I’ve strayed a bit from my original plan to review all the 2009
Adult Video News Award winners. But with the Oscars last month, it
seems apropos to return to The Other Hollywood‘s hot list. One
of this year’s biggest winners, second only to triple-X epic Pirates
II, was Brad Armstrong’s Fallen (Director of Year; Best
Actress, Jessica Drake; Best DP Sex Scene). Armstrong has problems with
aesthetics—with fuzzy-vanilla niceties. It’s like only having a
Playboy when you need a Club Confidential. It’s
too pretty. All the girls have that weird, bouncy,
shampoo-commercial hair. It’s hard to pay attention to anything else.
I’ve tried to watch Fallen three times, but it’s JUST
HAIR. It makes me feel like I’m at Forever 21 in Southcenter Mall.
Have you seen the wannabe porn girls, the Forever 35s, who shop
there? Do they know they look like Jessica Drake? A woman with an
award-winning double-penetration scene? Fallen is unwatchable.
In fact, the first person who e-mails me can HAVE it.
A better bet is Cheerleaders (Top Renting and Selling
Release). Cheerleaders doesn’t need hair extensions or a
grandiose story line. Nope. It’s got Stoya—ohhh, Stoya!—and
superhumanly gorgeous Manuel “Budweiser Can” Ferrara running
around in a high-school football jersey and no pants. But
Cheerleaders is, of course, ALL about the girls. The
cheerleader, as a porn-movie archetype, is predictable, but the
I-double-dog-dare-you locker-room bravado, between girls instead of
boys, is pitch-perfect. What a bunch of supersluts (can you say
“nine-girl locker-room orgy”?). And when Jesse Jane, a baby-talking
former actual cheerleader is bouncing around on Ferrara’s big beer can,
chanting, “Fuck me, I’m your whore… Fuck me, I’m your WHORE!” with
pigtails a-flying, well, it’s kind of hard NOT to pay attention. 
Looking at that locker room picture is making me dizzy.
Why are you reviewing porn in the Stranger? Why do you think women would be interested in reading this tripe? Our entire culture is saturated with porn. It debases and demoralizes the lives on real women. That you would waste column inches on “reviewing” porn is symptomatic of the utter vapidity of your paper and of you. Why not concentrate on art or real drama or something worthwhile instead of offering inane “commentary” about pointless productions geared toward immature and empty-headed people? People like you, Kelly O, are a big problem. You elevate the trivial and worthless at the expense of real humanity and worthy art. You are an insult to my gender, and to women all over the world who are the victims of sexual abuse, exploitation, and violence. Your “commentary” furthers the debasement of girls and young women here and abroad. Thanks for making the world a better place for women, Kelly.
um. another woman here.
i really enjoy porn and kelly’s great reviews of it. if you don’t like porn then don’t watch it and don’t read the reviews. no big deal. k?
Whoah, whoah WOW. Another Lady, what planet are from? The Big Problem™ is women who have unhealthy relationships with sex. Sex is natural and healthy and fun. Watching porn can be healthy and fun. And believe it or not, women are allowed to enjoy sex. And porn.
Thank you so much Kelly and Nicole!
I read Another Lady’s comment and felt strong pains in my stomach. I’m tired of hearing women rant about how degrading and exploitative porn is to women. Porn can be really fun to watch… yes, even for women… and if women enjoy making it and feel they have control of their careers, then they aren’t being exploited. I’ve heard the porn industry is becoming more “woman-friendly” work environment-wise; I hope that’s true and something to be encouraged.
Porn Lover, a great article, from the great Violet Blue!
http://www.tinynibbles.com/smartporn
‘I’ve heard the porn industry is becoming more “woman-friendly” work environment-wise; I hope that’s true and something to be encouraged.’
Hmmm. Do you have any evidence to back that up? Also, tell the girls in Mexico and India and Eastern Europe how much more “friendly” porn is to women. These are girls who have no say over their “careers.”
what’s sad is thinking about the backgrounds of the girls in the picture above. i wonder if their 18 but they look younger. be honest, would you want your teenage girl in a film like this? it’s sad to think of these girls and what led them to choose to have to make a porn film at their age. i was really naiive when i was a teenager and feel sorry that these girls were roped into something they probably had to do to make a buck to stay off the street where the violence is pretty bad and theyre probably homeless otherwise. i’m sorry for these girls and sorry for women who would say this is okay. i guess they didn’t have to be in porn films when they were teens. maybe they should sign up to be in porn films now since they think its so cool.
