OK, first of all, I must apopogize for my neglect of my blog the last few days. We are frantically trying to get our apartment painted and decorated before my mother-in-law shows up here in a few days. I have the insides pf Home Depot thoroughly memorized at this point.
I did think the Jenna Jameson bio was interesting though. She explained that she became interested in nude modeling when she found her dad's stash of Playboys when she was a girl and wanted to be one of the models because they were "so beautiful." Honestly, I think that she wanted her father's affections, and she discovered that day what got his attention. Her mother died when she was three, and her life seems to be a search for the attantion and affection the she never got from her mom. I also lost my mom when i was young (15) and I distinctly remember seeking to replace the attention and affection that I missed from her almost immediately after her death.
When Jenna was a teenager, she said she realized how much power and attention she could get with sex. She recalled feeling this when she lost her virginity and became almost addicted to the power that it gave her over men, once again, I think the power to get attention from them. She never really acknowledged this up front though. Like I said in my previous post, she is phenomenally wealthy from her career, and unlike most women in the industry, who are chewed up and spit out in a realtively short amount of time, she has made millions. It's tough to admit the toll that porn has taken on her life when it's paying her bills, for now.
Recently though, she married and is expecting her first child. After all of the defense of porn that she has done (incliding a debate on the merits of porn at Oxford University, whose audience overwhelmingly voted she won), she has vowed not to do any more porn films, even though she also says that she will be proud to tell her kids what she did for a living. Overall, I don't think that she convinced me that her career has been as good to her as she said it has. The pain that she has endured over the course of her life, and her search for attention through progressively more explicit forms of exhibitionism were thnily disguised by her staunch defense of her career.
One interesting note though, the show briefly showed some of her hate mail, telling her that she's going to burn in hell and all sorts of nasty things--this is almost exclusively the exposure that she has had to Christians. She said "trust me, I know" that the people who send her such letters are the ones who secretly indulge in it (and consequently hate themselves for it and channel their hate to porn stars like her). I have to agree with her on that one.
Also, at the end, they asked many of the people who were interviewed throughout the show wether they thought Jenna would go to heaven (most of them from inside the industry). All of them said that she would because she's a good person, with a good heart. There was only one exception--a minister, head of some moral watchdog group, who had earlier caller her an evil person, said that she would go to hell because she's a bad person. At least one of them could be right. He doesn't seem at all interested to change their fate though. jenna, pparently, knows who her friends are, and for the time being, they're not Christians.
Posted by Matthew Pearson at August 13, 2003 02:30 PM | TrackBackFascinating post. I would've loved to have been there to hear that debate. I heard that she also held her own with Bill O'Reilly. I take it this was separate from the debate you're talking about. She sounds like a moderately intelligent woman.
Is the man she's marrying a porn star as well? I ask because, it seems as though she was married in the past to a porn star, and that part of why their inability to stay married was because of their mutual decision to continue to make movies. The website you linked to said that they got separated, but continued to make movies together. That's got to be weird, and unbelievably sad and painful.
That minister, by the way, sounds like a real asshole. It sounds like if anyone's going to hell, it's going to be this guy, who strikes me as a total pharisee and probably without any understanding either of his own sin, or the gospel of grace.
Just how wealthy is she, though? And how precisely did she get so wealthy, when so many other porn stars never do? Did she somehow get involved with distribution and her own company at some point?
Posted by: scott cunningham at August 14, 2003 05:45 AMFor some reason your post brought to mind the book "Brothel: Mustang Ranch and Its Women" by Alexa Albert. Dr Albert went to Nevada to investigate why none of the girls at the legalized brothel Mustang Ranch reportedly had AIDS.
Although the girls rarely opened up, so to speak, (sorry for the unintentionally and terribly bad pun) to outsiders, they allowed Albert to interview them and write about their experiences.
One part that stands out: the girls felt pity for many of the men who visited the ranch for sex. More than once they said that most of the men wanted some fairly basic sexual activity and "if they got it at home," the ranch would be out of business.
