By Anne-Sophie Adelys

by Anne-Sophie Adelys © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 3 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz My name is Anne-Sophie Adelys. I’m French and have been living in New Zealand since 2001. I’m an artist. A painter. Each week I check “The Big idea” website for any open call for artists.

On Saturday the 29th of June 2013, I answered an artist call titled: “Artist for a fringe campaign on Porn” posted by the organisation: The Porn Project.

This diary documents the process of my work around this project. I’m not a writer and English is not even my first language. Far from a paper, this diary only serves one purpose: documenting my process while working on ‘The Porn Project’.

Note: I have asked my friend Becky to proof-read the diary to make sure my ‘FrenchGlish’ is not too distracting for English readers. But her response was “your FrenchGlish is damn cute”. So I assume she has left it as is…

Artists for a fringe campaign on porn

28 June 2013 Organisation/person name: The Porn Project Work type: Casual Work classification: OTHER Job description:

The Porn Project A Fringe Art Campaign Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland, Aotearoa/New Zealand August, 2013

In 2012, Pornography in the Public Eye was launched by people at the University of Auckland to explore issues in relation to pornography through research, art and community-based action. This includes A Different View – an exhibition featuring 20 New Zealand artists that will be on display at the Gus Fisher gallery for ten weeks from August 23rd, 2013.

The Porn Project is a fringe art campaign also affiliated with, but autonomous from,Pornography in the Public Eye. We want to get people talking about porn, and we want to do this in ways that are creative, grassroots and participatory.

And: we’re walking a line that is collectively neither ‘pro’ nor ‘anti’ porn. In- stead we’re celebrating diverse desires, bodies, sex and erotica, while at the same time refusing misogyny and racism – whether the repetition of narrow ideas about ‘normal’ sexuality, or explicit gender- and race-based violence.

So: we’re calling for artists and others to create pieces and actions in response to porn that illuminate, question and complicate any ‘common sense’ ideas around sexuality, draw attention to gender and race dynamics and/or offer openings for a more radical porn culture. We’re into having a wide range of forms – paint, photography, video, performance, installation, graphic, film screening, poetry, academic, anything. We’re also seeking public space in the CBD to do all this during August. We don’t have much of a budget, but will do whatever we can to offer a koha for this space and to support artists’ costs if needed.

If you would like to contribute your art, space, ideas, questions, perversions or dreams to The Porn Project contact Rachel at [email protected]. In doing so you will be joining with a diverse collective of artists/activists/academics who like sex (a lot) and don’t like misogyny and racism (a lot).

© Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 6 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz I haven’t participated in a group art project this year yet and I always try to do one or two collective art projects/exhibitions each year. I find it useful in my art practice as it allows me to expand my artistic horizon on topics, execution and collaboration that I would not approach on my own.

I thought this could be interesting. I emailed the organiser to find out a bit more about the project.

I consider myself a liberal, open minded, progressive and non-judgmental woman when it comes to sexual practices and orientations. “Whatever makes you trip is your business and I won’t judge. Enjoy!”

I’m an atheist and I don’t have religious views on pornography, or any political or social opinion on the matter either.

I like sex just like anybody else. I’m not afraid to talk about it, although I’d rather use the proper words: penis, testicles and vagina rather than pussy, cock and balls.

I’m a heterosexual married woman and I have probably not experienced much more than ‘regular’ sex. I’m not closed to the idea of porn. I have watched some porn (what would be considered ‘main stream porn’) and I was not really disgusted by it… It worked on me! It serves a purpose I guess. So working on The Porn Project was fairly attractive and could be a bit of fun.

29/06/2013 - 10.46pm Having a look on internet. What really is porn online now days?

29/06/2013 – 11.25pm Right…. That was a bit more graphic than I expected! I realise I’m probably not as educated and far more naïve than I thought. I also don’t understand most of the vocabulary. I’m quite surprised to see the gender, orientation and race separation. It seems that the categories are not just based on what makes the viewer tick.

© Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 8 29/06/2013 – 11.35pm Texting my best friend Becky. Passed the shock of the announcement, the basic questions and answers and making sure I would not ask her to pose for me for this project (as she has before), and after a few jokes and giggles we start exchanging on all the opportunities and different approaches. I start playing with the idea and realised that I would be more interested to have an educated approach rather than one that shocks, considering that I certainly require education on this topic, and I’m most likely not alone in this situation.

Also, I was very intrigued by the porn language. Maybe I could work on words, vocabulary? I would be keen to dedramatise the pornographic vocabulary, after all it’s just words. And some of those words seem quite funny.

I also find it interesting to be a woman and to work on this. From what I read online, quite a few feminist movements criticize porn as a way to objectify women and their sexuality. I feel like in less than one hour I have opened a can of worms I actually never really knew existed.

Where do I stand on this matter?

30/06/2013 – 00.20am Still texting Becky.

Becky: Just be careful out there! You can’t un-see some shit. Me: What could happen! People fucking madly! I think I can handle that! Becky: From snippets of conversation I’ve heard over the years...apparently fucking madly is the G rated version Me: Feel totes like a virgin now! I think I know what I will find: woman on woman. Man on woman. Men on woman. Man on man. Men on man. Groups. Sex toys. Can’t really be that horrid! It’s just sex! And I’m not that prude! Becky: Famous last words. What about animals, children and appliances? Me: Right! Didn’t think about that! Becky: Just want you to be careful. It’ll probs be fine, but googling things like porn could lead to far from sanity

Visuals, imagery and pictures are probably an issue I need to address NOW in term of research (I need to stay sane) and in terms of art work execution. Do I really want to involve imagery in that work? I’m a painter, but after all, porn online is graphic enough. And I need to bring my own vision on this, rather than reproducing porn images which anyone can google.

I’m still very intrigued by the language.

30/06/2013 – 1.54am I have just been extending my English vocabulary in so many ways. I gave up on the actual porn websites and started researching slang and pornographic online dictionaries, which was all very enlightening. 9 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz Now reading about John Reynolds’s art. He used a linguistic approach in his artwork “Cloud” 30/06/2013 – 2.15am Went to bed at 2am. Got out of bed at 2.15am. Turned on my laptop again just to delete my browser history. Can my internet provider see my internet search history? Do I really care? Actually I don’t. It’s just porn. Back to bed.

30/06/2013 – 10.30am Received an email from Rachel, the organiser of The Porn Project. She gives me more info on the project, the exhibition space, the other artists involved and she is actually interested in my proposal.

I’m now reading about how the project started in 2011 and an article on Nicola Gavey who is an Associate Professor of Psychology at The University of Auckland and who is involved in the project.

http://www.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/about/perspectives/opinion/template/ subsite_news_item.jsp?cid=454677

Pornography in the public eye 17 November 2011

Associate Professor Nicola Gavey Pornography occupies an awkward position when it ends up on the public stage. We saw this last June when it was revealed that a high profile MP had used his ministerial credit card for “blue movies”. The public rev- elation of this private habit seemed to show a complex intersection of old and new sensibilities about pornography, a twilight zone between sleaze and hip, disgust and embrace, and the private and public spaces of pornography “consumption”.

On the one hand, the Minister of Porn’s shame and embarrassment were pa- raded in the media. On the other, when the leaders of his party deftly deflected questions seeking their views on the pornographic particulars of the case, there seemed to be agreement that any judgement of such private matters would be inappropriate. End of story. In this way, both politi- cians and media mirrored the growing normalisation and liberal tolerance of pornography.

Some scholars see this shift is a good thing, associated with sexual plu- ralism, and more openness in general towards sexuality. However, it could be argued that the cloak of liberal tolerance closes down rather than opens up opportunities for talking about both sexuality and pornography in nuanced and critical ways. Over the past couple of years, I have been prompted – in relation to presentations by students in my stage 3 “Gender and psychology” course, among other things – to find out more about the nature of contemporary pornography, practices of consumption, and views about it within the research community.

After years of researching the cultural norms underpinning rape, and with an ongoing interest in sexual violence prevention, it has become clear to me that we collectively need to think a lot more carefully about the issue of pornography. We need to understand its place in contemporary society and question what is at stake in turning a blind eye to it. The point is not to deliver moral judgement on individuals, like the MP in © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 10 question. Given how normative pornography use appears to be, this would be nonsensical. But this does not mean we should treat the genre itself as a taboo topic for critical debate. In theory, pornography is a broad and diverse category. There are queer and feminist subgenres that seem to offer transgressive, expansive, and empowering possibilities for “doing” gender and sexuality differently. But the bread and butter of everyday pornography arguably tests the im- agination in less progressive ways. What do we think about material that blurs the boundaries between sex and violence in tired old gender normative ways? Is it ok if the theme of popular heterosexual pornography is repetitively patterned, as research suggests it is, with men dominant and in control, and women submissive and quite often treated badly? What do we think, for instance, when trends in mainstream heterosexual pornography render routine scenes like a woman being orally penetrated so deeply and forcefully that she gags? Or being orally penetrated by the same (un- washed) penis that has just anally penetrated her or another woman? What do we understand is the relationship between the fantasies played out in these kinds of representations and the possibilities for understanding ourselves and other people? And what might be the relationship between the norms and values expressed in popular pornographic media and those lived out in daily life?

In a new Marsden funded project, Linda Tyler (Centre for New Zealand Art Research and Discovery), Ginny Braun, Octavia Calder-Dawe (both from Psychology), and I hope to create dialogue on these kinds of ethical, psychosocial and political questions. As well as a theoretical dimension, we are looking forward to two action research projects designed to find new spaces and wider vocabularies for critical public engagement. Octavia will embark on doctoral research working with groups of young men and women, to explore the ethical dilemmas posed by exploitative and aggressive forms of pornography. And in a wider collaboration with artists and activists Linda, Ginny, and I will organise an exhibition of artworks that call into question the prejudicial gaze of mainstream pornography. Supported by an interactive website and public symposium, we hope it will invite more people to question what might be at stake.

Nicola Gavey is an Associate Professor of Psychology at The University of Auckland. This first appeared in UniNews on 17 November 2011.

Also found an abstract of a conference:

FEMINIST FUTURES - Transforming the 21st Century WSA(NZ) CONFERENCE 2013 26th- 28th April Victoria University of Wellington

Pornography In The Public Eye: A Panel Presentation And Discussion

Nicola Gavey, School of Psychology, University of Auckland Virginia Braun, School of Psychology, University of Auckland Linda Tyler, Centre for Art Research, University of Auckland Octavia Calder-Dawe, School of Psychology, University of Auckland,(not presenting) Amelia Hitchcock, University of Auckland Rachel Liebert, City University of New York and University of Auckland (not presenting) Daniela Petrosino, University of Otago Gender Studies graduate, and Uni- versity of Auckland Paulette Benton-Greig, University of Auckland

60 minute panel Abstract 11 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz In this panel we will present components of our current Marsden-funded research that seeks to explore the possibilities for promoting a revi- talized critical engagement with pornography and its place in contemporary culture. We argue that this is important because at the same time as pornography use is increasingly normalized, there is evidence that mainstream pornographic fare remains marked by sexism and racism, and that acts that could be regarded as misogynist are unremarkable to many consumers. Yet there are virtually no opportunities for serious critical engagement with the issue. As a group comprising scholars (psychology, art, gender studies), artists, and activists based in Auckland, New York, and Dunedin we will briefly introduce the different aspects of our project including an exhibition of New Zealand artists “A different view: Artists address pornography”, a community-based ‘fringe’ art project, and anti- sexist consciousness raising workshops with secondary students. Our work is in developmental stages, and we welcome the opportunity to discuss and seek feedback from colleagues and students on the challenges of communicating a nuanced critical approach to pornography in the contemporary socio-political climate.

“Pornography use is increasingly normalized”. I somehow agree. So how come I’m so uneducated on it and I don’t understand the language?

30/06/2013 I spend most of my Sunday researching and working on the project. Caught myself wondering if I will tell the truth when my work colleagues on Monday will ask me what I did on the week end. Why do I care so much? Am I being hypocritical here? I usually don’t care much about what people think on how I choose to live my life, and I keep thinking I’m liberal enough to be fine with porn. So why is it so hard as a woman to say “I watched porn this week end and researched the language of porn”?

Now that I have established my vision and written a short proposal for the project, it’s time to consider the outcome. Due to time constraints (I only have less than a month) and concerned by the visual imagery approach, I decide to work solely on word.

Therefore I will:

- Create flash cards on the porn language, with a linguistic approach - The cards could either hang on an exhibition space wall or be presented in a box. - Need to investigate the graphic design component

I start a list of words. All sorted alphabetically in an excel doc: Term, definition, example of use, synonyms.

It appears that I need to be selective in the terms I choose. Some words are unexpectedly shocking.

I decide not to use any terms that would have a racist, misogynist and degrading, violent and perverted (to my eyes) connotation. (Paraphilia, paedophilia, zoophilia, necrophilia….)

- Three-eyed-turtle (Misogynist and degrading) - Donkey (Misogynist) - Jungle Bunny (Racist) - Cracker (Racist) - Cleveland Steamer and Roman shower (Disturbing) - Kawaii porn (Paedophilia) - Donkey Punch (Violent and pervert)

© Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 14 30/06/2013 – 1.30pm Having a coffee with Becky who is now reassured since I’ve explained I’m only reading the definition of the terms and I don’t have to see it. Still, I don’t admit to her that I have already read some disturbing things.

Am I again being hypocritical here? Who am I to judge if someone is getting sexual arousal from a car? It’s easy to label sickness on paedophilia, zoophilia and necrophilia. But what about S&M, Bondage or swingers? It certainly seems to be far more common than I thought. After all, what turns them on is their problem, I can’t judge. I probably need to be more accepting.

I do have to admit that the last 24hours have been extremely educative!

30/06/2013 – 4.27pm Can’t resist anymore. Deleting my browser history. Finally accepting I’m a hypocrit.

30/06/2013 – 5.30pm Reading about “the real-world impact of porn in our society”

http://www.alternet.org/story/62833/pornography_and_the_end_of_mascu- linity

Pornography and the End of Masculinity Mainstream porn has come up with more ways than ever to humiliate and degrade women. Why then, is porn more popular? Includes an excerpt from Robert Jensen’s new book, Getting Off. September 21, 2007

In his new book, Robert Jensen forces the reader to face the music about the effects of a porn industry gone gonzo and the need to reassess the trappings of masculinity as the source of increased violence against and degradation of women.

I have always been part of the collective liberal progressive libertarian value system that accepts pornography as a legitimate expression of the First Amendment. Part of that thinking is that women participate in porn films of their own free will and that porn often represents fantasies -- though sometimes quasiviolent or degrading -- that people actually have. So as long as people are merely acting in porn films and there is no coercion, or law-breaking, it is acceptable.

But I’ve changed my mind. No, I’m not a prude, or anti-sex. Nor do I think there should be a national campaign to snuff out all porn. In fact, I sometimes watch certain kinds of porn. But what has become clear to me is that, under the guise of the First Amendment, a huge and powerful porn industrial complex has grown out of control. And a big part of its growth is fueled, not just by the internet, but by continually upping the ante, increasing the extremes of degradation for the women in tens of thousands of films made every year. I am convinced, although it is, of course, difficult to document, that the huge audiences for porn and the pervasiveness of the themes and behaviors of degradation are having a negative impact on the way men behave and the way society treats women.

Sexism and attitudes toward women were supposed to have gotten better after the 1960s and the feminist movement. The sons of boomers were going to be different. And while perhaps that is true in some cases, what 15 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz we have instead is more violence against women and more social acceptance of demeaning male attitudes and behaviors that would have been considered out of bounds 20 or 30 years ago. As a society, we’ve gone backwards.

Part of my thinking on pornography has been shaped by seeing what is on the internet myself, and part, by reading Robert Jensen’s powerful and provocative book, excerpted below: Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity. Jensen has convinced me that something as powerful as the porn industry and its sexual extremism must not be kept under the rug due to liberal shoulder-shrugging about the First Amendment. The porn industry should not enjoy our collective denial in terms of its real-world impact on women -- and men -- simply because we might be berated by First Amendment purists or be uncomfortable grappling with complex issues of sexual expression.

The debate must be pushed, and the consciousness raised. Many will say, don’t mess with the issue because it’s a slippery slope and could lead to the repression of other freedoms. I’ve concluded we need to take that chance. Male attitudes are potentially being shaped by ugly and sometimes disgusting abuse toward women. And tens of thousands of young women are being seduced and intimidated into lives of extreme public humiliation on-screen. The impact on their lives over the long run could be devas- tating.

The advent of Gonzo

One phenomenon in porn is the ascension of Gonzo films. There are two styles of films -- one are features that mimic, however badly, the Holly- wood model of plot and characters. But the other, Gonzo, has no preten- sions, and is simply the filming of sex acts, which, Jensen writes, while also occurring in features, are “performed in rougher fashion, often with more than one man involved, and more explicitly degrading language, which marks women as sluts, whores, cunts, nasty bitches and so on.”

The Gonzo films, which have come to dominate the industry, also emphasize the newer trend of sexual acts, which include: double penetration -- anal and vaginal -- and ass to mouth, or ATM, where anal sex is followed by sticking the penis in the women’s mouth. In addition, many of these films include men, often in multiple numbers, ejaculating into the faces and mouths of the women performers. The women usually swallow the semen, but also can share it mouth-to-mouth with a female partner. For Jensen, the most plausible explanation of the popularity of these acts is that women in the world, outside of pornography, don’t engage in these acts unless forced. “Men know that -- and they find it sexually arousing to watch them in part because of that knowledge.”

As Jerome Tanner, porn film maker, explains, “One of the things about today’s porn and the extreme market, the gonzo market, is so many fans want to see much more extreme stuff that I’m always trying to figure out ways to do something different. But it seems that everybody wants to see a girl doing a double penetration or a gang bang. ... It’s definitely brought porn somewhere, but I don’t know where it is headed from there.”

Mitchell Spinelli, interviewed while filming Give me Gape , adds: “People want more. They want to know how many dicks you can shove up an ass. It’s like ‘Fear Factor meets Jackass.’ Make it more hard, make it more nasty, make it more relentless.”

Jensen clearly decided in writing his book that the often overwhelming reality of the behavior and values of the porn industry must be experienced by the reader, at least in written form, to understand what the issues are. Thus, in the book, he describes porn scenes, quotes dialogue in the porn films, and includes interviews with porn actors to help cap- ture what they are thinking. Some of this is a little hard to take. Here is one example:

Jessica Darlin tells the camera she has performed in 200 films, and she is © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 16 submissive. “I like guys to just take over and fuck me and have a good time with me. I’m just here for pleasure.” The man who enters the room grabs her hair and tells her to beg the other man. She crawls over on her hands and knees, and he spanks her hard. When he grabs her by the throat, she seems surprised. During oral sex, he says, “Choke on that dick.” She gags. He grabs her head and slaps her face then forces his penis in her mouth quickly. She gags again.The other man duplicates the action, calling her a “little bitch.” Jessica is drooling and gagging; she looks as if she might pass out. The men slap her breasts, then grab her by the hair and pull her up. Later in the scene, “One man enters her anally from the rear as she is pushed up against the couch. The other man enters her anally while his partner puts his foot on her head. Finally one grabs her hair and asks here what she wants. ‘I want your cum in my mouth,’ she says. ‘Give me all that cum. I want to taste it.’”

Jensen writes, “In researching the porn industry, one of the most difficult parts is writing about the women who perform. Men see women in porn films as objects of desire (to be fucked) or ridicule (to be made fun of.) When porn performers speak in public, they typically repeat a script that emphasizes that they have freely chosen this career because of their love of sex and lack of inhibition.” Nina Hartley is one former porn star who frames her experience in the porn industry as empowering -- a feminist act of a woman taking control of her own life. But Jensen notes that while “we should listen to and respect those voices, we also know from the tes- timony of women who leave the sex industry that often they are desperate and unhappy in prostitution and pornography but feel the need to validate it as their choice to avoid thinking of themselves as victims.”

Robert Jensen -- radical man

So that you understand, Robert Jensen is a true radical. His positions on masculinity, race and pornography are way out of the mainstream. He thinks that concepts of masculinity make men less than human and should be junked. “Men are assumed to be naturally competitive and aggressive, and being a “real man” is therefore marked by the struggle for control, conquest and domination. A man looks at the world, sees what he wants and takes it.”

In writing his book, he turns to one of the most vilified feminists, Andrea Dworkin, as his guide. One of Dworkin’s books, Intercourse, enraged many readers. “In it, Dworkin argues that in a male supremacist society, sex between men and women constitutes a central part of women’s subordination to men. (This argument was quickly and falsely simplified to “all sex is rape” in the public arena, adding fire to Dworkin’s already radical per- sona.)” But Jensen embraces Dworkin for best understanding pornography and notes that “her love for men was so evident.”

Like many stubbornly pure radicals who in the end have provoked change, Jensen, by sheer dint of the power of his arguments, forces one to exam- ine the contradictions and the consequences of our acts, assumptions and opinions. And, by the way, Jensen has a different definition for radical, preferring the Latin “root” for its meaning. “Radical solutions are the ones that get to the root of the problem.” For Jensen, the question becomes: “How do we explain the fact that most people’s stated philosophy and theological systems are rooted in concepts of justice, equality and inherent dignity of all people, yet we allow violence, exploitation and oppression to flourish.”

Jensen’s book is a serious effort to deconstruct pornography and connect it to the society in which it grows and, in some ways, dominates. He addresses in detail the arguments that justify porn and the research that may connect porn to violence. His narrative, interwoven in the book, is about a lonely journey to shed the straight jacket of masculinity, and the pain and lack of acceptance that goes with the territory as he relentlessly pushes his ideas into the public domain.

In the end, the book grapples with a fundamental question. “If pornog- 17 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz raphy is increasingly cruel and degrading, why is it increasingly commonplace instead of more marginalized? In a society that purports to be civilized, wouldn’t we expect most people to reject sexual material that becomes ever more dismissive of the humanity of women? How do we explain ... increasingly more intense ways to humiliate women sexually and the rising popularity of the films that present those activities?” Jensen concludes: “... this paradox can be resolved by recognizing that one of the assumptions is wrong. Here it is the assumption that the U.S. society routinely rejects cruelty and degradation. In fact the U.S. is a nation that has no serious objection to cruelty and degradation.” Robert Jensen is on a quest. And he has taken a major step forward in his journey in producing a book that the reader can’t run away from or casually dismiss. It is filled with facts, data, intelligent observation and analysis, as well as examples of the raw product of an industry gone gonzo. I know this may sound like a cliche, but I guarantee that after reading this book, almost no one will think about pornography in the same way again.

********** Excerpt

This essay is excerpted from Robert Jensen’s new book, Getting Off: Por- nography and the End of Masculinity, published by South End Press. Jensen also has helped produce a slide show in PowerPoint with a script about the feminist critique of pornography. For information on how to get a copy, email stoppornculture.

After an intense three hours, the workshop on pornography I have been leading is winding down. The 40 women all work at a center that serves battered women and rape survivors. These are the women on the front lines, the ones who answer the 24-hour hotline and work one-on-one with victims. They counsel women who have just been raped, help women who have been beaten, and nurture children who have been abused. These women have heard and seen it all. No matter how brutal a story might be, they have experienced or heard one even more brutal; there is no way to one-up them on stories of men’s violence. But after three hours of information, analysis, and discussion of the commercial heterosexual pornography industry, many of these women are drained. Sadness hangs over the room.

Near the end of the session, one woman who had been quiet starts to speak. Throughout the workshop she had held herself in tightly, her arms wrapped around herself. She talks for some time, and then apologizes for ram- bling. There is no need to apologize; she is articulating what many feel. She talks about her own life, about what she has learned in the session and about how it has made her feel, about her anger and sadness.

Finally, she says: “This hurts. It just hurts so much.”

Everyone is quiet as the words sink in. Slowly the conversation restarts, and the women talk more about how they feel, how they will use the information, what it will mean to their work and in their lives. The session ends, but her words hang in the air.

It hurts.

It hurts to know that no matter who you are as a woman you can be reduced to a thing to be penetrated, and that men will buy movies about that, and that in many of those movies your humiliation will be the central theme. It hurts to know that so much of the pornography that men are buying fuses sexual desire with cruelty.