Actually, Terry..these are full-grown women who DON’T look 18 or younger. They look like 20-or-older, consenting adult women who are happy to pretend to be teenage cheerleader sluts.
You’re making a lot of assumptions that would probably piss these extremely well-paid and remarkably self-satisfied actresses off.
Not everyone who makes porn does it because she HAS to. That’s a bit of benevolent sexism, right there.
Jesse Jane is 29 years old, and Stoya is 23. NONE of the women in this photo are teenagers, and ALL of them are Digital Playground contract stars. Contract = fat paycheck. It’s absolutely sexist to assume these women were one (and all) somehow abused, victimized, or “tricked” into working (and making a shit ton of cash) in this industry.
And far more terrifying than my own teenager (I mean my own 20-something-year-old) getting involved in porn, would be my own teenager (or 20-something-year-old) getting pregnant (or married) before she got her chance to go to college or travel or learn. That’s far more oppressive.
Who let the “Waaah, Porn” crowd in? Shut the hell up and mind your own selves.
Eeeew, some of those women have nasty tattoos. Yuck! I hate tattoos!
@ Guy who hates porn.
I totally agree that there are probably porn films made that involve trafficing in persons and abuses–which is why I don’t watch that kind of porn…
I do, however, like to watch porn which is made in the US, using performers I know are consenting and of legal age, and I really admire some of the women who are smart and in control and articulate about what they’re doing–like Claire Adams, Madison young and Chanta Rose.
These are women who are choosing to work in porn, not because they would be homeless otherwise, as Terry suggests, but because they see it as a form of self expression. I’m inspired by these women and if I had the balls, I probably would do porn–maybe HUMP, somday.
And Another Lady?
How dare you? What makes you think you have the right to tell other women what to write or think about a topic you find offensive? Who apponted you the spokesperson of the female gender?
You haven’t lived in Kelly O’s shoes. And you haven’t lived in mine. I’m a woman, an abuse survior and a concientious porn consumer, and you don’t speak for me.
porn is awesome and should be reviewed more so as to encourage better quality. if a porn was able to engage people emotionally as well as physically it would be a “legitamite” art form and then the locos above could shut their mouths. These women make more money than I do, maybe I’m the one being exploited. it sure feels good!
sex is awesome!!!!!!!!!don’t hate on that which harms no one! major label porn is regulated and a good job for plenty of people!
I think women who consider porn sexist are BEING sexist! As a feminist, I love porn. The great thing about porn is that there are so many different varities! Don’t like female-belittling porn? Why don’t you watch some lesbo porn? Or female-dominant porn? Or gay male porn? Or solo porn? Or any other porn except the kind that, in your mind, is so sexist? Saying you don’t like porn is like saying you don’t like pie. You just have to find out which kind of pie you like best.
You go Kelly!
Porn has changed. Where are those golden days when naive starry-eyed runaways found themselves between a Mr. Johnson and a Captain Head, paid with a couple lines of coke? Now its about career decisions, contracts, and webmasters. What has this country come to — when dirty old men can’t exploit the innocence and naviety of youth for personal gain? Oh wait, that’s basically the case with every other industry other than porn. My bad.
Guess I’d have to say I’d much rather be the father of a teenage porn star than the son of Bernie Madoff. I mean if you really want to talk about something obscene and disgusting.
What’s up with the “work in porn or be homeless”? If we didn’t all work at something we’d be homeless. Check it out with the counter help at McDonalds or clerk at Wal-Mart and see if that’s their dream job or if they’re just whoring themselves out to keep from being homeless.
Hey, people who don’t like porn, here’s an idea: go read something else.
This article is called “Porn!” And it is about, you guessed it, porn. Truth in advertising. So if you don’t want to read about porn, don’t read this article. If you do read this article, we can all assume that you do want to read about porn, and that your angry ranting is just a poor attempt to morally justify your titillation.
Wait, “sex is natural and healthy and fun”? I think I’ve been doing it wrong. I thought it was supposed to be painful and shameful and emotionally scarring?
