Porn Is Not Sex: Response from a Porn Sex Worker
My response to an anti-porn post.
Every time I make an anti-porn post, I get accused of “shaming people’s sexuality” and/or “shaming sex.” As I have said numerous
I’d just like to note:
- ”Stop claiming that all or most porn actresses enjoy what they do because you have NO way of knowing that. ”
Yes you do: It’s called listen to them. Sex workers of all kinds have positive and/or negative experiences. Some may not speak out about certain experiences for a variety of reasons (good or bad xp’s), and one of those reasons is because their voices are routinely ignored or dismissed- Including by people like you. - “Stop saying that “not all porn is like that.” Stop bringing up “ethical” and “female friendly” porn—NO porn should be unethical or anti-female. ”
NO, We should not stop saying that. YES, you are right, no porn should be unethical in any way (racism, classism, ableism etc incl). You’re acting as if statements of the FACTS that not all porn is like that and “porn shouldn’t be harmful” are mutually exclusive- They aren’t. They go together hand in hand. - ”This is not sex. This is not female sexuality.”
Speak to and for your own sexuality and sexual preferences, and no one elses. You do not speak for me and you do not speak for anyone who doesn’t directly state that in instances such as this that you do. - This is all very US-centric, hetero-normative and cherry picked. Do you know who the performers you work for, contract or agency wise? I’m not saying your argument is invalid by any means but you are picking women who fit a very small mold who are in contract with a very small amount of companies who cater to very specific things- and have specific pay scales. They are hardly representative. It’s a small, narrow and cherry picked sample.
- The same (apart from vaginal) acts and payscales applying to them (for less money) apply to cis homosexual porn- which there is a lot of. It’s not misogynistic in that sphere as it involves no women, and the same things are done. Porn is not inherently heterosexual or misogynistic.
- There is nothing inherently bad about pay scales. As a sex worker and a stripper I charge more for two clients or a couple than I do for one client- because it’s more work. Greek takes more preparation more recouping time, more cleaning up time and more time in general and performers absolutely should be paid more for those things. The issue of pressuring, financially or otherwise, and other things along those lines is another matter. However, as I said before: There is nothing inherently wrong with being paid more for doing more.
- If you are not a sex worker, working in a faucet of the porn industry STFU and don’t talk over porn sex workers. They know more than you about themselves, their work, politics, health, preferences, blah blah blah so on so forth. Too many people talking this stuff are quick to point out sex workers with negative xp’s of the industry “don’t have voices” or are afraid to use them and then use that to speak for them (or more often over the top of them), while at the same time silencing, dismissing and marginalizing the voices of porn sex workers who do talk about stuff in any sort of way, positive or negative. Also, if it’s negative anti porn peeps often twist and misinterpret words of sw’s to fit their own purpose which keeps many workers silent- just like the industry they critique.
Hope that makes sense, it’s late and I’m a bit tired.
