, stick your dick down her throat. Next time she's blowing you, say: "I love you." Then she has to say "I love you too." But now your cock is down her throat, and it sounds something like "Ahh blubb yoo ddooo."" (HEVG)

Sullivan's philosophy, says Bob Rimmer, "is that men and women hate each other. f---ing and sucking are genetic compulsions they can't overcome."

Women dominate men in such X-rated product as Thea's Revenge. When former bodybuilder Thea Bennington "takes off her tennis show and sock," writes Scott Mallory, "and shoves her bare foot into this guy's face, saying with snooty arrogance, "You like that, don't you?" rubbing it in, I came. Thea crushes his face and his spirit with her crotch." (HEVG 3/96)

Oppressed by patriarchy, porn girls often take out their frustrations on each other. Bean Blossom's video, Misty Rain: Wrestling Terror features Misty and Ariana biting and clawing each other. "Shelby Stevens struts around the ring looking every bit the supreme bitch she is, then she wrestles in mud.... I like the way Misty spreads on a couch and lets Ariana eat her pussy." (HEVG)

Sasha Sweet stars in Blow Below The Belt. "What a mouth on that girl," writes Scott Mallory in HEVG. "She got me whacking my pathetic little worm even as she derided me for it."

Sasha's favorite order is "Get down there and smell my pussy," while Scott's favorite order from her is, "Stick your nose in my ass and sniff it."

"I don't understand what the big deal is," writes Kat on RAME. "There are people out there, some are smart, some are dumb, that are getting paid to do what comes naturally in human existence. As you can probably tell, I am not into porn but my boyfriend is. I just can't get into it.

"Watching someone stick their fist up some girls ass just isn't my idea of a romantic evening. I am not sexually repressed. I have taken a human sexuality class, looked at all the "toys" and read books from "The Joy of Sex", to "Good Vibrations Guide to Sex", to that Dutch freakette Xavier Hollander. In my opinion, something tells me that if porn was easily accepted in American society, it would lose some appeal. I just don't see how you intelligent people can spend so much time analyzing these movies that star fake boobed women and pig headed men. Everyone has sex (if they are lucky) so I just can't come to terms on why porn is such an important thing in so many peoples lives? Yah you like it....Yah it turns you on...But why go so far as to spend hours a night (like my boyfriend does) looking at dirty web pictures and discussing this girl's tits and that girl's ass."

Pat Riley replied: "Porn would lose even more appeal if females viewed sex like males view sex--i.e. as a recreational activity.

"Not all the women are fake-boobed, some are actually very attractive but there are a few guys who like fake-boobed women. One reason why porn would continue to exist even if the dream of females liking recreational sex were to come true is that in real life the male still won't be able to copulate with just any female (one would imagine the really attractive ones would be occupied at all times). Much of the purpose of the analysis is to discover and share with our fellow male, information as to who is attractive and where she can be found. Perhaps the last extant example of male bonding? As to the males: yep, lots of them are disgusting but they're all we've got and they're not important.

"Isn't the "if they are lucky" enough explanation for you? Importance of things in Mr Average's life: 1) adequate food and drink; 2) minimal shelter; 3) getting laid; ...99) changing the oil in the car; ... 138) putting out the garbage; ... Porn is just vicarious sex.

"Does he discuss it with you? You should feel honored, or maybe he's trying to give you a hint."

Another poster: "I may be wrong, but I don't think anyone has romance in mind. You're thinking about erotica. The stuff that Vivid spews or the stuff that you watch on HBO and Showtime.

"I like to watch stuff that I don't do in real life. Like going ass to mouth with three different girls while laying beside the side of a pool in Mailibu. I also like the Max Hardcore stuff where he calls the girls guttersluts and they say "Please fist f--- me mister," "Please take your dick out of my ass and put it in my mouth." That is cool!"

Scribbler: "Porn is made primarily for a male audience. It is NOT necessary for you to like porn, although it would be nice. There are some well-made "couples" movies around that you might like better than the more graphic videos you've seen. 'Cabin Fever' for one-- most movies with Annette Haven in them-- and anything Candida Royalle produces.

"Regarding fisting: First; most men react strongly to visual images. Over the years, many of us develop an interest in watching people we really don't want to have sex with, performing activities we really don't ever want to engage in ourselves. As Patrick Riley said; porn is just vicarious sex. Fisting is one of those things-- in fact, many of us are turned off by fisting scenes.