The porn I consume doesn’t objectify women. It objectifies men. Big, hairy, burly, delicious men.
i find porn largely uninteresting. don’t know–maybe there’s good stuff out there now that i just haven’t seen. but every time someone says “check it out–good production values, has a story, really sexy, etc. etc.” i just wind up falling asleep about 1/2 hour in. truly riveting porn seems possible, but i haven’t seen it yet. i think i would need something on the level of a top notch hollywood movie with engrossing characters, award-worthy script, dynamic character development, plus fucking. is that asking too much?
Is it some kind of law that EVERY porn actor/actress has to have at least one stupid tattoo?
hows about a NSFW you fucking duumbfucks. Someone is gonna get smacked for that.
People are different from other people.
People are different from other people of the same gender.
I’m different from some other straight males. Commercial porn videos seldom arouse me. I’d much rather fantasize about being asked to come hither by the dubbed voices of Sylvia Kristel and Edwidge Fenech.
Anyone offended by this column needs to get a life. The worst that can be said about it is that it is kind of boring. If you want entertaining writing about porn, check out Gram Ponante.
i don’t object to porn as much as i just find it boring. i think i need it to be at the level of a fine film with character development, convincing acting, high production values and riveting dialogue to go along with the fucking. then i’d love it instead of falling asleep 1/2 hour in.
oops, sorry about that. what happened?
If it “debases” women, what does it do to the men? And what if people want to be debased? I don’t think it “debases” anyone. I look at them as people who like entertaining other adults. I think you are religionist who has a hidden “morality” agenda that wants to deny people the right to see what they want. Thank you Kelly! You provide a service we want.
I refuse to support porn!
By that I mean pay for it.
*searches web furiously for free copy of “Cheerleaders”*
“We all know…” that’s a little segway into denial.
Well, in this commentators estimation fear of lack of experience drives some to incredulous outbursts of passion.
Perhaps the fear of not being included or the fear of lack of love in safety and privacy leads the confusing nature of pre-adolescent fantasy through the eyes of tight minded morality.
College graduates the world over can tell you of exciting new social interactions taking place on campus and in communities never dreamed of in the nuance of stoic or cloistered tea parties, social cookie happy hours,nervous smiles and vicious gazers at the pre-school gathering ladies home sewing clubs.
On the other hand… mothers and fathers and nasty minded little principles caught in the past suppression of their own roving eyes and ( dare i say ) internal thoughts have frequented numerous behaivor courses in stigmatized rehearsal ceremonies and rights of passage for humanities destined course of destruction.
Come on… wouldn’t YOU want to die a death like that only to wake with another chance at reprisal?
OK, change a few gender orientations around or the set of backdrops, and imagine yourself on a sidewalk cafe with cothes on…
Isn’t almost like that anyway?
You are what you create.
Why wouldn’t all God fearing folk the world over want “professional” observance and {oh my god!] review of adult content film and digital imagery?
Oh yes… the possibilty is the ” Embarrassment Factor “.
And what is that…..could it be, maybe… standing before the judgement throne and being unsure that God would grant you AND them a pardon for as yet to unimagined forgiveness?
Is it mandatory judgement that deems those who participate in this kind of group therapy are morally baseless?
Are those with their clothes on any less suceptible to the natural expansion and contraction of the biometric secretions uncontained by the dialated discourse of the retina?
Perhaps the gaurds at the playgrounds and the mothers in the parks… ( oh yes dear Butch….) men in the parks are there {mothers} too.
The ONLY thing you shouldn’t compromise on in individual decision making before attempting to comment on anothers choice of action and intent… is what you let be put in your body.
If you are opposed to porn then don’t look at it. Nobody is forcing you to watch porn and those of us who enjoy porn can be selective and choose porn that is produced in a non exploitative manner. No it is not inheriantly exploitative. Censorship would by far be a greater evil anyway.
i’m tired of being told porn is “fun to watch” and woman-positive & i should have to read about it in The Stranger. these women look neither well-paid nor self-satisfied.
i’m tired of the women claiming they have “real orgasms”.
eh. it’s not sexy or titillating.
sex is healthy, natural and fun, however i see few porns that represent that. porn is unnatural positions so the camera can get the money shot, fake enjoyment of being spooged in the face and fake lesbian tongue-sword fights.
i’m especially tired of kelly o reminding us over and over again how “down” she is with porn. it smacks of desperation.
