Porn Blind: Part 10
In today’s newsletter, I wrap up my 10-part series on what I learned writing about pornography for 30 years.
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Filtering by Tag: PORN
In the Porn Library Archives #3
Recently, I set out to read and reread, watch and rewatch, and view and review The Porn Library archives. This time, I reread David Foster Wallace’s “Big Red Son,” which was published under a pseudonym in Premiere magazine in 1998.
Here’s an excerpt:
“It is difficult to describe how it feels to gaze at living human beings whom you’ve seen perform in hard-core porn. To shake the hand of a man whose precise erectile size, angle, and vasculature are known to you. That strange I-think-we’ve-met-before sensation one feels upon seeing any celebrity in the flesh is here both intensified and twisted. It feels intensely twisted to see reigning industry queen Jenna Jameson chilling out at the Vivid booth in Jordaches and a latex bustier and to know already that she has a tattoo of a sundered valentine with the tagline HEART BREAKER on her right buttock and a tiny hairless mole just left of her anus. To watch Peter North try to get a cigar lit and to have that sight backlit by memories of his artilleryesque ejaculations. To have seen these strangers’ faces in orgasm—that most unguarded and purely neural of expressions, the one so vulnerable that for centuries you basically had to marry a person to get to see it. This weirdness may account for some of the complex emotional intercourse taking place between the performers and fans at the Adult CES. The patrons may leer and elbow one another at a distance, but by the time the men get to the front of the line and face the living incarnation of their VCR’s fantasy-babe, most of them turn into quivering goggle-eyed schoolboys, sheepish and salivaless and damp.”
Visit The Porn Library.
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Goodbye, Salon
Salon, the online magazine, has shut down. End of an era. The publication published some of my early journalism, including “Extreme Porn Crackdown,” “Death and the D.C. Madam,” “Those Dirty Girls,” “Stephen Hill’s Dark Life in Porn,” and “How Do I Become a Male Porn Star?” Thanks to all the Salon editors.
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In the Porn Library Archives #2
Recently, I set out to read and reread, watch and rewatch, and view and review The Porn Library archives. This time, I reread Martin Amis’s “A Rough Trade,” which was published in Talk magazine in 2001.
Here’s an excerpt:
“If you’re going to be a porno star, what do you need? It’s pretty clear by now. You need to be an exhibitionist. You need to have a ferocious sex drive. You need to suffer from nostalgie de la boue (literally ‘mud nostalgia’: a childish, even babyish delight in bodily functions and wastes). And - probably - you need damage in your past. You also need to be humourless. Chloe is not humourless. When she talked to me she was like someone peeping over a wall demarcating two different worlds, telling me stories about the other side.”
Visit The Porn Library.
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In the Porn Library Archives #1
Recently, I set out to read and reread, watch and rewatch, and view and review The Porn Library archives. I started by rereading Evan Wright’s “Scenes From My Life in Porn,” published by The LA Weekly in 2000.
Here’s an excerpt:
“I experienced a sense of numbness on Jasmin’s set — as I would on many others — that I can only compare to accounts I have read of combat. It was the sense of being in a group of people deliberately and methodically engaged in acts of insanity. Unlike in combat, I was not overwhelmed by the horror of it, but by the grand-scale stupidity, which crystallized that day as I stood by the craft-services cart. Boiled hot dogs on cold, white buns were being dispensed. A man next to me politely passed the mustard. The bottle was sticky with K-Y Jelly. I never attempted to eat on a porn shoot again.”
Visit The Porn Library.
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Porn Blind: Part 9
In my latest newsletter, I examine consent and authenticity on an adult movie set. Read it here and subscribe.
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Thanks, David Swindle
Thanks to David Swindle for the kind words. Read and subscribe to his God of the Desert Digital Media Studios.
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A Movie Essay
I wrote an essay for an upcoming special release from Arrow Films. I’ll share more on that when it’s released.
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Thanks, Kate Valentine
My Media Diet
Only God Can Save Us Now
In my latest newsletter, I take a harrowing trip through AI pornography. Read it and make sure to subscribe.
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The Porn Library Expands
I’ve updated The Porn Library—a compendium of books, movies, television series, journalism, essays, podcasts, art, photography, and online works by authors, filmmakers, directors, journalists, podcasters, essayists, playwrights, artists, photographers, and other creatives about the past, present, and future of the adult movie industry, compiled by me. You can check out the entire archives at The Porn Library.
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Vegas, Baby
Help Me Make Art
Adult movies, Los Angeles, Calif., 2023 | Photo credit: Susannah Breslin
I’m working on an art installation about the San Fernando Valley adult movie industry that will be part of a group show at an art gallery in Los Angeles. I’m looking for original adult movies on VHS tapes from the 80s and 90s. If you’re interested in donating your collection, let me know. Thanks! You can contact me here.
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A XXX History
Books I Read: Dreamland
After the Scene: Mighty Dee
Adult actor Mighty Dee on set, Beverly Hills, Calif., 2026. For more of my photographs, follow me on Instagram.
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Pink & Orange
Adult Movie Set (Game Show)
Adult movie set, Los Angeles, Calif., 2014 | Photo credit: Susannah Breslin
Adult Magazines
A selection of adult magazines at Counterpoint Records & Books. For more photos, follow me on Instagram.
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