"Crooked people have been using the promise of sex forever, to rip off unsuspecting (but horny) guys. We need to watch out, compare notes, and warn each other when an untrustworthy, lying, or dangerous purveyor offers his wares shows up full of promises and requesting our credit card numbers.

"Sometimes, because men's tastes vary, we have differences of opinion over the worthiness of a video. This is normal. We need to take each others' measure when that happens; not to 'win' or 'lose' a debate; but just to develop a sense for where the other guy is coming from. This takes a few posts, and might look silly to women lurkers.

"Kat; porn is beoming more accepted all the time. As it becomes moreaccepted; it is gaining in popularity; not losing. I therefore humbly submit that you have overestimated how important illicitness is to porn's popularity. I will grant you that porn will 'peak' in popularity pretty soon, I think. It won't drop, though; just level out, because there will be enough around for just about everybody.

"No, Kat. Not everybody has sex. In fact, many men have very little sex, because they can't find partners. Many very good men. You should tell your female friends. If porn is vicarious sex; then watching porn is a release for many of us-- a necessary release for our emotional health. If you took your sex education class from a female instructor, you wasted your time. I know something about human sexuality and how it is taught these days-- I have never met a female instructor who really understood the socio-sexual environment that men find themselves coping with these days. As a woman, you would be amazed if you knew what being a man is really like. Even the most sexually successful man goes through his sexual life hearing 'no' far more often than he hears 'yes'. In fact, women we aren't even interested in sexually, often behave with a mercilessly flippant social coldness that is damaging to us over time; and frankly, is pretty damned rude. After a while, some of us develop some bad coping habits. Pornography fits in here, because in porn, the women are always friendly and available: They always say "yes". Look at how many times posters here talk about how 'friendly' a girl seems to be in a video-- or how 'turned on' she is... this is an indicant of something we really need in a sexual relationship: Acceptance.

"Sometimes men wind up obsessed with porn because porn is so god damned much more rewarding than real-life relationships with shallow, defensive, cold, judgemental women are. This is *not* right-- but it's true. As only one woman in your boyfriend's life; you can NOT reverse this habit of his-- only try and help him develop the preference for YOU over the video screen he prefers today. In other words; don't take his interest in porn personally."

Steff: "Intelligence in men is wired to an override in the vicinity of the trousers. Also, because analysing a scene with, say, Tammi Ann in it is as close as one is likely to get to her without grossly lucking out.

"It's called psychological dependency, and it's what one gets when there's something available continuously that's more fun by an order of magnitude or so than the competing options. This is how cocaine dependency works too, I believe. It's not necessarily nice, but it's a standard human trait."

Kat replied: "I would really like to thank you guys for helping me understand why guys are all crazy about porn. I guess now I look at it like this.... Girls love to shop... I can't really explain why, but they like it. Guys like porn....I can't really understand why (even though I am learning thanks to you all) but they do. I think I am gonna stick around and see if anything interesting comes up on here, so I will be around."

Osanyin: "I found Kat's comments about her boyfriend's porn watching amusing. She is quite confounded by porn as are many females. I know quite a few women that have a great deal of disdain for 'adult entertainment' (whether that includes porno videos or nude dancers). Kat's comments are classic: The comment about most guys being lucky enough to get sex...

"Why do so many women assume that single (or even married) guys in the 90's are getting it when they want it (or even getting it at all)? Even if we are lucky enough to be getting it, then we guys are supposed to want to give up all other forms of erotic entertainment?

"I think the fact that her boyfriend tries to get her to watch stuff that she obviously is disturbed by is the most telling part of her tale. I don't know about other people, but I know my girlfriend doesn't like porn either. The last thing I would do is try to get her to watch stuff - especially extra-hardcore stuff(anal fisting). Now I love that kind of stuff, but pop one of those tapes in front of my girlfriend? Or would I sit around in her presence and surf the net and download crap that makes her feel uncomfortable?

"People may say this guy is trying to include Kat into his world and show her stuff that he finds erotic. I take another view of the situation. It seems to me that he is sending her a definite message; either he is trying to see if showing her this stuff will get her to perform sex acts that he'd like (but she obviously doesn't) or more likely, he is sending her a message that he doesn't give a shit about her and he is humiliating her by showing her stuff and spending time with material that makes her upset. My guess is that he isn't too into Kat and would rather spend time with his videos and pictures than with her.

"This is not to say that us people who enjoy porn are not in relationships or prefer it to real contact. Just that in Kat's case, it seems the guy cares more about himself than her. My advice to her is to find someone that she is more compatible with, someone with similar feelings about porn for example - or at least someone who is sensitive to her feelings about it."