It hurts women, and men like it, and it hurts just to know that.

Even these women, who have found ways to cope with the injuries from male violence in other places, struggle with that pornographic reality. It is one thing to deal with acts, even extremely violent acts. It is another to know the thoughts, ideas, and fantasies that lie behind those acts. © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 18 People routinely assume that pornography is such a difficult and divisive issue because it’s about sex. In fact, this culture struggles unsuccess- fully with pornography because it is about men’s cruelty to women, and the pleasure men sometimes take in that cruelty. And that is much more difficult for people -- men and women -- to face.

Why it hurts

This doesn’t mean that all men take sexual pleasure in cruelty. It doesn’t mean that all women reject pornography. There is great individual variation in the human species, but there also are patterns in any society. And when those patterns tell us things about ourselves and the world in which we live that are difficult, we often want to look away.

Mirrors can be dangerous, and pornography is a mirror.

Pornography as a mirror shows us how men see women. Not all men, of course -- but the ways in which many men who accept the conventional conception of masculinity see women. It is unsettling to look into that mirror.

A story about that: I am out with two heterosexual women friends. Both are feminists in their 30s, and both are successful in their careers. Both are smart and strong, and both have had trouble finding male partners who aren’t scared by their intelligence and strength. We are talking about men and women, about relationships. As is often the case, I am told that I am too hard on men. The implication is that after so many years of working in the radical feminist critique of the sex industry and sexual violence, I have become jaded, too mired in the dark side of male sexuality. I contend that I am simply trying to be honest. We go back and forth, in a friendly discussion.

Finally, I tell my friends that I can settle this with a description of one website. I say to them: “If you want me to, I will tell you about this site. I won’t tell you if you don’t want to hear this. But if you want me to continue, don’t blame me.” They look at each other; they hesitate. They ask me to explain.

Some months before that someone had forwarded to me an email about a pornography site that the person thought I should take a look at -- slutbus. com. It’s a website to sell videos of the slutbus. Here’s the slutbus concept:

A few men who appear to be in their 20s drive around in a minivan with a video camera. They ask women if they want a ride. Once in the van, the women are asked if they would be willing to have sex on camera for money. The women do. When the sex is over, the women get out of the van and one of the men hands the women a wad of bills as payment. Just as she reaches for the money, the van drives off, leaving her on the side of the road looking foolish. There are trailers for 10 videos on the website. All appear to use the same “plot” structure.

In the United States there are men who buy videos with that simple message: Women are for sex. Women can be bought for sex. But in the end, women are not even worth paying for sex. They don’t even deserve to be bought. They just deserve to be fucked, and left on the side of the road, with post-adolescent boys laughing as they drive away -- while men at home watch, become erect, masturbate, obtain sexual pleasure, and ejaculate, and then turn off the DVD player and go about their lives. There are other companies that produce similar videos. There’s bangbus.com, which leaves women by the side of the road after sex in the bangbus. And on it goes.

I look at my friends and tell them: “You realize what I just described is relatively tame. There are things far more brutal and humiliating than that, you know.”

We sit quietly, until one of them says, “That wasn’t fair.”

19 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz I know that it wasn’t fair. What I had told them was true, and they had asked me to tell them. But it wasn’t fair to push it. If I were them, if I were a woman, I wouldn’t want to know that. Life is difficult enough without knowing things like that, without having to face that one lives in a society in which no matter who you are -- as an individual, as a person with hopes and dreams, with strengths and weaknesses -- you are something to be fucked and laughed at and left on the side of the road by men. Because you are a woman.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “But you asked.”

In a society in which so many men are watching so much pornography, this is why we can’t bear to see it for what it is: Pornography forces women to face up to how men see them. And pornography forces men to face up to what we have become. The result is that no one wants to talk about what is in the mirror. Although few admit it, lots of people are afraid of pornography. The liberal/libertarian supporters who celebrate pornography are afraid to look honestly at what it says about our culture. The conservative opponents are afraid that pornography undermines their attempts to keep sex boxed into narrow categories.

Feminist critics are afraid, too -- but for different reasons. Feminists are afraid because of what they see in the mirror, because of what pornography tells us about the world in which we live. That fear is justi- fied. It’s a sensible fear that leads many to want to change the culture.

Pornography has become normalized, mainstreamed. The values that drive the slutbus also drive the larger culture. As a New York Times story put it, “Pornography isn’t just for dirty old men anymore.” Well, it never really was just for dirty men, or old men, or dirty old men. But now that fact is out in the open. That same story quotes a magazine writer, who also has written a pornography script: “People just take porn in stride these days. There’s nothing dangerous about sex anymore.” The editorial director of Playboy, who says that his company has “an emphasis on party,” tells potential advertisers: “We’re in the mainstream.”

There never was anything dangerous about sex, of course. The danger isn’t in sex, but in a particular conception of sex in patriarchy. And the way sex is done in pornography is becoming more and more cruel and degrading, at the same time that pornography is becoming more normalized than ever. That’s the paradox.

The paradox of pornography

First, imagine what we could call the cruelty line -- the measure of the level of overt cruelty toward, and degradation of, women in contemporary mass-marketed pornography. That line is heading up, sharply.

Second, imagine the normalization line -- the measure of the acceptance of pornography in the mainstream of contemporary culture. That line also is on the way up, equally sharply.

If pornography is increasingly cruel and degrading, why is it increasingly commonplace instead of more marginalized? In a society that purports to be civilized, wouldn’t we expect most people to reject sexual material that becomes evermore dismissive of the humanity of women? How do we explain the simultaneous appearance of more, and increasingly more intense, ways to humiliate women sexually and the rising popularity of the films that present those activities?

As is often the case, this paradox can be resolved by recognizing that one of the assumptions is wrong. Here, it’s the assumption that U.S. society routinely rejects cruelty and degradation. In fact, the United States is a nation that has no serious objection to cruelty and degradation. Think of the way we accept the use of brutal weapons in war that kill civilians, or the way we accept the death penalty, or the way we accept crushing economic inequality. There is no paradox in the steady mainstreaming of © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 20 an intensely cruel pornography. This is a culture with a well-developed legal regime that generally protects individuals’ rights and freedoms, and yet it also is a strikingly cruel culture in the way it accepts bru- tality and inequality.

The pornographers are not a deviation from the norm. Their presence in the mainstream shouldn’t be surprising, because they represent mainstream values: The logic of domination and subordination that is central to patriarchy, hyper-patriotic nationalism, white supremacy, and a predatory corporate capitalism.

Don Hazen is the executive editor of AlterNet. Robert Jensen is a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin and board member of the Third Coast Activist Resource Center. He is also the author of The Heart of Whiteness: Race, Racism, and White Privilege and Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity

Well…. That was a slightly depressing but also a very enlightening article. I guess I never really looked at porn that way, or never really watched the porn movies Don Hazen is describing in this article.

Is porn just for men after all? Is there porn for women out there? Why is the language so degrading?

Becky was right, the porn I know is definitely G rated. I do believe in feminism and the empowerment of women… Do I really want to continue on this project? I certainly need to clarify how I feel about porn. I realise now I had a very preconceived idea of what porn is and I’m not sure I like the situation of women in pornography today. Is it a question of choice for them?

Resumed to search for “woman friendly porn” Relieved to see that it does exists. It’s called soft porn. Soft porn?

So it seems that porn for women is: - Erotic books - Erotic/soft porn movies (David Hamilton’s style) - Not free (seems to be a lot of free hard-core porn for men, but the soft-core for women requires a paid membership – at least the websites I visited) - Includes some kind of relationship/psychology advice (!)

Apparently 1 in 3 porn site visitors is a woman, so why do we still have so many degrading porn videos?

Where am I going with this? I have started my vocabulary list and I now feel that it’s only relevant to what I qualify as degrading porn.

21 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 30/06/2013 – 6.27pm Reading an article on the book: “A Billion Wicked Thoughts: What the World’s Largest Experiment Reveals about Human Desire” by Ogas and Gaddam

http://healthland.time.com/2011/05/19/mind-reading-the-researchers-who- analyzed-all-the-porn-on-the-internet/

Q&A: The Researchers Who Analyzed All the Porn on the Internet Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2011/05/19/mind-reading-the-researchers-who-analyzed-all-the-porn-on-the-internet/#ixzz2XmpY4nIl Searching all the porn on the Internet might not seem like the most scien- tifically productive activity, but computational neuroscientists Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam did it anyway. For their new book, A Billion Wicked Thoughts: What the World’s Larg- est Experiment Reveals about Human Desire, Ogas and Gaddam analyzed the results of 400 million online searches for porn and uncovered some star- tling insights into what men and women may really want from each other — at least sexually. I spoke recently with Ogas.

Why did you decide to analyze online porn searches? I’m a computational neuroscientist. I view the mind as software. Most computational neuroscientists study higher functions like memory, language and vision. We wanted to apply the same techniques to a lower part of the brain, the sexual part.

So is “Rule 34″ true — that if you can imagine it, there’s porn of it? When we first started, Rule 34 was almost a guiding idea. The Internet has every kind of imaginable porn; searches are going to reflect immense di- versity. We quickly realized that [the data] didn’t really support that. Even though you can find an instance of any kind of porn you can imagine, people search for and spend money and time on 20 sexual interests, which account for 80% of all porn. The top five are youth, gays, [sexy mothers], breasts and cheating wives.

Why are cheating wives so popular? You’d expect that would not be something men would like to think about. It’s one of the top interests all around the world. Men are wired to be sexually jealous. And, certainly, men can fly into murderous rages, but simultaneously they’re also sexually aroused. This is an example of what biologists call a sperm competition cue. Across the animal kingdom, when males see other males mating, it tends to provoke arousal. If he is going to compete with the other male, he has to produce more sperm Human men also respond like this, if a man sees a woman — including his partner — with another man, he becomes more aroused.

There’s been a lot of concern that porn is getting more violent and more misogynistic and that the Internet is making it harder for women because porn makes men want more extreme sex. What does your research show? It’s not at all more violent or misogynistic. We really looked at all porn searches. Truly violent pornography is extremely rare. It truly is rare and the kind of people who watch it are a clearly identifiable group.

So why do we keep hearing that it’s getting worse and worse? I wouldn’t say there’s a trend. It’s been pretty consistent. There’s lots of male dominant porn. He blackmails the woman into having sex; the professor seduces a student, they’re having sex to get cash for schoolbooks. We think all of these are creative variations to trigger male-dominance cues [which are sexually arousing to men].

Why do the themes of dominance and submission keep recurring? Women are often aroused by women being submissive. It’s more complicated for women because of the separation between physical and psychological arousal. Women have very mixed feelings when [it comes to sexual submission]. But rape fantasies are extremely prevalent. © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 22 Obviously, that doesn’t mean that women want to be raped, but doesn’t the prevalence of forced sex in porn make men think that they do? It’s not teaching men to be misogynistic; it doesn’t spill over into social life. It’s really no different from looking at large breasts. But women react to these psychological elements and understandably and ac- curately see them as a kind of misogyny. However, we’re talking sex and arousal, not social politics. A rape fantasy doesn’t mean a woman really wants to be raped — it’s just something that turns [her] on [in the bedroom].

There are real concerns, though, that Internet porn will increase sex crimes because of the way it portrays things like that. Anybody can do a simple thought experiment [to refute that]. In the late ’60s and early ’70s, feminists were saying that porn trained guys to be rapists. That was before home video, and there were probably only 100 different porn magazines in the country. You had to go to [sleazy places to watch porn]. Now there are a million websites where you can get it for free around the clock. You would expect rape to skyrocket. There are more guys watching more porn more often. But, in fact, rape has gone down in America. Also, in Japan in the mid-’90s, they loosened their obscenity laws. Now rape is down there too. It certainly seems to be case that more access to porn is associated with less rape. Rather than making people want to go out and rape, it satisfies the urge.

What types of porn are most popular for men? It’s youth by a wide margin, like cheerleaders. But we were surprised to find that even though men prefer youth mostly, there’s also a very significant interest in porn with women in their 40s, 50s and even 60s. That’s called granny porn.

That’s fabulous for older women who seem to have been written off by evolutionary psychology. Seriously, though, the interest appears to be completely counter to evolutionary predictions that overt signs of fer- tility are crucial. Yes, we found something that overturns narrow evolutionary psychology predictions. Some of our findings require other explanations than evolutionary ones.

What do women prefer? Women prefer stories to visual porn by a long shot. The most popular erotica for women is the romance novel. That has more punch than any other kind of erotica. The second most popular would be fan fiction. This is something that has really exploded on the Internet. These are stories written by amateurs, mostly women, about characters from pop culture, movies, books, etc.

Is this the kind of thing in which Kirk and Spock from Star Trek would have an affair? Yes, that’s called slash. Stories about two male characters are very popular. But the most popular fan fiction is about Harry Potter by a wide margin, followed by Twilight.

Why do women prefer stories and men prefer visuals? There are two reasons. Both come down to fundamental differences between the male sexual brain and the female sexual brain. One of the most basic differences is that the male brain responds to any single sexual stimu- lus. A nice chest, two girls kissing, older women — if that’s what they’re attracted to. Any one thing will trigger arousal in a male. Female desire requires multiple stimuli simultaneously or in quick suc- cession. It takes more stimuli and more variety of these stimuli to trigger genuine arousal. For a guy, the most common form of [masturbation material] is a 60-second porn clip. For a woman, it can be a 250-page novel or a 2,000-word story. That’s the way to get multiple stimuli. Stories have greater flexibility to offer a greater variety of stimuli. In male erotica, sex appears in the first one-quarter of the story [or 23 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz film]. For women, it’s halfway in. There’s more time to develop the character before sex.

How else does male and female sexuality differ? Another fundamental difference between men and women — perhaps the most important defining difference — is that in the male brain, physical and psychological arousal are united. If a man is physically turned on, he’s mentally turned on too. With women, physical arousal and mental arousal are separate. [Research finds that women get physically aroused sometimes even when they find the situation disgusting.] The female brain is designed to be cautious, most likely because historically the woman who slept with the first guy she met might have a harder time raising children; he might not stick around. Women are designed to be cautious and gather more information. That’s why fan fiction is all about exploring the emotions and character of the hero. In romance novels, the heroine learns about the secret inner life of the hero. That’s especially true in slash: that’s doubling up. There are two men — two masculine, strong alpha males who reveal their tender side. The emotional process of revealing true character is what’s so appealing to women.

Why would straight men want to watch lesbians, and why would women write stories about gay men? [Straight] guys are turn on by lesbians because it’s a doubling of visual cues. And one psychological cue for arousal in men is female sexual pleasure. Seeing lesbians kissing doubles that too. For women in slash fiction, it’s the psychological cues of a man’s character, stature, passion and emotional communication — slash doubles those.

What’s up with men’s interest in mothers? It’s not so much that they’re moms, but that they’re older women. They are usually portrayed as aggressive and seductive. They are not timid. They’re quite confident and bold. Men who like that like the idea of an innocent younger man being seduced or taught by an older woman.

Did you find evidence that porn is addictive? We looked at individual search histories for half a million people using an AOL data set [which does not identify the users]. It seems to be less than 2% of people, among the people who search for porn, who have a significantly elevated number of searches. And there’s a [shared] characteristic among these searchers: they search for a really wide variety of porn, which is atypical. Usually, people search for the same things over and over. But these people who search for notably more porn tend to search for [many different things]. Two things tend to show up in these searches, oddly: bestiality and granny porn. There’s clearly something different about that group. Having said that, there isn’t overwhelming evidence that porn addiction exists. Prob- ably the best way to define whether it’s a problem is if you want to stop and you can’t.

01/07/2013 – 10.01pm Of course I got asked how my weekend was by my work colleagues! To which I answered: “Educative”

I’m lucky to work in an Arts Centre in Auckland, same Arts Centre where my studio is. So 2 days a week I’m there in the office (Art Education department) and 3 (more often 4) days a week I’m in the studio. The best part is that I’m constantly surrounded by people in the same head space, it’s very stimulating. There’s about 15 artists with studios there and about 30 people on-site who all work in different arts areas (visual arts, curator, art educators, youth performance, theatre, dance company….).

To my surprise, there was no judgment, not that many giggles and certainly no embarrassment. Actually there was a lot of interests. Lots of questions. And all were quite interested in understanding the porn language too. Some shared stories about watching porn movies, going to strip clubs and sex shops. Of course the curator knew about The Porn Project and was more interested in the artwork I would produce than sharing porn experience! One, just made a comment after reading the brief and asked me if I felt apprehensive after reading that line: “In doing so you will be joining with a diverse collective of artists/activists/ academics who like sex (a lot) and don’t like misogyny and racism (a lot).” She thought it was “pretty ballsy”. Actually I didn’t. I guess I’m part of that “diverse collective of artists/activists/academics who like sex (a lot) and don’t like misogyny and racism (a lot)”!

It was quite reassuring that these women who I work with are somehow in the same position as I am regarding porn. It’s not necessarily their thing but they accept it and it’s ok for whoever needs it.

This morning, waiting at a traffic light on my way to work, I caught myself looking at the other drivers in their cars around me and wondering what kind of porn would turn them on? Three days into The Porn Project and it appears I’m more open to the idea. Am I normalising it? Do I find it more acceptable now that I understand what a Bukkake and a Cockold are? I certainly find it less gross.

Tonight, I’m continuing to research the porn vocabulary. Daisy chain, Dame de Voyage, Docking… (I actually quite like Dame de Voyage! Slightly posh French! And so much better than “sex doll”)

Again, I’m choosing to eliminate quite a lot of words from my list. The scatological ones seems to me far from being sexual acts and Dirty Sanchez and Hot Karl will not make it to my list. Dinge Queen and Dogfart will not either. It seems that there’s a lot of racist terms in the porn vocabulary. I have a problem with that. And I find Dining at the Y too degrading to be included. It’s just a cunnilingus, but put that way I find it quite vulgar. And finally, I think the term Felching has traumatised me a little and will give me nightmares for a while. As Becky said: “Some things can’t be un-seen”.

01/07/2013 – 11.15pm My list has grown. I’m now wondering about vulgarity. The problem is that English is not my first language (I’m French) and I’m suddenly wondering if I have included words which are inappropriate or shocking without realising it. I’m well known for saying “fuck” all the time, without really understanding the power that word has for English people. I also had to ask friends to establish a scale style list of swear 25 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz words (0 being ok to use in front of children or my boss and 10 being a word I should forget forever) because I couldn’t evaluate the vulgarity level of the words I would hear and sometime re-use. It’s cultural I guess.

So… Is Tribbing offensive for Lesbians or is it ok to include it in my list?

01/07/2013 – 11.45pm Deleting my browser history… Again. Why do I keep doing that? Some kind of guilt or shame? Who is going to check my browser history anyway?

OH! Wait! Just realised I still haven’t told my husband about The Porn Project! He works overseas for weeks at a time and is currently away. How am I going to phrase this in an email? Skype? Or just a text: “BTW, I’m doing an art project on Porn”. I may need to include more details as this sentence alone could raise a few questions in his mind.

02/07/2013 – 11.08pm The vocabulary research continues tonight… although I’m still not over Felching. The word Galateism will not make it to my list. It’s a sexual attraction to statues. (I’ve decided not to include all the words describing sexual attractions/fetish: Acrotomo- philia, Dendrophilia, Formicophilia). But at least, I now understand what happened to my Art History Teacher at the Rodin Museum on our school trip 20 years ago.

02/07/2013 – 11.26pm Actually scratch that. I’m including Gynotikolobomassophilia! That’s a beautiful word!

02/07/2013 – 11.49pm And that’s it for tonight…. Hot Lunch (think Pasolini’s movie…) made me go straight to YouTube to watch ‘cute kitten’ videos. PS. I finally stopped deleting my browser history.

03/07/2013 – 3.32pm Had a coffee break from the studio at the cafe on-site. Another artist was there too. He asked me what I was working on at the moment. I answered: “I’m doing a piece for the Porn Project” (It seems less and less hard to say aloud each day!). He asked me 3 times to repeat. Not sure if it was the French accent or if he couldn’t get over the title of the project. Maybe I should tone it down a little. I’m also wondering if the word Porn has the same connotation for me and others. Do they know things about pornography I don’t know yet and are shocked by the idea of me working on it?

© Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 26 My list is getting so much longer than I anticipated. Even with all the cuts I made, there are still a lot of interesting words. The highlight today was Jedi Mind Trick. But there was also Juanita Special Bean Dip which will certainly not make it to the list. What about hygiene guys!

03/07/2013 – 4.54pm Monroe Transfer… OMFG! Why are there so many words describing scato acts in the porn language???? Is this really a sexual act? Need more ‘cute kitten’ videos.

03/07/2013 – 5.32PM I needed a break. So I looked for articles on Pornography statistics. I find it hard to find an impartial point of view. It seems that statistics are either on Christian or Family websites or from the pornography industry, so of course it’s one sided

But they seem to all agree on a few facts:

Source: Online MBA Blog: http://www.onlinemba.com/blog/stats-on-internet-pornography/

- 12% of all internet websites are Pornographic. - Every second 28 258 internet users are viewing porn - 1 in 3 porn viewers are women - 25% of all search engine requests are pornography related (That’s 68 million a day) - 20% of men admit to watching porn online at work. 13% women do. - The most popular day of the week for viewing porn is Sunday And also more Facts and figures from: Stoppornculture.org

Facts and Figures

Internet Pornography

- 420 million-plus pages of pornographic material online worldwide (IFR) - 72 million worldwide visitors to porn websites monthly (IFR) - 25% of all search engine requests daily are for pornography (68 million searches daily) (IFR) - 2.5 billion daily pornographic emails (8% of total emails) (IFR) - 42.7% Internet users who view porn (IFR) - 100,000-plus websites are devote to child pornography (IFR) - 35-44 age group is the largest consumer of Internet porn (IFR) - 20% of men admit to accessing pornography at work (IFR) - 35% of those purchasing online porn make $75,000-plus annually (IFR) - The United States is the top producer of pornographic web pages with 244,661,900, or 89 percent (IFR) - Worldwide revenue from mobile phone pornography is $1 billion-plus and growing (Bryan-Low, Cassel and Pringle, David. “Sex Cells: Wireless Op- erators Find That Racy Cellphone Video Drives Surge in Broadband Use.” The Wall Street Journal, May 12, 2005)

Industry Size and Revenues

27 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz - Annual revenues of the pornography industry in the U.S. are $13.3 billion. This is more than the revenues of the National Football League, the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball combined; more than NBC, CBS and ABC combined; larger than the revenues of the top technology companies (Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, Apple and Netflix) combined (IFR; 2006) - 11,000-plus porn videos were produced in the U.S. in 2006, more than 20 times the number of mainstream Hollywood movies (60 Minutes, Dec. 5, 2007) - 55% of the movie rentals in hotel chains are pornographic “adult entertainment” moves (Adult Video News) - The Internet accounted for $2.5 billion of the adult industry’s total U.S. revenues in 2004 (“Dirty Downloads Ready to Go on iPods,” Associated Press, Nov. 5, 2005) - Every second, $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography, 28,258 Inter- net viewers are viewing pornography, 372 Internet users are typing adult search terms into search engines, and every 39 minutes, a new pornographic video is made in the United States (IFR)

Impact

- 10% of adults admit to an addiction to online pornography (IFR) - 20% of men admit they access pornography at work (IFR) - It is estimated that 15% of those using Internet pornography develop a compulsive habit that disrupts their lives (Pamela Paul, Pornified, 2004) - At the 2002 American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers convention, attorneys present reported that 56% of their recent divorce cases resulted from a spouse’s compulsive Internet porn use (Paul, 2005) - After watching just 6 hours of nonviolent pornography, research subjects in one study were much less likely to desire sexual intimacy with their real partners, or to be interested in marriage or children (Zill- mann and Bryant, 1986) - 70% of women say that they keep their cyber activities secret (IFR) - The links between pornography use and subsequent aggression was proved so successfully by Zillmann and Bryant that their studies cannot be rep- licated for fear of further harming research subjects (Paul, 2005) - 17% of women struggle with pornography addiction (IFR) - 9.4 million women access adult websites each month (IFR) - 13% of women admit to accessing pornography at work (IFR) - 1 in 3 visitors to pornographic websites are women (IFR) - 70% of all Internet porn traffic occurs during workdays (9 am-5 pm) (Sextracker.com)

Studies show that after viewing pornography men are more likely to:

1. report decreased empathy for rape victims 2. report believing that a woman who dresses provocatively deserves to be raped 3. report anger at women who flirt but then refuse to have sex 4. report decreased sexual interest in their girlfriends or wives 5. report increased interest in coercing partners into unwanted sex acts

(“Pornography’s Effects on Interpersonal Relationships,” 2006, by Ana J. Bridges, University of Arkansas)

About 350 members of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, the nation’s top divorce attorneys, met in 2002 for an annual conference, where they reported in 2002 that more than half -- 56% -- of their recent divorce cases resulted from a spouse’s compulsive Internet porn use (Paul, 2005). The problems most frequently cited by the attorneys were: obses- sive interest in pornographic sites, 56%; excessive time on computer, 47%; and excessive time communicating in chat rooms, 33%. According to Richard Berry, president of the Academy, “Pornography had an almost non- existent role in divorce just seven or eight years ago”; its significant role now is “clearly due to the Internet.”