“Be honest, would you want your teenage girl in a film like this?”
Someone needs to put the “you wouldn’t want your daughter” argument to bed.
There are a lot of jobs I wouldn’t want my daughter to have; US marine, extreme sports professional, chairman of the Republican Party, carny, prison guard, factory worker, professor of Women’s Studies, or any job that she hated, really. That doesn’t mean these jobs are wrong and shouldn’t exist.
Furthermore, this question is more about the stigma of porn, not the work itself.
Finally, if my daughter was talented, enjoying herself, and making good money, I’d fully support her career in porn.
i’m tired of being told folk singing is “fun to watch” and woman-positive & i should have to read about it in The Stranger. these women look neither well-paid nor self-satisfied.
i’m tired of the women claiming how “real and sensitive” they are.
eh. it’s not catchy or moving.
music is healthy, natural and fun, however i see few folk singers that represent that. folk singers are attention seeking whiners, fake outrage at the man even as they collect their trust funds, and fake lesbianism becuase it’s hip.
i’m especially tired of kelly o reminding us over and over again how “down” she is with folk singing. it smacks of desperation.
ellarosa: “truly riveting porn seems possible, but i haven’t seen it yet.”
That’s because for historical reasons most of mainstream porn is produced by a group of cheesy forty-something guys in the Valley who are as dumb as posts and would otherwise be pumping gas.
It would be interesting to see porn produced by real artists. Hump! provides some glimpses of that, and the results have been entertaining and erotic.
It’s great that some porn is made with well-paid actresses who actually choose to be there, and that some of you choose to actively seek out that porn.
That doesn’t change the fact that a great deal of porn represents situations that subjugate and exploit women, period. Sure, perhaps the specific women in those actual situations don’t mind, but the problem is what this ends up programming too many men to expect from/believe about actual women. Pardon me for not feeling that much better about the fact that a well-paid sister is teaching tens of thousands of men that I secretly dig being treated like an object.
So is it nice that things have changed a little? Sure. But don’t point to a handful of nice exceptions and try to say that everything is really okay with porn now. That’s an insulting overgeneralization. It’s a little like pointing to the small percentage of female CEOs and Congresspeople and saying sexism is over.
Oh wait, people totally do that.
“these women look neither well-paid nor self-satisfied.”
How does one ‘look’ well-paid? Is it that the cheerleader costumes are not from Dolce and Gabbana?
“this ends up programming too many men to expect from/believe about actual women.”
Is this perhaps an assumption based on pretty much nothing? I’m wondering how many men are ‘programmed’ by porn. I would think that any halfwit that thought the robo-sex you see in most porn was the way to do it would find himself very alone pretty much permanently.
“these women look neither well-paid nor self-satisfied.”
How does one ‘look’ well-paid? Is it that the cheerleader costumes are not from Dolce and Gabbana?
“this ends up programming too many men to expect from/believe about actual women.”
Is this perhaps an assumption based on pretty much nothing? I’m wondering how many men are ‘programmed’ by porn. I would think that any halfwit that thought the robo-sex you see in most porn was the way to do it would find himself very alone pretty much permanently.
Yay, Porn!
“fake lesbian tongue-sword fights”
Well, that’s because no one wants to see real lesbians at work. I mean, have you seen the fugly, lesbian, man-women in Seattle?
The Stranger deliberately features articles like this to offend the populace at large and be seen as “scandalous,” when in fact it’s simply boring, ignorant, inane writing by a “super hip” “Kelly O” who assumes women gain great satisfaction in being exploited. She is promoting amorality and the culture of “How dare you challenge my amorality and open support of sexual exploitation! I am a liberated lesbian!” Kelly O is sick, plain and simple, and a abject expression of “womanhood.”
Porn Industry Statistics:
* 66% of porn performers have Herpes, a non-curable disease.
* Eleven porn stars died from HIV, suicide, homicide and drug related deaths in 2007.
* Between 2003 and 2005, 976 performers were reported with 1,153 positive STD results.
* The largest group viewing online pornography is ages 12 to 17.
*27 porn performers have committed suicide since 1990.
*47 porn performers have died from drug overdose since 1990.