I'm not sure of the relationships, if any, between porn and prostitution. I remember hearing that some municipalities have prosecuted porn under the pandering laws they use against prostitution.
Was prostitution mentioned in the Jenna bio?
Posted by: Bill Crawford at August 14, 2003 06:58 AMScott, I should have taken notes when I watched the show, because I can't quite remember the answers to you rquestions. i think though, that you are thinking of her first husband, whom she separated from long before her second marriage. She had to get a divorce before she got engaged again because she never formally divorced her first husband when they separated. The current husband was, I think, a porn producer, but he has been at least one movie with her, I think.
The thing with Bil O'Reilly was, i think one of his typical jobs, but apparently he complimented her for holding her own, and after the itnerview he asked her to send him some of her movies. When he criticised her on The Factor when the Oxford debate mede nws, she blabbed about his request for the movies, sarcastically saying that "surely it was for professional reasons." Bill joked about ot on the next show, saying "of course it was."
So, I hnestly don't think that she has ever encountered anyone who was against porn who wasn't a total hypocrite or a or a caustic feminist. That is, I doubt that anyone has ever disagreed with her career choice out of love for her (including her dad, who says he supports her whatever she does).
Posted by: Matthew Pearson at August 14, 2003 09:32 AMO'Reilly really said that? What a jerkoff. Man, I really can't stand him, or Rush for that matter.
Posted by: scott cunningham at August 14, 2003 12:40 PMI personally respect Jenna Jameson. I don't idolize her, but I have some respect for her. As Matt Pearson said, she has done very well in an industry that preys on people. She is probably the only porn star who has managed to 1)not be taken advantage of, and 2) earn a decent living. And the wonderful part is that she's a woman!
I enjoyed watching her documentary on E! True Hollywood...brilliant. I relate to her in many ways. I'm a 26-year-old female who had a very short stint in the porno industry, therefore I've had personal experience as a performer. The money was terrific but...that's the only positive. I left because of certain things I observed that really bothered me. I have nothing against sex, porn, or erotica itself. However, it is a business full of corrupt individuals who don't give a damn about the health & safety of others. Condoms are not compulsory (they complain that condom use isn't risque enough), testing is infrequent, & working conditions are often poor.
And if a woman does unprotected anal sex on camera, she will be paid astronomical amounts of cash. Never mind that this is one of the #1 ways to be infected with HIV/AIDS. It has its perks & pitfalls, but despite what some people think, it can be a shitty job.
In my experience, it was glamorous...but it is also extremely tough on people. Physically, mentally, emotionally, even spiritually. Both male & female performers are treated like shit, with no respect at all. Some are infected with HIV/AIDS, some commit suicide, some are murdered. Jenna has been really brave in the face of all this, the possibilities of what could happen, & also the fact that most people frown upon what she does for a living. I was always a timid girl, worrying about what other people thought of me. My first experience in porn was terrible, but then it is for most people. Being a hypocrite is wrong, bashing men is wrong...I am a feminist to some extent, however. Not a "caustic feminist", but a feminist who believes in fairness towards both men AND women. A lot of people are hypocritical...the main reason that even today no one knows about my time in porn. I would be lying if I said that pornography doesn't, in & of itself, exploit women. It exploits men too, making them seem brutish & misogynistic. This is probably the reason for "caustic femists" who are violently opposed to porn. They might be screwed up in some of their radical opinions, but there is some truth in their beliefs. It really isn't a profession that a caring parent would want their daughter (or son) involved in. No offense to Jenna's father, that's just my personal opinion...
Some feminists should consider, though, that although women definitely are taken advantage of in "the biz", men are also subjected to this treatment in their own way. And porn is the only field in which women significantly earn more than men. That said, everyone basically has their own set of values, beliefs, ethics, etc. So no one's all right or all wrong. It simply depends on your maturity, level of intelligence, moral standards, & how you were brought up.