When 813 college students from six college campuses participated in a © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 28 2008 survey on pornography use, findings included: 86% of the men said they had viewed pornography in the last year; 48.4% were viewing pornography weekly; and 19.3% were viewing pornography almost every day. 31% of the women had viewed pornography in the last year and 3.2% were viewing pornography weekly. (Jason S. Carroll, Laura M. Padilla-Walker, Larry J. Nelson, Chad D. Olson, Carolyn McNamara Barry, and Stephanie D. Madsen, “Generation XXX: Pornography Acceptance and Use among Emerging Adults.” 2008. Journal of Adolescent Research vol. 23 no. 1: 6-30.)

Children and Pornography

- Four out of five 16-year-old boys and girls regularly access porn on the Internet, and that more than a quarter of young patients at a leading private clinic are being treated for addiction to online pornography, according a 2012 report by the Independent Parliamentary Inquiry Into Online Child Protection in the United Kingdom. -http://www.medicaldaily.com/articles/9603/20120419/internet-porn-pornography-children-uk.htm#jd8IoaCvEueGdiUs.99 - 11 years old is the average age of first exposure to Internet pornography (IFR) - 85% of men arrested for possession of child pornography had sexually exploited a child, according to a 2008 study by Michael Bourke, chief psychologist for the US Marshals Service - 76% of offenders convicted of Internet-related crimes against children admitted to contact sex crimes with children previously undetected by law enforcement and had an average of 30.5 child sex victims each, according to a 2000 study by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Reports by state-based Internet Crimes against Children (ICAC) task forces confirms, through its law enforcement and fieldwork, the positive correlation between the possession of child pornography and the commission of crimes against children. For instance, the Pennsylvania-based ICAC task force reported that 51% of individuals arrested for pornography-related offenses were also determined to be actively molesting children or to have molested in the past. In Dallas, the ICAC task force found that 32% of offenders arrested over the course of one year for child pornography offenses were also molesting children or had molested in the past. - At least 80% of purchasers of child pornography are active abusers, and nearly 40% of the child pornographers investigated over the past several years, have sexually molested children in the past, according to the United States Postal Inspection Service. From January 1997 through March 2004, 1,807 child pornographers were arrested and 620 of these individuals were confirmed child molesters. Therefore, between 34-36% of these child pornographers were actual child molesters, defined as someone who had confessed to acts of molestation, someone who had a record for molestation, or someone who was involved in an overt act in order to procure children for sexual purposes. The 620 confirmed child molesters led to 839 child victims who were identified and rescued. - In a study of arrested child pornography possessors, 40% had both sexually victimized children and were in possession of child pornography. Of those arrested between 2000 and 2001, 83% had images involving children between the ages 6 and 12; 39% had images of children between ages 3 and 5; and 19% had images of infants and toddlers under age 3 (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Child Pornography Possessors Arrested in Internet-Related Crimes: Findings from the National Juvenile Online Victimization Study, 2005). - The main sex exploitation offense referred to U.S. attorneys shifted from sex abuse (73%) in 1994 to child pornography (69%) in 2006, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Child pornography matters accounted for 82% of the growth in sex exploitation matters referred from 1994 to 2006. - Child pornography is one of the fastest growing businesses online. In 2008, Internet Watch Foundation found 1,536 individual child abuse domains (Internet Watch Foundation, Annual Report, 2008) - The largest consumer group of Internet pornography is the 12-17-year- old age group (IFR) - Of all known child abuse domains, 58% are housed in the United States (Internet Watch Foundation, Annual Report, 2008) 29 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz - The fastest growing demand in commercial websites for child abuse is for images depicting the worst type of abuse, including penetrative sexual activity involving children and adults and sadism or penetration by an animal (Internet Watch Foundation, Annual Report, 2008) - More than 20,000 images of child pornography posted online every week (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Oct., 8 2003) - Approximately 20% of all Internet pornography involves children (Na- tional Center for Mission & Exploited Children)

Sources: Internet Filter Review (IFR) sources include: ABC, Associated Press, AsiaMedia, AVN, BBC, CATW, U.S. Census, Central Intelligence Agency, China Daily, Chosen.com, Comscore Media Metrix, Crimes Against Children, Eros, Forbes, Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Free Speech Coalition, Google, Harris Interactive, Hitwise, Hoover’s, Japan Inc., Japan Review, Juniper Research, Kagan Research, ICMEC, Jan LaRue, The Miami Herald, MSN, Nielsen/NetRatings, The New York Times, Nordic Institute, PhysOrg. com, PornStudies, Pravda, Sarmatian Review, SEC filings, Secure Computing Corp., SMH, TopTenREVIEWS, Trellian, WICAT, Yahoo!, XBIZ

03/07/2013 – 10.34pm Just read:

The History of Modern Pornography

Abstract

The following paper analyzes the evolution of pornography from 1527 until 2009. It addresses the people, inventions, events and phenomena that have shaped pornography’s modern history. This paper has identified three meaningful trends. (1) The interpretation and acceptance of pornography has radically shifted over the last five hundred years. To assume that we are at the zenith of our pornographic tolerance would be presumptuous. (2) The increased quantity and quality of pornography is principally a derivation of new technologies; pornography is likely to become more pervasive as technology develops. (3) Censorship and opposition to pornography have had little effect in stemming the tide; the biological chemistry of sexual desire has outlived all censorship attempts and will continue to do so. Definition of pornography

For the purposes of this paper, pornography is defined as any media with sexual activity or nudity that stimulates erotic as opposed to aesthetic feelings in a community. Such feelings are subjective and change with the passage of time.

The Sixteenth Century

Rome is the birthplace of modern pornography; the history begins amongst the print culture of the Italian Renaissance. In 1524, Marcantonio Rai- mondi published sixteen sexually explicit engravings that were designed by Giulio Romano and collectively titled the I Modi. The I Modi visu- ally depicted figures from Greco-Roman mythology to Classical antiquity, enjoying the pleasures of copulation. In response to this scandal, Pope Clement VIII placed Raimondi in prison, where he remained for almost a year, until a consortium including Pietro Aretino (the founder of modern pornography) negotiated his release. (Lawner, 1988).

Pietro Aretino (1492-1556), the Italian author, polemicist and sati- rist, was a product of Renaissance humanism (Symonds, 1881). He wrote two pornographic masterpieces, the Sonetti lussuriosi (1527) and the Ra- gionamenti (1534-36) which were circulated amongst the aristocracy. The Sonetti lussuriosi or Aretino’s Postures as it came to be known, combined Aretino’s sexually explicit sonnets with the engravings of Romano from the I Modi. The Ragionamenti was an extension of Aretino’s Postures; it

© Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 30 documented a dialogue between prostitutes and became the prototype for pornographic prose in the seventeenth century (Hunt, 1993). Aretino’s work was pornographic, voyeuristic, controversial, heretical, and politi- cally incorrect. “Nowhere in European literature prior to Pietro Aretino … do we encounter the combination of explicit sexual detail and evident intention to arouse that became, three hundred years later, the hallmark of the pornographic” (Kendrick, 1996, p. 58).

The Seventeenth Century

Aretino’s Postures and the Ragionamenti continued to dominate European pornography throughout the seventeenth century; new works were either copies or loosely based imitations. A notable imitation of the Ragiona- menti was the French L’Ecole des filles (1655). Anonymously written, the book is a dialogue between two prostitutes; the inexperienced but eager Fanchon and the accomplished Susanne (L’Ecole des filles, 2001). L’Ecole des filles marked the beginning of the French pornographic tradition.

The Eighteenth Century

The breakthrough work for eighteenth century pornography was Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (also known as Fanny Hill) by John Cleland. Initially published from 1748 to 1749, it was the first pornographic novel and the first work of English pornography to be written in prose (Foxon, 1965). Deemed obscene in 1750, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure would remain ‘underground’ for over two centuries until 1966 in the United States and 1970 in Britain (Kendrick, 1996). The plot summary is that a young orphan girl named Fanny Hill moves to London at the age of fifteen and falls into prostitution. She loses her virginity to a nobleman named Charles whereby they fall in love and Fanny becomes pregnant. At the height of their love, Charles is kidnapped away by his father, which leads Fanny back to prostitution and a diverse range of sexual exploits. In the end, Fanny inherits a small fortune from a rich benefactor, she stumbles upon Charles whereby all is forgiven, Charles proposes to Fanny and they marry (Cleland, 1985).

United States

Imported erotic novels made their way to the United States in 1780 where they were advertised for sale in New York and Massachusetts newspapers (Slade, 2001). The French Revolution

The French Revolution marked a major turning point in the history of modern pornography; it marked the rise and fall of political pornography as a genre. French political pornography had increased steadily from 1774 to 1788, it then spiked at the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789. There were one hundred and twelve pornographic novels published in 1789, compared to forty in 1792 and fifteen in 1794 (Wagner, 1991). Prior to the Revolution, pornography had been the domain of the upper class. With the introduction of the pornographic pamphlet and the freeing of the presses in 1789, pornography was democratized. Pamphlets ranging from eight to sixty pages were much cheaper than novels and were marketed aggressively across France; to a broad and burgeoning readership. By 1792, antiroyal- ist engravings could be found in most Parisian shop windows; over half the displayed work was pornographic (Boyer, 1792). The pornography was an attack against the authority of the Church State. Nuns, monks, priests, aristocrats, and royalty were all ridiculed; depictions of impotency, venereal disease, and sexual debauchery were the norm (Wagner, 1988). Queen Marie Antoinette was the most popular target in terms of titles written and pamphlets sold. Titles ranging from Le Godmiché royal (The Royal Dildo) to L’Autrichienne en goguettes (The Brothel of the Queen), depicted the Queen engaging in complicated orgies with priests, men and women, her son, and even animals (Clark, 2008). Such pornography under- mined the legitimacy of the ancien régime as both a social and political system. By accusing Marie Antoinette of incest, the revolutionaries portrayed the royal blood as poisoned and unnatural, by desacralizing the 31 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz royal body, they paved the way to Marie Antoinette’s execution (Thomas, 1989). The pornography begged the question; if King Louis XVI could not control Marie Antoinette, “or even be sure he was the father of his children, including the heir to the throne, then what was his claim on his subjects’ obedience or the future of the dynasty’s claim to the throne itself?” (Hunt, 1993, p. 306). Political pornography played a major role in the French Revolution and the demise of Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI. After the Reign of Ter- ror and with the exception of Sade, pornography was removed from politics in the Western world. Pornography’s future lay not in politics but in the depiction of sexual pleasure for pleasure’s sake.

Marquis de Sade

Donatien-Alphonse-François, Comte de Sade (1740-1814) was a French nobleman and a controversial author. He is popularly referred to as the Marquis de Sade and it is from his name, that the term sadism originates (Arcand, 1993). Sade is the intellectual heir of violent pornography; his writings were extreme and an affront to conventional morality. His work incorporated many sadistic aspects from rape to torture and beyond. His most famous works include: The 120 Days of Sodom (1785) Justine (1791) and Juliette (1797). Beyond sadism, Sade’s work was philosophical, political, and opposed to religion. The republican police and later the Napoleonic police, spent more time tracking down copies of Justine and Juliette, than all other works of pornography combined. Every government, ancien regime, republican, and Napoleonic condemned Sade (Hunt, 1993).

The Nineteenth Century

Commercial pornography designed purely for titillation flourished in the nineteenth century. As printing costs continued to fall, pornographic material was progressively marketed to the consumer class. By 1837, there were over fifty pornographic shops on London’s Holywell Street and by 1871 New York was selling more than one hundred thousand pornographic books per year (Kendrick, 1996). In Britain and the United States, prosecutions for obscene libel by private organizations were regularly successful. In Britain, prosecutions were led by the Organization for the Reformation of Manners and the So- ciety for the Suppression of Vice. In the United States, prosecutions were led by the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice and the Ward Society in Boston (Meese, et al., 1986).

Photography

In 1839, Louis Daguerre sold the rights of the ‘daguerreotype’ to the French government, who proceeded to immediately publish the technology, as a free gift to the world. (Gustavson & House, 2009). The daguerreotype was an early photographic process where a single image was directly exposed onto a metal plate. The earliest pornographic daguerreotype is an 1846 exposure housed at the Kinsey Institute; it depicts a middle- aged man inserting his phallus into a middle-aged woman’s vagina. By the 1850s, American photographers both professional and amateur, were producing three million daguerreotypes per year, this was despite the fact that daguerreotypes were extremely difficult to copy and could not be mass-produced (Slade, 2001). The collodion process superseded the daguerreotype in 1851 when the glass plate negative was developed. The collodion process provided the ability, to reproduce fine detail in multiple prints (Newhall, 1938). This was a watershed moment for photography, which, translated into a watershed moment for pornography. The ability to produce multiple copies of a photograph led to the industrialization of pornographic photographs. The result was profound; in 1848, there were thirteen photographic studios in Paris, by 1860, there were over four hundred. The Parisian output of nude photographs was prolific, in 1852, forty percent of the photographs registered for sale in Paris, were nudes (McCauley, 1994). Motivated by lucrative profits, pornographers in Britain, the United States, and more commonly France, increased production. The increase in © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 32 supply lowered the price of photographic pornography, which increased the quantity demanded. The distribution of pornography occurred at many points including train stations, bars, docks, fairs, barbershops, push- carts, and theaters. Illicit photographs were commonly sold as: (1) single prints peddled on the street, sometimes in postcard format, or (2) sets of prints ranging from a nude woman, to couples or multiple couples posing and/or engaging in sexual acts. Sets of prints would usually be ordered via the mail utilizing the international postal service (Slade, 2001).

Halftone Printing

The next technological advance that pornography utilized was halftone printing. Halftone printing broke up the tone of the original image; it employed dots that varied in both spacing and size (Glaister, 1960). Frederick Eugene Ives of Philadelphia perfected the halftone printing process in 1885 and proceeded to patent it. The utilization of halftone printing spread rapidly after 1892 when Levy Company mass-produced the screens required for the printing process. Besides the unprecedented realism that halftone printing provided, it cut the cost of newspaper illustrations by ninety five percent (Smil, 2005). This technology revo- lutionized the publishing industry and hence the pornographic industry. Pornographic magazines were sold with high quality photographs (relative to the time) at an affordable price. Pornography’s vehicle to the masses, the men’s magazine had been born. One of the early magazines was an Eng- lish title by the name of Photo Bits; it portrayed burlesque actresses in natural settings with explicit articles accompanying the photographs (Gabor, 1984).

Film Stock & Cinema

In 1889, Henry M. Reichenback devised a cellulose-based film; it was flex- ible, transparent, and receptive to the printing of photographic images. To create the film, he had built upon J.W. and I.S. Hyatt’s (1865) as well as Hannibal Goodwin’s (1888) previous inventions (Cook, 1996). On March 22, 1895, the Lumière Brothers projected their first black and white silent film to an audience in Paris using their new patent, the Cinématog- raphe. Using the film technology devised by Reichenback and building upon Edison and Dickson’s Kinetoscope (1891), as well as Charles Émile Rey- naud’s Théâtre Optique (1892), the Lumiere brothers launched a primitive and popular form of cinema (Nowell-Smith, 1997). It did not take long for stag films/blue movies (primitive pornographic films) to emerge. According to The Mirror (2007), a French film titled Le Coucher De La Marie (1896) was the first pornographic film; it displayed a couple having sex anda female striptease. Stag films were a major leap forward for modern pornography; audiences could voyeuristically watch real people engaging in real sex acts as if they were physically present at the scene.

Legal Response

In 1842, the United States Tariff Act was the first federal obscenity law to ban the importation of obscene contraband; it was amended in 1857 to ban erotic daguerreotypes. In 1857, the English Obscene Publications Act (1857) was introduced by Lord Campbell; it criminalized the sale and the distribution of ‘obscene libel’. The Act fulfilled three main roles, (1) it permitted the issue of search warrants for obscene materials that were available for sale or distribution, (2) it provided for the seizure and destruction of such obscene materials; the proprietor was given an opportunity in court to state why such material should not be destroyed (3) it rendered the offender(s) liable to prosecution (Craig, 1963). Notably, the term ‘obscenity’ would not be defined until 1868 in Regina v. Hicklin. In 1865, a postal obscenity law was adopted in the United States, which banned pornographic books, photographs, and images from the mail (Sar- racino & Scott, 2008). In 1868, Lord Chief Justice Cockburn proposed a definition for obscenity in Regina v. Hicklin, which came to be known as the ‘Hicklin test’. 33 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz Cockburn said that the test of obscenity is “whether the tendency of the matter charged as obscenity is to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to such immoral influences, and into whose hands a publication of this sort may fall” (Copp & Wendell, 1983, p. 24). The Hicklin test formed the basis of anti-obscenity legislation in both Britain and the United States for almost a century. It allowed judges to find a book obscene based on selected passages without considering its merits as a whole. In 1873, the Comstock Act was passed in the United States. It was amended in 1876 to prohibit: Every obscene, lewd or lascivious book, pamphlet, picture, paper, writing, print, or other publication of an indecent character, … and every article or thing intended or adapted for any indecent or immoral use, and every written or printed card, circular, book, pamphlet, advertisement or notice of any kind giving information, directly or indirectly, where, or how, or of whom, or by what means, any of the before mentioned matters, articles or things may be obtained or made, and every letter upon the envelope of which, or postal card upon which, indecent, lewd, obscene or lascivious delineations, epithets, terms or language may be written or printed, are hereby declared to be non-mailable matter, and shall not be conveyed in the mails, nor delivered from any post office, nor by any letter carriers (Comstock, 1967, p. 209). Failure to comply with the act had a maximum penalty, of a $2000 fine or five years of hard labor for each offense.

Anthony Comstock

From 1873 to 1915, Anthony J. Comstock waged a war against pornography and all forms of obscenity in the United States. A fanatical and infamous crusader, he was America’s anti-obscenity czar for four decades. Despite the fact that Comstock was only a private citizen, he was the secretary of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, a special agent of the Post Office Department, the prime enforcer of the Comstock Act (which he designed and submitted to Congress), deputy sheriff of New York City, and an honorary U.S. marshal on occasion (LaMay, 1997). He wholeheartedly believed that obscenity was the greatest corruptor of youth and ultimately society. Driven by Victorian prudishness, religious convictions, and a fanatical zeal, Comstock would obsessively hunt down peddlers of obscenity. At one point in his career, he proudly boasted that fifteen people (obscenity peddlers) had committed suicide to evade his prosecution. Entrapment, bullying, docket-fixing, harassment, and persecution were all employed for the ‘greater good’. Comstock’s regular targets included: lewd writings and pictures, sex education, blasphemy, gambling, theatrical performanc- es, family planning literature, feminist tracts and any other ‘offenses’ against public decency (Slade, 2000). Comstock’s influence would wane at the turn of the century; Victorian values were receding and community standards were evolving. Despite this, Comstock refused to change with the times; the public started to see him as less of a reformer and more of prude (or worse). As his biographers, Broun and Leech (1927) put it, “To his youthful countrymen, he had become a great tradition, a joke, a scapegoat” (p. 244). His constant at- tacks on art and literature for so-called obscenity birthed the term ‘Comstockery’. Despite his fall from grace, Comstock’s record speaks for itself; by 1913, he had destroyed one hundred and sixty tons of obscene literature, and convicted more than three and a half thousand people for violating the Comstock Act. When he died in 1915, the obituary notice in the New York Times called Anthony Comstock both a hero and a benefactor (Broun & Leech, 1927). Without a doubt, he was one of the most, if not the most zealous and influential opponent of pornography, in modern history.

The Twentieth Century

Legal Milestones

1930, The New Tariff Act authorizes the courts to determine obscenity and removes this authority from the U.S. Post Office and U.S. customs department. © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 34 1952, Joseph Burstyn, Inc v Wilson; the U.S. Supreme Court decides that cinema is protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments. 1957, Roth v United States, the U.S. Supreme Court repudiated the Hick- lin Test and ruled that material was obscene when it would be considered objectionable by an average person using community standards and, where the media has only prurient not artistic merit. 1969, Stanley v Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the conviction of a man accused of possessing pornographic films for his own private use. 1973, Miller v California, the U.S. Supreme Court constructed a test to determine whether a work was obscene. It had three parts: (1) whether the average person, applying contemporary community standards would judge that the work appealed primarily to prurient interests, (2) whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law, and (3) whether the work lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. Using the ‘Miller Test’, a work is deemed obscene only if all three conditions are satisfied. 1982, New York v Ferber, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment did not prohibit states from banning the sale of material that depicts children engaging in sexual activity.

Men’s Magazines

One of the first magazines to display photographs of the female nude, was the French magazine Le Frisson at the turn of the century (Rodley, 2000). At that time, it was increasingly common for French magazines to publish nudes, under the guise of naturism. American magazines were less risqué; they displayed reproductions of erotic paintings with the occasional ‘live’ model. Such magazines included Nickell (1894-1905) and Metropoli- tan (1895-1911) (Slade, 2000). The United States produced Tijuana Bibles in the 1920s, they were a cheap form of pornography that contained stapled pages of gamy photos, dirty stories, and/or erotic comics. They were printed on low-grade paper and inked off the same printers that made the labels for whisky bottles (Ger- tzman, 1999). Tijuana Bibles were especially popular during the Great Depression as a cheap form of entertainment. In December of 1953, Hugh Hefner published the first edition of Playboy Magazine in the United States; a nude Marilyn Monroe was the first Playboy centerfold. Whilst publishing nudes was not original, Hefner’s achieve- ment was to turn Playboy into the liberal voice of a masculinized middle class and to marshal advertisers behind his “Playboy Philosophy, a … jus- tification of a postwar good life that, he said, included sex as recrea- tion” (Slade, 2000, p. 60). Whilst Playboy was controversial, it never showed photographs of pubic hair or genitals in the early days. Hefner managed to keep the censors at bay by combining high quality journalism with relatively ‘respectable’ photography (Watts, 2009). In 1965, Bob Guccione published the first edition of Penthouse magazine in the United Kingdom, the first American edition was launched in 1969. More risqué than Playboy, Penthouse photographs contained pubic hair. Pent- house was popular with persons who wanted more explicit photographs and written content than Playboy. In 1974, Larry Flynt Jr. published Hustler magazine in the United States for the first time. Hustler went where no mass-market men’s magazine had gone before; it displayed the female genitalia, hardcore sex acts, various fetishes, and sex involving sex toys. Hustler magazine continually pushed social boundaries; it challenged societal taboos, held contempt for the existing obscenity laws, and stridently campaigned for the magazine’s right to free speech. (Russomanno, 2002). Playboy, Penthouse and Hustler have been the most popular magazines in the history of pornography. Traditionally each brand has dominated a specific niche within the men’s magazine market; Playboy is known for its softcore content, Hustler is known for its hardcore material, and Penthouse occupies the space in-between. Men’s magazines were the primary vehicle for pornographic distribution from the early twentieth century to the 1970s. Their popularity declined alongside the advent of new technologies.

