Porn, A Path To Positive Body Image?

What is the single most pervasive and insidious neurosis afflicting women in this country?

Girls, you know the answer. Boys, think. Every woman you've been with has got an issue with her body. 10s think they're 3s. Most women are helplessly insecure about their bodies.

Why?

"Well, it's the images of women in the mainstream media; whether it's the skeletal frames that grace the cover of Vogue or the size 00 sitcom actresses or the elegantly anorexic movie star."

Put a pin in that.

Porn objectifies women. Yes. But it appears, with some reflection to this author at least, that it does so in an incredibly varied way. Yes, when one thinks Porn Star, you think Barbie or typical stripper bod, but even a cursory viewing of your average smut collection will reveal so much more. Yes. Many of those body types fall in to niches. But even so, try to think of the last time you saw any woman on TV Desiree Devine's size. Delle Reese, maybe?

Have a look yourself at the variations on size that porn offers. These are off the top of my head. I'm sure with some time you could dig up plenty more.

Porn Queen
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Barbie in the flesh. Impossibly curved, the porn queen is just as plastic as America's fever vision of Womanhood. Collagen, botoxed lips. Silicone tits. Massive. Microscopic waist. And more and more, as the millennium progresses, a fat ass. This is the best body money could buy. It's also the product of fervent pole dancing. Field hockey in high school. Farm league in strip clubs. Lithe. Yoga and Pilates. Kickboxing. 10ks and the like. She's fit. Flexible. And when she opens her mouth, she breathes sex.
Tory Lane,  Lisa Ann, Savannah Stern, Taylor Wane,

Gawky Girl
Frankly, I'd been rubbing out to this body shape for years before it occurred to me this was exactly the type of girl I had trouble imagining naked back when I was in high school. Skinny. Often too skinny. Not very shapely. A rod. All odd angles and knee or elbow sticking out more sharply than it should. Not the prettiest girl, but a workhorse.
Trisha Rey, Morgan Layne,

SSBBW
(I'm listing the various BBW sizes in no particular order) Super-sized Big Beautiful Woman. It's the biggest kind! Sexy with a panis. Now, think. Where, outside of porn, will you ever see something saying: "Not only is OK to look like  Diamond White, but guys will be lining up to fuck you?" I rest my case.
Wonder Tracy, Desiree Devine

BBW Goddess
Our favorite kind. Reubens painted them They have folds. Matronly upper arms are welcome.
Maria Moore, Samantha 38G, 

Curvy All Over
Not quite truly BBW. What we in the African-American community call THICK. This is the fattest woman you'll ever see on television. this is about the middle of the shape spectrum in porn.
Angelina Castro, Olivia O'Lovely, Sara Jay

Pear Shaped
Huge ass. Small tits.
Amber Peach, Cherokee D'Ass, Pinky, 

Short and Compact
Patricia Petite, Charity Bangs, Kaci Starr

Lithe Teen
Think Gawky Girl without the sharp angles. Same girl going from ugly duckling to swan.
Faith Leon, Faye Reagan


Again, this is off the top of my head. I wrote this about as quickly as you're reading it. Can you, with as much ease, think of women from popular culture who fit in all these body shapes? No, right? Why?

There's a takeaway from all this, ain't there? These body shapes pervade porn because there's demand. A random walk down a porn aisle should tell every woman "Hey, there are so many guys that want to fuck a girl who looks like you that a group of people produced this movie to sell them." No, don't look at the Porn Queen. Down here by BBW. No? You'll definitely find someone shaped like you in the amateur section.

How do we get this simple message out into the mainstream? You're OK. Someone likes you just the way you are.

Porn To View at a Later Date

Priya Rai: Oiled up, fucking Jules Jordan with a blank expression and a weird wrinkle under her left breast that every other person on Tumblr expressed horror upon seeing.

Where Oruba Interviews Porn Writer Christian Madsen

It started, as most thing do these days, on Twitter:

Here we go.


1. We’ll start weird. Tell us who you are. In haiku.


Chris:                 Butterfly, 
                           why use so many words, 
                           one is enough.
Okay, that really doesn't say anything about me, but I suck at haiku poems. In non Haiku – I am a writer for Whack! Magazine, a mainstream freelance writer based in Copenhagen, Denmark trying to make it out alive.

2. We have something in common. We both recently interviewed CamilleCrimson.Want to make this a meta-interview?

Chris: Meta-interviews are the best, so I'm totally down for that!