Damian Carvolth: "People, especially men, like to watch porn for the same reasons they watch sitcoms or soaps, or listen to radio or whatever. It's light entertainment. It's rather stimulating too, but I look at it mainly as it's more entertaining than the stuff on TV.

"We gather in this forum to share experiences of good or bad films (videos), and the conversation drifts into our curiosity about the people in the films. So we start talking about fan clubs, bio's, directors...then we discover two things. First we have a circle of net acquaintences, most of whom are pleasant people to converse with, and second as a group we have an enormous store if information and other resources at our fingertips (literally).

"Any question that pops into your head can be answered, just type a few lines.

"Anyway some of the participants decide out of the goodness of their hearts to formalize these resources, others go out and get more info, and before you know it, you have encyclopedic knowledge, and people happy to sit and chat for threads that run to dozens of posts.

"Yes it gets a bit obsessive at times, but I suspect it isn't so much the subject matter as the intellectual activity the discussion demands that prompts people to jump in, and perhaps the flattery of having your knowledge praised, and your opinions requested...

"If you hang here a while you'll discover many of the people here are married or whatever, sexually active, and most important, normal people.

"In fact anything seen as seriously sexist gets flamed. There ain't no one here who hates women, and most can make the difference between the fantasy on screen and real life. I hope I'm not being optimistic here guys.

"They are interested in porn but not obsessed by it. Well mostly not…

"We're just talking about stuff."

Steff: "We're talking about people's fundamental motivations and desires. Those who've done biology at school won't find this a surprise, since clearly a species without a strong interest in sex don't persist for long."

Dr. Otto: "Porn is an unusual form of entertainment. Much entertainment engages us intellectually, some also or instead engages us emotionally, but how much modern entertainment actually causes an uncontrollable physical response? I can only think of two: porn and amusement parks. This is one of porn's key distinguishing characteristics.

"Also, porn has the allure of the "forbidden." Also, porn "speaks" to a genetic imperative in human beings like few other types of information. When you consider these characteristics as a package, it seems porn occupies a unique niche in our human experience."

Reply: "Sporting events cause people to leap to their feet, books cause people to laugh out loud, as do movies and television shows. They also cause people to cry. All these are uncontrollable responses.

"Having sex is a genetic imperative? What about all those people who practice celibacy? I suppose it speaks to the genetic imperative if you watch scat flicks. You can't get around that genetic imperative although most people don't use another human being as a toilet, but to each his own.

"The only thing unique about porn is that it shows a women getting a dick up her ass, then having her face stuffed into a swirling toilet after which the guy pulls his dick out of her ass and shoves it into her mouth without using a stand in or shouting cut. That's what makes it worth watching." (RAME)

Many people fear renting porn, especially from female clerks. "You haven't got the right technique," says Pat Riley. "It's great fun when the videostore gets in a new girl, usually a college girl working part time. The regulars (including me) can smell her like a shark smelling blood. So we'll congregate at the counter discussing the pros and cons of the latest Max or Rocco movie. Things like "Are stainless steel speculums obsolete?" and "Is the girl in Private #93 the same as the one who took it up the butt in Rocco Explores the Sewers of Budapest?" Most of the clerks just keep their head down, don't make eye contact and go about their business of pulling the movies. Extra points if the girl blushes! Of course it's juvenile, and in an employee/employer relationship would surely attract a sexual harrasment lawsuit (perhaps one of the reasons we do it) but it's fun."

Mdonnelly replied: "Patrick; I can only assume you thought this post was humorous and non offending, just in fun. You should have added little smiley faces. If you came in our store and acted that way we would not find it humorous, only offensive. And you would not be able to do it twice; I would ask you to take your business elsewhere. The customer is not always right. Next time I'm in a real bookstore (the Barnes & Noble kind) what if I took a copy of your book to the information counter and asked the sales people for their opinions on the details in it, in an attempt to embarrass them? Well, I could have been tougher on you. I could have given a copy of your post to the three female staff members on duty now and let them respond!"

Pat: "OK, guys. Obviously I stirred up some protective instincts here. I thought it was obvious but just to make sure we're on the same beam… I didn't mean to imply we (the regulars) discuss these matters with the girls. What would they know about pornos? We're discussing these items among ourselves much as one might discuss the latest sports. We are however doing it in front of the girls and such that they can't help but hear (and that's the intent).

