A defense of women who do porn (and those who love them)

This is just some generalized riffing off what Trinity just posted on how female porn viewers identify with the actresses they watch....though slightly altered with my own POV from a male perspective.

One of the main overgeneralities and mythologies passed on by antiporn activists (and especially antiporn feminists) is that the men who view porn are either invariably full of nothing but hate and loathing of the women they see on explicit sexual media; or that they are merely imposing their perverted and misogynic sexual beliefs and practices on such women. The notion that these women might actually have feelings and desires and motives of their own and actually get off on performing sexually, or the fact that men could actually give respect and admiration to a woman who freely acknowledges and plays to a man's sexual desire for her, seems to be simply beyond the pale of comprehension for such activists. In their already made up minds, women in porn are only computerized sexbots implanted with the chips of evil, dirty men who use them to impose their violent will on the rest of humanity.

Well....as a man who has seen more than his share of porn and erotica, and who appreciates the physical and erotic beauty of women who perform in hardcore -- whether in a Chatsworth studio or a camshow in her own bedroom -- I can simply call bullshit to such nonsense.

I'm not saying that there aren't some individual men who do think like those stereotypes; who are into porn for the loathing and misogyny, mostly because they have so internalized the usual antisexual and antifeminist folkways about "dirty sluts" and "whores" being so defiled and degraded...while still desiring nevertheless to fuck them all the same.

But...some of us -- indeed, I'd say the overwhelming majority of us who consume porn as a recreation -- happen to have a distinctly different idea about women and men who perform in the "sex industry". Contrary to popular myth, it is possible to actually respect and admire and even adore porn performers for their skills, both sexual and acting..and even see them as.......real flesh and blood human beings.

I am often fascinated (in the way that a 60-car pileup is "fascinating") by the line of thinking so often spouted by some antiporn activists that people who do or watch porn are so controlled by their dicks and clits that they absolutely, positively, 24/7/52, must be thinking only about getting laid or masturbating 50 times a day, without a care in the world for more "substansial", more "meaningful" things like work or a steady relationship or family or friends. As if porn -- if not sex as a whole -- is so "addictive" like crack cocaine or heroin that it overwhelms any other human desire.

These fools never met the performers or the fans I have....and if they did, they would have those myths exploded in their faces in a New York millisecond.

Now, not that there is anything even relatively wrong with people getting themselves off to porn or thinking about sex more than on occasion; that's part of being human. I'd rather roll with someone who is open and honest about his/her desires and owns them than with someone who denies them and decieves him/herself. After all, the fundamental purpose of porn in the first place is to entice sexual fantasy...which, ultimately leads to people getting themselves off anyway either by themselves or with other likeminded horny people.

But to say that those who do porn aren't capable of doing other things, or are so oppressed that they must "degrade" themselves for sheer survival, flies in the face of actual reality. A few examples of popular porn performers and their past lives or current endeavors will suffice:

• Keisha (: Bachelor's degree in Psychology; considering pursuing Masters' degree
• Johnni Blank: US Army Special Forces; served in first Iraq war
• Vicky Vette: Various supervisory positions in major corporations; home-building (link possibly NFSW)
• Nina Hartley: Bachelor's degree in nursing
• Ron Jeremy: Taught adult education classes

(Unfortunately, those were the only few I could retrieve off hand, feel free to add others.)

The point being that even professional sex artists and performers have other interests besides sex, and that they can freely pursue other goals just as easily.

Which brings me to the related question often asked: If these folk are so capable of pursuing other goals, then why go into porn and sex media to begin with??

Well, there's the quick and easy money, of course. Not many businesses can offer such a quick payday for doing things that you would probably enjoy already for free.

But for me, there is a much more substansial and meaningful purpose for making porn and hardcore sex: Because you get pleasure from it....and from getting people off, including yourself.

The best performers who do sex work -- and the ones who attract my own attention and desire the most -- are the ones who really do love what they do, who take pride and detail in their craft as sexual performers, and give the full respect to their fans and consumers who pay their subscriptions.

But mostly, they seperate themselves from the pack on one important detail: they really do get into, get turned on, and ultimately get off on what they do. In short, they love sex as much as -- if not more than -- they love the paycheck.

Forget about the "real" versus "fake" boobs, or the circus sex antics, or how big an object you can put up your ass, or whether you like getting spooged by one person or one hundred. If you can wake up the morning after you do a sexual performance (or any sex act, for that matter) and smile and get off on the dirty deeds you did, then you can be truly considered a legitimate "sex-positive" performer.

And those are the performers who will get my support -- and my full attention, if you catch my drift -- every single time.