Starring Violet Blue (both of them), AVN, Madison Young, Sinnamon Love, a debate about racial stereotyping in interracial films.....and a genuine asshat named David Sullivan.
The SmackDog Chronicles: Violet Blue vs. AVN: The Great IR Porn Smackdown (Parts One and Two)
UPDATE (2-24-09): In the interest of accuracy and of having the full story out there, I've added a post in addedum detailing some details in the Violet Blue ID case (between the sex columnist and the porn star whom once used that namesake). I made no judgments there; I will simply leave that up to you, the reader....but it does paint a different and interesting (and at times, disturbing) light on the subject.
The SmackDog Chronicles: The Violet Blue Controversy: An Addedum
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I'm sorry, Anthony, but this is a rare occasion where I strongly disagree with you.
ReplyDeleteViolet Blue may not have originated misidentifying Shane Diesel's gender, but she accepted it without question, and David Sullivan is absolutely right to call her on it. After all, she calls herself a sex EDUCATOR, right?
Getting someone's gender wrong is not the same thing as misspelling their name. It's far more serious, because it means that she didn't watch any of his movies. Diesel's line of movies from Hush Hush - "Blackzilla" - are the most well-known of the genre, and if she didn't watch them, how is she qualified to pass judgment on them? Don't we often go after the anti-porn feminists when they display similar failings?
I read the February issue, and the article by Nelson X does NOT editorially endorse the contents of the videos. It simply reports on their existence, interviews some of the creators, and looks at some sales figures. What's wrong with that? How is that an endorsement of bigotry? Whether it's Violet Blue or some other website, it is wrong to shoot the messenger for being the bearer of bad news.
I suspect that what's really going on here is that some industry folks are afraid that Dines & Jensen will use the AVN piece to discredit the industry, so they're launching a pre-emptive strike on AVN before our enemies do. I think Sullivan knows what's going on, and he's royally pissed about it. If I were in his place, I would too.
I don't view Sullivan's sarcasm as an attack on genuine advocates of sex workers, but an attack of folks he views as phonies who pretend to be more principled that they really are. I don't see him ever going after Nina like that, unless she started drinking Violet's kool-aid.
On Violet Blue v. Violet Blue: I've always had some affection for the performer, who was lovely in Nina's Guide to Great Sex During Pregnancy and was thankfully billed as Violet Blue. I enjoyed the way she jerked Luke Ford around by being a mock-anti-Semite. But, she has been reduced to calling herself NoName Jane (yuchh!!!) thanks to "educator" Blue's high-handed bullying lawsuit. Yes, NoName now is OK with it, but, really, what choice did she have? She lacked comparable resources.
Just because AVN goes after someone in the business with a certain degree of venom does not mean they have forgotten to reserve venom for the anti-porn crowd. Just as it has been appropriate for Ernest and I to go after Bill Margold even though he's no Bob Jensen, it's appropriate for AVN to strongly editorialize (via David Sullivan) against some industry folks who ought to know better.
Yeah, the Violet Blue v Violet Blue lawsuit was something I was thinking of posting about a while back, but ultimately I didn't. I generally like columnist Violet Blue's writing, but I didn't like the way she handled the situation with performer Violet Blue (even though columnist VB gives a pretty convincing chronology demonstrating she was using the name first) via a lawsuit. In VB's column about the lawsuit, she makes some really cringe-worthy comments about porn performers that are absolutely not cool for somebody who's supposed to be an ally of sex workers.
ReplyDeleteThe lawsuit reflected badly enough on her that its the reason that Wired (or was it Boing Boing?) dropped her as a columnist.
As far as performer Violet Blue/Noname Jane goes, she's said some really cringe-worthy stuff before. (Didn't she have some quote about wiping out all Muslims or something like that?) I'm really hoping her whole white supremacy thing was simply a hoax to yank Luke Ford's chain, but I'm not sure. Wasn't she hanging out with a white supremacist leader in Washington State for a while?
Based on that kind of stuff, I really don't blame columnist VB for not wanting to be associated with the other VB at all, though the lawsuit was really taking it overboard.
I should mention that I otherwise like VB's writing and politics, so I take the lawsuit and her column about it as a bad streak for an otherwise good writer on the subject.
ReplyDeleteI haven't followed the whole dustup between AVN and Violet Blue (nor Anthony's comments) on it.