35 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz Stag Films

Stag films as an illegal pornographic medium were utilized from 1896 until the 1970s. In the 1970s, the feature length and legal X-rated pornographic film with its superior quality and famous porn stars, “supplanted the silent, one-reel, illegally made and exhibited stag” (Williams, 1989, p. 58). The early stag films (1896-1911) were short (less than fifteen minutes long), crudely primitive, bawdy, amateur, anonymous, and of poor visual quality with simple disjointed narratives. The vast bulk of early stag films originated from Latin America, France, and Germany. They were illegally shot, distributed and consumed. The films depicted a wide range of sex acts ranging from: strippers baring their breasts to hardcore penetration, fellatio, cunnilingus, and masturbation (Zillman & Bryant, 1989). Early films included El sartario (Argentina, ca. 1907-1912); the film begins with three women bathing in a river, a man dressed as a devil then kidnaps one of the women, she performs fellatio on him, they then engage in simultaneous fellatio and cunnilingus, which is followed by sex in the missionary position. Am Abend (German, ca. 1910) begins with a woman masturbating alone in a room, a man then enters whereby they engage in sex; with the man on top as well as penetrating her vagina from behind. It includes additional masturbatory scenes and a large number of genital shots. The earliest known American stag film was A Free Ride also known as A Grass Sandwich; circa 1915 (Inge, 1989). It begins with a man driving a car containing two female passengers through a rural setting. The car stops whereby the man exits the car to urinate, whilst the women spy on him fondling themselves. The women then urinate themselves and the man spies on them fondling himself. This is followed by the man having sex with one of the women; after some time the second woman joins in. The film is in- terspersed with title cards such as “Oh, Baby,” “Please give me a little” and “Oh, isn’t he wonderful!” (Guy, 1915) Stag films were smuggled into towns by travelling salesmen for bachelor parties, military events, college fraternities and other exclusively male “smoker” events. It was also common to find them in brothels where they were employed for arousal purposes to generate business. After World War II, large numbers of people made their own stag films using 8mm film. Unlike regular cinema, stag films did not substantially evolve; they essentially remained the same for several decades. The reason for this is that stag films were an illegal ‘underground’ trade that were not exposed to mainstream culture. As such, there were no film critics to suggest changes or improvements. In the words of Linda Williams (1989), the general attitude was, “Let’s just feast our eyes and arrest our gaze on the hidden things that ordinary vision, and certainly ordinary filmic vision, cannot see: a penis, a breast, a vulva, looking right at us; who needs more?” (p. 71). In addition to regular stag films, less explicit titles emerged in the late 1950s, they were referred to as “beaver” movies. Beaver movies displayed women stripping to display full frontal nudity. Beaver movies evolved into “split beaver” films, which involved the spreading of a woman’s legs and/or her vulva. Split beaver films evolved into “action beaver” movies, these movies often depicted softcore lesbian scenes. Some of these movies were legally screened at public cinemas in the 1960s (Radner & Luckett, 1999).

Lasse Braun

Unhappy with the poor quality of stag films and frustrated with the lack of color films, Lasse Braun decided to make his own movies. He made high quality, color, hardcore pornographic films, using Super 8mm and later 16mm film. From his base in Stockholm, Braun made eighty color titles or ‘loops’ from 1968 to 1977, with running times ranging from eight to fifteen minutes each. Braun’s titles included Sex on the Motorway, Casanova… and the Country Girls! The Vikings, Top Secret, Perversion, and Tropi- cal. Shot in exotic locations, they ranged from historical dramas, to spy thrillers, island adventures, and various forms of reality pornography. Braun’s pioneering work set a new standard for the porn industry. In 1971, Reuben Sturman; the American porn industry’s godfather, visited © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 36 Stockholm to acquire Braun’s films for his new invention; the peepshow. The combination of Braun’s films with the private peepshow booth earned millions of dollars in a constant stream of small change. The peepshow booth would be the first medium to privately screen pornographic films to a mass market. (Rodley, 2000).

Denmark

In 1969, the Danish Parliament legalized pornography. From 1970-74, over thirty percent of the feature films made in Denmark contained pornographic material (Sigel, 2005). Two Danish documentaries; Censorship in Denmark: A New Approach (1970) and Sexual Freedom in Denmark (1970) were screened publicly in the United States. Censorship in Denmark: A New Approach depicted a live lesbian sex act, the filming of a hardcore movie, as well as phallic and other forms of nudity. Since the educational content of these documentaries contained ‘redeeming social importance’, they managed to evade the censors. Such documentaries pushed the moral limits of American cinema (Copp & Wendell, 1983).

Deep Throat & the 1970s

A watershed film; Deep Throat (1972) made pornography more palatable to a broad section of the American public. Rather than simply showing explicit sex, the film had a plot, some music, and a broad range of tongue- in-cheek humor. First released at New York’s, New Mature World Theater in Times Square. It had been viewed by more than two hundred and fifty thousand people in that theater alone, before the censors shut it down in March, 1973. In a cultural evolution, it became chic to view pornography; celebrities like Charlton Heston, Johnny Carson, Jack Nicholson, and Sammy Davis Jr. started talking about Deep Throat. Deep Throat was the first pornographic film to enter the public consciousness in a positive light (Lehman, 2006). The film itself was funded by $25,000 of organized crime money, Gerard Damiano directed it and it starred Linda Lovelace as herself. The film’s synopsis, is that Linda cannot orgasm (despite numerous on-screen attempts) because her clitoris is buried deep in the back of her throat. She goes to see Dr Young (Harry Reems) where they jointly discover that if Linda ‘deep-throats’ a phallus, she will orgasm. Armed with this knowledge and employed as Dr Young’s new phallic ‘physiothera- pist’, Linda begins her search for a husband. Her one stipulation is that her future spouse must have a large enough member to pleasure her clitoris. The film ends with Linda finding her man Wilber Wang (William Love), she deep-throats him, fireworks go off, bells ring and a rocket takes off to simulate Linda’s orgasm. Amongst the comedy, Damiano managed to show over ten hard core sex scenes to the American public including: fellatio, cunnilingus, vaginal and anal penetration, a threesome and several ‘money shots’ (Damiano, 1972). Behind the Green Door (1972) was released after Deep Throat to adult theaters across America. It starred the all-American girl Marilyn Cham- bers, who would go on to become the most famous porn star of the 1970s. Chambers had previously been the wholesome face of Proctor & Gamble’s de- tergent Ivory Snow (Pasi, 1994). The plot involves Gloria (Marilyn Cham- bers) who is kidnapped and taken to an audience filled sex theater. Mul- tiple women pleasure her before the African-American Johnny Keys enters and they have sex. After a psychedelic money shot, Gloria is carried away through the green door by the narrator, who proceeds to have sex with her (Mitchell & Mitchell, 1972). Chambers went on to star in Resurrection of Eve (1973), Inside Marilyn Chambers (1975), and Insatiable (1980) amongst many other pornographic films. Other notable films of the 1970s include The Devil in Miss Jones (USA, 1973), Sensations (Holland, 1975), The Opening of Misty Beethoven (USA, 1976), Tell Them Johnny Wadd Is Here (USA, 1976) and Debbie Does Dallas (USA, 1978). From 1973 to 1974, Americans shot approximately one hundred pornographic films, Hollywood in comparison, shot four hundred feature films per year (Slade, 2000). Ultimately, the privately viewed videotape would supersede pornographic cinema.

37 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz The Video Cassette Recorder (VCR)

According to John Heidenry (1997), the invention of the videocassette recorder (VCR) was “the most significant event in adult-film history and, along with Deep Throat, the impetus for a revolution in hard-core pornography” (pp. 212-213). The first mass-market VCRs were Sony Corporation’s Beta (1975) and JVC’s Video Home System (VHS; 1976). Sony Corporation refused to license its Beta technology to pornographers whereas JVC took the opposite stance. In part, this action made VHS the most popular VCR format; the market wanted to view pornography from the privacy of the home and hence Sony Corporation paid the price for not factoring this in (Van Scoy, 2000). The VCR allowed people to purchase pornography via discreet means (mail order, adult stores, and distant stores) and view it in the privacy of their own home. Anonymity would create large profits for pornographers; by the late 1970s pornographic videotape sales comprised approximately half of all American prerecorded tape sales. As the technology became more widespread in the mid eighties, pornographic videotapes accounted for a substantial 10-25% of all prerecorded tape sales, 25000 of the 60000 American video retail outlets stocked pornography and it accounted for 28% of their revenue (Coopersmith, 2000). The growth in demand for pornographic videos spawned porn stars such as Ron Jeremy, John Holmes, Christy Canyon, and Ginger Lynn amongst many others. The VHS would remain the dominant technology until the founding of the Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) in 1995.

Snuff

Prior to the release of Snuff (1976), there was an unsubstantiated ru- mor in New York City, that police were confiscating snuff films from South America. These snuff films purportedly depicted the senseless murders of innocent women after they had sex with anonymous men. Snuff was oppor- tunistically released into this emotive environment and marketed as an authentic pornographic snuff film, with a real murder (Williams, 1989). Snuff was segmented into two distinct parts; the first part screened the re-cut horror movie The Slaughter (Argentina, 1971). After The Slaughter ends, the viewer is led to believe that she is watching some behind the scenes footage of the film crew from The Slaughter. In this footage, the director propositions the ‘script girl’ for sex whereby they copulate. When she realizes she is being filmed, the script girl tries to pull away but the director stops her. He proceeds to gruesomely hack her to death with a knife before holding her bodily organs above his head in an act of sadistic triumph. The screen then goes black, a voice says, “Shit, we ran out of film,” another voice asks, “Did you get it all?” followed by “Yeah, we got it. Let’s get out of here.” The film then abruptly ends and there are no credits (Findlay, Findlay, Fredriksson, & Nuchtern, 1976). The marketing of the film, “A film that could only be made in South America – where Life is CHEAP!” led viewers to believe that the murder of the script girl was real, which was a hoax. In the words of one feminist writer: Snuff … marked the turning point in our consciousness about the meaning behind the countless movies and magazines devoted to the naked female body. Snuff forced us to stop turning the other way each time we passed an X-rated movie house. It compelled us to take a long, hard look at the pornography industry. The graphic bloodletting in Snuff finally made the misogyny of pornography a major feminist concern (LaBelle, as cited by Lederer, 1980, p. 274). Despite the fact that Snuff was a hoax and did not “belong to the pornographic genre” (Williams, 1989, p. 190), it was the spark that set the anti-pornography movement ablaze.

The Anti-Pornography Movement

In the wake of Snuff, many feminists joined protest groups such as Women against Pornography, Women against Violence in Pornography and Media, Women against Violence against Women, Angry Women, and Campaign against Pornography. Protest marches were regularly conducted, legal action was taken whenever possible, and feminists opposed to pornography were mobi- © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 38 lized en masse. The anti-pornography feminists were led by the radicals Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon for the better part of fifteen years, from 1978 to 1993 (Sarracino & Scott, 2008). MacKinnon was a Uni- versity of Michigan law professor and Dworkin was an author. They regarded pornography as “… a form of forced sex…an institution of gender inequality … pornography, with the rape and prostitution in which it participates, institutionalizes the sexuality of male supremacy” (MacKinnon, 1984, p. 325). In a surprising move to some, the feminist movement joined forces with the American Religious Right to combat pornography. In the 1980’s and early 1990’s under President Reagan and President Bush, the American federal government co-erced by the Religious Right, went after pornography. Leaders such as Jerry Falwell and James Dobson amongst others led the conservative campaign. In 1985, Reagan instructed his attorney general William Smith who was succeeded by Edwin Meese, to conduct a commission on pornography (later referred to as the Meese Report). The Meese Report was a flawed document that was biased and heavily influenced by conservative ideology. It failed to prove a causal link between pornography and drug use, prostitution or violence. Despite this, Commissioner James Dobson echoed Robin Morgan’s slogan in the Final Report, “Pornog- raphy is the theory; rape is the practice” (Meese, et al., 1986, p. 78). Meese acted on the report’s main recommendation by forming a new task force in 1987; the National Obscenity Enforcement Unit (NOEU), which was later renamed the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS). The NOEU was staffed with anti-pornography activists and charged with prose- cuting the pornography industry. From 1987 until 1992, pornographers were targeted by the American government. First, ‘Operation Postporn’ targeted mail-order distributors, then ‘Operation Woodworm’ targeted distributors and producers. The combined operations bankrupted seven of the largest adult video distributors as well as several adult companies. With the backing of conservatives, Mackinnon and Dworkin “sought to change the legal definition of pornography from an obscenity standard, which appealed to the public morality, to that of the subordination of women” (Cornell, 2000, p. 4). They did this by defining pornography as the “graphic sexually explicit materials that subordinate women through pictures or words” (MacKinnon, 1993, p. 22). From 1983 until 1992, they worked with officials in Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Boston, and Los Angeles to pass anti-pornography civil rights ordinances. Their legal attempts gathered immense public attention but were ultimately unsuccessful. Most feminists would reject the principles of Dworkin and MacKinnon in the mid 1990s. Feminism generally shifted from an anti-pornography stance, to a pro-sex, anti-censorship position. (Strossen, 1995; Cornell, 2000; Sarracino & Scott, 2008). Cable Television

In the 1980s, pornography was available at hotels and motels with in-room pay-per-view. In the 1990s pornography was available from a person’s res- idence if desired with the Playboy Channel, Vivid, and the Spice Channel amongst others (Sarracino & Scott, 2008). American pay-per-view revenues rose from $54 million in 1992 to $367 million in 1999.

Video Camera Recorder (Camcorder)

Do-It-Yourself (DIY) pornography or amateur pornography sizably emerged in the late 1980s when camcorder prices fell. By 1991, DIY pornography accounted for 30% of adult video rentals and sales in the United States. $15 for an amateur film proved popular compared to $25 for a commercial film (Coopersmith, 2000).

Computers & the Internet

From the Apple II (1977) and IBM Personal Computer (1981) to laptop computers, CD-ROMs, webcams and mobile phones. From ARPANET (Advanced Re- search Projects Agency Network; 1969) to bulletin board systems (1978), the Usenet (1980) and the World Wide Web (1991). The introduction and development of computers and the Internet, has progressively increased the accessibility of pornography on an unprecedented scale (Campbell-Kelly & Aspray, 1996). 39 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz The Usenet (1980) allowed messages and files to be exchanged via computers using the UNIX-to-UNIX copy protocol (UUCP). It grew to incorporate thousands of discussion groups (newsgroups) with millions of users. Un- moderated and alternative newsgroups could be created anonymously by anyone. The Usenet newsgroup alt.sex, which included alt.sex.pictures, alt. sex.movies, alt.sex.voyeurism, and alt.sex.masturbation amongst others, had an estimated global readership of 3.3 million people per month by October 1993. This accounted for 8 percent of the total Usenet readership (Reid, 1993). In 1986, Mike Saenz created Virtual Valerie; a bestselling adult computer disk. It was an interactive computer program that allowed the user to repeatedly insert a dildo into Valerie’s vagina. Adult CD-ROMs emerged in the early 1990s; they enhanced the interactive experience that Virtual Valerie had begun. Titles included Penthouse Virtual Photo Shoot, Virtual Vixens and The Interactive Adventures of Seymour Butts. Tim Berners-Lee and his colleagues at CERN commenced development of the World Wide Web in 1989 which debuted in 1991. A text based Web browser was released in January 1992, Mosaic graphical browser software was released in 1993, and Netscape Navigator was released in 1994. In particular, Netscape Navigator made the Internet more user-friendly to the public. The growth in Internet usage was astounding, in 1981, less than 300 computers were linked to the Internet, by 1989 there were 90 000, by 1993, there were over one million and by 1998, there was over 36.7 million computers linked to the Internet. Web sites experienced similar growth with fifty web sites operating in 1993, 1.3 million in 1998 and over fifty million by the year 2000 (Jenkins, 2003). The Triple A-Engine; anonymity, affordability and accessibility (Cooper, 1998) drove the exponential growth in Internet pornography usage. Addi- tionally, “[p]ersonal inhibition levels, social controls, and the lack of willing partners and sexual scenes that may limit sexual activity in everyday contexts are obsolete in cyberspace” (Leiblum & Doring, 1998, p. 29). Users had unrestricted and instantaneous access to an immense amount of pornographic: photos, videos, films, games, cybersex, webcams, and texts from a wide variety of niches. Pornography was completely democratized; amateurs produced their own pornography for distribution (generally for free), whilst commercial operators sold their wares for a fee (Doring, 2009). In 1994, Playboy launched its website, in 1995, Penthouse launched theirs; respectively they received 620,000 and 802,000 daily visits in 1995. That same year saw the introduction of video conference technology, which immediately led to live striptease shows and mutual masturbation on the Internet. In 1996, Internet pornography revenues were estimated to range from $50 million to $150 million. By 1997 Video Fantasy; a provider of video conference peep shows had 20000 subscribers. Also in 1997, Internet Entertainment Group claimed 50000 sub-scribers, Porn City averaged two million daily hits, Playboy averaged five million daily hits and all up, there were over 10000 pornographic websites in operation. By 1998, internet pornography revenues were estimated at $750 million to $1 billion with 84% of the revenue being generated in the United States (Cooper- smith, 2000). The research firm Datamonitor reported that over half of all personal spending on the Internet was related to sexual activity. Leone & Beilsmith (1999) estimated that 31% of the total online population had visited a pornographic web site by 1999.

Jenna Jameson & Pamela Anderson

In the 1990s, pornography was dominated by one porn star who became the face of the porn industry; Jenna Jameson. Jameson appeared in over 100 films throughout her career (1993-2008) including Up and Cummers 11 (1994), Flashpoint (1998), Virtual Sex with Jenna Jameson (1999) and Bri- anna Loves Jenna (2001). The most famous porn star in the world, she was dubbed the ‘Queen of Porn’. The best selling adult video of the twentieth century would belong to Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee. Their infamous sex-tape (1998) sold over two million copies (Rodley, 2000). By 1999, over 10 000 hardcore pornography titles were produced in the © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 40 United States per annum (Ferguson & Hartley, 2009). The Twenty First Century

In 1985, the entire pornography industry generated $75 million in revenue (Sun, Bridges, Wosnitzer, Scharrer, & Lieberman, 2008). By 2009, this figure had grown to $4.9 billion in revenue per annum. The Internet including mobile phone usage accounts for $2.48 billion, adult video sales and rentals account for $1.24 billion, pornographic magazines account for $740 million (this figure has continually declined since the late 70s), and pay-per-view and cable programming account for $440 million per annum. The Internet is now the most popular medium for accessing pornography. There are over 2 million adult web sites with more “than a million people across the globe…now photographing themselves during various sexual activities, uploading these photos onto personal and commercial websites, and inviting the entire computerized world to enjoy them” (Lehman, 2006, p. 254). The $2.48 billion in Internet pornography revenue understates the medium’s usage. Over 95% of pornography consumed on the Internet is sourced from free amateur sites, free adult tube sites, and/ or free file sharing protocols such as BitTorrent. Commercial sites face a challenge generating revenue in the face of free alternative products; they have to distinguish themselves from the relatively homogenous product that is pornography. They do this by using new technologies such as high definition video (HD video), securing popular stars to exclusive contracts, producing a higher quality product, let- ting subscribers keep all the material they download and attempting to create a brand.

Generation XXX

Pornography is now the most popular Internet destination for American men aged eighteen to thirty four. It is 50 percent more popular than music sites or eBay and four times more popular than travel services such as hotel and airline reservations (Lehman, 2006). In 2002, a convenience sample of students from Canada (average age of 20), 24% of female and 72% of male participants stated that they had used online pornography within the last 12 months (Boies, 2002). In 2004, an Elle/MSNBC survey (15,000 people) found that 66% of women and more than 50% of men claimed that the ‘pornosphere’ had boosted their sex lives (Weaver, 2004). In 2006, a representative study in Norway reported that 96% of men and 73% of women had viewed pornographic magazines in the last year, and that 96% of men and 76% of women had viewed pornographic films in the preceding 12 months (Traeen, Nilsen, & Stigum, 2006). In 2008, a study of American Midwestern college students (50% women, 50% men), found that 67% of men and 49% of women; agree that the viewing of pornography is acceptable. From this sample, 87% of men and 31% of women reported using pornography (Carroll, Padilla-Walker, Nelson, Olson, Bar- ry, & Madsen, 2008).

Conclusions

This paper has identified three meaningful trends. (1) The public interpretation and acceptance of pornography has radically shifted over the last five hundred years. To assume that we are at the zenith of our pornographic tolerance would be presumptuous. (2) The increased quantity and quality of pornography is principally a derivation of new technologies; pornography is likely to become more pervasive as technology develops. (3) Censorship and opposition to pornography have had little effect in stemming the tide; the biological chemistry of sexual desire has outlived all censorship attempts and will continue to do so. There were several limitations to this study. (1) Compressing such a large space of time and history, made it necessary to overlook numerous in-depth details. (2) This paper is based upon a compilation of English- language literature that originates predominantly from the United States and Europe. (3) This paper analyzes the history of modern pornography from a Western tradition; this is because pornography in its current form is primarily a Western construct. 41 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz Bibliography

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04/07/2013 – 3.22pm Had lunch with work colleagues today (artists) and they asked me how I was doing with the project. I was quite pleased to realise that after a few days of research I’m not as embarrassed about it, I’m quite confident talking about pornography and I also use the proper words. Although I now realise that throwing Cunninligus and Analingus in the middle of a lunch conversation can put others off.

I don’t feel that I have normalised porn, but I’m certainly more educated and more factual about it. I’m hoping the flash cards project will do the same for others. After all that’s my aim: to demystify the porn language.

One of my colleagues was wondering about the percentage of population engaged in certain extreme practices (BDSM). We were all wondering if the videos on porn websites actually reflect the fantasy of the majority of the sexually active population. Since I leaned about Bukkake, I wonder if I know anybody who has ever experienced one. 43 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz We are back to the original debate (see the first couple of articles I read on the subject): Do the porn websites really represent what men and women out there are fantasising about? Are these websites teaching degrading sexual content to a whole new generation? How much do porn videos influence the viewer in real life? Do they really appeal to the majority?

After some digging I found out what the most popular porn related online search engine requests are per country on an interactive map: http://www.pornmd.com/sex-search

New Zealand porn related top 10 requests are: 1. Teen 2. Hentai 3. Indian 4. Massage 5. Milf 6. Lesbian 7. Korean 8. Squirt 9. Amateur 10. Asian Australia porn related top 10 requests are: 1. Aussie (gay) 2. Asian 3. Massage 4. Teen 5. Milf 6. Compilation 7. Hentai 8. Squirt 9. Indian 10. Lesbian France porn related top 10 requests are: 1. French 2. Beurette (Note: Term to designate French-born people whose parents are immigrants from North Africa) 3. Francaise 4. Hentai 5. French (gay) 6. Amateur 7. Anal 8. Mature 9. Teen 10. Casting The search engine requests are actually quite ‘main stream’ (or ‘G rated’ as Becky would say) compared to the categories available on most porn website. (Apart for ‘Teens’ - #1 search in NZ… Should I assume teenage boys are looking for videos on teenagers girls or is it representative of under-age porn searches?)

So I now think that the content available on most porn websites is actually not really representative of what men and women are looking for or fantasise on. So why so many videos on extreme sexual acts?

‘Mom and son’ – 2nd most popular term in Hungary ‘Fake vagina’ – 9th most popular term in Kenya ‘Squirt machine’ – 2nd most popular term in Kazakhstan ‘Hotel businessman’ – 6th most popular term in Iran ‘Sex orgy’ – 4th most popular term in Lebanon ‘Big legs’ – 8th most popular term in Lebanon ‘Wife cheating’ – 6th most popular term in Cambodia ‘Backroom casting couch’ – 10th most popular term in Oklahoma, USA ‘Granny’ – 2nd most popular term in Finland ‘Hairy arse’ – 4th most popular tem in Iceland When I started this project; I was hoping to get maybe 25 good words. 6 days on the project and I now have more than 40 words and the more I research the more I find. I feel it’s a good thing, it will allow me to be selective when choosing the words to be printed on the flash cards.

