Porn Studies

I recently sent an e-mail to Elizabeth about some subjects I was interested in. I must admit I'm learning all the "in's & out's" (yeah a pun is sort of intended there, however cheesy it may be! ha!) of porn, commercial sex industry. For the longest time, I've been only a voyeur. I still am, but I'm interested in the "behind the scenes" sort of stuff now. I notice the MAJORITY of "behind the scenes" conversations about porn, prostitution, sex work in general, revolve around the women... well, WHERE ARE THE GUYS???

Where are the feminist men in porn? Are there any?

What about the messages we receive about men from porn? Is it REALLY all down to "how big is your dick?" and "can you keep it hard for 2 hours? and cum on command?" How many men's REAL sexual lives are portrayed in porn? Not many I would bet. Is there porn where the guys are just good looking, having fun, not just there for their dicks & cumming capabilities?

Why are the men paid so much less than the women in porn?

A friend just showed me some clips of an HBO series called Tell Me You Love Me. It features actors playing couples, and it seems to have a kind of "reality show" format while being a scripted drama at the same time. I haven't seen any full episodes, but it seems that each episode intersperses clips of the "couple" in their "real-life" situations, including having sex, with clips of the same couple seeing a therapist. It aslo includes clips of that therapist May Foster (played by Jane Alexander) and her husband Arthur (played by David Selby) in their "real life" situation, including having sex.

For example, what do you think about Richard Newman's observation that there is so little actual male pleasure depicted in porn? Or, what do you think it would take to get more widespread use of condoms in porn? Or what kinds of concerns do you have about the working conditions behind the porn that you watch? (And how would you find out about them?)