ReplyDeleteI did read Violet Blue's initial column on the subject and had mixed feelings on it. On one hand, I really compliment her on challenging the really creepy way that the porn industry typically handles race, which is one of the more retrograde aspects of the porn industry.
On the other hand, it sounded it bit like she was saying that racial attraction and racial fetishism have no place in porn, which I simply don't agree with. A lot of people have a particular attraction to the physical features of one or another race, and I don't see anything wrong with that per se. (Obviously, the usual suspects would have a problem with that and will always attack porn for any physical type that is fetishized.) And if there's a segment of the audience that is particularly attracted to any particular subset of the adult population, I don't have a problem with there being porn that caters to that. Where it becomes a problem is when porn producers pair that fetish with the most hateful and retrograde stereotypes possible. I think its possible to separate the two.
In fact, the example I like to give is Japanese adult video (JAV), which actually has a huge American fanbase. Partly, that's due to the appeal of Japanese pop culture meeting porn fandom. But I also think that it appeals to a lot American men with an Asian girl fetish who don't necessarily like the creepy way that's played to in American porn.
But from reading VB's column, I'm not sure if she's saying even positive "race" porn shouldn't exist. Also, the alternative she gives is Pink & White's work. And while I think P&W is doing top-notch work within the genre that it falls into, it also has a distinct genderqueer/pansexual orientation that limits its appeal. And unless you expect the entire world to suddenly convert to pansexualism, you've got to come up with a realistic model of what kind of porn portrays race and gender more positively, and at the same time is going to appeal to the great unwashed.
Anyway, those are my thoughts going in to this, but I'll have to read the followup and see what the argument is about.
First to Sheldon:
ReplyDeleteSince doing a bit more research on the "Violet Blue Name Controversy" (and like I just appended to my main post, it has somewhat darkened my view of Violet the Sex Columnist), I can see how this might be more Violet shooting off her mouth with an old vendetta against AVN, which I supposes she represents as "the old guard" that represents everything she thinks is wrong with the industry. And it wouldn't surprise me if her blasts at those interracial porn titles were more ideologically based than actually seeing the videos featured.
I can't agree with you, though, Sheldon, that the AVN article was really as benign as you assume. I did manage to see the article, and while it didn't exactly take a direct stand for some of the more egregious titles out there, there certainly were some quotes from producers that tended to justify selling these titles for the quick buck, regardless of the racial insensitivity. One quote, from Cram Johnson of JM Productions, I'll repost here:
“When the races mix, especially if the purity of the sacred white woman is compromised, it gets a lot of attention — even if the white girl is as dirty and disease-riddled as humanly possible.”
If that is not pandering to the most racist social stereotypes, Sheldon, than what is??
Yeah, I do think that TheSword.com kinda blew it a little out of proportion, for their own self-serving reasons (probably to elevate their creds as gay porn rebels), and Violet certainly milked it for all its worth to promote her favored brand of alt.porn and to continue her personal crusade against AVN.
But..it still doesn't change the fact that racial stereotyping does indeed exist, and while Violet Blue's methods were a bit harsh and her motives may not have been particularly alturistic, on the fundamentals she was basically correct. She may have even in her blind rage ignored Shane Diesel's true gender...but that doesn't necessarily rebuke the fundamental claim about the acceptability of racism within some aspects of interracial porn.
As for David Sullivan: well, his motives may be genuine in defending his industry from attack...but he has his own issues, too. If you are going to smack down Violet Blue for mistaking Shane Diesel's gender, then why not also go after the ones who did it first....namely , The Sword.com??
And to justify the beatdown on Madison Yong, even if you do think that she's a bit of a hypocrite for condemning in public the same industry you depend on for your livelihood, is a bit excessive, to say the least.
To say that this is merely a foil to avoid being discredited by the likes of Dines and Jensen (a phony charge, in my view, since Gail and Bob the Guilttripper don't need any props to help them condemn porn to begin with), is to me a distraction from the main point of my series, which is to promote interracial porn that is not anchored with negative stereotypes. To her credit, Violet does quote several examples of genuine, sex-positive producers (including not a few Black male performers) who do defy the usual stereotyping.
That does not excuse by any means the crass and dirty and lowdown behavior that Violet the Sex Columnist did to No Name Jane, nor all the personal smack she laid down on professional porn starlets who don't meet her exacting standards. It simply means that on this issue and this issue alone, she was on the button...and that David Sullivan's response was not only sarcastic, but hostile, bitter, and darn close to a defense of racism and misogyny.
