Copyright By Nancy Leigh Semin 2006 The Dissertation Committee for Nancy Leigh Semin certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: An Examination of Linda Lovelace and her Influence on Feminist Thought and the Pornographic Industry In America Committee: _________________________________________ William Goetzmann, Supervisor _________________________________________ Jeff Meikle, Co-Supervisor __________________________________________ Jan Todd __________________________________________ Janet Staiger __________________________________________ Anthony Hilfer An Examination of Linda Lovelace and her Influence on Feminist Thought and the Pornographic Industry in America by Nancy Leigh Semin, B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Texas at Austin August 2006 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe a debt of gratitude to a great many people who provided support and assistance during the research and writing of this dissertation. The following represents a partial, and by no means complete, mention of those who assisted me over the past four years. Foremost among these are the many people who consented to being interviewed for this project. Many not only gave graciously of their time, they also opened their hearts and their doors, sharing not only stories and recollections of Linda, but kindness, warmth and hospitality. In addition, I thank Mona Card at World of Wonder Production Company, and the staff at both the Rare Books and Manuscripts Collection at Columbia University, UCLA Film and Television Archives in Los Angeles. I would also like to thank the members of my dissertation and orals committee at the University of Texas at Austin: Dr. Janet Staiger, Dr. Jan Todd, Dr. Tony Hilfer, Dr. Jeff Meikle, Dr. Sandy Stone, Dr. Caroline Eastman and Dr. Richard Pells, as well as the American studies faculty, fellow students and staff. A special word of thanks is due to my mentor and dissertation advisor, William Goetzmann, whose insights and contributions greatly enhanced this work. I could not have completed this had it not been for the support of my parents Harold and Mary Ann Semin, my sisters, Cathy, Susan and Jenny. Greg Wilson, Valerie Bowles, Tiffany Crouch Bartlett, and Amanda Rubwright provided editorial advice. Most of all, I wish to thank Russell Lingo whose friendship, support and love made this completed work possible. iv An Examination of Linda Lovelace and her Influence on Feminist Thought and the Pornographic Industry In America Publication No. _____________ Nancy Leigh Semin, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2006 Supervisor: William Goetzmann Co-Supervisor: Jeff Meikle Linda Lovelace played a pivotal role in shaping American ideas about sex and pornography. Her story serves as a symbol for the various positions articulated within the feminist movement, and ostensibly, by the American public at large, regarding the contentious subjects of female sexual pleasure and victimization, as well as the uses for, and accessibility of, pornography. Linda Lovelace (nee Boreman) was born in 1949 in Brooklyn, New York. Following an unremarkable Catholic childhood, at the age of 22, v she starred in Deep Throat [1972], which would later become the most profitable and well-known pornographic film ever made. Behind the backdrop of the sexual revolution, Lovelace emerged as the most visible representative for a sexually libertine lifestyle that dominated the late1960s and early1970s. Eight years later, however, Lovelace co- authored Ordeal, an autobiography in which she denounced her involvement in the making of that film, alleging she was forced against her will to participate in its production. Lovelace then allied herself with well-known members of the feminist movement and emerged as its most prominent advocate against the inherent dangers of pornography. However, her changing allegiances created a furor, with many Americans questioning the veracity and motives behind her most recent declarations. In 2001, Lovelace’s legacy was further complicated when she posed for a fetish magazine and began autographing Deep Throat merchandise at memorabilia shows. Before her untimely death stemming from injuries sustained in an auto accident in 2002, it seemed Lovelace had once again shifted her position on the permissibility of pornography in American society. Despite the fact Lovelace wrote four autobiographies, she left untouched any serious effort to analyze the larger and more complex issues regarding her ever-shifting positions on pornography. Relying on Lovelace’s prior books, print media, interviews with family members and contemporaries from the pornographic industry and the feminist movement, this work examines the significance of Lovelace’s life set against changing 20th century social mores, including the phenomenal growth of the pornographic industry and the various feminist positions on the place of` women in it. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: Introduction ………………………………………………………….…1 CHAPTER 2: Linda Boreman’s Early Years.....…....…………………….…………..21 CHAPTER 3: Deep Throat and Linda Lovelace ……………………………………..54 CHAPTER 4: Linda Lovelace as Celebrity …………………………………………..96 CHAPTER 5: Linda Lovelace becomes Linda Marchiano.…………………………132 CHAPTER 6: Linda the Author ……………………………………….……………176 CHAPTER 7: Linda the Feminist Activist ………………………….……………....205 CHAPTER 8: Linda Lovelace the Porn Star Icon …………………………..………242 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………………282 VITA…………………………………………………………………………………294 vii Chapter 1: Introduction “Doctor, I don’t know why it is, I just don’t enjoy sex,” said Linda Lovelace in the 1972 pornographic film Deep Throat. This troubling complaint and the subsequent “medical” discovery that explained her puzzlement are the basic plot of the film that is credited with helping to reshape American sexuality. Featuring explicit sexual scenes that glorified oral sex, Deep Throat became an immediate sensation and is still considered the most successful pornographic film of all time. More than just a phenomenal box office success, Deep Throat had an immeasurable impact on American society. In their breaking story on the Watergate burglary, Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein referred to their secret informant as “Deep Throat”—a pseudonym they explicitly borrowed from film. But more important than its entry into the political lexicon, Deep Throat is also credited with altering American sexual mores. It became, arguably, the most important statement about American sexuality since the Kinsey Report was released in 1948. It may be impossible to gauge the degree to which it affected ordinary couples and their sex lives, but Americans seemed to talk more openly about sex than before Deep Throat’s release. Statistics on the pornography industry in the wake of the film are much more accessible. The film irrevocably changed pornography in America, and what had once represented a thin slice of Los Angeles film production and revenue would subsequently balloon into a billion-dollar industry that would eventually out-gross most motion picture studios. In the process, American ideas about obscenity and pornography would also dramatically change. 1 The success of the film also catapulted its feature performer, Linda Lovelace, into superstardom. With her sudden burst of fame, the public was eager to learn more about this new sex personality. Linda enthusiastically gave Americans what they wanted to hear and see. Following the success of Deep Throat, she co-authored two autobiographies Inside Linda Lovelace [1973] and The Intimate Diary of Linda Lovelace [1974]) that enhanced her image as the best known representative of a new libertine, swinging 1970s lifestyle. F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, “There are no second acts in American lives.” But amazingly, Linda defied that dictum, and in less than a decade did an about-face and repudiated her involvement in the making of Deep Throat. Writing two more autobiographies in the 1980s, Ordeal and Out of Bondage, she chronicled a far different version of her life. Claiming she had been physically abused and forced at gunpoint to prostitute herself, she denounced her prior involvement with the pornography industry. Between the publications of these latter two books, a variety of feminists, including Gloria Steinem, Andrea Dworkin, Catharine MacKinnon and Susan Brownmiller, as well as the organization Women Against Pornography took up her cause. The woman who was once the world’s most famous porn star suddenly became pornography’s most vocal and visible adversary. A decade later, Linda shifted positions again when, in the late 1990s, she began to take part in memorabilia shows during which she autographed Deep Throat merchandise and old publicity photos and, in January 2001, by posing for Leg Show, a fetish magazine with international distribution. Linda’s shifting position earned her few friends inside and outside of the pornography industry. Pornography insiders despised her for criticizing the industry, 2 which had brought her international attention. Former adult actress Gloria Leonard considered her an “Aaron Burr” who did a “traitorous turn…to the adult industry.” In Leonard’s estimation, Linda had committed an unforgivable sin. She believed workers in the adult film industry were there by choice, and that Linda’s assertion that she was a forced participant seemed to play upon the fear that