3. If you answered no, skip to #8.

Chris: I answer yes, for 500 Alex.

4. First, about writing for Whack! Magazine: what man (or reasonable woman,for that matter) wouldn’t want to get paid writing about porn? I bet there is an entertaining story about how you fell into the gig. Please say yes.

Chris:: Oh I wish there were, but it went down in a really run of the mill sort of way I guess. I was (and still am) working as a mainstream freelance writer, writing coach, screenplay consultant. But the work load was slowly winding down and the jobs I were getting kind of bored me. I had been thinking about getting into writing about the adult industry and writing for a English speaking audience – so I started doing interviews and articles on my Tumblr. The reaction was overwhelmingly positive to my surprise. After a while I wanted to switch to larger platform and was searching around for a place that would have me – with no luck.

Eventually I did a short and whacky interview with Ash Hollywood and mailed it off to Whack Mag, they loved it! Within a couple of hours – 10-15 emails back and forth – I was drafted to the Whack writing staff. The best thing about writing for Whack is, I more or less have free hands to write what I want, do the interviews I want and just go crazy! It's a great place that crosses between porn, mainstream and has a artsy vibe to it as well. However many people don't see that, and they end up thinking it's only a smut mag – which it is – but it's also more than that.

After a couple of articles on Whack, I was contacted by ZZinsider who asked if I wanted to contribute a couple of posts to their site, of course I said yes.

I've talked to Camille Crimson – who will be the guest editor of Fleshbot in May – about doing some writing there. I'm still writing on Tumblr. I've had one fan post published on Porn dot Com and I'm looking into writing for some mainstream sites in the future (are you reading this you people over on xojane?) things have been moving really fast for me, almost too fast sometimes, it's hard too keep up.

At last, I'm working a short film script with the Darling House collective, that might end up getting shot here in Copenhagen.

5. Your interview with Camille is part of a piece for Whack! on the blossoming Montreal porn scene. What first drew your attention to the city?

Chris: For years I have been watching a show on the French television channel TV5. Usually they only cover what's going on in France, but every Saturday they would have a one hour long program about Montreal – about what's going on there with food, style, fashion, film, music, art, architecture and more – I fell totally in love with Montreal watching that show.

About a year or so ago, I was doing research on the adult industry (just based on my curiosity and boredom) and I found out that a lot of people, and companies, actually aren't based in California, but in Montreal – Canada. The more I looked into the city and the adult industry, the more it seemed that something interesting is going on here, something that might make for a good article. At the same time Montreal is somewhat of a 'it' city right now in mainstream culture, it's a cool city to visit, it's a city with a growing and great fashion, music, food and art scene.

6. You also interview Sophie Delaney and VP Phil from Porn Dot Com. What is it about those three do you feel is representative of the Montreal porn scene in general?

Chris: I had a ton of emails out to get quotes from people in and around Montreal, and the pornographic business there. Sophie was a shoe in since she works with The Art of Blowjob and Pornographic Love. She's lived in Montreal for years and is well connected to the entire adult industry there – plus she gives great interviews and quotes. Porn dot Com is a big site, a big company and connected to all of the industry in North America. I thought they're perspective on my questions would be interesting and they didn't disappoint in my opinion.


7. What were your expectations coming into the piece? Were you surprised by anything anyone said? Personally, I found the link to the tech boom intriguing.

Chris:: I don't know? Tough question. I don't really have any expectations going into any interview, other than people answer my questions with more than one sentence answers (unless the question is specifically made for a one sentence answer). When they do that it pisses me off, cause I feel like they're disrespecting me, the people I work for and the readers who are reading the interview – it's completely unprofessional in my book, and a total waste of time and energy by all parties involved.

As for the Montreal article. I wasn't really surprised by any of the answers – I thought they were well thought out by Camille, Phil and Sophie, they were honest and elaborating on all the questions.

I liked the tech boom part as well. I'm not in any way tech or internet savvy (I know the basics) but that part got my attention – because I learned something new – and a good interview or article should tell you something you didn't know already, and I didn't know much about the tech part.