Don't be sorry for disagreeing with me, Sheldon; we are all adults here.
Anthony
Now...to IACB:
ReplyDeleteYeah, the former Violet Blue did have a past history of verbal diarrhea...I remember seeing the infamous interview where she allegedly cracked on "illegal immigrants" as needing to either learn English or get thrown out of the country"; and where she supposedly opined that Jesus was "killed by Jews". (Since the main source for that was Violet Blue the Sex Columnist, it should be taken with plenty of grains of salt, however.)
Strangely enough, though, she has actually grown beyond such juvenilism these days: her Twitter page lists plenty of liberal/progressives as followers, and she even opined that she agreed with Violet the Sex Columnist's points on racial stereotyping. So, I guess that that's progress indeed.
I'm not sure I agree that Violet the Sex Columnist is saying the "race porn" shouldn't exist, as much as she is saying that it could be expressed in far less toxic, far more sensual, and far less degrading means than is used today. I think that the main motivation isn't necessarily innate racism, but the cookie-cutter, copycat, stick-with-what-works system of production where producers get so used to the usual profit streams that they become lazy and complacent and unwilling to try out new ideas or appeal to new and different demographics. Nobody likes to be told that they have to change their ways, and when someone introduces a new model that threatens their power, they tend to lash out. I believe that this is such a case.
Given the recession that is kicking the collective asses of the porn industry, and the rise of alternative markets and demos, it may not be a bad idea for the folks at Silic.....errrrrrrr, the San Fernando Valley to open themselves up to new ideas. More sensual interracial porn just might be the kick start that they can use to break themselves free..if only they can free their minds first.
Anthony
Without addressing the main topic of this thread, which I might get to at some point, I can attest to this fact:
ReplyDeleteI have known the former Violet Blue the performer for years. She has a bizarre sense of humor and most of the stuff attributed to her was taken from an interview with the odious and unlamented Luke Ford, whose chain she was clearly yanking.
She has never been a white supremicist, an anti-semite or any other kind of extremist. She's a bit zany, but perfectly harmless and the treatment to which she has been subjected is deplorable.
Sorry for the thread-jack, but I'll keep it brief. I just have to respond when the character of someone I know and like is falsely impugned.
In due course, I'll get back to the issue at hand.
Ernest:
ReplyDeleteAhhh...so it was from an interview with Luke Ford. I kinda thought that.
I didn't mean to impunge the former Violet, I simply referenced the quote that appeared in Violet the Sex Columnist's original essay quoting those remarks. Knowing Luke Ford as the jackass he was, I can understand perfectly how he would get under her skin.
I thought it was kinda funny that Violet the Sex Columnist forgot to credit the original source of that quote with a link...she's usually quite liberal with crediting others.
Anyways, thanks for the update..it makes a whole lot of things a bit clearer.
Anthony
Of course racial stereotyping does exist in a portion of the adult market, and AVN is simply stating the obvious in that not only that it exists, but that it sells.
ReplyDeleteI don't see how quoting Cram Johnson makes AVN less
"innocent". On the contrary, it makes AVN valuable for shining the light on Johnson and, reading in between the lines, alerting those ignorant of his perspective to boycott his product.
Violet Blue the sex columnist is, I believe, far more well known that the Sword.com. I never even heard of the latter until this brouhaha broke out. That would explain why Sullivan went after Blue more than the Sword, I'd imagine.
LOL, I found out that you can't read sarcasm when I did that interview with Luke Ford. Its funny that anyone would even consider me racist, even with me making fucked up comments about other races (which was to pull Luke Fords chain btw). Most of the porn movies I've made were interracial and I have nothing against other races. We're all human right? As for blogger blue, I still have some mixed feelings about her considering she told me she was going to send me copies of all her books so I could read them and review them on my new website, and yet never did send them to me. If I had the money I would have fought her to the bitter end, and I'm pretty sure she knows that, which is why I haven't gotten those books from her yet lol. But alas, I've moved on, scraped the mold off my go-go boots and am back in the porno race. I'll be at the Exotic Erotic Ball this October 2009 again, signing and saying hi to all my friends and fans out in San Francisco. Maybe I'll even get to see Blogger Blue, and we can put on a Jello wrestling contest to benefit AIDS research or breast cancer.
ReplyDelete