In my previous post 'porn' I discussed the influence of porn on those who viewed it. It is also relevant though to look at its effects on performers. Some BDSM porn can be somewhat extreme. However there are those who are into extreme BDSM acts so perhaps the performers in such videos genuinely enjoy them. Some sites always include a brief snip at the end of the performers saying how much they have enjoyed themselves and how they can't wait to be invited back.
I think one would be naive though to assume all was as they wish it to seem. It is being done for money to make money. If the money is enough then no doubt there will be those who will engage in extreme acts. In some cases it may be that addiction or serious debt forms another impetus.
There is the particularly well documented case of Insex. After a few years of great financial success, it was eventually forced to shut down after being pursued by US federal prosecutors. It has been alleged that safe words were sometimes ignored and that if they were used the performer was not invited back. They paid well so to lose work with them was an issue for some of the performers. I wonder though what the effect might have been on them. The issues of consent, self exploitation, control, coercion, desperation and lots more is explored in a documentary about Insex called Graphic Sexual Horror. There is a very interesting article about it here with a download link.
If there is the possibility of abuse having occurred in a porn shoot then is one colluding in that abuse by watching the porn?
"But why?"
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This to me has always been the biggest issue with porn. Not the watcher, who for whatever reason chooses to watch it, but the performers / models - how to guarantee they are not being exploited - is it different kind of prostitution or a genuine right for women (and men) to express their sexuality for the pleasure of others?
If sex for pay is prostitution then it's definitely prostitution, and always has been. The thing is, it's so important for viewers to remember that these people are paid actors, and considering how extreme porn is these days, they are paid actors/stuntpersons. That so many men these days expect non-actress/non-stunt women to perform these acts is really becoming a problem. It's freaky being single these days when men think there's no such thing as a heterosexual woman and that all women squirt and want to be pounded and strangled during sex, and if you don't, they think you're boring in bed.
Thanks DelFonte. I guess there is no way one can guarantee that performers are not being exploited. There will be those who enjoy expressing their sexuality for the pleasure of others but they too in the main are doing it for the money.
A lot of people perform unpleasant and arduous jobs for money. When I wonder does that become exploitation? Though the nature of the "unpleasantness" in porn movies is of course very different.
The problem as I see it is in defining exploitation and then policing it.
P xx
Thanks t1cklish, I do like your description of actors in bdsm movies as stuntpersons. That seems spot on. I suppose though that stunt actors put themselves in danger and subject themselves to pain in many kind of movies not just porn. It is an interesting comparison.
You raise again the point I addressed in the previous post as to whether porn can give viewers unrealistic expectations of their partners - and also perhaps of themselves. You clearly think that this is a serious problem.
Thanks again
P xx
PS I have also just copied your interesting comment t1cklish to the previous post on porn as I think it will be of interest to any readers who are following that topic.
If people at play parties view individuals playing in what they assume is a consensual interaction between two adults but are not necessarily certain...are they aiding in what could be public abuse? Domestic violence?
I think we could go all day on questions like these. The truth is that we do not know.
Models/performers typically engage in a legal agreements of consent. These agreements also exist between the host sites. Now of course there are those that don't.
As far as porn itself being the problem I'm not so certain of that. It's all to easy to blame porn instead of saying that immaturity and lack of awareness that porn is entertainment.
Thank you G.E. for your interesting comment. It is very thought provoking.
I agree that much of the problem is in the lack of maturity and awareness of some viewers of porn.
On your own blog you write,
"Porn doesn't teach us people skills, and while we all love porn we learn quite soon that our interactions don't match and our expectations of one another aren't met."
I think this highlights one of the issues I was raising in an earlier post that expectations that may be raised by porn can be very different from real life and that this mismatch can lead to problems.
Thank you again for your comment.
Readers may enjoy reading more of D.E.'s thoughts and reflections on her blog here.
- P xx
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