"As to your comment about "the customer is not always right", maybe you come from some undeveloped area of the country where you can afford to be so self-righteous but let me assure you that in NYC: 1) College girls who want to work part time for minimum wage pulling tapes in video stores are a dime a dozen. The alternatives of flipping burgers over rancid fat or scanning groceries are a lot less attractive than putting up with a few jokers like me. 2) Customers, especially regulars who take out 20+ tapes a week, are hard to come by. As long as they don't steal or damage the tapes, you hang on to them and if they want to have a little fun with the girls, that's OK too. This store BTW is a fun place and I suspect some of the guys prolong their stay just for the camaraderie. We've even suggested that the owner install a bar but unfortunately the NY licensing laws preclude such a venture. And it's not just the guys who find it fun but also the girls after they pass their "baptism of fire" and get used to the way things work. Of course if they don't, they leave and flip burgers somewhere. Good riddance too.

"What's happening has actually a serious side. It's purpose is twofold: conformity to the norm; and, establishment of the pecking order. The norm is that in a video store that has a high porno turnover, the girls had better get used to some words and pictures that would shock our grandmothers (mine anyway). If your girls are so prissy how do they deal with the hardcore comps--the ones with the gaping asshole or the ejaculating dick on the front, or the request for "f--- You" (a recent video title)? Or is it that they make the customer feel "dirty" for renting a porno--metaphorically they put on rubber gloves to avoid sullying themselves? There is also a pecking order among customers and employees. All customers are not equal but there's no written rules here. The girl has to pick it up as she goes along and she does this by listening to how each individual is treated by the other customers and employees and by the owner. This is really no different in principle than in any business, so I won't go on. As to your analogy with Barnes & Noble, I don't really expect too much knowledge of anything from the sales staff in a large chain. Do you expect the guy stocking the shelves in the supermarket to tell you the attributes of a can of cat food? But if you go to a specialty pet foodstore, the guy better be able to inform you of the advantages and disadvantages of each brand. If there were a specialty porno review bookstore, I WOULD expect the customer to discuss the details of my books with the sales staff and I wouldn't expect any embarrassment because that's their job. If discussing (say) what constitutes a raincoater (as defined by Riley in his...) causes the salesclerk aproblem, he or she should reconsider his line of work."

Jahlen wrote: "I think it's tacky and boorish to try to embarrass or unsettle a woman who's on the cutting edge of the "new gender equality," i.e., taking her low-paid place behind the porn counter with the guys."

Pat Riley: "Which "new gender equality" was that? Perhaps you're referring to the one established in the late sixties that said "In return for allowing you to join OUR workforce, and because the technological changes WE'VE made (pill, labor (or strength) saving devices, etc) allow you to, you have agreed to treat sex the same way as males treat sex: as a recreational activity. You assure us that you've really wanted sex all along; you don't want any privilege; and you forswear the use of sex to convert the male into a drone, either temporarily (as in a hooker) or more permanently (as in marriage). You will exchange sex for sex; no more, no less. We (males) will treat you equally. (In the employee situation) we'll give you the same opportunities as any male employee. If we tell dirty jokes in the work place and the new male employee doesn't like it, too bad. You (female) can't expect anything different. Etc, etc." Guess which gender didn't live up to their sideof that bargain." (RAME)

Jahlen: "Ever think the woman you're getting your jollies from might be concerned about you waiting for her on her walk home, maybe to get a few more jollies, maybe do her some violence?"

Pat: "No. Let's not be ridiculous."

Jahlen: "I would wholeheartedly back any store that monitored this type of behaviour closely and banned customers who didn't get the message. If you've got a legitimate question about the store or the product, the fact that the clerk's a woman shouldn't stop you from asking it. That's part of the job description. But if you go about trying to embarrass or humiliate employees -- women *or* men -- on company property, and then call it freedom of speech ... Sorry, I didn't see *that* in the Bill of Rights."

Pat: "I don't see anything in the Bill of Rights that says you can make porno movies either. In fact I don't see anything about movies, generally. (Smart ass comments deserve smart ass replies.)However, does the First Amendment protect speech which humiliates or embarrasses the intended victim? Of course it does, even in the workplace. Have you noticed any lawsuits against the boss who tells his employees they're fools, idiots, or embarrasses them in front of other employees or customers or any legislation preventing this? If this was prohibited the vast majority of American managers would be constantly in court. Only when the victim is female do we suddenly have a group of protective males (and legislation) rushing to her defense. Some equality!

