Wednesday, September 5, 2007

The Hateration Toward Jenna (or, How To Totally Trash a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale)

UPDATE: And now, you don't even have to be a porn star or even a sex worker to feel the hate of slut-shaming; simply being an attactive woman and wearing the wrong clothing in an airplane will do just fine. Ask Kyla Ebbert.


It is hardly surprising that porn performers, like most women who openly display a love of sex for its own sake not controlled by traditional conditions, are usually treated by the broader conventional public as less than worthy of full womanhood, if not full humanity. This most recent example proves this point perfectly.

Kim of Bastante Already recently posted on the rough treatment that some commentators at the D-Listed site gave modern day porn legend Jenna Jameson, who recently announced her retirement after almost 5 years of being practically the main spokesperson and flagbearer for the sex film biz. Jenna had recently gone through a nasty divorce with her first husband/producer Jay Grbina (sp??); and had basically reduced her presence in porn to mostly producing other models and performers in her "Club Jenna" stable; she even went as far as to remove her breast implants. The D-Listed article noted Jenna's stated vow to go into runway modeling as a future venture; but mostly made thinly-veiled crackbacks at her weight, all but calling her anorexic. As bad as the original post was, the comments were that much worse, most of them alluding not so subtly to her former profession in the usual highly negative ways. Some samples, as originally snipped by Kim:

"Jenna is a skinny skank. And she is too old to be launching a modeling career unless it's for the AARP magazine."

She's actually 42, BTW.
"Bitch your old, used, and abused."
"She is just old and used."

Funny, but don't porn starlets usualy get "old and used" once they reach, say, 25??

Some decided to go after the "She's got AIDS" card:
"Homegirl looks diseased. What's she modeling for, AZT?"

"I'm still not sure why 'AIDS' doesn't appear beneath every photo of her."

"She has taken too many cumtox injections, and has got the fuckin aids. "

Yeah, you heard right..."cumtox injections". Because, you know, porn starlets who happen to be skinnier than average surely must be passing HIV/AIDS to everyone. No other explanation needed here.

Then there were the sanctomonious takes on Jenna not deserving noteriety:

"bitch, no way in hell are u a model. did she suck a dick to get onto a runway? she's hideous! and its a shame, because she used to at least be a pretty slut. now she's just a slut."

"Here's the thing "jenna", people who drink cum for a living don't get to tell others what to think or say."

Notice her name placed within quotes....because porn performers are apparantly too dumb and too slutty and too "skanky" to use their real names, therefore, "Jenna" must be a pseudonym.

And of course, since she has no talent or brains apparantly, she can only fuck her way onto the runway:

"it doesn't exactly work that way, jenna. you don't go from flashing your pussy in porn to fashion icon. stuck to what you know -- cunt and dick and stds."

"Jenna, honey, Cum is not a substitute for food."

"Who does this cumbubbling idiot thinks she's fooling? "

"Tito, you left your wife and kids for that cum receptacle?"

"I like to use the term *used up fuckhole* as an insult on her but, geez - that is actually her profession. It's probably stated in her passport."

"Well, I guess she can model dried cum on her jutting breat (sic) bones. Jenna--you're a whore and nothing more."
You do get the picture now, do you??

But the prize goes to the prim and proper female poster who decided to add this bit of wisdom:

"I cannot even imagine letting some random dudes fuck me on camera...my skin just crawls at the thought. How can she stand it? How can ANYONE stand it, for that matter? How insecure and messed-up do you have to be to be a fucking PORN STAR? I mean, JESUS! When did having brains, class, and intelligence go out of style? When did it become all about how thin, famous and rich you are? Sometimes society makes me sick. I'm sorry, but I prefer to have self-esteem and self-respect over fame and an eating disorder. Can you imagine having your pussy so blown out that you need reconstructive surgery on it? Can you imagine having to wear adult diapers because your asshole is so worn out from constant anal penetration? EW! How does she live with herself?"
Now, let us put aside the juxtaposition of "fucking" with "JESUS!"; or the notion that only Jenna Jameson (rather than Jenna Bush or Paris Hilton or Nicole Ritchie) should be the sole representative of evol society corrupting women's morals....and I thought that only right-wing Republican senators from Louisiana were into adult diapers!! It's the whole "loose pussy"/torn anal cavity" thing that gets me....as if this woman has never heard the notion that most porn performers don't have vagioplasties and that anal sex does not necessarilylead to ripped bowels.

