Gaps in perception

Awesome blog! I look forward to reading more of it. I <3 your approach to sexuality in general, and specifically regarding safe sex education!

I think it’s easy to assume that whatever action is taking place on screen is what happens off screen. In porn, that is part of the fantasy really. Take BangBus, or MILF productions. We all want to believe that those girls are really a next door Mom, or a random girl on the side of the street. But that is not the case. I don’t think it is the goal of these films to depict the “person” behind the face on the screen. Perhaps that is a different genere.

Upon a time, there was no need to put “no animals were harmed in the making of this picture” notices at the end of movies. Audiences assumed that whatever mayhem was depicted on the screen was a product of movie-magic.

At its core, porn is not movie magic. Implicit in every porn movie is a notification “These performers are really having sex. Nothing is simulated”. In fact, some porn fans become outraged if they suspect that some aspect of the sex act has been faked.

But matter how well or poorly performers are treated by producers; no matter how wholesome or unsavory the narrative context of the sex act; there’s no getting away from the fact that porn is, at its core, the depiction of real people having real sex, and real sex – no matter how cautiously, cavelierly, or callously undertaken – has real consequences.

Even knowing those Bangbus scenes are faked for “fantasy” purposes, it still bothers me to watch them. I just feel better about my enjoyment of porn if the M/F roles are equal or the woman takes dominance. If my wife ever gets around to watching porn with me, it’s gotta be that or nothing at all… :)

Am I shallow because I don’t think about the performers in a porn flick as people beyond the characters they portray? Neither do I, though, consider mainstream actors or actresses apart from their on screen personas. I sort of pride myself on not allowing performers to be larger than life. They’re people serving my needs and wants, in many ways not terribly unlike the persons who bring my meals at restaurants. Do I think about my waitress at The Ground Round being exploited in working an often thankless job, taking the abuse of sometimes snotty, unappreciative, demanding guests, and hurting her feet with hours of walking around? Nope.

All of us, in whatever jobs we take on for monetary compensation are used to a degree. Granted, in the sex trade being used gets about as personal as it can be dished out if you’re not into the role you’re playing and enjoying it, but is it really that much different from working at any job and being compensated for less that you think you’re worth?

I’ve seen trailers for the BangBus sorts of videos. If I were to plunk down some change to buy one of their offerings it wouldn’t be because of the perceived exploitative nature of the predictable story line; it would be because they use wide angle lenses to make genitalia look larger than life, and they seem to show a lot of the juicy action up close and personal. They feature some awesome cocks to start with, and some really lovely ladies. I’d enjoy of the experience what I can appreciate, and ignore the rest.

“Am I shallow because I… enjoy of the experience what I can appreciate, and ignore the rest[?]”

That depends entirely on what you are ignoring, no?

Funny, I was just talking about BangBus yesterday, trying to explain the concept to my boyfriend. I’ve always been a bit concerned with how much the whole thing turned me on, even though I knew that it shouldn’t. I had no idea, until rreading your post today, that BangBus used hired performers and that it was, basically, scripted…Now, I have to say, I feel a hell of a lot better about enjoying it so much. Thanks for enlightening me…

“Am I shallow because I… enjoy of the experience what I can appreciate, and ignore the rest[?]”

Well, as an alternate perspective, I’ve taken a personal vow not to “enjoy” porn unless I’m sure that it’s humanely produced. In other words, that the performers aren’t being exploited. Yes, that means I consume only a small fraction of what’s out there. But it doesn’t make sense to me to pay a company to exploit people—no matter how much I may or may not enjoy it.