"If I had told this anecdote about male employees (I wouldn't have) would anyone have thought it even interesting? So the employee overhears a bunch of guys talking about speculums or girls taking it up the butt. Why would he object? He was embarrassed? Did he pop out of the cocoon yesterday? Would anyone have protested in this thread? But somehow females are delicate little creatures who have to be protected against such concepts (at least in your view) and can't be expected to adjust their work place demeanor to the environment--we are talking about a video store with a high porno turnover--but instead the customer must adjust to them. Not this customer, buddy." (RAME)

Susan writes on RAME: "Sexual objectification was generally agreed to be failing to treat a woman as a whole person (sex is not accompanied by a meeting of the minds), regardless of whether she consents to the sex acts (isn't raped/molested against her will etc). Pornography is the epitome of sexual objectification of women. I think that readers who view the pornographic treatment of women as synonymous with female sexual freedom and believe it is the direction feminism should go, may have some self esteem issues, perhaps as justification of how they have allowed themselves to be treated by men (or women) as sexual objects.

"Happily, I don't see women heading that direction either in personal relationships or in what they like to see on the screen. Women find relationships, emotion, romance, tenderness, and engaging their minds important to erotica, *not* pornography. The majority of heterosexual women I know who rent porn movies always do so with female friends (bachelorette parties; hubbies/boyfriends not invited). They *laugh* at the sheer absurdity of it; they giggle, eat some popcorn, comment on organ sizes, order a pizza, point out unique positions they must remember to try with their husband who has become tired of the old standbys. These movies are not erotic."

Cinemaniac writes on rec.arts.movies.erotica (RAME):

"MYTH #1: Women like different things than men do.

"The more we watch, the more we find this to be nonsense. We both like well- shot images of good-looking people enjoying themselves while having hot sex. Sure, your individual tastes might differ in some respects, but that's because tastes differ, even among guys (monster facials leave me unmoved, for example). Still, your first film as a couple probably shouldn't be "Depraved Fantasies." Think of porn as Chinese food; if you haven't had it before, it's probably best to start with Cantonese, see if you like it, and then work your way up to Szechuan. Candida Royalle is the Cantonese chef extraordinaire of porn: mighty good, but not too spicy or unfamiliar.

"MYTH #2: A good story matters.

"We don't find this to be so, I'm afraid, for two reasons. First, when watching as a couple, we're rarely paying all that much attention to the story anyway; lately, we haven't even been watching with the sound on. Second, if you really love a good story, porn will inevitably disappoint. Let's face it: the very best porn film ever made is only a mediocre movie. Don't believe me? Then try this experiment. Name the best porn film you've ever seen. Now pick three other types of film you like, and name your favorite film of each type. Does that look like a list of four equally good movies to you? The point is, you're not watching "Up 'n' Coming" for the same reasons you'd watch "GoodFellas," and you're only going to be disappointed if you use the same criteria to evaluate both. Porn has its own rewards, and they're mostly non-narrative; if you're paying enough attention to a porn movie to actually follow the story, let alone care about it, then porn is probably hindering your sex life rather than enhancing it.

"MYTH #3: If it only turns one of you on, you shouldn't watch it together.

"It is true that you shouldn't make your partner sit through something that actively disgusts her/him. Beyond that, though -- hey, you're a couple! You're not always completely in sync. I'll bet you compromise on regular videos all the time; she sat through "Demolition Man" for you, you sat through "Sleepless in Seattle" for her (or, if you're a less stereotypical couple, vice versa). Why not with porn? Besides, we've found that no film ever turns us on as much as seeing the other person turned on does; when we rented gay male porn, the film didn't do much for me, but her reaction to it sure did! And that was enough.

"So what does matter? We've made a little list. In order of importance:

"1) The illusion of pleasure.

Nothing casts a pall over the sex you're having than the image of other people having sex while looking bored out of their skulls. This is actually one of the big selling points, for us, of Candida Royalle's stuff: however vanilla it is, the actors look like they're having a good time. On the other hand, this is the single biggest problem with Andrew Blake videos ("Secrets" is an exception), though they have other redeeming features. Actors who seem "into it" can even make a lot of supposedly "non-couples" stuff a turn on for us; we've watched Bruce Seven girl-girl films together with great pleasure, for example, just because of the heat on the screen. And a convincing performer in one place is generally a convincing performer, period -- so learn their names.

"We go out of our way to look for stuff with Nina Hartley or Tianna, and avoid stuff with the late Savannah, for just this reason.

"2) Good looking people.

