livius drusus

He he.... Well I'm glad somebody singled it out for attention. If you hadn't, I would have PMd Clutch and forced him do it. I'll consider it my good deed for the day, babe.

99Percent

I imagine that it would be highly professional to require porn actors to be completely sober before any shooting starts, much like requiring tattoo customers to not be drunk before undergoing something that can mark you for life. I wouldn't be surprised if it is a standard clause to specify this in contracts.
Which I find highly hypocritical because what is a prostitute doing but acting for her customer? The only difference between acting in front of the screen and prostitution is that there is an exchange of sexual pleasure for money. So in short what is supposedly immoral is people having sex with another person in exchange for money. Porn actors are having sex but all the participants are being paid to act and sexual pleasure is not an issue as they are supposedly acting only.This is because when prostitution is illegal, prostitutes need also "protection" outside of the law which costs money. So a prostitute who doesn't fill her "quota" is a liability and "unprofitable" in effect de facto sex slavery. All this would be eliminated if prostitution was made

On another point entirely, I wonder how much file sharing is affecting the porn industry. I can't imagine porn being profitable when the minute it is released it is all over the internet and the better it is in quality the faster it is distributed.

JerryM

For christ-on-a-stick:

I respect and admire your honesty and forthrightness. And I'm quite glad that you've managed to find a niche in the business where you have control over your work. After watching the "Dateline" piece, it's clear to me that the most "immoral" thing about the adult entertainment industry is the way it uses and exploits the performers. Billions of dollars are made for the producers and distributors and only a tiny fraction goes to the people in front of the camera. As I asked earlier, I wonder if there is any way to improve the leverage of the talent within the industry. Maybe I'm naive, but I think any performing artist at some level really wants to do quality work. And if the performers themselves had more clout, I think we would see a general rise in the quality of the product--better production values, safer and healthier practices, and a higher level of satisfaction (no pun intended!) in the industry. Terrible conditions in sweatshops and factories only began to improve after the workers organized. Is this possible in this business?

Gurdur

christ-on-a-stick,
I have to ask:
Did you intend that pun ?
______

A lot of people, especially women, get really burnt by the porn industry --- but also men.

Interestingly, one very successful porn actress I once heard made the point that the porn industry is much less sexist than the normal Hollywood industry ---- but that still doesn't stop people getting burnt badly by both porn and Hollywood industries.
The same actress also complained that HIV tests for male porn actors were not often enough, and of course it's the males who are the greatest risk of being HIV-carriers.

BTW, FYI, prostition is legalized to a degree and controlled in much of Western Europe.

christ-on-a-stick

99Percent,
Indeed. To the best of my knowledge it is fairly common/standard in contracts/model releases. The difference seems to be that the more professional studios actually *ENFORCE* it, whereas with the smaller or less professional (not that these are always synonymous) studios, it's really just lip service and CYA on their part.

And to continue my previous response to Infinity Lover's question....

In my interactions with other performers/talent/actresses or whatever you want to call them, I have met some very well-adjusted, down-to-earth (in my opinion) women and some very screwed-up, disturbed, emotionally damaged (in my opinion) women.

With regard to the former, I can only base my observations on my interactions/conversations with them and my perceptions of their behavior. Who knows, some of them may be extremely emotionally/mentally screwed up and just be extremely good actresses.

With regard to the latter, it has become apparent to me over the years that for whatever reason ( ) I am one of those people that other people quite often just spill their guts out to and tell their whole life stories within a short time of meeting. I think it is because IRL I tend to be A) a very good listener and B) nonjudgemental. Anyway, many of the girls that I perceived as being somewhat "spun out" emotionally and not in a good place in their lives to be engaged in this type of work would go on, during the course of a shoot, to reveal some pretty personal information, generally involving sexual/physical and/or severe emotional abuse.

These conversations always made me sad and I tried to be supportive without overstepping the boundaries of what would be appropriate for me to say under the circumstances. I have oftentimes suggested therapy in a roundabout way (mentioning how useful it has been for me, that it can really benefit people who have had difficulties in their childhoods, etc., offering my # if they ever wanted to talk more about it off-set).

Wow I am certainly getting my typing practice in today!

JerryM and Gurdur I shall reply shortly!

christ-on-a-stick

Jesus H. Christ on a Stick.... I just wrote this long-ass reply to JerryM and Gurdur, popped to another window and *POOF* - gone! Argh... usually it stays there.... yes I am computer-retarded.

To repeat as best as I brain can recollect...

JerryM,
Firstly, I do believe that there are many performers out there who DO care about participating in a quality product - I am one of them. HOWEVER, the main reason that I fear organization of any kind has a major uphill battle is the fact that today there is a seemingly endless supply of 18-19 year old girls arriving in buses from the Midwest, etc., every day, who are eager to "break into" the business and are more than willing to work *without* safer practices and better treatment in exchange for immediate, big money (to them).

Essentially the agents do and will tell these girls without batting an eyelash "hey baby, you have real star quality, you could be the next Jenna Jameson" - and they will swallow it hook line and sinker. Some of the bigger agencies (World comes to mind, that is the one that they featured mainly on the PrimeTime show) blatantly lie about what types of work are available and use a lot of pressure and coercion tactics on very young and often immature girls.

So for that reason mainly I have a hard time seeing how the performers that do not fall into that category can gain leverage... although I am hopeful that strides can be made.

I would like to see greater regulation in the sense of it being treated like any legitimate industry, because that gives the workers more rights and avenues to protest unethical treatment. Unfortunately, despite the legality of the industry I don't think many people (outside it) really care that the standards are subpar as far as the workers' legal rights and treatment are concerned.

Hey Gurdur -

D'oh, the pun was actually quite unintentional! Oops...

I agree that it is not only many women but men who get mistreated and "used up" by the industry especially those who are enticed into it a young and vulnerable age. It is a shame when that happens to anyone, male or female, and I wish I had a better idea of what could be done to "clean up" the industry.

Although in a *sense* it is true that the porn industry is "less sexist" than the Hollywood scene - females are in higher demand and paid MUCH more - in the end they are ultimately discarded (much as in Hollywood) for the new and young.

I am not too familiar with the HIV testing rules for males since I haven't done boy-girl in years, but I thought it was the same standard (every 30 days) for the most part. Perhaps it is different in other places?

Odemus

Of course people are much more than what they do for a living. What on earth has that got to do with anything? My only point was that selling your body sexually is prostitution any way you slice it. It doesn't matter who is paying you, whether or not you have a pimp, or any other irrelavent scenario. If you have sex for money you are a prostitute, period, end of story. There's no reason to church it up.

Hey, whatever you need to tell yourself.

christ-on-a-stick

Hi there Odemus,
Well, if that's how you see it then that's how you see it. Although I'm not really sure what you mean by "churching it up", since it doesn't sound like you are interested in any type of discussion I suppose it doesn't really matter.
Thanks for being so...um... direct?

Gurdur

---> christ-on-a-stick (and others)

You might like to read the novel Not The End Of The World by by Christopher Brookmyre.

It's a gripping suspense story, very well-written, that deals with apocalyptic Christian fundyism in the USA (the story is set at the end of 1999), and the heroine is a porn actress (sexually abused as a child, she finds porno acting liberating); both she and the hero are consciously atheist, oh, and bugger all that, it's just a great read.

Keep an eye out for other novels by Christopher Brookmyre (a Scot) too --- he deals often with religious fundamentalism and moral issues, and mostly from an atheist viewpoint, and more importantly, his writing always has a high quality. And it's fun.

christ-on-a-stick

Thanks Gurdur, I will definitely check that out posthaste!!!