Porn Perspectives

Marilyn Chambers, star of the '70s porn classic Behind the Green Door, passed away over the weekend in her home. She was 57 and died of unknown causes.

She got her start as the face of Ivory Soap (99 adn 44/100% pure!), and was later dropped after her porn debut. Even though the film showed at Cannes Film Festival and received remarkably positive reviews, I suppose Ivory decided the quintessential virgin/whore wasn't the optimal face of soap.

I always admired Chambers for her smart business sense (she negotiated a hefty salary and a cut of the proceeds from Green Door) and her unrepentent attitude (she used her real first name, saying she was unashamed of what she did). I'm sorry her life came to a premature end.

As you may remember from an earlier post, Isabella Rossellini has created a series of educational sex films about animals called Green Porno for the Sundance Channel. They are educational, weird, and oddly poetic.

The films are now starting to become available over the web.

Check out Isabella explaining penises and vaginas here.

And here she is as a whale with a 6-foot long penis.

...and much, much more...

I'm not the only one noticing a major change in the role of women in the porn industry - even MSNBC has caught on. They recently profiled  Joy King, VP of special projects at Wicked, one of the most prominent adult production companies.

King has been in the business for 24 years, so I'm sure she has valuable views on the industry. She defends 'the industry," (a term to use loosely, considering production of pornographic content is incredibly diffuse), but says she is not a fan of much of the content. Incidentally, this mix of attraction/revultion is common among women in and around the industry - smells to me of a potential market being ignored.

While the MSNBC profile, in typical mainstream media fashion, focuses on her personal life rather than the interesting insights she can share, her Women In Adult (WIA) profile page contains many interesting nuggets. According to King, the her greatest difficulty we well as her greatest asset in the industry is one simple thing - being a woman. 

The purpose of my research and writing about the industry is to track the development of women like Joy King, and to see how the industry is changing the roles women play. My hypothesis is that these women are also going to change the industry itself.

If you're interested in learning more about WIA - a great organization - check out their site:

XCritic.com recently posted a list of their Top 10 female porn directors. Click here for the full list, plus links to each director's work.

My postergirl Tristan Taormino tops the list, and with good reason. Who else other than Tristan could convince behemoth Vivid to produce an educational series?

(A visual illustration is clearly required here)

The list is a bit controversial, as it includes Mason, who is known for very extreme content. I personally find her work deeply offensive, but she apparently goes out of her way to ensure the women in her movies are willing (and kinky) participants, so I can't condemn it.

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In other news, my hometown of Albuquerque, NM, is hosting a porn film series called Pornotopia. This is the first I've heard of the series, now in its second year. Go liberal enclave hometown!