"This may be the hardest thing to find, unfortunately, and guys are often unaware of that. Straight male porn stars, with some exceptions (Rocco Siffredi, Peter North), tend to be pretty unappealing; would you be turned on by the female equivalent of Joey Silvera? It's easier with the women, but you still have to deal with the boob job question (it's a good bet that she'll be no more turned on by grotesquely artificial breasts than you would be by a grotesquely artificial cock). The presence of good-looking people is for us the big selling point of Andrew Blake videos.

"3) Variety.

"Here's a cautionary tale: recently we wanted to see a bi film and brought home the only one the store had ("Bi Madness" -- a must to avoid); we found ourselves watching the exact same scene staged four different times with four different sets of actors, right down to which positions were used when. We've never been so bored. It rarely gets that bad, but the more varied the sex is in every way, the better. For us, this means varied positions, varied settings, varied combinations of partners, etc. It also means (and we can't state this strongly enough) varied shots, ranging from long shots of the action to the typical gyno-closeups. Far more than their stories, the variety of shots is for us the selling point of "golden age" porn.

"4) A high sex-to-story ratio.

"This is the corollary of myth #2: if the story doesn't matter, then it shouldn't get in the way of the sex. This is not to say our favorite films ar things like "1000 Cum Shots"; far from it. But a little set-up leading to a lot of sex is highly preferable to a lot of set-up leading to a little sex (a/k/a The Paul Thomas Syndrome, though "Things Change" and "Passages" 1-4 are partial exceptions). You wouldn't think that Candida Royalle's "Urban Heat" had anything in common with the "Sodomania" series, but we like them both because they set up scenarios quickly and then cut to the chase.

"5) Production Values/Competent Film-making.

"As a general rule, we find that stuff that bears a passing stylistic resemblance to something you'd see at a multiplex is more stimulating than stuff that bears a strong stylistic resemblance to the video of your nephew's bar mitzvah.

"Unfortunately, the only way to get a sense of which directors, performers, and companies will deliver the goods is to actually watch the stuff. So what should you watch as a couple? Well, the usual advice on places to start is pretty good: Candida Royalle, Andrew Blake, some Golden Age stuff, some Paul Thomas. But beyond that, our advice is: try everything. And try it all at once. Once we decided we liked watching porn together, we'd generally get two or three different kinds of films at a time and sample them all; on a typical evening, we might take a look at parts of "Hidden Obsessions," "The Opening of Misty Beethoven," and "Sodomania 3," and talk about what we did and didn't like about each. Then we'd try to gauge the patterns. Was it a particular director we liked? An actor or actress? A series? Were there whole companies which should just be avoided (like Penguin)? We got a clearer sense of our tastes, we learned about each other, and we did it all naked! What more could you ask?

"We've found that the essence of watching porn as a couple is the essence of being a couple, period: be open, be generous, be honest, and communicate, communicate, communicate."

Many sex therapists use porn as part of their therapy for troubled couples.

"In my estimation, approximately 40% of all sex therapists today use adult films successfully as adjunct therapy," says Dr. Judith Seifer, president of the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT). Acording to Seifer, a therapist in in Lewisberg, West Virginia, who frequently recommends adult movies to her patients, use of hardcore pornography as part of professional therapy is increasing. "It's a growing trend. The only reason is hasn't been more popular over the past 15 or 20 years is that the only films available to most therapists were educational films from the '70s, which were not sexy." (Hustler)

Therapists may only now be discovering the healthful benefits of adult movies, but the concept of porn as educator is old hat, according to Seifer. "Commercial porn has been America's sex educator for the past 25 years," Seifer says. "It's presumptious for sex educators and therapists to think that we have ever been able to match the audience that commercial porn has found. People who watch pornography learn a variety of coital positions, as well as how to touch and how to do somebody - because that's what porn is all about."

Adds psychologist and sex therapist Dr. Bernie Zilbergeld, author of The New Male Sexuality, "More and more people in this country are watching adult films. When I was growing up - long before VCRs - they were called blue movies and were primarily viewed at stag parties. Now they're available at most video stores for any adult who wants them." (Hustler)

Porn, in or out of a therapeutic context, is not for everyone. Many therapists avoid adult videos as a counseling aid because of the "dirty movie" stigma.

Others maintain a more medical approach, in which such forms of adjunct therapy have no place, and therapists offering sex counseling from a religious perspective do not embrace erotic movies. Even among practicioners likely to accept the treatment, there are professional reservations.

"Porn is not a universal cure-all," cautions Seifer. "It is not a substitute for therapy for couples who are having profound sexual problems. Nor are videos to be used with individuals who will tend to find them inherently distasteful or against their values." (Hustler 12/94 p. 49-55)

About as many therapists who prescribe porn for sexual problems blame porn for creating sexual problems. Porn reinforces the male tendency to hurry to intercourse without much foreplay and to concentrate touching on the genitals.

