I’ve got two new pieces of writing published today that you might find of interest. One is the second installment of my monthly column at Hot Movies for Her, titled Power to the Pornographers: A Naked Revolution?. It’s about the ethics of porn and profit, and includes insight from Furry Girl, the Sharing is Sexy collective, and Madison Young. Here’s a little bit of it
The idea of pornographers with ethics and strong political convictions seems ridiculous to many people. After all, isn’t porn just about overly-tanned hedonism, driven by the desire to make a mint while surrounded by swarms of hot chicks who wouldn’t otherwise give you (assuming the portly, fiftyish male “you”) the time of day? Not so fast, assumption-maker.
“I think a lot of folks are surprised that what I produce even exists,” says FurryGirl, “especially lefty/liberal sorts of people who have a condescending attitude towards the sex industry and people who work within it.” Furry Girl, so named for her commitment to her body hair, has been in the adult industry for five years. She quickly became a photographer and webmistress after she started modeling – and did the math.
[snip]
Amateur and independent porn began getting buzz with the advent of the home video camera and the newly glorious ability it bestowed on the average electronics geek to film his or her pasty white ass bobbing up and down in a poorly lit guest bedroom in New Jersey (not to stereotype or anything). But it really took off in the early 2000s as the Internet began to emerge as the go-to place for sex businesses, especially homemade ones. More specifically, young, technologically inclined idealists began to turn to the Internet to create their visions of sex-positive culture online.
Click here to read the whole piece
*UPDATE* lotu5, of Sharing is Sexy, has blogged the lengthy interview we did as I was writing the column. Read it here.
I’ve also got a 2007 wrap-up piece up at Eden Fantasys, entitled Ten Hot Sexuality (And Gender) Issues of 2007. I interviewed a lot of really fascinating people for this piece, and of course a lot of what was said in the interviews didn’t make it into the final piece. Next week I’m hopefully going to publish the extended mix interviews of a few people I talked to, but it’s up to the interviewees.
Here are the ten topics:
Pole Dancing: For Fun, Exercise and Empowerment
Porn Goes Public: The Rise of Porn Film Festivals
Print vs. Online Erotica
Teen Sexuality: A Laughing Matter?
Social Media and Sex
Sex-Positive: Revolution or Meaningless Label?
Transgender Politics and the Law
Sex Worker Activism: Speaking Up for Themselves
Alt Porn: Transgressive or Mainstream?
Sex Toys Go Green: Questioning the Materials Used to Make Sex Toys
Click here to read the whole piece
Tomorrow morning I’m off to Vegas for the Adult Entertainment Expo, and I’m planning on posting daily accounts of the madness here. I’ll definitely be Twittering and uploading photos to my Flickr. And if I’m not a total fuck up I’ll have video too – though some of that might wait til later for editing and posting. Suffice to say, there will be media made, and you will vicariously experience the madness of Vegas.