Talking about flash cards, a colleague raised a good question yesterday. I was talking about the finished product look I’m aiming for and said that I knew a company which could make the set of flash cards and the box. She asked: “And they’re comfortable with that?” I didn’t think that the printing content or subject could be an issue for the printing company. It’s just words?!

Also I recently learned a lot of S&M sexual practices. It actually never crossed my mind to learn more about it as it has never been a personal interest. The more I know and the less twisted I find it. Not that I’m ready to try it in any way, but I do now understand the idea of it. I’m discovering a whole French bibliography I was unaware off, some writers and philoso- phers I have studied for some research on my main art practice or in philosophy class, have also written a lot on the S&M subject: Gilles Deleuze, Jacques Lacan, Paul Sartre and Rene Girard.

There’s even a sexual masochist/sadist classification chart:

Sexual Masochists:

Class I: Bothered by, but not seeking out, fantasies. May be preponder- antly sadists with minimal masochistic tendencies and/or non-sadomasochistic with minimal masochistic tendencies

Class II: Equal mix of sadistic and masochistic tendencies. Like to re- ceive pain but also like to be dominant partner (in this case, sadists). Sexual orgasm is achieved without pain or humiliation.

Class III: Masochists with minimal to no sadistic tendencies. Preference for pain and/or humiliation (which facilitates orgasm), but not necessary to orgasm. Capable of romantic attachment.

Class IV: Exclusive masochists (i.e. Cannot form typical romantic relationships, cannot achieve orgasm without pain or humiliation).

Sexual Sadists:

Class I: Bothered but don’t act out sexual fantasies.

Class II: Act on sadistic urges with consenting sexual partners (masochists or otherwise). Categorization as Leptosadism is outdated. 45 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz Class III: Act on sadistic urges with non-consenting victims, but don’t seriously injure or kill. May coincide with sadist sexual type rapists.

Class IV: Only act with non-consenting victims and will seriously injure or kill them. Difference between I-II and III-IV is consent

Aggrawal, Anil (2009). Forensic and Medico-legal Aspects of Sexual Crimes and Unusual Sexual Practices. Boca Raton: CRC Press. ISBN 1-4200-4308-0. Also found out that you can be prosecuted for BDSM practices: “Even if both parties legally consent to such acts this may not be accepted as a defense against criminal charges. Very few jurisdictions will permit consent as a legitimate defense if serious bodily injuries are caused”. “In general, BDSM play is usually structured such that it is possible for the consenting partner to withdraw his or her consent during a scene; for example, by using a safe word that was agreed on in advance. Use of the agreed safe word (or occasionally a “safe symbol” such as dropping a ball or ringing a bell) is seen by some as an explicit withdrawal of consent. Failure to honor a safe word is considered serious misconduct and could even change the sexual consent situation into a crime, depending on the relevant law, since the bottom has explicitly revoked his or her consent to any actions which follow the use of the safe word”

Common Misconceptions about BDSM

1. BDSM is mostly about the “dominant” partner getting his/her way with a passive, exploited “submissive” – BDSM community emphasizes on negotia- tion and creation of scripts. This view fails to recognize that submissive individuals consent for pleasure. It also fails to recognize the simple metaphysics that ‘fulfilling the masochists needs” is central to finding and keeping the submissive partner. Frequently one hears of Top- ping from the Bottom, where the submissive partner manipulates the relationship, while appearing passive, submissive and obedient. 2. BDSM is about physical pain – Kinky preferences are highly variable and not all forms induce pain. Although pain can be involved, it is in a sexual nature. Pain is experienced in the context of love, trust, and arousal. 3. BDSM activities inevitably escalate to extremes and/or become addictive – We see a “making up for lost time” phenomenon with some individuals who are late in coming out. However, this high level of activity usually levels off, though this level may be “occasional” for some and “24 / 7” for others. 4. BDSM is self-destructive – this is simply inaccurate and not supported by any evidence. Self-destructive behaviours are experienced no more frequently by BDSM practitioners than the general public. On that note, anything pleasurable is subject to abuse and BDSM is no exception. 5. BDSM stems from childhood abuse – There is no evidence for this claim, and it has been disproven by various articles[59][60] 6. BDSM is an avoidance of intimacy – BDSM is no more or less prone to intimacy amplification or aversion than more standard sexual practices. 7. BDSM is separate from “vanilla” sex – for most practitioners, BDSM activities and “regular” intercourse are often combined or intertwined in one way or another.

Nichols, M. (2006). Psychotherapeutic issues with “kinky” clients: Clini- cal problems, yours and theirs. Journal of Homosexuality, 50(2-3), 281- 300.

A representative study done from 2001 to 2002 in Australia found that 1.8% of sexually active people (2.2% men, 1.3% women but no significant sex difference) had engaged in BDSM activity in the previous year. Of the entire sample, 1.8% men and 1.3% women had been involved in BDSM.

Richters, J., De Visser, R. O., Rissel, C. E., Grulich, A. E., & Smith, A. (2008). Demographic and psychosocial features of participants in bondage

© Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 46 and discipline, “Sadomasochism” or Dominance and Submission (BDSM): Data from a National Survey. The journal of sexual medicine, 5(7), 1660–1668 It seems that BDSM only concerns a very small percentage of the sexually active population.

04/07/2013 – 9.50pm The last two days have been a bit difficult in term of vocabulary research. For 10 words I find, I only use 2, maybe 3. The others fall into the categories I excluded.

I guess it’s not the entertaining research I actually thought it would be.

Becky saw me today and asked if I was ok. She said I looked changed… that’s worrying! I told her the porn vocabulary is most of the time hard to handle. I can always count on Becky to lighten a situation: “Oh! You’re just having a bad porn day. It will get better tomorrow!”

I think it’s getting under my skin a little. Is it the scatology, the violence, the perception of women (called systematically ‘slut’, ‘bitches’ or ‘hoes’) or all the above?

No vocabulary research tomorrow. I need a break.

09/07/2013 – 9.26pm I haven’t been very lucky in the last couple of days. I have discarded a lot of words such as Spit roast, Snowballing… I’ve also avoided reading more articles on porn. A few days ago I saw Becky’s son wearing a T-shirt with the words Bay Olympic. Of course I read Gay Olympics. Becky caught my eyes and just said: “You’ve really unleashed the porn Kraken, haven’t you?”

6 hours of reading about porn per day has disturbed me more than I thought (Poor prude that I am!) and I needed a break. Returning to the vocabulary research after a few days break, I notice myself discarding more words than I did the last week. I guess I got desen- sitised in a few days and I’ve gone back to my normal ‘prudish self’ and I get a shock every second word. Although today I found Screwnicorn and I really liked that one!

Am I now just looking for humorous words? I’m I trying to joke about porn? Is it my way to deal with it now?

I have to hurry with my research. I’m meeting with the printer in a few days to design the flash cards. I feel I still have to get through a lot of words to be able to make a good selection.

I’ve also noticed I’ve lost interest in the project. Which surprises me, as I’m always quite focussed in my art practice and can carry out long term projects. I guess, passed the excitement and novelty, there isn’t much more to it and after a few days I’m bored. It’s always the same!

Found this article:

The cruel boredom of pornography on Last Exit Magazine, September 24, 2008. 47 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz The dirty secret of the porn industry is that, with a finite number of ways that human bodies can fit together, their product is repetitive and dull by definition. So they must resort to sexualizing degradation itself. by Robert Jensen

There is a finite number of ways that human bodies can be placed together sexually, and as one pornography industry veteran lamented to me at the annual trade show, “they’ve all been shot.” He sighed, pondering the challenge of creating a sexually explicit film that is unique, and mused, “After all, how many dicks can you stick in a girl at one time?”

His question was offered rhetorically, but I asked: How many?

Probably four, he said; simultaneous oral, vaginal, and double-anal penetration was realistic. Another producer later in the day told me he had once worked on a film that included a double-anal/double-vag scene -- a woman being penetrated by four men at once. He said the director had a special harness made to hold the woman for that scene. In contemporary mass-marketed heterosexual pornography, it’s unexceptional to see a standard DP (industry slang for “double penetration,” with two men enter- ing a woman vaginally and anally at the same time) with oral penetration.

Whatever the number, theoretical or routine, the discussion reminds us that pornography is relentlessly intense, pushing our sexual boundaries both physically and psychically. And, pornography also is incredibly repetitive and boring.

Pornographers know all this, of course, and it keeps them on edge.

These days there are about 13,000 pornographic films released each year, compared with about 600 from Hollywood. Not surprisingly, a common concern at the Adult Entertainment Expo each time I attended (in 2005, 2006, and 2008) was that the desperate struggle by directors to distinguish their films from all the others was leading to a kind of “sexual gymnastics.” Lexington Steele, one of the most successful contemporary pornography performers and producers, put it bluntly: “A lot of gonzo is becoming circus acts.”

“Gonzo” is the pornographic genre that rejects plot, character, or dialogue, offering straightforward explicit sex. Gonzo films are distin- guished from “features,” which to some degree mimic the structure of a traditional Hollywood film. According to the top trade magazine: “Gonzo, non-feature fare is the overwhelmingly dominant porn genre since it’s less expensive to produce than plot-oriented features, but just as importantly, is the fare of choice for the solo stroking consumer who merely wants to cut to the chase, get off on the good stuff, then, if they really wanna catch some acting, plot and dialog, pop in the latest Netflix disc.”

In that description is considerable insight into why pornography (1) has always been boring and (2) will continue to become more brutal.

The industry works from the assumption that the men who consume the vast majority of commercial heterosexual pornography are not really human beings with hearts, minds and souls. In the porn world, a man is a kind of sexual robot in search of nothing more than the stimulation of pleasure circuits. In that world, the goal is to reduce human sexuality to the production of an erection and orgasm as quickly as possible -- get it up and get it off, efficiently. Pornography assumes not that a man has a penis but that a man is nothing more than a penis.

The pornographer faces one serious obstacle in all this: Men are human beings. No matter how emotionally deformed by the toxic conception of masculinity that is dominant in a patriarchal culture such as the United States, we are human beings with hearts, minds and souls.

No matter how much men try to cut themselves off from the emotional component of sex, that component never withers completely, and therein lies © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 48 the potential problem for pornographers. When all emotion is drained from sex it becomes repetitive and uninteresting -- in a word, boring, even to men who are watching solely to facilitate masturbation. Because the novelty of seeing sex on the screen eventually wears off, pornographers who want to expand (or even just maintain) market share and profit need to give their products an emotional edge of some kind.

But pornography doesn’t draw on the emotions most commonly connected with sex -- love and affection -- because men typically consume pornography specifically to avoid love and affection. So, the pornographers offer men sexual gymnastics and circus acts that are saturated with cruelty toward women; they sexualize the degradation of women. While most of us would agree those are negative emotions, they are powerful emotions. And in a patriarchal society in which men are conditioned to see themselves as dominant over women, such cruelty and degradation fit easily into men’s notions about sex and gender.

When I offer this critique to men who are avid consumers of pornography, they often tell me that I’m wrong, that they watch gonzo and don’t see the kind of cruelty and degradation that I am describing. They tell me that that there’s no cruelty in a woman is being penetrated in aggressive fashion by three men who call her a whore throughout the sex. They tell me that when five men thrust into a woman’s mouth to the point she gags, slap a woman in the face with their penises, and ejaculate into her mouth and demand that she swallow it all, there’s no degradation.

In some sense, they are telling the truth -- they aren’t seeing the cruelty and degradation because they are too caught up in the sexual arousal, and in such a state their critical faculties are derailed. They don’t see it because they are men in a patriarchal culture focused on their own pleasure. To see the woman as a person deserving of respect -- to see her as fully human -- would interfere with getting it up and getting it off.

When I was a young adult who used pornography, I didn’t see it either, because I had a stake in not seeing it. That’s why after an orgasm I would quickly leave the theater or adult bookstore. That dates me, I know; my pornography use came before the VCR brought pornographic films into the home. But the pattern endures; many men I talk to today tell me that after masturbating they quickly take out the DVD or shut off the computer to avoid really seeing what is taking place on the screen. To slightly revise a cultural cliché, when the little head’s work is done, the big head re-engages. When the sexual experience is over, men can think, and when men can see the reality of pornography’s contempt for women most don’t want to watch.

These are general observations, an attempt to identify patterns in pornography. But the world is, of course, complex. There is considerable individual variation in the human species; not all men watch pornography for the same reason or have the same experience. And among those 13,000 films each year, there is variety. But there is a pattern to men’s consumption of pornography and the industry’s strategy to keep men consuming:

* Heterosexual men tend to consume pornography to achieve sexual satisfaction without the complications of dealing with a real woman. * Pornographers deliver graphic sexually explicit material that does the job, but to do so they must continuously increase the cruelty and degradation to maintain profits.

Gonzo producers test the limits with new practices that eroticize men’s domination of women. Less intense forms of those sexual practices migrate into the tamer feature pornography, and from there in muted form into mainstream pop culture. Pornography gets more openly misogynist, and pop culture becomes more pornographic -- many Hollywood movies and cable TV shows today look much like soft-core pornography of a few decades ago, and the common objectification of women in advertising has become more overtly sexualized.

49 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz Where will all this lead? How far will pornographers go to ensure their profits, especially as the proliferation of free pornography on the internet adds a new competition? How much eroticized misogyny will the culture be willing to tolerate?

When I ask that question of pornography producers, most say they don’t know. An industry leader such as Lexington Steele acknowledged he has no crystal ball: “Gonzo really always pushes the envelope. The thing about it is, there’s only but so many holes, only but so many different types of penetration that can be executed upon a woman. So it’s really hard to say what’s next within gonzo.”

What’s next? What comes after DPs and double anals? What is beyond a “10 Man Cum Slam” and “50 Guy Cream Pie”? I can’t claim to know either. But after 20 years of researching the pornography industry as a scholar and critiquing it as part of the feminist anti-pornography movement, I know that we should be concerned. We should be afraid that there may be no limit on men’s cruelty toward women. In a patriarchal society driven by the predatory values of capitalism, we should be very afraid. ------

Robert Jensen is a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin and board member of the Third Coast Activist Resource Center. His latest book, All My Bones Shake, will be published in 2009 by Soft Skull Press. He also is the author of Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity (South End Press, 2007); The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism and White Privilege (City Lights, 2005); Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity (City Lights, 2004); and Writing Dissent: Taking Radical Ideas from the Margins to the Mainstream (Peter Lang, 2002). Jensen can be reached at rjensen@uts. cc.utexas.edu and his articles can be found online at http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rjensen/index.html. “The Directors,” Adult Video News, August 2005, p. 54.

12/07/2013 – 2.41pm After reviewing my words and the diary, I realise I have over-sanitised my list. It’s almost sterile now. That’s probably why I lost interest. All the words that shocked me, interested me and intrigued me actually didn’t make the list. So, today I’m reworking my list, including many words I have discarded, because after all they are the reality of the porn vocabulary. The cards will now probably be a bit more shocking than I intended, but also more accurate and certainly more educative.

“Just words”… well, maybe not actually.

I had a very interesting conversation yesterday with a friend who is a nurse at the family planning clinic and who deals on a daily basis with sexual acts which can create bodily harm or discomfort. She was more open to the vocabulary than anybody else I have talked to about the Porn Project, probably because she engages in conversation using that vocabulary daily. She thinks the human input behind the vocabulary is important and by discarding too many words I’m only bringing a partial and inaccurate view on the subject.

Now, I need to find out where I draw the line (again): Scato words are in or out? Degrading and objectifying words are in or out? Donkey Punch in or out?

Donkey Punch seems so violent and can actually be considered as rape, so I did some research on it.

© Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 50 The definition on Wikipedia is: “Donkey punch is a slang term for a sexual practice supposedly performed during doggy style sex, particularly anal sex. The purported practice involves the penetrating partner punching the receiving partner on the back of the head or in the lower back to make the receiving partner’s anal or vaginal passage tense up while passing out, thus increasing the pleasure of the penetrative partner”

“In fact, there is no reflex in humans that would cause such tensing in response to a blow on the head, although striking a partner on the back of the neck or head could cause severe, even lethal injury. Sex columnist Dan Savage has discussed the alleged practice on several occasions. In 2004, Savage referred to the donkey punch as “a sex act that exists only in the imaginations of adolescent boys,” adding “no one has ever attempted “the Pirate,” just as no one has ever performed a Hot Karl, delivered a Donkey Punch, or inserted an Icy Mike. They’re all fictions.” Responding to an enquiry from Wikipedia editors, he again discussed the donkey punch urban legend in his “Savage Love” column in 2006. He wrote, “attempting a Donkey Punch can lead to ... unpleasant outcomes,” including “injury, death or incarceration”; he also pointed out that it “doesn’t even work.” He quoted Jeffrey Bahr, a faculty member at the Medical College of Wisconsin, “To the best of my knowledge, there is no definitive reflex in the human neurophysiology that induces involuntary tightening of the anal sphincter after receiving blunt force trauma to the occiput, or back of the head. ... Trauma to any part of the head can have serious ramifications. Pain, intracranial hemorrhage, memory loss, neck injury, and possibly some related sensory deficits in the arms and legs. A strong enough blow to the back of an unsuspecting person’s head could result in a vertebral frac- ture which, I hope most people know, could cause paralysis or even death.” Jordan Tate, commenting in The Contemporary Dictionary of Sexual Euphe- misms (2007) on the “almost purely theoretical nature” of the term, stated, ”The donkey punch originated in the late twentieth century sometime after the sexual revolution, when the empowerment of women was threaten- ing the place of men in contemporary society. This shift in gender para- digms left men feeling threatened, and to reassert their authority, they created and popularized these theoretical and violent euphemisms. ... The secondary reward of the donkey punch is the creation, or reinforcement, of the ideal power structure, or solidifying existing gender roles.” It’s all about gender domination, isn’t it? Donkey Punch is in. There’s so much more to it, I must include it in my list.

12/07/2013 – 3.46pm Just added Felching to my list. It doesn’t feel right.

12/07/2013 – 4.33pm Googled: “the human component in Porn” Reading this article by Naomi Wolf on the New York Times:

http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/trends/n_9437/

The Porn Myth In the end, porn doesn’t whet men’s appetites—it turns them off the real thing. By Naomi Wolf

At a benefit the other night, I saw Andrea Dworkin, the anti-porn activist 51 most famous in the eighties for her conviction that opening the floodgates © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz of pornography would lead men to see real women in sexually debased ways. If we did not limit pornography, she argued—before Internet technology made that prospect a technical impossibility—most men would come to objectify women as they objectified porn stars, and treat them accordingly. In a kind of domino theory, she predicted, rape and other kinds of sexual mayhem would surely follow.

The feminist warrior looked gentle and almost frail. The world she had, Cassandra-like, warned us about so passionately was truly here: Porn is, as David Amsden says, the “wallpaper” of our lives now. So was she right or wrong?

She was right about the warning, wrong about the outcome. As she fore- told, pornography did breach the dike that separated a marginal, adult, private pursuit from the mainstream public arena. The whole world, post- Internet, did become pornographized. Young men and women are indeed being taught what sex is, how it looks, what its etiquette and expectations are, by pornographic training—and this is having a huge effect on how they interact.

But the effect is not making men into raving beasts. On the contrary: The onslaught of porn is responsible for deadening male libido in relation to real women, and leading men to see fewer and fewer women as “porn-worthy.” Far from having to fend off porn-crazed young men, young women are worrying that as mere flesh and blood, they can scarcely get, let alone hold, their attention.

Here is what young women tell me on college campuses when the subject comes up: They can’t compete, and they know it. For how can a real woman—with pores and her own breasts and even sexual needs of her own (let alone with speech that goes beyond “More, more, you big stud!”)—possibly compete with a cybervision of perfection, downloadable and extinguishable at will, who comes, so to speak, utterly submissive and tailored to the consumer’s least specification?

For most of human history, erotic images have been reflections of, or cel- ebrations of, or substitutes for, real naked women. For the first time in human history, the images’ power and allure have supplanted that of real naked women. Today, real naked women are just bad porn.

For two decades, I have watched young women experience the continual “mission creep” of how pornography—and now Internet pornography—has lowered their sense of their own sexual value and their actual sexual value. When I came of age in the seventies, it was still pretty cool to be able to offer a young man the actual presence of a naked, willing young woman. There were more young men who wanted to be with naked women than there were naked women on the market. If there was nothing actively alarming about you, you could get a pretty enthusiastic response by just showing up. Your boyfriend may have seen Playboy, but hey, you could move, you were warm, you were real. Thirty years ago, simple lovemaking was considered erotic in the pornography that entered mainstream consciousness: When Behind the Green Door first opened, clumsy, earnest, missionary-position intercourse was still considered to be a huge turn-on.

Well, I am 40, and mine is the last female generation to experience that sense of sexual confidence and security in what we had to offer. Our younger sisters had to compete with video porn in the eighties and nineties, when intercourse was not hot enough. Now you have to offer—or flirtatiously suggest—the lesbian scene, the ejaculate-in-the-face scene. Being naked is not enough; you have to be buff, be tan with no tan lines, have the surgically hoisted breasts and the Brazilian bikini wax—just like porn stars. (In my gym, the 40-year-old women have adult pubic hair; the twentysomethings have all been trimmed and styled.) Pornography is addictive; the baseline gets ratcheted up. By the new millennium, a vagina—which, by the way, used to have a pretty high “exchange value,” as Marxist economists would say—wasn’t enough; it barely registered on the thrill scale. All mainstream porn—and certainly the Internet—made routine © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 52 use of all available female orifices.

The porn loop is de rigueur, no longer outside the pale; starlets in tabloids boast of learning to strip from professionals; the “cool girls” go with guys to the strip clubs, and even ask for lap dances; college girls are expected to tease guys at keg parties with lesbian kisses à la Britney and Madonna.

But does all this sexual imagery in the air mean that sex has been liberated—or is it the case that the relationship between the multi-billion- dollar porn industry, compulsiveness, and sexual appetite has become like the relationship between agribusiness, processed foods, supersize portions, and obesity? If your appetite is stimulated and fed by poor- quality material, it takes more junk to fill you up. People are not closer because of porn but further apart; people are not more turned on in their daily lives but less so.

The young women who talk to me on campuses about the effect of pornography on their intimate lives speak of feeling that they can never measure up, that they can never ask for what they want; and that if they do not offer what porn offers, they cannot expect to hold a guy. The young men talk about what it is like to grow up learning about sex from porn, and how it is not helpful to them in trying to figure out how to be with a real woman. Mostly, when I ask about loneliness, a deep, sad silence descends on audiences of young men and young women alike. They know they are lonely together, even when conjoined, and that this imagery is a big part of that loneliness. What they don’t know is how to get out, how to find each other again erotically, face-to-face.

So Dworkin was right that pornography is compulsive, but she was wrong in thinking it would make men more rapacious. A whole generation of men are less able to connect erotically to women—and ultimately less libidinous.

The reason to turn off the porn might become, to thoughtful people, not a moral one but, in a way, a physical- and emotional-health one; you might want to rethink your constant access to porn in the same way that, if you want to be an athlete, you rethink your smoking. The evidence is in: Greater supply of the stimulant equals diminished capacity.

“For the first time in human history, the images’ power and allure have supplanted that of real naked women. Today, real naked women are just bad porn.” After all, pornography works in the most basic of ways on the brain: It is Pavlovian. An orgasm is one of the biggest reinforcers imaginable. If you associate orgasm with your wife, a kiss, a scent, a body, that is what, over time, will turn you on; if you open your focus to an endless stream of ever-more-transgressive images of cybersex slaves, that is what it will take to turn you on. The ubiquity of sexual images does not free eros but dilutes it.

Other cultures know this. I am not advocating a return to the days of hiding female sexuality, but I am noting that the power and charge of sex are maintained when there is some sacredness to it, when it is not on tap all the time. In many more traditional cultures, it is not prudery that leads them to discourage men from looking at pornography. It is, rather, because these cultures understand male sexuality and what it takes to keep men and women turned on to one another over time—to help men, in particular, to, as the Old Testament puts it, “rejoice with the wife of thy youth; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times.” These cultures urge men not to look at porn because they know that a powerful erotic bond between parents is a key element of a strong family.