8. Plugs and shameless self promotion.

Chris: People should check out my personal Tumblr for photos and writings – search the archive: http://story-lab.tumblr.com/

They should read me on ZZinsider.com and of course marvel at my amazing work on Whack Magazine http://www.whackmagazine.com/author/christian-madsen/

At last but not least, give me a follow on Twitter, I'm on there all the time and I tweet a lot, so be warned http://twitter.com/Chris_Madsen

9. Finally, your command of alliteration and assonance is quite masterful, sir. How do you do it?


Chris: Whoa, thank you very much for that. I guess I've always done that – I use to write a lot of poetry in English, trying to copy the vibe of people like Allen Ginsberg, Charles Bukowski and Jack Kerouac – I'm also a huge music geek. I love Esthero a musical artist who has the same love affair with words as I do, she inspires me all the time in my writing and how I use language.

As a teenager, I was really into hip-hop & rap – both listening and writing, and performing. That probably had some influence on my writing I do today.

I think I just love language and words, I love playing around with them and finding new ways to connect them, unusual ways, entertaining ways. Sometimes I make it work, other times – it ends up sounding corny and it makes no sense to me or any other person reading what I wrote. Thank god for editors and proofreading I say!

Working Blew: A Interview With Camille Crimson

We find ourselves here at Neckties terribly concerned, perhaps overly so, with all things art and porn. It is high time I point you to a website which by its very premise, combines both.

The heavenly Camille Crimson is an Artist as well as a Muse. The Author and Object of Desire. All of which she does with her mouth. Oh, the things she does with her mouth!

This is sex footage that goes well with a soundtrack by Sarah McLachlan and Enya without being utterly self-aware of your ridiculous situation. Truly Divine.

I’ve had the pleasure of small interview exchange with Ms. Crimson. Please, read. Then, when you’re done, treat yourself to a subscription, for The Art of Blowjob has the full endorsement of yours truly. 

Interview

First, congratulations on your nomination. How does it feel to have your craft recognized by the folks behind the Feminist Porn Awards?

It feels amazing.  We actually won last year, so being nominated again this year is a wonderful acknowledgement of how far we've come with creating new content and finding new ways to improve the site and finding ways to add even more quality to what we do.  As a feminist doing porn that is very off the beaten path but also porn which portrays a stereotypically male-focused sex act, being acknowledged as actively feminist is a wonderful thing.

I've only recently discovered Feminist Porn. Can you tell me what Feminist Porn is? What does it mean to you? How would you respond to those who say that porn is anathema to feminism? 

I think Feminist Porn is anything that is made with women's empowerment in mind.  Whether it's a woman-owned company, whether it's woman-directed, whether it's specifically about female pleasure or if it's porn which serves to promote equality and respect in general, those are all aspects that could foster feminism in porn.

What is your aim? What do you hope to achieve?

I want to make beautiful porn that is also hot.  Something for women, men and couples.  Something educational without being preachy, romantic without being cheesy...  Basically something that shows aspirational yet accessible sexuality.

You’re from Quebec. As an American, I am ignorant of any place north of Boston. Is there a Canadian porn scene? How would you describe the porn culture in the Great White North?

The porn scene in Montreal is actually exploding right now.  There has always been a fair amount of content development and webcam studios, but Manwin (AKA Pornhub, Youporn, Xtube, Brazzers, Playboy.com, Playboy TV, Twisty's, Digital Playground, etc...) is all located here and they've slowly but surely bought up a huge chunk of the industry.  People are taking note of the city as it becomes more mainstream on the administrative side, but the smaller companies making their own porn are still as diverse as ever.

It is an understatement to say that you’re incredibly good at what you do. You’re absolutely sensational to watch. Tell me, your skill with fellatio, is it the result of hard work and training or is it natural talent?

I guess it's a mix of the two, but more than anything, it's about being passionate about it and devoted to my boyfriend.  Knowing lots of tricks is great, but it's not much without the motivation behind it.  That doesn't have to be love, but for me it is.  As long as there's some fire, the rest can be added.

Shameless plugs and self-promotion. Please, plug away. Websites, movies, appearances.

Our DVD with Hustler is about to go live.  Keep checking my blog (http://www.camillecrimson.com) for more information!  I also will be taking over as guest editor for Fleshbot for the week of May 21st, so be sure to mark that down on your calendars!

Final question, Are you happy?

I'm incredibly happy.  I never thought that my life could be as awesome as it has turned out to be, but I'm sure glad it is.

Porn Star Haiku: Shay Fox

All this fantasy!
Oh, Womanhood! I see you.
I lose all power.

Porn Star Haiku: Lezley Zen

Silence overcomes me.
Why'd I ever think 
To use language?