Porn as celebration. As integral part of mainstream pop culture by design. Porn industry reconstructing porn as fun, edgy, chic, sexy, and hot. The cleaner the industry became—stripping away the “dirt”—the more it seeped into pop culture and our collective unconscious.
Porn products are reintroduced as artifacts of pop culture, the lines between the two blurring so that now what we consider mainstream, pop culture looks a lot like soft-core porn…including advertisements.
Girks Gone Wild
Joe Francis sells drunk, naked girls. The franchise is sex, but Francis cleverly crafted the Girls Gone Wild product as hot, sexy fun that pushes the envelope. The show has become a recognizable part of American mainstream pop culture.
The Image that Francis has created for Girls Gone Wild is one of young college kids having some good ‘innocent’ fun, and that is why it is a socially accepted brand.
It is specifically women that Francis is selling; hardcore porn includes intercourse, erect penises and ejaculate; because Girls Gone Wild features “real” young women engaging in sexual activity, it is considered soft-core porn.
The ‘realness’ of the girls is crucial and Francis’ main selling point: the idea that the Girls Gone Wild footage is real and uncut, gives the impression that everyday women are sexually available, that “all women are sluts.”
There is a exhibitionist/voyeuristic relationship that takes place between the girls being filmed and the consumers. The metaphorical “first time”; of being filmed having sex, taking the good “girl next door” and making her “just another slut in porn.”
Manipulation is not difficult as these girls are brainwashed by society to see themselves as sex objects.
The male cameraman telling the women what to do is terribly disconcerting. He has all the power.
Jenna Jameson
The first real porn star in both porn culture and mainstream culture; she is considered to be iconic. She claims to be in control of her own life, and a living testament to how women can make a successful career in the porn industry. Jameson’s story puts the focus on her success, thereby cleanse up porn, and making her the face of an industry, rather than the men who actually own and control it.
In truth, Jameson was hurt by the industry, and her life wasn’t as glamorous as the media makes it. She does admit to feeling degraded, but also claims that she was empowered in her role as “Sex Queen.”
Vivid Entertainment
The largest and most successful porn studio in the world. Steve Hirsch, the man behind the studio wants to make porn mainstream, and his endeavor has been somewhat successful. Vivid Entertainment exploits women in hardcore pornographic videos, becoming more rough every day. The films are penis-centered; the job of the woman is to pleasure the man. ugh.
Queries:
Do you feel desensitized in our culture? Are you as shocked as your parents are when you see racy material?
How has the music industry affected this “bridging” or blurring of the lines? Do you think female performers are treated much like the young women in the porn industry?
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