And feminists have misunderstood many of these prohibitions.

I will never forget a visit I made to Ilana, an old friend who had become an Orthodox Jew in Jerusalem. When I saw her again, she had abandoned her jeans and T-shirts for long skirts and a head scarf. I could not get over 53 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz it. Ilana has waist-length, wild and curly golden-blonde hair. “Can’t I even see your hair?” I asked, trying to find my old friend in there. “No,” she demurred quietly. “Only my husband,” she said with a calm sexual confidence, “ever gets to see my hair.”

When she showed me her little house in a settlement on a hill, and I saw the bedroom, draped in Middle Eastern embroideries, that she shares only with her husband—the kids are not allowed—the sexual intensity in the air was archaic, overwhelming. It was private. It was a feeling of erotic intensity deeper than any I have ever picked up between secular couples in the liberated West. And I thought: Our husbands see naked women all day—in Times Square if not on the Net. Her husband never even sees another woman’s hair.

She must feel, I thought, so hot.

Compare that steaminess with a conversation I had at Northwestern, after I had talked about the effect of porn on relationships. “Why have sex right away?” a boy with tousled hair and Bambi eyes was explaining. “Things are always a little tense and uncomfortable when you just start seeing someone,” he said. “I prefer to have sex right away just to get it over with. You know it’s going to happen anyway, and it gets rid of the tension.”

“Isn’t the tension kind of fun?” I asked. “Doesn’t that also get rid of the mystery?”

“Mystery?” He looked at me blankly. And then, without hesitating, he replied: “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Sex has no mystery.” 12/07/2013 – 5.46pm Just had a cigarette break with Becky. We had lunch together earlier. Between lunch time and 5pm, I worked on The Porn Project. Becky said she can tell when I spend too much time working on the project, she said I look different, almost like it affects me. She said I had a different vibe at 5pm compared to lunch time. I actually believe her. I feel drained out after 5 hours of research. I’m not even watching porn, I’m only reading about it.

I actually feel slightly depressed, for no apparent reason (I was perfectly fine this morning) and quite disillusioned. I feel like I have lost my sense of humour. Actually, I haven’t lost it, I just don’t find anything funny about this project anymore. I just don’t want to joke about it.

What is to joke about? The way women are being treated? The way men dominate, deni- grate and violate women (and men) in pornographic videos? The way men fantasise about doing in real life what they watch on pornographic websites? The way that pornography spreads like a venom in our society through students’ magazines, music videos, movies and internet?

Becky is right. It is affecting me. I need to finish as fast as I can and move on. I’m done for the day.

13/07/2013 – 5.29pm Just had one of those porn discussions again. I’m amazed at the amount of discussions related to pornography I’ve had in the last 2 weeks. I’ve definitely broken out of my shell! I was at a friend’s house where there were people I had never met before. After a quick introduction to these total strangers, I was presented as an artist who is ‘currently working © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 54 on an art project about porn’ and of course the conversation went straight in that direction! (I’m not sure I’m comfortable with being introduced as an artist who works on porn… Especially that I now know what porn really is about).

I learned a few new words and shared some too. Then someone said: “If you are going to talk about scato acts in your project, you have to talk about “2 girls and 1 cup”. There wasn’t much more detail given, except that the video went viral on internet. Of course I got home and looked for it. On my death bed I will still regret watching it. I quickly realised I couldn’t stomach it, so I fast forwarded to see as much as I could in a minimum time. After 23 seconds I almost vomited.

This is probably the most disgusting thing I have ever watched. I really wish I could un-see it. If you don’t want to know about it, SKIP to the next paragraph NOW… Ready?… Here we go: two girls and one cup, one of the girl defecates in the cup (fairly soft faeces) while the other holds it, they both eat it, lick it, kiss each other with faeces in their mouths, one vomits on the cup and they eat it again and then vomit on each other and in each other’s mouth. The disturbing part is that they are not disgusted by it and actually seem to enjoy it. The camera- man only seems able to do close up video work (anus, cup, mouth) but then for the vomiting part we suddenly have a full body view.

The video went viral and I also found a lot of spoof/meme posters, funny images and videos of people’s reactions while watching it. It seems to be a dare to watch this video. I certainly understand why, although I find it very disturbing.

For the last two weeks I have struggled with the scatological terms. I can’t really decide if they fall into the sexual acts or the fetish category.

So I searched and found this:

Faecal attraction: A beginner’s guide to coprophilia

http://drmarkgriffiths.wordpress.com/2012/02/24/faecal-attraction-a-be- ginners-guide-to-coprophilia/

Coprophilia (also known as coprolagnia) is a paraphilia where people get sexual pleasure from faeces. Sexual excitement typically comes from either (i) watching somebody defecate on somebody else or (ii) they themselves defecating on somebody else. In rare instances, some people may become sexually aroused when they are defecated upon by somebody else. As Dr Judith Milner and colleagues wrote in the 2008 book ’Sexual Deviance: Theory, Assessment and Treatment’: “Although some authors have defined the focus of coprophilia as the act of elimination (McCary, 1967), others have defined it as the act of consumption of excrement (Allen, 1969). To complicate the definition further, it appears that some individuals may have an interest in eliminating on one’s partner or in playing with the fecal matter. According to Smith (1976), a common analytic interpretation is that the excrement symboli- cally represents the penis and that the presence of the fecal matter serves as a defense against castration anxiety”

In the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), it is classified under ‘Paraphilia Not Otherwise Specified’ (PNOS) along with other paraphilias such as necrophilia, zoophilia, klismaphilia, and telephone scatophilia. As with all paraphilias in the PNOS category, diagnosis is only made “if the behavior, sexual urges, or fantasies cause clinically significant distress or 55 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of function- ing…Fantasies, behaviors, or objects are paraphilic only when they lead to clinically significant distress or impairment (e.g., are obligatory, result in sexual dysfunction, require participation of non-consenting individuals, lead to legal complications, interfere with social relationships)”. The psychologist Dr Tamara Penix (Eastern Michigan University, USA) says there are no data indicating successful treatment of coprophilia.

Surprisingly little scientific research has been carried out on coprophilia, probably because it is so rare. There are certainly pornographic films that include sexual defecation acts (notably some Japanese pornography). Some of these films include coprophiliacs engage in coprophagia (i.e., the eating of faeces and typically referred to more commonly as ‘scat’) which can provides a significant health risk in the form of hepatitis (perhaps another reason as to why the act is so rare). The psychiatrist, Dr Charles Lake (University of Kansa Medical Center, USA) notes that both coprophilia and coprophagia are traditionally considered characteristics of schizophrenia. However, there are case reports in the literature of nonpsychotic coprophiliacs with normal intelligence such as one published in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy in 1995.

The most infamous copraphiliac was allegedly Adolf Hitler. This was al- luded to in a recent 2011 biography of Hitler’s lover Eva Braun by Heike B. Gortemaker. However, other books on Hitler have been more explicit. For instance, Greg Hallet in his chapter ‘Hitler’s Sexuality’ (from his 2008 book ‘Hitler was a British Agent’) wrote:

“Hitler’s close boyhood friend from Linz, August Kubizek, wrote Adolf Hitler, Mein Jugendfreund (My Youth Friend), ‘Adolf did not engage in love affairs or flirtations. He always rejected the coquettish advances of girls or women. Women and girls took an interest in him but he always evaded their endeavours’…During deconstruction, it is customary that the person is sexually abused in the manner which is most embarrassing to that person. In Hitler’s case, he was sodomised, creating a submissive distant respect for homosexuals like his bodyguards and some of his highest- placed leaders. His natural bent was developed into coprophilia (being shat on)…With each deconstruction an embarrassing addiction is developed and filmed. With Hitler it was sadomasochism, coprophilia and homosexuality. That is, he liked to be verbally abused and slapped around, to have his head urinated on, his chest shat on, and to have sex with men”

The few studies that have been carried out have tended to be done on sado- masochist individuals (although even for sadomasochists this appears to be a rare activity for them to engage in). A study led by psychologist Dr Kenneth Sandnabba (Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland) and published in the Journal of Sex Research surveyed 164 Finnish male sadomasochists and reported that that 18% of them had engaged in at least one coprophilic act (6% as a masochist, 3% as a sadist, and 9% as both). There was no difference in sexual orientation with 18% of heterosexual sadomasochists and 17% of homosexual sadomasochists having engaged in at least one coprophilic act. The results also showed that the sadomasochists were socially well-adjusted and that their SM behavior was mainly a facilitative aspect of their sexual lives.

In a follow-up study published in the journal Deviant Behavior, Sandnabba and colleagues analysed data from a subset of twelve men from their study of sadomasochists who had also engaged in zoophilic activities. This group was then compared with a control group of sadomasochists from the same data set but who had not engaged in zoophilic activities. Results showed seven out of twelve zoophilic sadomasochists had engaged in coprophilic acts whereas only one in twelve non-zoophilic sadomasochists had engaged in coprophilic acts. In fact, the zoophilic sadomasochists were more likely to engage in a wide range of sexual behaviours including spanking, gagging, biting, urophilia (urinating on or being urinated on for sexual pleasure), fisting, coprophilia, skin branding, and trans- vestism (i.e., cross-dressing). The authors concluded that zoophilic © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 56 sadomasochists were more sexually experimental than the non-zoophilic sadomasochistic controls.

An earlier study on a much bigger sample of paraphiliacs also reported that zoophiles appear to engage in many paraphilic behaviours including coprophilia. In their survey of 561 non-incarcerated paraphiliacs seeking treatment, Dr Gene Abel and colleagues found that all of the 14 zoophiles in their sample reported more than one paraphilia and seven of them reported at least five other paraphilas including coprophilia, urophilia, pedophilia, exhibitionism, voyeurism, frotteurism, telephone scatophilia, transvestic fetishism, fetishism, sexual sadism, and/or sexual masochism.

There doesn’t appear to be any consensus as to the origins of these highly unusual paraphilias although (as with most paraphilic behaviour) operant and classical conditioning would appear to play a major role. The following example is a self-report that I found in an online discussion group:

“It all started when I was young. I hated white underwear for some reason and when I wore them I’d be turned on. Eventually it felt odd and good that I urinated in them. I wet my bed for days when I was a young boy and stopped when my parents found out about it. When I was young, I hated bowel movements. It felt gross and stuff. After discovering masturbation, I eased my bowel movements by masturbating. It felt good, and my bowel movements weren’t so gross. I don’t know how it happened but the two finally caught up to each other and I became accustomed to the smell when I masturbated. Everything escalated as time went on, I’ve been in this fetish for a while now – since I was 12 years old. I am 18 now”

The origins of the coprophilic behaviour certainly appear (in this case) to be as a result of both classical and operant conditioning. However, other people suggest different etiological factors may contribute in the development of coprophilia. For instance, in Canada, Dave Hingsburger published a case study of an institutionalized and mentally handicapped man who engaged in coprophilic acts approximately three times a week. It was argued that the cause of the coprophilia was the patient’s maladap- tive response to a severely limited institutional environment rather than any behavioural conditioning.

Whatever the origins, it is evident that compared to many other paraphilic behaviours, there is a dearth of empirical and clinical data re- lating to the acquisition, development, and maintenance of coprophilia.

Dr Mark Griffiths, Professor of Gambling Studies, International Gaming Research Unit, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK

Further reading

Abel, G. G., Becker, J. V., Cunningham-Rathner, J., Mittelman, M. S., & Rouleau, J. L. (1988). Multiple paraphilic diagnoses among sex offenders. Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 16, 153–168. Allen, C. (1969). A textbook of psychosexual disorders (2nd ed.). London: Oxford Univer- sity Press. Denson, R. (1982). Undinism: The fetishizaton of urine. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 27, 336–338. Hallett, G. (2008). Hitler was a British agent. London: Progressive Books. Hingsburger, D. (1989). Motives for coprophilia: Working with individuals who had been institutionalized with developmental handicaps. Journal of Sex Research, 26,139-140. Karpman, B. (1948). Coprophilia: A collective review. Psychoanalytic Review, 35, 253–272. Karpman, B. (1949). A modern Gulliver: A study in coprophilia. Psychoanalytic Review, 36, 260-282. Lake, C.R. (2008). Hypothesis: Grandiosity and guilt cause paranoia; Paranoid schizophrenia is a psychotic mood disorder; a review. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 34, 1151-1162. McCary, J. L. (1967). Human sexuality. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. Milner, J.S., Dopke, C.A. & Crouch, J.L. (2008). Paraphilia not Otherwise Specified: Psy- chopathology and theory. In Laws, D.R. & O’Donohue, W.T. (Eds.), Sexual Deviance: Theory, Assessment and Treatment (pp.384-418). New York: Guildford Press. Penix, T.M. (2008). Paraphilia not Otherwise Specified: Assessment and treatment. In Laws, D.R. & O’Donohue, W.T. (Eds.), Sexual Deviance: Theory, Assessment and Treatment (pp.419- 438). New York: Guildford Press. 57 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz Sandnabba, N.K., Santtila, P. & Nordling, N. (1999). Sexual behavior and social adaptation among sadomasochistically-oriented males. Journal of Sex Research, 36, 273-282. Sandnabba, N.K. Santtila, P., Nordling, N. Beetz, A.M., Alison, L. (2002). Characteristics of a sample of sadomasochistically-oriented males with recent experience of sexual contact with animals. Deviant Behavior, 23, 511-529. Smith, R. S. (1976). Voyeurism: A review of the literature. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 5, 585–608. Wise, T.N. & Goldberg, R.L. (1995). Escalation of a fetish: Coprophagia in a nonpsychotic adult of normal intelligence. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, 21, 272-275.

So it seems to be a fetish and creates sexual arousal at the same time. If so… I guess I should include some words in my list. What about the foot fetish? The car fetish? The cloth fetish? The cross dressing fetish?.... They all create sexual arousal, so do I include everything?

The origin and the means of sexual arousal are far vaster than I anticipated. My list is getting way too long and I only have a few days left before sending everything to the printer.

13/07/2013 – 8.30pm Getting ready to watch the documentary:The ‘ price of pleasure’ with Becky. http://thepriceofpleasure.com

I am quite unsure of what we will see. I have no expectation, but as far as I understand it’s fairly raw and it’s an anti-porn point of view.

I’m hoping to learn some new words (pen and paper ready) and maybe get a better understanding of fetish and scatology in the pornographic industry. I’m also interested in the human side of it, since it’s been quite absent in my research so far.

Here’s the synopsis from the website:

The Price of Pleasure: Pornography, Sexuality and Relationships Directed and Produced by Miguel Picker and Chyng Sun Co-Writer and Associate Producer: Robert Wosnitzer

Once relegated to the margins of society, pornography has become one of the most visible and profitable sectors of the cultural industries in the United States. It is estimated that the pornography industry’s annual revenue has reached $13 billion. At the same time, the content of pornography has become more aggressive, more overtly sexist and racist.

The film features the voices of consumers, critics, and pornography producers and performers. It is particularly revealing when male pornographers openly discuss their views about women and how men should relate to them, and when male and female porn users candidly discuss the role pornography has played in shaping their sexual imaginations and relationships. The film paints both a nuanced and complex portrait of how pleasure and pain, commerce and power, and liberty and responsibility are intertwined in the most intimate aspects of human relations. At the same time, the film examines the unprecedented role that commercial pornography now occupies in U.S. popular culture. Going beyond the debate of liberal versus conservative so common in the culture, The Price of Pleasure provides a holistic understanding of pornography as it debunks common myths about the genre.

The film features interviews with scholars of mass media (Gail Dines and Robert Jensen), economics (Richard Wolff), and psychology (Dr. Ana Bridg-

© Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 58 es); writers on pornography and popular culture (Ariel Levy and Pamela Paul); producers and performers from the pornography industry (John Stagliano, Joanna Angel and Ernest Greene); and a former stripper/porn performer-turned-author (Sarah Katherine Lewis).

Here’s a review of The Price Of Pleasure by Hugo Schwyzer from his blog: http://www.hugoschwyzer.net

Hugo Schwyzer is an author and speaker who has taught history and gender studies at Pasa- dena City College since 1993. In addition to courses on women’s history, men and masculinity, and gay and lesbian history, he developed the college’s first interdisciplinary course focusing on “Beauty and the Body” in the late 1990s, a class he continues to offer today and which focuses on the historical roots of contemporary eating disorders and distorted body image.

(Note: He also happens to be an ex-porn addict)

Some thoughts on “The Price of Pleasure” Posted on October 27, 2008

Several weeks ago, I was sent a review DVD of The Price of Pleasure. The film, by first-time director Chyng Sun, explores the impact of contemporary American pornography on men, women, and relationships* It is not currently for rent or in theaters, but it is out on a national screening tour. It will be screened, with a panel discussion, this Thursday, October 30 here in Los Angeles on the USC campus. Exact time and location have not yet been announced, though I am prodding.

Gail Dines and Robert Jensen, two celebrated anti-pornography feminists serve as senior advisers for the film (referred to as TPOP for the remain- der of this post.) I wrote a long review of Bob Jensen’s most recent work here. Dines is founder of Stop Porn Culture, and organization for which I have considerable admiration.

TPOP is less than an hour long, but it took me more than a week to sit through it. The documentary features a considerable number of outtakes and excerpts from porn, and though genitalia are “fuzzed out”, the effect is still searing and for some, potentially triggering. As someone who struggled with porn addiction in the past, I wanted to be careful about how I watched and responded to this film. I was relieved to discover that I didn’t find myself in the least bit tempted to “relapse” on porn use as a consequence of watching TPOP. I can recommend the film as “safe” for most folks, though some of the sound and imagery is violent and deeply degrading. Potential viewers will need to weigh for themselves the risks and benefits of taking it all in. (It’s worth noting that some in the pro- porn world have complained that TPOP violates both copyright and federal obscenity rules. I’m not qualified to speculate.)

TPOP uses interviews with a wide variety of people: pornographers and porn actresses, men who use porn, women whose husbands or boyfriends use porn, and academic researchers who have studied porn. Pornography, we are told, is a $10 billion industry today, and thanks to the Internet and other technological advances, is far more ubiquitous than it was just a few years ago. One point that the film makes clear (particularly in an interview with Ariel Levy), is that today’s young people (those in their teens and early twenties) have grown up in a culture saturated with porn to a degree difficult even for those just two decades older to comprehend. Just as an eighteen year-old today cannot remember a time before mobile phones, so he or she cannot remember a time when porn was not “everywhere.” This jives with what I hear from the young people with 59 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz whom I work; they describe porn as providing an “aduiovisual soundtrack” for their lives.

TPOP makes the case that pornography has a profound impact not only on those who use it, but on their lovers, family, and friends. Pamela Paul, author of Pornified, remarks that men who regularly use porn find that it “infiltrated their consciousness, often unbidden and unwanted.” She makes the same case in TPOP that I made in this post last year. Indeed, this key point is a source of much of the friction between the two sides in the “porn wars”. Some, like Paul, Dines, Jensen, and myself argue that what regular masturbation to pornography shapes our views of men and women, and shapes our sexuality itself. Others, such as blogger and porn actress/producer Renegade Evolution, who wrote this this weekend, take a different view:

Can men who watch and jerk off to porn see women as human beings and treat them as such? Why yes, I believe they can. Actually, I know they can. How is that? I’m married to one such man. The only time he treats me with the sort of disrespect so assumed to be common is when I ask him to. I have male friends who are perfectly capable of watching porn, even the rough stuff, even the rough stuff that I am in, who have no issue treating me as a full human being with thoughts, emotions, intelligence, personality, and all that other good human stuff. I have male family members who know what I do for a living and it has not stopped them from treating me as a full human for a second.

Part of the problem in the porn wars, and it’s a problem with TPOP in particular, is that both sides end up arguing from anecdote, from personal experience, and — this is perhaps most salient — what it is that makes intuitive sense. I like and respect Ren. But I know that particularly when I was younger, pornography did shape my view of women and sexuality — and I was raised in a feminist household, with Ms. Magazine on the coffee table! In particular, porn trained me to long for “everlasting novelty”, and it made long-term monogamous relationships (even those in which there was considerable sexual inventiveness) seem dull by comparison. That’s just me, of course, and I don’t pretend to speak for every man. But the story that Bob Jensen tells is similar, and the stories of a great many men with whom I’ve worked are similar. Just as –if not more — importantly, I hear from lots of young (and not-so-young) women who are frustrated by their male partners’ reliance on porn. The damage that even casual porn use (never mind “addiction”) is real.

At the same time, Ren is a real person too, and her experience is valid as well. TPOP’s greatest weakness, perhaps, is that it is rigid in its focus on porn and male desire. Bob Jensen has written and said often, with great eloquence, that “porn tells us very little about women, but a great deal about men.” I think he’s right; his assessment of masculinity in his Getting Off serves as a breathtaking and scrupulously honest indictment of the ways in which we shape young men in our society — and the role porn plays in that shaping. But the missing element of TPOP is the reality of “woman as consumer”. (There’s also a relentlessly heterosexual focus — porn aimed for a queer market goes largely unmentioned.)

A great many women watch porn with boyfriends or husbands, and it is almost certain that many of those women do this less out of their own authentic desire and more out of an eagerness to please (or at least ac- comodate) the man in their lives. “He’s going to look whether I’m there or not”, she might say, “So I may as well do it with him. That way at least I’m part of it on some level.” That’s a familiar, achingly common story. I joke with my students about what I call the “strip-club rictus”: the frozen smile and forced lightheartedness one often sees on women who buy lap dances for their boyfriends, determined above all else to “not be a prude”. Ariel Levy’s Female Chauvinist Pigs has much more to say on this.

But some women do watch porn. And they watch it alone. Some women do masturbate to porn, and if what little research that is out there can be believed, their numbers are growing. The mistake that TPOP makes is that it © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 60 ignores the very real truth that in this complex world of visual erotica, women are subjects as well as objects. Women who “use” porn may sometimes be using different stuff than their male counterparts, but they’re still buying or downloading or hunting for erotic imagery, much of which features couples or other women. That doesn’t mean, of course, that the bulk of consumers aren’t men — they are. And it doesn’t mean that porn objectifies men in the same way it objectifies women — it doesn’t. Indeed, there’s much to be said about the problematic way in which mainstream pornography may shape female libidindousness. TPOP doesn’t say it, however, and leaves the impression that the desire to look at and masturbate to pornography is an exclusively male phenomenon. If nothing else, this oversight leaves TPOP vulnerable to criticism from the pro-pornography camp, who complain, not without validity, that the documentary doesn’t do enough to honor women’s agency not only as performers but as viewers.

But these omissions do little to weaken the visceral power of this film. The final ten minutes of TPOP are perhaps the most difficult to watch. Sun and his advisers analyze the increasing fascination with violence and degradation in contemporary pornography, and the results are deeply depressing. A New School study looked at the most popular mainstream porn rentals of 2005 as determined by the adult industry itself. 89.8% of the videos/DVDs watched included verbal or physical aggression; 94.4% of the time, those aggressive acts were directed by men against women. The most popular forms of violence included spanking, and increasingly, “gagging” (where a man rams his penis into the back of a woman’s throat, triggering a gag reflex.). The growing popularity of “ATM” (ass-to-mouth) scenes is noted, in which a man penetrates a woman anally, and then insists she fellate him without washing. An astonishing 41% of the top 200 rentals of 2005 featured ATM scenes. (There’s a brief interview with one of the grad students who had to watch and “code” these films.)

Porn director and producer Joe Gallant, queried by the filmmakers about the direction his industry is taking, looks off into the distance and says — with what comes across as rueful resignation — “I hate to say it, but the future of American porn is violence.” It’s a remarkably honest insider assessment, and though his is just one voice, accompanied by the remarkable evidence of the New School study, it is a disturbing conclusion indeed.

