You know how sometimes one thought or idea leads to another, which leads to another and before you know it you find yourself somewhere and are no longer sure how you got there? Well, that happened to me last night.
Let me explain.
Among my DVD collection is a porn parody of the TV show “Scrubs”. I can’t remember where it came from or how long it’s been at the bottom of the drawer in the TV cabinet but suffice to say it’s been there for a very long time. While clearing things out last night in an effort to de-clutter before moving house, I found it at the bottom of a pile of fitness DVDS (which, let’s face it, also rarely see the light of day). I decided to watch it because it had been awhile since I’d seen it – and before you say it, no, there’s nothing weird about a woman sitting and watching porn by herself. What’s weird is when a bunch of men at a buck’s party or some such sit and watch porn in a room full of other men – can anyone say repressed homoeroticism – but I digress.
As I was watching it I found myself focusing less on the sex and more on the faces of the people having sex, wondering whether it was simulated or if they were really “doing it”. As everything was kept very well hidden it was hard to tell. Looking back now I realise it’s actually a very soft porn movie even though it’s labelled XXX. After studying the faces of the – let’s call them actors – I decided to find out a bit more as the porn industry is something I had an extremely limited acquaintance with. I googled James Deen, the lead protagonist, and there began my rapid descent into an evening I am in no hurry to ever repeat.
I discovered that, as well as a very prodigious career in which he’s been involved in over 2,500 films in his relatively young 31 years and wanted to be a porn star since he was a child (this fact was disclosed by Deen in a 2012 story about him in GQ) last year he was blacklisted by some companies in the industry for allegedly sexually assaulting a number of women he worked with as well as his former partner. This led me to start looking into the issue of consent in the porn industry and whether there even is such a thing. Does agreeing to appear in a porn film automatically mean that you deserve whatever happens to you once you’re on set? Don’t worry, I didn’t go and find out for myself, my conclusions were reached by means of research and observation only.
Apparently, while there are contracts the performers are given to sign, mostly they turn up on set and let the other performers and the director know what they are and aren’t comfortable doing or having done to them. I can see where it might get a bit murky for some of the performers to know what is and isn’t okay as everyone has their own interpretation of what boundaries are and when they’re crossed (even in the “real” world). Something that seems fine in theory may prove to be a bit too intense in actuality and do the women in the industry know that saying they’re not okay with something means it won’t be done to them? According to some of the allegations going around about James Deen, it would seem the answer is no.

Top Comments
Pirated porn gives the user a taste of what's on show. So if they like it they can buy the full feature, if not then they can sample something else.
In fact, let me link you to an article written by Stoya herself. Food for thought...?
https://www.vice.com/en_us/...