But of course, all this is simply the usual brand of slut-hating and sex-shaming that all "decent" men and women impose on women who like sex more than the usual standards would allow.

There was one commentator, however, who did manage a decent defense of Jenna:

"God, it annoys me how sexist people can be.

'Since when did a chick who gets paid to fuck become worthy of any kind of celebrity status?" 'Here's the thing 'jenna', people who drink cum for a living don't get to tell others what to think or say.'

What I find interesting here is that the people who say things like this are the same people who made her a porn icon by jacking off to her videos in the first place. You can't have it both ways - you can't jack off to her in private and bash her rights as a human being in public. Pick a fucking lane! Just because she worked in the sex industry does not mean that she's sub-human and does not have the same rights and liberties as anyone else in the world."
Now, that's a pretty damn good point she raised.....interesting that many of the same people who are so viseral in their distaste of porn actresses and generally "slutty" women are the very same ones who would most desire them. It's the old "I really HATE you because you fuck other people and you won't fuck me..but I'm so hot for you at the same time, and I just can't stand it!!" In a way, it's similar to homophobic men masking their inner desire to see a hard dick and actually want to suck it....but loathing their inner gayness by outwardly spreading such fear and loathing; the "ex-gay" ministries make their political living off such conflicts; as does the more rabid antipornfeminists and other such "Puritan radicals".

Just goes to show you how deep antisex attitudes run in this culture....and how much of a struggle we must face as sex-positives. Contrary to rumor, being an openly sexual individual AND insisting on your right to be treated as a full human being is still quite a radical notion. But radical we must be, for anything less results in tyranny and repression...and not even Jenna's economic success will help her avoid the Scarlet Letter branding of "SLUT!!!"

Jenna Jameson may need a salad or two....but she doesn't need or deserve such bullshit like this.



10 comments:

  1. Thank you for your observations. I despise sites such as TMZ and Dlisted that continually disrespect Jenna and other pornstars. My fashion sense is fully pornized right now (Jenna is my fashion idol #1), and I have never looked better. I receive many positive complements and reactions from the way I look. I am also inspired by Jenna's work ethic in my own academic career. Our society, unfortunately, is still strongly antisexual. However, by continually asserting ourselves, we can make prosexual culture more and more powerful in society! Jenna's current popularity is just the beginning!

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  2. Now, that's a pretty damn good point she raised.....interesting that many of the same people who are so viseral in their distaste of porn actresses and generally "slutty" women are the very same ones who would most desire them.

    EXACTLY. That has always pissed me off on a very deep level. And too it just points to their definition of "desire" being completely compartmentalized and, ultimately, sex-negative.

    Reminds me of the rumor that when the Southern Baptist convention is in town, Atlanta strip clubs do the best business of the whole year.

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  4. "She's actually 42, BTW."

    33, actually.

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  5. And the thing that really pisses me off is... well... even if she did/does have HIV/AIDS, which is total BS to be speculating on at this point, why would that suddenly make her human trash?

    People don't turn into mutated antihumans when they seroconvert. Gah.

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  6. Hi Friends,

    This is my first time here, but I know some of the other contributors, who also post on nina.com. Yes, I am the very lucky guy who is married to Nina.

    And I'm also a longtime friend of Jenna's, who I've shot for video from since she first got into the business. I've always liked her, admired her for her obvious intelligence and ambition, and found her a pleasure to work with.

    All of which makes it hard for me to ignore the mud thrown at her by vicious strangers who can't stand it that she refuses to be defined by their prejudices against what she does for a living.

