My Dec 21, 2005 email interview with author Bruce Barnard:

* Why did you choose to write this book?

Mostly because everything else out there tended to focus on the US scene, and if I’m being honest, elements of the US sex industry leave me with a vague sense of discomfort.

American pornography is prone to many of the same criticisms liberal-minded British folk tend to adopt when discussing US foreign policy. Namely, it’s defined by brutality, seems motivated purely by the pursuit of profit, contains strong elements of racism and takes no account of the opinion of the rest of the world.

The work of people like Max Hardcore for example, does for misogyny what ‘Der Strumer’ did for anti-Semitism. It’s always struck me as a profoundly depressing manifesto of abuse and humiliation that seems unconnected to any positive sexual impulse. We’ve always done things differently here - I wanted to capture that in print.

The cliché “when America catches a cold, the world sneezes’ quite apt. The main reason why some British producers have started to include spitting, choking and gapers; purely to keep up with our brasher US cousins. I take the view that it is a creeping cultural imperialism we could do without, but I seem to be a lone voice and the push towards freak show misogyny shows on sign of slowing down.

I’d also be lying if I said that the lure of getting to see naked chicks didn’t play a big part in the initial idea.

* What surprised you the most?

The people. Perhaps I struck lucky, but with just one exception, everyone I met tended to be trusting, good-natured, fun and willing to answer my questions without throwing any ego shit fits. Given all UK media coverage of the smut trade has historically been negative this came as a genuine surprise.

The gay scene was something of an eye opener, but I was determined to cover it because I find it hysterical when I think about the pathological levels of homophobia evident in the straight sex industry. If a rumour spreads that a dick for hire has dipped his toe into the lavender world, it always kick-starts a witch hunt. I find that very funny, given that everyone is swimming in the same deviant pool.

* What did you want to be when you grew up?

A writer. This changed when I realised how difficult it is making a living, especially if your talent veers towards covering the margins of society, rather then boy wizards or Middle Earth trolls. Writing a book is no different to unblocking drains for a living, people seem to think there’s some kind of alchemy at work, when the reality is a dull, turgid process of constant graft, which will most likely die from critical apathy as soon as the book hits the shelves.

* How did working on this book affect your relationships? How has the publication of this book affected your life? Has the feedback you received on it surprised you? How so?

Feedback has been very positive; people are genuinely loving the book which is fucking great. It did feature in a recent divorce petition, but in the name of diplomacy I won’t go into any other details. People should buy it and make their own judgment I guess.

I write: "You romanticize British porn. They're doing it for the money just like Americans, they just don't talk about it as baldly as Yanks do."

Bruce replies:

I think you’re right; Americans do have less of a hang up when it comes to discussing money. It’s an English tradition that’s survived as a result of our curious class system.

You’re not the only person to see Flesh Trade as pro-porn, the majority of feedback has perceived the book as uncritical to the industry, although personally I struggle to see it. I’ve no intention of becoming a poster boy for people’s right to watch smut, in fact I dropped two chapters that dealt with the dark side of the business because they didn’t fit with the vaguely comedic tone, which defines the book. I may come across as trying to be the porno Norm Chomski, but let’s remember I was only trying to write an entertaining, funny book that hopefully didn’t induce nausea in the audience.

As for your question about the gay aspect and if watching men f--- turned me bi-curious, the answer is no. Like I said in the book I’ve covered all manner of weirdness in the past but always with a sense of creative detachment. It’s no different to watching attractive female performers really, after all as a journalist I’m not nipping off every ten minutes on porn sets to crack one off in the toilets. Is that something you do Luke?

How did you find the UK then? I had this trans-Atlantic dick-waving contest with notorious girlfriend beater and occasional US author Jim Goad recently and it struck me as strange how two cultures with a common language could be so different in outlook.

That was my point yesterday. Perhaps it’s just me but when I watch a brutal US gonzo I can’t help getting lingering visual images of the pictures that came out in the wake of the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal. Both things highlight something deeply uncomfortable about the current mindset of the people in the world’s only superpower. Not that us Brits can take the moral high ground of course, given that we’ve had our porcine digits in the Middle East vagina for centuries now.

Ironically I’m a big fan of the States, I don’t subscribe to the rampant anti-US feeling that’s swept through Europe like a virus in the last few years. I’m intelligent enough to see the hypocrisy in watching Arab folk burn the stars and stripes in protest at prisoner abuses, but see them remain mute on the subject of the torture and abuse dished out by their own undemocratic governments.

It’s also fair to say that when you are dealing with people’s lives, it pays to retain an element of humanity- given that books tend to last awhile. Taking the opportunity to vilify people is likely to have a negative impact on their lives. I am at heart a gag man and I don’t ever want to think I was directly responsible for f---ing someone over just to score a cheap laugh. Given your own history this would appear to be yet another example of the difference between you and us.