Whatever one’s personal feelings about porn, it’s clear that we don’t have nearly enough frank, honest, safe discussions about how it makes us feel. Though TPOP could have done more to include female consumers in the conversation, the documentary will serve (one hopes) as a wonderful catalyst for honest dialogue. We need to talk about how we reconcile (if we can) our private reveries and our public behavior. We need to listen to our youth of both sexes, and hear how the ubiquity of porn is shaping their sense of sex, gender roles, and body image. I’ve seen the damage porn has done in my life and in my relationships; I see the damage it does in the lives of others. I find it, personally, very difficult to believe those who say that they can watch and masturbate to on-screen images of women being degraded and then interact with family, partners, and co- workers without ever once having those intrusive images make an unbidden appearance. But there are those who claim that it is so, and I am willing to listen to them as well.

And we need to do the hard work of not pathologizing the “other side.” Those of us in the “anti-porn” camp are sometimes tempted to impose a vic- tim narrative on all women who work in porn and the sex industry. In other words, when we hear an adult woman say (as Ren does) “Look, I like what I do, and I choose to do what I do, and I feel I have agency in every aspect of what I do”, the impulse is to question her self-awareness. Though an extraordinary number of women in the sex industry do come from back- grounds of abuse and do struggle, there are also some for whom that is not the narrative. We would do well to engage honestly, resisting the temptation to assume narcissistic disregard for other women, self-deception or pathology on the part of those who claim to be happy in their sex work.

61 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz At the same time, I am annoyed at the way in which many in the “pro-porn” camp suggest that those of us who do this work, particularly men like Rob- ert Jensen, are “filled with self-loathing.” We need to stop calling the other side “victims” or “sleazy exploiters” without a second’s thought; we need to demand that the other side refrain from suggesting that we are all “shame-filled killjoys.” Just as Max Hardcore doesn’t speak for all pornographers, Bob Jensen or Gail Dines don’t speak for all feminist anti-porn activists. No dialogue will happen when we cling to our stereo- types, and no progress either.

See this film. See it with other people, and talk about it afterwards. And ask hard questions of yourself and those around you about the role pornography plays in their lives. And be prepared for a variety of answers. Above all, ask the question the film asks: What do we want sex to mean in our lives? What would the world look like if we were able to answer that question honestly?

I know what I want sex to mean in my life. There is no room for pornography in that vision. But I’m ready to talk to others who have come to a different conclusion. The Price of Pleasure moves that dialogue forward.

14/02/2013 – 1.23pm We watched the documentary last night. I now understand why the human component in porn was missing so much in my research. Pornography, as it is today, is dehumanizing. People become sex objects and lose their human side. In the documentary one man said: “I respect women, I just don’t respect women in porn. To me they are just sex objects”.

I also realised that pornography transpires in our daily life much more than I thought it would when I started this project. It’s not just the online websites. There’s also music videos, games, blockbuster movies, reality shows, TV shows and (pole) dance class... They all normalise porn. I think there’s a misunderstanding between being freer with our sexual life (being able to openly talk about it and being a more progressive society about sex) and accepting porn as what it is currently available online.

Not long ago, I played a game with friends called “Cards against Humanity”: (http://cardsagainsthumanity.com/) which had some questions about Bukkake, Glory Hole and necrophilia. We all laughed about it. None of us questioned it. None of us were shocked by it. None of us were concerned about the impact it could have on us. We just normalised it.

In the documentary the Editor of “Boink – the College sex magazine”, justifies humour in sexual assault such as Donkey Punch and says that anything can be a joke “Raping, abuse, anything…”

Can we really find humour in anything?

When I started this project, I thought I would create a work that would demystify the language of Porn, making the porn vocabulary more accessible to the public and would possibly be breaking language barriers. I realise now that my ignorance and my naivety made me normalise and accept internet pornography. I was aware some of my friends watch online porn, but didn’t think much about it. I thought it would be ‘light kinky sex’ and I actually thought it was ok if it satisfied them. I did not question it as I felt I would be judging, so I just ignored it.

© Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 62 I now understand that almost 80% of online porn videos sexualize violence against women and I wonder about the long term impact on men and women in real life.

On a website a ‘light kinky sex’ video (1 man, 1 woman, 1 bed) can be juxtaposed to a “car- toon style” video involving children and adults, next to a video where a woman uses a child- like voice to describe what “her daddy did to her when she was a child” to provoke sexual arousal, next to a video where a tiny Caucasian woman is being gang raped by a group of African-American men, next to a video where an African American woman is forced to gag during fellatio on a Caucasian man, slapped and violently penetrated while he screams at her racist names and finally next to a video where a woman is being dominated and humili- ated by a very large group of men ejaculating on her. Look for ‘light kinky’ porn and find yourself in front of all this.

In which world is an image of suffering intended to create sexual arousal?

I think the distorted reality of porn, the violence, the very weird practices considered sexual acts and the value and perception of women (and men) is far more disturbing than I expected. I’m quite happy to only spend a few weeks on this project.

It’s almost like a parallel universe, it’s over-presented on the internet and in many aspects of my daily life and I’ve spent years knowing it was there but managed to completely avoid it. I don’t have teenage children, so I guess I’m not overly concerned by it. And as soon as I started looking into it; I discovered behaviour, attitude, violence and a language that completely changed me and changed my view on pornography.

I know I sound like a prude and a puritan (which I’m not). But my understanding of what porn was 3 weeks ago (as I said I was not a porn virgin) was nothing compared to the reality. I wonder if what men (and women) are watching online is really what they fantasise about. Do they really wish to act on this fantasy one day? What if they had the opportunity? Would they reproduce the degradation, the violence, the verbal abuse and racism from the videos they are watching online?

There’s more than ‘just’ the objectification of women (and men – i.e gay porn). I think the discourse on choice trying to legitimise the current practice is far too simplistic: “it’s their choice, they do it voluntarily and they get paid for it”. There’s a massive impact on society and it really disturbs me to know that young men and young women are accepting online porn, Donkey Punch, Double Anal, Gang Bang and Bukkake as normalised sexual acts and are expecting to do it. I’m concerned about how porn transpires into our life.

What happened to the idea of two people having mad enjoyable sex which doesn’t degrade, violate or hurt and actually involves pleasure with a real partner with a real body with flaws? (not on a screen, not with a paid actress or fake breasts and lips and certainly not with physical and verbal abuse) Is it ‘has-been’ and no longer the way to have sex? As far as I know, a lot of people are still doing it that way. So why is there such a huge gap between the reality of sexuality and the pornographic world?

What strikes me the most is that the mutual pleasure part of sex, the orgasm, and the connection between the partners is completely removed in porn. It’s almost as though porn is a 63 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz fake sex world where pleasure has been replaced by violence, orgasm has been replaced by individual satisfaction and connection between partners has been replaced by domination. There’s a part of humanity disappearing in the pornographic world.

15/07/2013 – 21.25pm I have been procrastinating. I should have finalised my list of words by now. But I keep -put ting it off and instead I have been listening to Dan Savage’s podcast. Dan is an American writer who writes a sex advice column in several newspapers as well as books and he also produces podcasts. It was quite reassuring to read his column and hear him talk about sex. He truly demystifies sex in a very open and non-judgmental way.

Savage answering a question from a female reader who felt really bad after a one night stand during her overseas holidays: “Are you slut-shaming yourself? Yes, you are. You did something kind of sleazy on vacation, just like millions of other people before you, and you misjudged someone. But who hasn’t?”

I found his straight approach (he’s gay) quite refreshing. So far, it was reassuring. At least someone out there is truly educating, so I kept reading.

Examples of his sex advice column:

1. I’m a 40-year-old gay man who has his life fairly together (career, home, etc.). But I’ve never had a LTR. I’ve dated this guy “D” three times, and I broke it off three times. I feel like such an ass. I’m attracted to D, he is sweet, hot, and funny, but he’s obviously gay. I worry that my mom might not like him—she has made snide comments about obviously gay guys “advertising it”—and I am very close to my mom. D and I have started hanging out again, and we are having fun. He is not mad at me. The plan is to just hang out, and I just don’t know WTF I am doing. Should I just see how things go? Messed Up Dude

Let me see if I’ve got this straight, MUD: You like D, you’re into D, and D is sweet and hot and funny. But you’ve dumped D three times because your mommy wouldn’t approve, and you’re really close to your mommy... and you’re worried that D is the gay stereotype in this relationship?

2. I love my husband of 20 years, but sexual differences are putting a strain on our marriage. Ten years ago, he asked me to talk dirty to him about having sex with other men. It has progressed to him wanting to be a cuckold. I only want to be with him, but he presses the issue by verbalizing cuckold situations during sex. This makes me close my eyes and shut down. By the time he is done, I have no desire to orgasm because I no longer feel attractive. Worse, I feel like I am not enough for him. The only way he can get off is to talk about me having sex with other men. It makes me feel worthless as a sex partner-which is crazy, because I am attractive and open to a great deal of things (toys, games, dressing up, striptease, etc.). I long for him to touch me, kiss me, and look at me the way he used to. He is a good father and a good provider, and I love him. But this matter is crushing my self-esteem. I won’t stay much longer if this continues. Your advice? Extremely Frustrated Female Experiencing Despair

Your husband was probably reading cuckolding blogs for years before he worked up the nerve to raise the subject, EFFED, and here’s what he’s gleaned from them: husband brings it up, wife shoots it down, husband © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 64 whines, wife agrees to explore it as fantasy only, and then one day—after years of dirty talk—wife announces she wants to give it a try. She winds up loving it, and she says she regrets waiting so long.

Reading so many cuckolding success stories—many likely fictitious—has left your husband convinced that if he just keeps at it, one day his wife will want to try it. (Some wives do try it and like it. I got a letter the same day yours arrived from a woman who’s angry that her husband—after years of dirty talk and a half-dozen cuckolding experiences—has decided that it isn’t for him after all. He doesn’t want her sleeping with other men; she doesn’t want to go back to sleeping with just him. Dr. Cuckenstein created a monster.)

My advice: Tell your husband in no uncertain terms that you don’t want to hear about cuckolding anymore. Period. He is free to think about whatever he wants to during sex—we all are—but he has to keep his cuckolding fantasies to himself. Wrap up the convo by informing him that from now on, your sex sessions end the moment the subject of you sleeping with other men is raised. No more closing your eyes and waiting for him to finish. (What kind of asshole can finish under those circumstances?) If he brings up other men, EFFED, get off the bed, get out of the bedroom, and go to the kitchen and have some ice cream.

Your husband needs to find a new erotic script that works for you both. The incentive for him: Since you are open to many things—toys, games, dressing up, striptease—a fantasy scenario that turns you on is likely to become a reality scenario pretty quickly.

Finally, EFFED, cuckolds don’t see their wives as unattractive. Cuckolds see their wives as so desirable—and themselves as so inadequate—that they’re incapable of giving their wives all of the sexual attention they deserve. But I can see why you’re upset. You want sex to be about the two of you, about the intimacy you share (or used to share), and your husband is always running his mouth about people who aren’t in the room. It’s un- derstandable that you would feel like you’re not enough for him after 10 years of this bullshit. But your husband’s fantasies don’t mean he finds you unattractive—they mean the exact opposite.

3. I always told myself that I would forgive my husband if he cheated on me. Well, he had an affair for eight months. He also blew through our savings and racked up considerable credit-card debt. The college fund we started for our two children is gone. He spent all of the money on fancy din- ners, expensive gifts, and incredible vacations for his girlfriend. I am so angry, I can’t imagine staying. My husband ended the affair and wants desperately to save our marriage. As much as it pains me to subject my kids to divorce, I don’t know if I can commit to him again. Is the best option to DTMFA? Heartbroken

Sexual infidelity is one thing—and it’s a relatively common thing (so people should go into marriage prepared to work through it)—but we’re not talking about one thing here. We’re talking about a whole series of betrayals. Your husband betrayed you sexually and financially. He stole from you. He stole from his own children.

Now, I can understand thinking with your dick (because I have a dick), and we can all imagine a circumstance in which we might succumb to temptation (because we all experience temptation). But I cannot even begin to wrap my head around how someone could spend his own children’s college fund—in addition to his family’s savings (and taking on debt!)—on gifts, trips, and meals for his piece-of-shit on the side. (Not all “other women/men” are pieces of shit, but anyone who would allow her married lover to spend that kind of money on her in eight months is a flaming piece of shit.)

DTMFA. (Note: Dump The Motherfucker Already)

65 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz It’s advice, H, not binding arbitration. You are free to make up your own mind. And while I couldn’t see staying if I were in your shoes, I could see myself meeting with a marriage counselor a few times before pulling the plug—for the sake of the kids.

4. I am a straight, 45-year-old, monogamous male. I am married for the second time, to a wonderful 42-year-old woman. The few times I shared fantasies with my first wife, she used them as weapons in the many battles we fought over the years. She also betrayed my trust by sharing these fantasies with others. Fast- forward to wife number two. She is fabulous. We can talk about anything. She is respectful of my trust issues and has helped me immensely in getting over much of it. When she says, “I’ll think about it,” she really does. I never feel dismissed. And the sex has been amazing. We have explored things I only dreamed about. Anal sex, public sex, sex toys, and video cameras are all part of our routine now. She asks me for things, and I try them. I ask her for things, and she tries them.

So what is the problem? I can’t bring myself to ask her for two things that are more than bucket-list issues to me. I am a closet crossdresser. I want to make love to her in stockings and a teddy. I made this request to my ex, and it resulted in humiliation. She even shared it with my son out of spite. And I want us to try watersports. When this came up during marriage counseling with my first wife, the counselor blew up at me and accused me of degrading my marriage.

So how do I screw up the courage to ask wife number two, who always lis- tens and never judges, to let me dress up in women’s underwear and make love to her and then have her pee on me? Just writing about it is making my stomach twist, but when I look into her eyes and feel the trust, I almost blurt it out. I won’t die if these wishes go unfulfilled, but I would die if my second wife stopped respecting me. Pretty Under Normal Things

You love your new wife, she loves you, you’re both GGG—it all sounds so good, so functional, especially compared to your nightmarish first marriage. Congrats. But you held your two biggest kinks back from the new woman in your life, PUNT, and now you’re sweating the reveal because the stakes are so high. This is precisely why I urge people to lay those kink cards on the table early. The longer you wait, the more emotionally invested you become in the relationship, the higher the stakes. Because what if your kinks aren’t just things your second wife isn’t interested in exploring, PUNT, but attraction-killers?

My advice: Instead of having an open and honest here-are-two-things-I- wanna-do conversation, PUNT, go with an indirect here-are-two-things- some-people-do conversation. Find a way to broach the topics of crossdressing and piss play without having to admit that they turn you on, e.g., go see a drag show (drag isn’t crossdressing, of course, but it will allow you to broach the men-in-dresses subject generally) and find a porn film with one brief, not-too-hardcore piss scene in it and watch it together. Pay attention to her response. If she reacts in a neutral or positive way to men in dresses and/or piss play, lay those last two kink cards on the table. If she reacts negatively, you might just die with those wishes unfulfilled.

Pro tip: Nervous kinksters can screw up indirect here-are-two-things- some-people-do conversations by telegraphing disgust. Someone who’s into rubber says, “Isn’t it weird how some people get off on wearing rubber clothes and gas masks?” The non-kinky partner picks up on the word “weird” and responds with, “Yeah, that rubber stuff is fucked up.” If you set a negative tone, your wife is likely to pick up on that. So keep your reactions—at the drag club, during the porn—as neutral as possible.

5. I’m a straight guy in my early 30s with an amazing girlfriend of two years. A few months ago, I felt open enough to share my taboo fantasy: © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 66 father/daughter incest. My GF, to my delight, not only understands the fantasy but enjoys participating in it! Quickly: I have ZERO interest in this kind of thing actually happening. I understand the kind of damage that sexual abuse can do and has done to many, many women, and I would never pursue something like this in real life. Now the problem: We’ve added the “wrinkle” of me talking to another man on the phone while my GF fellates me. The man-a stranger, someone we found online-has been led to believe that I am being fellated by my daughter while we speak. Of course, he can hear the noises associated with said activity while he and I are talking. We do not in any way lead these guys to believe that they have a chance to meet us. We want to enjoy our sexual fantasies, but we worry that we could be inadvertently encouraging someone to make their fantasies a reality. Any advice? No Acronym Seems To Yodel

The incest fetishists you meet in chat rooms and get on the phone? For all they know, you could be alone in a room stirring a jar of mayonnaise with a slotted spoon. And for all you know, NASTY, the incest fetishists you’re meeting in chat rooms could be police officers looking to bust men who are actually raping their daughters. Just sayin’.

As for your problem, NASTY, most people with incest fantasies insist that they’re not turned on by the idea of having sex with their actual parents, siblings, or children. Incest scenarios turn them on abstractly, but they have ZERO interest in their own siblings or parents or children specifically. That can’t be true for all incest fetishists—statistically speaking—but any incest fetishists who’re turned on by the thought of actually fucking their sibs/parents/children would have a motive and/or the good sense to lie.

But let’s set your specific fantasy aside for the moment—which is an upsetting one for most people to contemplate (because ick), particularly those who were sexually abused by family members (because rape)—and focus on the underlying question: Does exploring something taboo through fantasy make someone likelier to go and do that thing in real life?

The evidence we’ve got about porn points to no.

“Perhaps the most serious accusation against pornography is that it in- cites sexual aggression,” Melinda Wenner Moyer wrote in the July 2011 issue of Scientific American (“The Sunny Side of Smut”). “But not only do rape statistics suggest otherwise, some experts believe the consumption of pornography may actually reduce the desire to rape by offering a safe, private outlet for deviant sexual desires.”

What you’re producing for the men you get on the phone is a kind of pornography, NASTY, and Moyer demonstrates that the wider availability of internet pornography has correlated strongly with falling rates of sexual violence—and incest between an adult and a minor is sexual violence.

“Within the U.S., the states with the least Internet access between 1980 and 2000—and therefore the least access to Internet pornography—experienced a 53 percent increase in rape incidence, whereas the states with the most access experienced a 27 percent drop in the number of reported rapes, according to a paper published in 2006 by Anthony D’Amato, a law professor at Northwestern University,” Moyer writes. “It is important to note that these associations are just that—associations. They do not prove that pornography is the cause of the observed crime reductions. Nevertheless, the trends ‘just don’t fit with the theory that rape and sexual assault are in part influenced by pornography,’ [Professor Christopher J.] Ferguson [of Texas A&M] explains. ‘At this point, I think we can say the evidence just isn’t there, and it is time to retire this belief.’”

The complicating factor here, of course, is that you’re leading these men to believe that you’re actually doing it, i.e., the noises they’re hearing are your daughter blowing you and not you stirring a jar of mayo. So will the men you talk to want to rape their daughters in real life be- 67 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz cause you’ve led them to believe that you’re raping your daughter? Hard to say... and even harder to get data on. But the people doing taboo shit in porn are actually doing it, and the data suggests that watching others do it, i.e., living vicariously through porn performers (who are sometimes faking it, but still), leads to fewer people acting on taboo desires in real life, not more. I recognised a few words in the last columns that I have included in my list. After reading a couple of months of Savage’s column archive and listening to a few podcasts, I finally got the answer to the question I’ve been considering for the last 3 weeks. Are porn websites really ‘catering’ for real peoples sexual needs and urges or is it all an extreme mind fuck?

Apparently, there are real Cuckolds, Cross dressers and people sexually aroused by Scatol- ogy and Incest.

I was ready to blame it all on the pornographic industry. I was ready to think that they are responsible for pushing the boundaries to the extreme. When in fact, there are real people are looking for this.

I don’t really have any words for how I’m feeling right now. I feel utterly dumb, idiot, naïve, prude, puritan, uneducated, judgmental, narrow-minded, credulous…. I could add so many more. But most of all, I’m quite disheartened. Why? Have I lost my princess-happy-ending-story stereotyped beliefs? Probably.

If this is the real world out there, I have certainly been living in fairy-tale land.

16/07/2013 – 10.34pm I’ve been listening to one song in a loop all day long: ‘Under pressure’ by David Bowie and Freddie Mercury. When I had my first cup of coffee, barely awake and turned on the ipod, that song popped up. I kept playing it. It followed me in the shower, in the car, everywhere I went all day till tonight, I played it over and over on the ipod.

I’ve done enough years of therapy to know when my subconscious is trying to tell me something. By the end of the day, I was singing in the car and suddenly realised what the lyrics were about:

Pressure, pushing down on me Pressing down on you, no man asks for Under Pressure … It’s the terror of knowing What this world is about Watching some good friends Screaming let me out …

© Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 68 Why Can’t we give ourselves one more chance? Why can’t we give love that one more chance? Why can’t we give love give love give love? … Cause love’s such an old fashioned word And love dares you to care For the people on the edge of the night And love dares you to change our way Of caring about ourselves

This is our last dance This is ourselves under pressure Under pressure

I do feel that’s what’s been missing in my research. The love. Wait… I’m not that credulous, innocent and idealistic. By Love I mean feelings and emotion or some kind of human sensitivity or connection.

In the ‘Price of Pleasure’ documentary, Dr. Richard Wolff says: “Pornography meets a real need that people have to somehow break out of their sexual loneliness, their sexual isola- tion, their failure to commit sexually with somebody and as every other basic need that gets inappropriately dealt with, it becomes an opportunity for private enterprises to come in and that’s what private enterprises do; they make money off human needs, wants and desires and in the process, of course, they began to shape those needs and desires”

So, did we just start with a lack of human intimacy, a lack of sexuality and ended up, after a couple of decades of internet pornography, to how is it today? Does the porn industry shape our sexual needs, desires and fantasies? If so, I’m wondering how far it will go.

Tonight I had dinner with Harry. Harry is my ‘adopted big brother’. I met him when I immi- grated to New Zealand thirteen years ago. He’s been the one very good friend who has been by my side during the very bad times, the very good times and everything in-between. He’s the one I can talk to about anything and everything.

Since it seems all I can talk about at the moment is Porn, I alienated him at dinner on the subject. Although, I had to remind myself that: 1. I need to be aware of my voice level when I talk about porn in a restaurant 2. I was way more exposed to porn and comfortable with the language than Harry 3. Some things should be left unexplained… even if Harry can hear anything coming from me

As usual, passed the shock and the smile once I announced what I have been working on in the last 3 weeks (to my defence, he did ask: “So, Grasshopper, what have you been up to?”), he found it quite interesting and educative.

Harry is a few years older than me and we both realised that we were probably not exposed to porn as young as the teens today just because we didn’t have easy access to it. I remember the boys at College going to a huge extent to find an older brother who was willing to go to the video store and rent a pornographic video for them or buy a Playboy, which in those 69 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz years had more non-sexual articles than naked women photos.

He asked a few good questions: “Is the exposure to graphic content without consent (there’s no real selection on porn websites, everything and anything goes on the front page) affecting the compassion level of people? Since the porn videos are so degrading for women (and men), are men acting more that way toward women? Is there any stats available on how porn language and violent sexual approach is shaping men’s behaviour today?”

Once Harry understood what porn is today (I was quite pleased to see that he was as uneducated as I was 3 weeks ago), he kept asking: “How do we reverse the process?”

In New Zealand, prostitution was legalised in 2003 in brothels and escort agencies. So we wondered if legalised prostitution made a difference in porn website usage. After all, if access to ‘real’ sex (I mean real in a sense of with a real human being) is more accessible and if people have been using pornography as a failure to commit sexually with somebody, then legalising prostitution would decrease the use of pornography? Right?

17/07/2013 – 12.14pm I was at the hairdresser this morning. Casey is a witty, quirky young lady. She asked me what I have been into since the last time I saw her. I now don’t even consider the environment or the person I’m talking to and answered straight away: “I’ve been working on an art project about Porn”… Casey is not a prude and just said: “Ok… that’s different! That’s probably the best update I’ve heard from a customer this week!”. She asked me a few questions and quickly started sharing her own story. Last year she did her big OE (Overseas Experience) and went to Amsterdam. She of course visited the Red Light District and ended up in a live theatre watching a sex show surrounded by a crowd of tourists. Different couples would take turn to have sex on the stage in front of the public. She found it quite “intriguing” but also quite disturbing and she couldn’t resolve the mix-feelings she was experiencing in the moment.