    Just to toss in a clarifying personal anecdote, I was out shopping last weekend, pulled into the valet section of the local mall behind a huge, new Rolls. I instantly recognized the slender (and that is the correct word, not some kind of euphemism) young woman who get out. It was Jenna.

    She's always been petite (anyone who wears size 5 shoes certainly qualifies), but she looked both healthy and happy. We chatted for a few minutes and she was in fine spirits, enjoying her newly-single life and seeming, as she generally does, perfectly at ease in her own skin. She couldn't have been warmer or friendlier, and though almost completely without makeup, could easily have passed for ten years younger. Most people probably wouldn't recognize her from the deliberately unflattering pix of her that invariably turn up in the shabbier neighborhoods of the Internet.

    Bear in mind that paparazzi use their cameras as weapons. They choose ever angle and take advantage of every lighting deficit to depict celebs as unattractively as possible.

    Porn, even of the harshest kind, is at least driven by somebody's conception of pleasure. Gossip is and always has been powered by hate and envy. The only satisfaction it offers is the manipulated schadenfruede brought on by seeing somebody richer or more famous than the miserable bottom-feeders who thrive on it seemingly reduced to their own level.

    There are many things in porn I don't do and won't do and don't approve of others doing, but there is nothing in porn as mean-spirited as the daily fare offered by sites like D-Listed. The people who ventilate their sexual frustrations there are far more deserving of that list's designation than anyone slammed on such sites.

    But Jenna, like all porn performers, is a particularly appealing target for such hate-wallowers because she's successful, independent, openly sexual and an attractive woman. That's four reasons for a certain kind of absexual voyeur to despise her right there.

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  7. IACB...damn, but how did I get that far off??

    Ernest....welcome in, my friend. I figured that something like this would finally get you to break the ice and comment here. And such succint comments on Jenna and her detractors, too.

    I suppose that sites like D-Listed exist in the same way that people like Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage exist in the political talk show genre; to comfort and reinforce traditional prejudices against the usual threats (whether poor Blacks, gays, liberals/leftists, or overtly sexual women) to their little insulated coccoon of existence. In their minds, women like Jenna are even more cosmic threats merely because they happen to be so outspoken about their enjoyment of sex beyond the accepted boundaries of propriety....and they are also quite successful and not economically and socially punished and derided as they supposedly should be by "proper society". Of course, there is also the jealousy angle of those who aren't as successful in their lives seeing such "sluts" who do get more noteriety and rewards without "suffering" the penalties that "real" women apparantly should.

    To me, it's just another byproduct of our basically screwed up, FUBAR attitudes about sex, where deep arousal and desire can coexist right along with such deep loathing and hatred...as in the typical conflict between what has been inbred into his brain, and what (s)he is actually feeling with his/her body when reacting to such women.

    Well said and said well, Ernest...try not to be a stranger here. And it wouldn't suck much for Nina to pass a shoutout here, either.

    :-)

    Anthony

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  8. "There are many things in porn I don't do and won't do and don't approve of others doing, but there is nothing in porn as mean-spirited as the daily fare offered by sites like D-Listed."

    RIGHT. ON. I don't mind sites like Go Fug Yourself which generally keep their critiques to fashion choices, but the whole "OMG this person is skinny" "OMG this person was drunk at 4am one day" "OMG this person had no panties on" "OMGm she shaved her head" obsessive hate-on for celebrities... annoys me.

    It just seems like a waste of energy and a contributing factor to the celebrities being/becoming fucked up. It's sad.

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  9. What I find interesting here is that the people who say things like this are the same people who made her a porn icon by jacking off to her videos in the first place.

    Y'know, I think the radfems would've told us that - that men hate the women who get them off, etc.

    I thought that only right-wing Republican senators from Louisiana were into adult diapers!!

    There's a persistent rumour that Gordon Brown (our new PM) shares that interest. ;)

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  10. ernest;

    good to see you! and I think Jenna looks great too.

    (And as a 5'2", 5 1/2 size shoe person, yeah, some women are just small, deal with it, you know?)

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