*Out of about 90 HIV positive porn performers, about 25 are living.
*65 percent of high school students admit to unsafe, inappropriate, or illegal activities online.
*More than 11 million teens regularly view porn online.
Thanks for making the world a better place, Kelley!
Digital Playground also has a series called “Island Fever” (our personal favorite is “Island Fever 3” with Jesse Jane, Devon and Tera Patrick). They don’t bother with dialogue or a story — it’s just beautiful people having sex in beautiful locations to beautiful music! I call it “ambient porn” — great mood stimulus for background.
Kelly O may be in control of what she’s doing. But she is not in control of the effects she is having on the attitudes of men who see or buy the products she promotes. And she is certainly not in control of what those men then do in expressing those attitudes to other women. That’s not of course to say these men will go out and rape the next woman they see. Their failure to respect women as people will be manifest in much more subtle ways as harrassment and abuse both in the workplace and at home. The privacy of porn consumption does not stop the effects on women in general.
From “The Porn Wars” at Wake Forest University
Why is this discussion so important?
Willis: The majority of porn users in the U.S. are boys between the ages of 12 and 17. The average age of introduction to porn for boys is 11. Young adolescents are starting to frame their ideas about their sexuality and the women and girls in their lives through pornography.
Retta: Porn sensationalizes violence against women and users feel that it’s okay to treat females in this way. Sexualized violence is normalized and then becomes a part of the culture. That’s destructive.
How do you address a topic that is so sensitive?
Retta: I don’t think people understand the severity of the situation. When I tell students that I’m anti-pornography, many view me as being extremely conservative or suggest that I’m getting worked up over a small thing. Women and men need to hear from those who are researching this industry. Since women aren’t the majority of users, they really don’t know what the pornography industry is doing, and many men may not know that what the industry is doing is harmful to both sexes.
How have feminists spoken out against pornography?
Willis: The post-modern feminists of the ’80s and ’90s believed that pornography was liberating — another way for women to choose how they wanted to use their bodies and shape the perception of their sexuality. But researchers in the anti-porn group, particularly studies done by Robert Jensen, suggest that pro-porn feminists are not looking at mainstream pornography, and they don’t have a good idea of what is out there today.
Retta: Beginning in the 1990s and continuing today, what was hardcore porn has become “accepted,” and so is now labeled as “soft porn” by the industry and promoters. These soft-core porn images are prolific in magazines and the Internet and are freely accessible. Today, mainstream pornography includes hitting, hurting, verbally and emotionally degrading women, and much worse. As social beings we unconsciously begin to accept what we see, and as a result of the power of the pornography industry, violence against women is being normalized.
What surprising things do you think people who attend the series will learn?
Retta: How big of an industry pornography is. It’s a $57 billion industry worldwide, and the U.S. consumes 80 percent of that.
Willis: One reason for this is that in the U.S., we have the money to buy it. Another is because we have the free speech amendment. The way the First Amendment has played out in the U.S. has allowed the porn industry to use this tool as its weapon against women. I think just about everyone in the U.S. is for free speech, but when speech becomes harm or hate that is where the area of contention lies. Pornography is hate speech but women are not considered a protected category.
kelly o’s preference in porn is of no consequence to me. i don’t care if people are pro or con. porn is in the eye of the beholder. the reviews are neither witty, nor compelling.
please bring back eat & tell or at least something worth reading.
@seandr,
yeah, i don’t want to read kelly o’s reviews of folk singing OR porn. yawn.
“Sexualized violence is normalized and then becomes a part of the culture.”
“violence against women is being normalized.”
These people appear to have a whole lot of shit they are absolutely sure about that doesn’t appear to have a shred of evidence to back it up.
Even that fool Douthat that wrote the porn is adultry article that Dan linked to yesterday noted that over the past couple of decades during which porn has become much more accessible violence against women has declined dramatically.
“The post-modern feminists of the ’80s and ’90s believed that pornography was liberating — another way for women to choose how they wanted to use their bodies and shape the perception of their sexuality.”
And paleo second-wave feminism’s obsession with ‘objectivization’ is nothing but a thinly disguised perpetuation of Victorian prudery. Seems those ‘post-modern feminists’ have figured out that there is nothing liberating about perpetuating ridiculous sexual double-standards.