In Sexual Solutions, Michael Castleman writes that the "sex media focus on genitals has little to do with leisurely, sensuous full body love.

"To present the most explicit crotch shots, the only parts of the actors that touch are the genitals.

"Porn seldom includes kissing, handholding, caressing, massage, reciprocal undressing, tenderness or discussion of lovemaking preferences. It's wham, bam, thank you mam.

"Men remain silent as they pump in and out. They never smile, never breathe deeply, never sigh, and rarely speak except to bark orders like "Strip, suck, spread." They look bored and grim."

Joseph Matyas coauthored a study at San Francisco State University of gender differences in sex fantasy.

"The basic themes in male pornography have remained amazingly stable since at least Victorian times: The main character taking an active role as seducer, anonymous sex, multiple partners, focus on genitalia, a swift progression to sex acts.

"Romance fiction - as well as women's erotic fantasies - tend to be concerned mainly with a loving relationship that develops, typically involves only one partner and builds to erotic excitement only slowly."

Novelist Guy Garcia writes in the Washington Post: "While women's tastes tend to meander into romance-novel territory: flirtatious glances, smoldering passions, a steamy kiss in the rain...male sexual fantasy on screen can be summed up 'nude blonde.'"

In the book SEX - A Man's Guide, the authors quote respondents to a Men's Health [magazine] survey."It takes a lot of searching to find a video that has enough sensuality for her and enough explicitness for me."

"I don't know any woman who is not turned off by erotic videos," says a 45-year old biologist. "At best I have found them to be very excited for five minutes."

"My wife is more aroused by strong R-rated videos with an emphasis on eroticism and slow development of relationships into sexual arousal. She finds the X-rated videos more boring and laughable than offensive. She can't relate to the quickness with which the men and women seem to become so wildly aroused."

A 54-year old policeman tells of renting a sex video and finding that his wife refused to look at it. Then she woke him in the middle of the night after watching. "We had one of the best sessions of aggressive intercourse we've ever had." But she refused to ever watch another one.

A 29-year old wife writes: "My husband and I watch them about once a month. They allow me to lose all inhibitions and improve my 'technique.'

"Watching other people turn each other on and gorge on their own sensuousness is a definite turn-on. We prefer movies with the three Rs: realistic sex, relationships you care about and eroticism."

During the 1970s, radical feminists began to cooperate with the Christian Right to oppose porn. What the two sides had in common was a view of male nature as evil. "…Man is an unbridled phallus, a prick on legs - a fallen creature," writes the Independent on Sunday, a London centrist newspaper. "Showing porn to him is like saying "Kill" to a trained guard dog. Women need protecting from him. Those [women]… who have acquired a taste for his porn habits deserve only contempt. They are his dupes - sell-outs, Uncle Toms, collaborators, scabs, fellow travellers, tools, pawns, house niggers, puppets, suckers."

Watching someone stick their fist up some girls ass just isn't my idea of a romantic evening. I am not sexually repressed. I have taken a human sexuality class, looked at all the "toys" and read books from "The Joy of Sex", to "Good Vibrations Guide to Sex", to that Dutch freakette Xavier Hollander. In my opinion, something tells me that if porn was easily accepted in American society, it would lose some appeal. I just don't see how you intelligent people can spend so much time analyzing these movies that star fake boobed women and pig headed men. Everyone has sex (if they are lucky) so I just can't come to terms on why porn is such an important thing in so many peoples lives? Yah you like it....Yah it turns you on...But why go so far as to spend hours a night (like my boyfriend does) looking at dirty web pictures and discussing this girl's tits and that girl's ass."

Pat Riley replied: "Porn would lose even more appeal if females viewed sex like males view sex--i.e. as a recreational activity.

"Does he discuss it with you? You should feel honored, or maybe he's trying to give you a hint."

Another poster: "I may be wrong, but I don't think anyone has romance in mind. You're thinking about erotica. The stuff that Vivid spews or the stuff that you watch on HBO and Showtime.

"I like to watch stuff that I don't do in real life. Like going ass to mouth with three different girls while laying beside the side of a pool in Mailibu. I also like the Max Hardcore stuff where he calls the girls 'guttersluts' and they say "Please fist f--- me mister," "Please take your dick out of my ass and put it in my mouth." That is cool!"

"Any question that pops into your head can be answered, just type a few lines.

for threads that run to dozens of posts.