The couple on the stage had to be a ‘real couple’ to ‘act’ in the show, which really surprised her because she couldn’t feel any intimacy. She also felt quite ‘numb’ herself. Back in New Zealand, she engaged in a discussion about pornography with her partner and asked exactly the same questions as Becky and I have been asking for the last few weeks: “what is it about Porn?”, “Do you (male partner) watch porn?”, “Is this really the way men want women to act sexually?”

There’s an inadequacy between the pornographic world and the real world that makes many women wonder if there’s more to it and if our men really want it in real life.

My husband will be back next week end after weeks at sea. For some reason I just assume he watches porn (maybe because he gets stuck on a boat with a male only crew in the Carib- bean Sea), so I will not ask him: “Do you watch porn?” but I will ask “What kind of Porn do you watch?”. I am disturbed by the idea of him watching porn, now I know what is available online; the degrading one, the humiliating one, the racist one and the violent one.

That’s going to be an interesting discussion!

© Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 70 18/07/2013 – 4.15pm The last 3 weeks have been enlightening? Informative? Educational? Shocking? Depressing? Probably all of the above. I’ve also matured a hell lot! And I certainly have a different understanding of pornography, sexuality and sexual attractions.

A couple of months ago, I stayed at Duncan’s place for the night. Duncan is my other ‘adopted big brother’. We usually have too many wines and talk till dawn about life and love. He has set up his whole house to function remotely, the iPad, the laptop, the tv and the speakers. So when we were at the bar having a glass of wine and a (French) cheese platter, he had the iPad next to him and could choose music on it to play on the speakers in the other room and start a video on the TV. All very geeky really!

Anyway, later on he went to bed upstairs and I stayed downstairs and watched TV.

After a little while, I started to hear sex noises. First I thought it was the TV (I had been scroll- ing through channels with little interest and thought I had turned on something somehow). I turned off the TV and the sound continued and became far more explicit. No doubt it was a man and a woman having sex. I thought he had sneaked in someone without me notic- ing while I was watching TV. Then I thought it was the neighbours. And finally, after what seemed an eternity, I realised he had taken the iPad to bed, was watching porn and the sound was also playing on the speakers downstairs as he had not turn off the remote sound output. I smiled and turned off the speakers, went back to watching TV.

I didn’t really think twice about it. I don’t really care what turns him on or provides him relief or puts him to sleep. The day after, we had breakfast, I didn’t mention it and went to work in the studio. I suddenly realised that his 10 year old daughter was staying with him for the week end and I thought I should remind him to turn off the speakers before going to bed. I texted him: “Hey… wasn’t going to mention it since I don’t really care but just thought of K… Remember to turn off the Zeppelin speakers downstairs before watching videos on your iPad in your bedroom cos the sound is remotely playing downstairs too. Just for K’s sake! See you next week”. His reply: “Ha ha… That’s funny. Thought I was being discreet and all! Thank god it was you downstairs!” Duncan, being a great friend with an even greater sense of humour, when I told him about the Porn Project a few weeks later, asked: “Are you playing any soundtrack? Do you want to borrow the Zeppelin speakers?!”

Long story short… my point is… A few weeks ago, I was more than ok with porn. I didn’t really care. I actually accepted it and normalised it as a way to meet a need.

So when I started The Porn Project, I naively thought it would be a fun project, most likely enlightening and educative and that it could widen my sexual views, maybe it could also be exciting (take this word the way you want… I’m only human and I’m certainly not ashamed of trying to have a fulfilled sexual life).

It ended up being the opposite. I thought this project would be about sexuality. I now realise porn is not about sexuality. Porn is a parallel universe where humiliation, degradation, racism, violence and domination take the appearance of sex.

71 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz It’s a vortex where anything goes and when you start looking into it; it’s not only ‘graphic’, it’s a real concern for human condition.

I actually went through a lot of emotions during this project. It all started as a bit of fun and excitement then slightly kinky to surprised, to wondering a lot about sex and raising some concerns, to joking about it as a way to deal with it, to depressed and finally disillusioned.

I recently heard a man say: “It’s been years since I watched porn. They’re yet to make good porn”. I asked: “What is good porn?”

“Good porn” is something I have heard and read a lot about in the last 3 weeks. I can tell you, there’s no good porn out there. Even soft porn is still a fake projection/assumption of sex. A bit like watching the movie “Saving Private Ryan” and thinking you’ve experienced war enough to know what it is.

Dr. Wolff thinks porn is representative of sexual loneliness and an inadequacy to commit sexually with another human being. So maybe porn is not the problem. Maybe how people feel about their sexuality is the problem.

I think I have arrived at end of my research. I have all the words I need for the cards (actually I probably have too many). It’s time to stop. I was quite open to the idea of pornography when I started this project, even accepting it as a means to an end, then I had mixed feelings, and finally I think I could now become an anti-porn activist. It only took me 3 weeks.

I learned a lot in three weeks. I questioned a lot. I discovered a whole new world, a world I knew existed, but I had a very unrealistic view on it and a very naïve perception of it. Therefore, I have decided to include in my list a lot of words that I had previously discarded. I feel everything should go in, I want to educate on the reality of the porn language, not just a sanitized/G-rated version.

Just words?

20/07/2013 – 12.41pm Deleting my browser history one last time.

© Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 72 For the very last entry in the diary, I have asked Becky to write something. She’s been present and involved and supportive during this whole project and I thought it would be interesting to have an outsider’s perspective on what happened in the last three weeks.

18/07/2013 Written by Becky

When Anne-Sophie first mentioned her project I was surprised and concerned, she was bothered for weeks by the Game of Thrones episode 7 Season 1’s “sexposition” scene (showing girl on girl full sex, whilst a character watches and comfortably describes his motivation and background, information the viewer is supposed to be digesting whilst watching the sex scene unfold). This scene was completely unnecessary, it did not illuminate anything, and I feel that it was put there purely for ‘shock’ value.

I had watched “Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends, Porn episode” in which he’d interviewed people from the porn industry, in a straight-talking light manner, I found it disturbing, oddly comical at times, outrageous and dark. I had over-heard kinkier friends describing things they had found on the internet, terms they had heard from others, etc, which were shared with a kind of bemused, grossed-out curiosity.

So, I felt I had been exposed to slightly more porn than Anne-Sophie for some reason, and that porn was not primarily “people fucking madly”.

The way I see Anne-Sophie is not, by any means, as a sheltered person. She is open and accepting, and has been exposed to many different life-styles and attitudes. She has lived a full life, and is mature and considerate, balanced with an enthusiastic hunger for the discoveries of life. Still I was worried, (as you know) that Anne-Sophie would begin her research by boldly googling porn and find herself confronted and upset.

Recently I’d seen a Facebook status that said something along the lines of, ‘I was searching for some good comics on the internet today, and came across child pornography comics :-( OMG. What should I do”. The vast majority of comments were of a “Report it to the police” nature, the rest disgust and concern. The fact this had happened recently, while a person was searching for comics, made me worried for Anne-Sophie. What would someone find if they went out deliberately looking for porn on the internet?

After she had explained her new work and definition plan for research, and the flash card concept, I got really excited. It was such an awesome idea! A way of educating people like us; sexually liberated women and men who didn’t really utilise porn as part of our sexuality, but were totally comfortable and accepting that others may need this kind of visual and conceptual stimulation. I became more and more excited about Anne-So’s project, as she shared some of her findings, I felt intrigued, a lot of it was humorous. I wasn’t so worried about my friend’s sensitivity being compromised any more. This was a fucking cool project, an exciting little adventure.

Maybe Porn wasn’t as aggressive and upsetting as I thought? Maybe people with a comfortable but ordinary sex life could benefit from Anne-Sophie’s flash cards? Per- haps the web could help develop a game for couples, using these cards? People could spice up their sex lives, and extend their boundaries? Anne-Sophie is the perfect person to explore this, she is the potential market. Such an exciting project!

She shared her first diary with me, which I laughed my way through. Porn and Anne- Sophie’s discovery of it seemed educative and comical to me, almost like a Bridget Jones/Sex in the City scenario. Then I read her list of words, a spreadsheet she had attached, it seemed like an entirely separate topic to what I’d just read. It was cold, my mind conjured visual re-enactments that I imagined myself or strangers involved in, it seemed sad, kind of a desperate action to connect or disconnect. And this was her‘edited’ sanitised version!!!! I closed it, ignored it, and focused on the Diary.The Diary was much more human, I was really enjoying it, I was excited 73 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz about her next instalment!

I would later realise that my ignorance, specifically my avoidance, is the strategy I’ve been using to deal with porn my whole adult life, the one I was sub-consciously suggesting Anne-Sophie use too. If it couldn’t be made funny and/or human, then I would avoid it, ignore its existence and plead indifference. “I just wasn’t into that kind of thing”, I guess I was thinking, “Someone else is. I recognise other people have different needs, likes, wants… so good for them.”

Anne-Sophie would share her findings with me and others during lunch, we were all fascinated. Sometimes my hand would go up over my mouth, but then a feeling of nervous humour would push through it, lighten the unusual.

Anne-Sophie seemed fine, she seemed comfortable with the language, and determined and focused on her project, as she always is. She shares with us her discovery of “Jedi Mind Trick” and we laugh, people are so diverse! She lets on that she is holding back some things that she does not want to share, and I can see by her face that I do not want to know. Occasionally I say, “Oh my gawd! What is that?!” Then quickly take it back. My avoidance strategy kicking in.

Occasionally I would find Anne-Sophie in an altered mood, having a break from her studio. She would seem aloof and day-dreamy, a little bit bothered. Anne-Sophie is not a person that experiences flighty mood swings. She only looks bothered if something is actually bothering her, and it is usually because of something that needs to find a resolution (i.e. the painting of a particular section is not going well today, she needs to resolve her approach; or her elderly dog is experiencing a health issue and she is trying to think of a possible solution to make him more comfortable). Anne-Sophie is not the kind of person that just accepts a problem as something that cannot be managed or resolved with thoughtful planning, research and consultation. So, to find her in this state, after seeing her earlier her usual witty, engaged self is concerning. “What has happened?” She says she has just read something and needed a break. I am worried again. I can see from her face this break is far more concerning than a painting that is misbehaving.

Nearing the end of her second week of research I meet Anne-Sophie outside her studio after work. She looks exhausted. She seems aloof and I try to engage her in conversation. I wonder if she’s falling ill, there’s a lot of ‘flu’ going around. I ask her if she’s okay? She says she has been researching the porn project that afternoon, and is becoming increasingly disturbed with the degradation, scato’ findings, and female subjuga- tion she is seeing. It is not exciting research anymore. It is not funny. She is uncomfortable with the implications of porn in real-life. I can’t wait for this project to be over. The woman I had lunch with earlier that day was gregarious, but distracted, and now she looks to be in a bad way. This is becoming increasingly common. I ask her if she is trying to forget what she read by trying not to think about it, which would explain her day-dreamy presence, or is she thinking about it? She just says she’s tired of it. She can’t wait for the research to be over too.

Anne-Sophie tells me she is going to end her research period by watching a doco with an anti-porn intention. She asks if I will watch it with her. The previous day we’d been talking about a doco she’d come across about prostitutes that work specifically with intellectually handicapped people and their families. I am relieved when she tells me we are not watching that film. She says the film will be graphic. I wonder why I initially felt relieved. Why do I find it all so disturbing? How have I made these negative judgments about porn, based on such limited contact with it. I feel so judgmental, almost right wing religious. This is not me. I agree to watch it. It’s a documentary after all. She says she feels ready to watch it, she looks determined, but also to be bracing herself.

We settle in to watch ‘Price of Pleasure’. We’re talking beforehand, about a review she has read, and she explains some of the things she has read about. She is comfortable talking about these ‘positions’ and acts, but I can tell the ones she is not particularly fond of. Her face gives away her disgust. She is very concerned about women. And the things that ‘happen (though it sounds more like inflicted to © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 74 me) to them. Their treatment as people. The treatment of both men and women at the most humane level, and how she feels she has chosen a side.

She cannot support something that degrades so many people in so many ways, in fact she is now absolutely opposed to it. She feels she has read enough impartial information, that this is perfect timing to watch a doco’ which has chosen a side. I am glad it is the finale to what I’m now viewing as a harrowing and draining process, my friend Anne-Sophie subjecting herself to reading all about the many ways people can degrade each other.

This is not where I thought we would be at this stage. Quite the opposite. I assumed we’d be basking in the glorious discoveries of Anne-Sophie’s findings, aware of the new avenues of sexuality available to us, rediscovering our sexuality in new exciting ways.

But it just kind of feels bleh, and a bit scary.

75 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz The Porn Project Diary www.adelys.co.nz © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 On Saturday the 29th of June 2013, I answered the artist call : “Artist for a fringe campaign on Porn” posted by the organisation: The Porn Project.

Anne-Sophie Adelys www.adelys.co.nz

© Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 78 ATM Acronym for Ass to Mouth. It involves the withdrawal of a person's penis from the receptive partner's anus followed by the immediate insertion of the penis into the mouth of the receptive partner's or another partner's mouth. Also called Hot Karl

Back Scuttle Acronym for anal sex

Baker’s dozen Also known as Dirty Dozen refers to a sexual act involving 12 men and one woman. The woman provides fellatio and hand stimulation to each men until they all ejaculate on her face or her breasts.

Bareback To have (usually gay) penetrative anal sex without the use of a condom. Can otherwise be described as Raw.

BBW Acronym for Big Beautiful Women

BD Acronym for Bondage and Discipline

Blumpy The act of recieving oral sex while defecating

Bukkake A sex act, originating in Japan, involving a large group of men (usually over 50) taking turns ejaculating on a woman's face. This sexual act has crossed-over into gay pornography

Campsite rule When in a relationship, especially with a younger person, the Campsite Rule describes the act of leaving the younger partner emotionally and physically as healthy as when he/she started the relationship. The Camp- site Rule means: "Do not risk giving them diseases, getting them pregnant, or emotionally abusing them".

CBT CBT stands for "Cock and Ball Torture" usually between two males. Torture can be inflicted by: Slapping, Squeezing, Pinching, Weights/Parachutes. The testicles can stand great pain but caution should be taken. In some cases, "Torture" is considered "Play". The testicles are simply tugged on or stretched out.

CD Cross Dresser: a member of one gender who likes to dress as the other gender

CIM Acronym for Cum In Mouth; meaning ejaculation of the man's sperm into the partner's mouth. This may or may not be followed by the swallowing of the sperm

Creampie A genre of pornography that features ejaculation inside the sexual partner

Cuckold A man who is married to a wife who is unfaithful. Cuckolding in porn usually refers to a man who witnesses his wife engaging in a sexual act with another man 79 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz Cumstache A moustache of semen

Daisy chain A group of men, women or both, in a sex orgy creating a 'chain' of sexual intercouse.

Dame de Voyage A sex doll used for penetrative sex

Deep Throat Oral sex in which the penis is inserted deep into the partner's throat usually causing a gag reflex. Also the title of a famous American porn from 1972

Dinge Queen A derogatory term to describe a Caucasian gay man who prefers the sexual company of African American men, and engages in denigrating/racist colonial/plantation/urban thug fantasy role-play.

Dirty Rodriguez The act of wiping the penis over the upper lip after an anal penetration, creating a faecal smear similar to a moustache (Similar to the Dirty Sanchez)

Dirty Sanchez The act of inserting a finger in the anus of the receiving partner, then wiping it over the upper lip, creating a faecal smear similar to a moustache (Similar to the Dirty Rodriguez)

Docking The act of placing the head of ones penis inside the foreskin of another's penis.

Dogfart Dogfart is the name of a famous inter-racial pornographic website and also used to describe inter-racial sexual intercourses where a 'petite' Cau- casian Woman is 'gang banged' by a group of African American men.

Dom The dominant partner in BDSM sex play.

Donkey Punch Donkey punch is a slang term for a sexual practice supposedly performed during doggy style sex, particularly anal sex which involves the penetrating partner punching the receiving partner on the back of the head or in the lower back to make the receiving partner's anal or vaginal passage tense up while passed out, thus increasing the pleasure of the penetrative partner

DP Acronym for Double Penetration

DS Dominance and Submission in sadomasochistic sexual interaction.

DVDA Acronym for Double Vaginal Double Anal penetration. A sexual act involving four men and one woman.

Edgeplay Dangerous sex practices in BDSM, often involving pain.

© Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 80 Felching The act of sucking semen from any human orifice (anus, vagina) just after ejaculation. It can be done with a drinking straw when semen is deep inside the rectum. Also known as Yearming

Femoral Coitus Sexual intercourse with a partner's thighs.

Fisting The act of inserting ones fist into either a vagina or rectum. It requires patience and excessive lubrication.

Fluffer A pornographic film industry employee who is responsible for keeping male performers aroused (usually via oral sex) between takes during a shoot.

Frottage To induce a sexual pleasure by applying one's body to another's. The process may occur in an undulating motion or during general perambulation. The process is especially popular at music concerts and at night clubs. Frottage is often referred to as Dry Humping

Gang Bang When a group of 3 or more males have sexual intercourse or get oral sex from a female at the same time. It can provoke the feeling of dominance

Gaping An orifice that is stretched wide open, in pornography, a gaping hole is generally referring to the state of the anus following anal sex or double penetration

GGG Acronym for Good, Giving, and Game. It means one should strive to be good in bed, giving "equal time and equal pleasure" to one's partner, and game "for anything—within reason"

Gimp A male BDSM rubber/leather slave. Specificaly, refers to slave in full-body suit - eg, rubber leather enclosure suits, and a full head mask

Glory Hole A hole that has been clandestinely drilled into a stall partition in a public rest room. Used to facilitate sexual contact with the insertion of a penis through the hole separating the participants and ensuring anonymity

Golder Shower The act of urinating on a sexual partner during or after intercourse

Gonzo The term 'Gonzo' refers to a style of film making pioneered in the 1990s by directors such as Seymore Butts and Ben Dover. Gonzo porn took the storyline out of adult movies and headed straight for the sex (Gonzo genre or Gonzo movie)

Gynotikolobo- Being sexually aroused by nibbling on a woman's ear lobe massophilia

Hand Job Manual stimulation of the penis by a sexual partner

Happy Ending An ejaculation resulting from an erotic massage 81 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz Hentai "Hentai" means pervert in Japanese. Hentai also refers to anime porn, which is only manufactured in Japan

Hotel Business- Iranian term for Gay man Hummer A fellatio which incorporates a gentle humming while performing to increase stimulation

Jack Gagger The name given to a husband offering his wife to other men to have sexual intercourse with in exchange for money

Jedi Mind Trick While having sexual intercourse with a partner, shout repeatedly 'I'm NOT fucking you'

Juanita Special The act involving a man and a woman and a penetration of the vagina, the Bean Dip anus and the mouth one after the other in a seamless motion

Jungle Bunny Racist term to describe African American and also refers to an African American woman 'gang banged' by a group of Caucasian men

Kokigami The Japanese art of wrapping the penis in a decorative paper costume, such as a dragon or a goose

Ladyboy Similar to a shemale, a ladyboy is a male to female transgender person, the term generally refers to ladyboys from Thailand. A Male naturally with all the attributes of a woman except for the genitals. A true Ladyboy does not need surgery or makeup to look like a woman, nor is there a need to try and sound like a woman it is all natural for them

Lucky Pierre Name given to the man in the middle of a gay threesome; receiving anal sex and giving anal sex

Matroom A room with mattresses on the floor for group sex

Merkin A pubic hair piece. A toupee for the pubic area/genitals. In the 1700’s when mercury was used to treat sexually transmitted diseases (Gonor- rhea or Syphilis) one of the side effects was the loss of pubic hair. To dis- guise this condition a Merkin was employed

MILF Acronym for Mother, or Mum I'd Like to Fuck.

MM Acronym for Mutual Masturbation

MMF Acronym for Male Male Female: A threesome involving two men and one woman

Money Shot External male ejaculation in a pornographic film on the parnter's body. The term comes from the earlier days of pornography in which sex acts were often simulated, and this showed that it was not. It was referred to © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz 82 as the money shot, because customers were willing to pay a higher price for actual than simulated sex.

Monogamish The term describes couples who are mostly monogamous and who are perceived to be monogamous but who aren't 100% monogamous. Such couples have an expressed understanding that allows for some amount of sexual contact outside the relationship

Monroe Transfer Describes a sexual act involving two partners and where each end of a pipe is inserted in each partner's anus in which they both defecate

Motorboating An act where a person places one's face in between a busty woman's breasts, shaking their head from side to side and yelling at the same time, which has the effect of creating a sound similar to that of an outboard boat engine.

Nooner A sexual encounter usually during a lunch break.

NT Acronym for Nipple Torture, or intense stimulation of the nipples.

OTK Acronym for Over The Knee spanking

Pathicus Passive recipient in gay anal sex.

Pearl Necklace The act of ejaculating semen onto the partner's neck

Pegging Reversed anal sex.The man receives anal sex from a woman wearing a strap-on dildo. In 2001 Dave Savage (Sex advice columnist) challenged the readers of his column to come up with a name for the sex act in which a woman uses a strap-on dildo to perform anal sex on her male partner. After multiple nominations and a reader vote, the verb "peg" was chosen with a 43% popularity over runners-up "bob" and "punt"

Pocket Pool Masturbation through ones own pant pockets or providing hand stimulation to someone else through their pocket

Pornography Representation of sexual behaviour in books, pictures, statues, motion pictures, and other media that is intended to cause sexual excitement. The distinction between pornography (illicit and condemned material) and erotica (which is broadly tolerated) is largely subjective and reflects changing community standards. The word pornography, derived from the Greek porni (“prostitute”) and graphein (“to write”), was originally defined as any work of art or literature depicting the life of prostitutes.

PPA Acronym for Prosthetic Penis Attachment. A realistic dildo modelled after an actual penis

Reverse Cowgirl A sexual position where the female is placing herself on top of the male and facing his feet 83 © Anne-Sophie Adelys - 2013 - www.adelys.co.nz Rimming The act of licking the anus. Also known as Analingus

Rule 34 Generally accepted internet rule that states that pornography or sexually related material exists for any conceivable subject. Additionally it is accepted that the rule itself has limitations and you cannot be too specific on the content of the item in question. Most commonly used on various message boards for various reasons, from humour to cruelty. If it exists, there is a porn of it, if there isn't there will be, there is NO exception to this rule as of now.

Saddlebacking The phenomenon of Christian teens engaging in unprotected anal sex in order to preserve their virginity

Scarfing The practice of intentionally reducing the amount of oxygen to the brain during sexual stimulation in order to heighten the received pleasure from the orgasm

Screaming Eagle A sexual act that involves 5 men and 1 woman. The woman is penetrated in the anus and in the vagina at the same time as giving fellatio and providing hand stimulation with her right and her left hand

Screwnicorn When a lesbian attaches a strap on dildo to her head and fucks her partner like a unicorn

Shrimping The act of licking or sucking the partner's toes during sexual intercourse

Skiing When a woman is in the middle of two men, simultaneously performing a hand job on each one of them. The dual simultaneous hand-jobs simulat- ing the motions of a cross-country skier

Snowballing The act of sharing semen via kissing after an ejaculation in the mouth. Also called Snowblowing

Spit Roast A sexual position involving 2 males and 1 female. One man penetrates the woman orally while the other one penetrates anally or vaginally

Squirting Female ejaculation

Stranger On The The act of numbing the hand with a bucket of ice before masturbating Rocks Tea Room A Public men's bathroom where gay men have sex

Tribbing Aka tribadism or scissoring. Women rubbing their genitals together in order to achieve sexual gratification

TS Acronym for Transsexual

TV Acronym for Transvestite

Violet Wand A BDSM sex toy in the shape of a wand that delivers electrical shocks

WAM Acronym for Wet And Messy, a sex fetish involving food, mud, water and oil

Yaoi Anime or manga that depicts explicit relationships between two males. Usually focuses on the passionate/ lustful/ physical side of the relationship, unlike Shounen-ai which focuses on the romantic/ loving/ emotional side. Usually R rated or higher.

Yuri A Japanese term to describe lesbians used in manga and anime, similar to the term yaoi for gay men