As a young girl, I’ve always been a
bit curious about porn, and while it never prompted any deep desire in me to
sneak and watch anything particularly hardcore; I did develop an affinity for the
erotica shown on Cinemax after 11pm as well as, finding and then reading Jackie
Collins's titillating plots, Erica Jong's Fear of Flying, and the
illustrated wonderment of The Joy of Sex. I found adult literature and
cable erotica far more compelling.
I didn't watch hardcore porn until I
was in college, with my best friend. We watched out of sheer boredom and
because we wanted to know what it’d be like (as two young women) to blatantly walk into an adult video store, rent a porn
DVD, and watch the puzzled look on the cashier's face. We walked down to the
college town's local video store and picked something from the late
seventies/early eighties, much to the store cashier's amusement, as expected.
The flick we chose and brought back
to the dorms featured an interracial raunch-fest; Basic man-on-woman boning, nothing
too shocking or sexy, and void of anything particularly depraved and
disgusting. It was the usual cheesy porn fare, in fact. Neither of us found the
antics sexy or arousing. We laughed raucously and critiqued the clownery the
scenarios and uncompromising positions. Other than an art house flick there and
here- (like the movie Short
Bus, Romance, and 9 Songs; which featured un-simulated sex)- I haven’t
felt any pressing interest or need to rent an actual DVD.
Over the years... after having
watched and read a great deal of behind-the-scenes documentary style films and
books, I came to realize that most mainstream porn that’s distributed,
directed, and produced by men, isn’t erotic or very female-audience friendly. It
features distorted visions of how women should look and the ridiculous sexual
positions we should be bent and twisted in. I've never been one of the
detractors screaming for the industry to be wiped from the face of the earth.
That being said, a lot has changed with the porn industry. The ever increasing
advances in technology, the internet, video cameras, webcams, and the like have
made porn more accessible and more achievable for aspiring porn mongers. Any
amateur can film their sexual exploits and upload them onto Xtube or Pornotube
with relative ease. In turn, the industry has become a virtual free for all.
College fraternity houses host parties where group sex and orgies abound, while
their peers (men and women spectators) stand off to the side,
cheering the guerrilla fuck-fests... clutching beers, fists pumping in the air.
These "gonzo" films have raised-- (or lowered, depending on how you look at it) the stakes... and the stakes have become even more
disturbing in their delivery. The acts women subject themselves to is enough to
make the most hardened, difficult to offend person cringe. And it takes a lot
to make me want to gag (no pun).
I recall watching a compelling
documentary some time ago called, Sex: The
Annabel Chong Story, which documents- Grace Quek's (Porn name, Annabel
Chong) - rise, exploitation, and eventual fall from the porn industry. Annabel
allegedly pioneered the whole "gang bang" trend in the industry.
Nothing was too graphic or hardcore for her. She performed a diverse array of
hardcore sex acts, including "triple penetration." Annabel's motives
for starring in The World's Biggest Gangbang were troubling as the
documentary delved into her past. Needless to say, in some respects the current wave of
pornography breeds misogyny and perpetuates
racial stereotypes about women, particularly the gonzo films featuring Black, Asian, and Latino women and mostly White mal antagonists who take trips to urban
areas or under developed countries, in search of "Black ghetto
sluts" or African
prostitutes willing to oil up, shake, and then spread their cheeks in a seedy
looking hotel room, on film. The perpetuation of sexual stereotypes is what frustrates
me the most. I believe in people having the right to engage in
whatever consensual sexual act they desire, but I would love to see more
sex positive images in porn, especially those depicting Black women, which is
why I’ve been so intrigued by the history of Black pin-up/adult models and our image in the adult industry and overall media. And why I love
and appreciate the photography work of Carnalas
Vidal and what Scottie Lowe of Afroerotik
is doing and whose company exists to “provide
people of African descent a place to escape the narrow-mined, stereotypical,
limiting and oft-times degrading beliefs that abound about our sexuality.
No, not all Black men are driven by lust by white flesh or to create babies and
walk away. No, not all Black women are promiscuous welfare queens or
willing to do any sexual favor for money. “
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| www.tinynibbles.com |
While I don’t
expect porn to be riddled with deep, complex plots and soft, romantic interludes; I wouldn't mind seeing a shift in the very limited images featuring women
(and even men) of color, rather than the racist portrayals that continue to
pervade the industry. To my knowledge, I don’t know that there are any Black porn
producers and distributors… or any Black female
porn producers, directors, or distributors who aren’t perpetuating these
stereotypes.
This
criticism of
the porn industry isn’t about being a prude or even about taking an anti-porn stance. I'm merely challenging the
habitually
crude images portraying women (and men) of color. It makes me wonder why
people
continue to frame my folk within this type of based sexual, "ghetto
gagger"context. And while I'm sure Black women in the industry don't
think folks should be ringing the alarm, it doesn't negate the
fact that the racist elements presented in porn definitely sexualize
Black women in a negative way and sometimes those ideas spill outside
the confines of porn. Porn aficionados, please weigh-in...
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