"If you hang here a while you'll discover many of the people here are married or whatever, sexually active, and most important, normal people.

"They are interested in porn but not obsessed by it. Well mostly not…

"We're just talking about stuff."

Jahlen: "Ever think the woman you're getting your jollies from might be concerned about you waiting for her on her walk home, maybe to get a few more jollies, maybe do her some violence?"

Pat: "No. Let's not be ridiculous."

Pat: "I don't see anything in the Bill of Rights that says you can make porno movies either. In fact I don't see anything about movies, generally. (Smart ass comments deserve smart ass replies.) However, does the First Amendment protect speech which humiliates or embarrasses the intended victim? Of course it does, even in the workplace. Have you noticed any lawsuits against the boss who tells his employees they're fools, idiots, or embarrasses them in front of other employees or customers or any legislation preventing this? If this was prohibited the vast majority of American managers would be constantly in court. Only when the victim is female do we suddenly have a group of protective males (and legislation) rushing to her defense. Some equality!

Anonymous poster: "Back in 1992, I was 18 and bored, so I decided to relieve my boredom by going to a nearby Stop And Go and buying a pack of pornos. I say "pack", because this store had a deal where you could get a bag of three mediocre trashy magazines (i.e. old issues of Velvet and obscure soft-core British mags) for about $6.50, which was good for my 18-year-old budget.

"When I walked into the store, it was late at night (maybe 1 a.m.), so the only people there were me, the clerk, and a security guard. I went over to the stack of porno mags and started to look around. The clerk told me that I had to be 18 to look, and I assured him that I was. I made my selection and took it to the counter, and the clerk asked me for some I.D. I showed him my driver's license.

"I was born in January of 1974. These events took place in April of 1992. Therefore, I was 18, right? The clerk didn't think so. He took one look at my driver's license and said "No, you're not 18." I insisted that I was.

He didn't believe me. I said that 92 minus 74 equals 18. He gave me a blank look. I asked him why he thought I wasn't 18. 'I'm 18, and I was born in 1973. So you can't be 18 yet.'

"I thought a second, then told him that he must not have had his birthday yet this year. 'You were born in the later part of the year, right?' When I asked him this he gave me a weird look, and said 'You could say that,' as though the only way I could have known that was by looking at his medical records. Some of you people might be thinking that this guy was stringing me along. As the rest of this story will show, he wasn't. He was just *seriously* dumb. I bet he didn't even know what the FAA was.

"Seeing his suspicious look, I tried a different approach, and told him to try adding 18 to 74. I even did it piecewise: 'Look. Ten years after 1974 is 1984, right? And eight years after that...' At this point the security guard was counting off the years on his fingers. I think he got to about 1982 before *he* got too confused and stopped. The clerk was seriously screwed up now, and decided to try a novel solution to this problem. He picked up the phone and CALLED ANOTHER STORE. Explaining the situation, he asked THEM whether or not I was 18. Stop And Go must have an Equal Intellectual Opportunity hiring program, because he was on that phone for a while, waiting for the people from the other store to determine whether or not I was 18.

"While the clerk was on the phone, someone else had bought gas, and he came into the store to pay. The clerk told this random guy that I was born in January of 1974, and asked HIM if I was old enough to buy pornos. The customer thought about it for about fifteen seconds, counting out the years and months, then said "Yeah, he's old enough. He can buy anything he wants!" The clerk still wasn't convinced, but now the security guard had figured it out, and he told the clerk that I should be 18.

"The clerk was *still* skeptical, as though this could have been some sort of huge conspiracy between me, the security guard, and this random customer who just walked into the store. Just as the first customer was leaving, a gorgeous woman walked into the store to buy a pack of cigarettes. I wanted to die right then. Here I was, standing at the counter with my bargain-basement 3-pack of Mayfair and god-knows-what-else, and right next to me was a woman who could easily have posed for one of those magazines. To make things even worse, the clerk pointed to me, said I was born in January of 1974, then asked HER if I was old enough to buy pornos.

"She didn't even try to figure it out. Without skipping a beat, she said 'I'll buy them for him.'

"I didn't let her. Not only was I too embarrassed to let her, but I felt that I was on a quest now. I had a moral imperative to exercise my God-given right to legally purchase pornography, and I wasn't going to give in to the clerk's claim by sneaking around the law. When I told her I wanted to buy them myself, the clerk finally caved in and let me get the magazines. Ever since then, I haven't been embarrassed by buying or renting any sort of porn." (RAME)

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