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November 17, 2014 · 11:58 am

Feminist Porn Visits Goucher College

by Rich Moreland, November 2014

Renewing acquaintances is a reminder that as we move forward, our wisdom and perspectives hopefully travel with us. In the commercial world of adult film where careers are short and movies are churned out with unrelenting rapidity, change is slow, but it does happen. On Tuesday November 11 at Goucher College in Baltimore, I had the opportunity to check in with a feminist filmmaker I first met almost six years ago, Tristan Taormino. Sponsored by the college’s Feminist Collective, Tristan’s speaking engagement filled an on-campus lecture hall.

Tristan Taormino
Photo courtesy of tristantaormino.com

I wanted an update on feminist porn and Tristan did not disappoint.

After chatting about how she broke into the business through shopping a proposal to make an educational film on anal sex for women, Tristan’s main purpose was to familiarize her young audience with feminist pornography. Indeed, I started researching my book on the subject years ago and realize that today’s college students may be unaware of the genre’s existence.

Tristan considers herself to be a third wave feminist because, as feminist performers and directors in the business today affirm, the second wave was heavily anti-porn. In the post-1980s when the third wave gave every woman sexual options denied her a generation ago, attitudes began to change. Today young women perceive adult film to be a choice and building a career porn is more normal than ever before.

The “Cinema Verite” of Porn

Explaining that performers get into porn for a variety of reasons, among the most obvious a love of sex, money, and a portal to another career, Tristan added one that may have surprised the audience, the combination of pain and pleasure performers get from certain types of shoots. Having written that feminism and BDSM porn often walk hand-in-hand down the adult film Yellow Brick Road, I could not agree more. It is, however, further affirmation that today’s adult film woman is in control of her image on-screen and if being sexually submissive or dominant is her preference, she feels emboldened to go that route without shame.

To emphasize that today’s porn girl can get down and dirty on her own terms, Tristan reminded the audience that she resumed her directing career in 2005 with the notion that she could remake gonzo, the “cinema verite” of porn, into a female-friendlier genre. The owner of Smart Ass Productions stated that in its earliest form, gonzo was “mean sex with a jackass feel,” really nothing more than a “circus.”

Tristan as Sex Educator
Photo courtesy of tristantaormino.com

There are minimal production values in gonzo and the performers often look directly at the camera, bringing the viewer into the scene. One of the most popular gonzo takes is the girl on her knees in an oral scene, eyes staring up into the camera. In the overly predictable formula, lots of choking and gagging with the pop shot leading to the inevitable facial is the standard fare.

How to make that more female acceptable and honor the choices of women who like to perform in gonzo shoots became part of Tristan’s mission. And, she has been more than successful, leading a vanguard of women filmmakers who have scored adult film awards in what Tristan describes as “the best-selling genre in porn.”

Tristan honored Candida Royalle as the first feminist pornographer who “proved that women do like porn.” No argument from anyone on that. But expectations were limited. In the 1980s, Candida’s FEMME Productions held on to the belief that women wanted to see sex embedded with a storyline, what porn calls a “feature.” Today, feminist views have expanded.

A fan of “reality porn” where the plot line is vacated (check out her “Chemistry” series), Tristan believes that adult film is closer to the audience now because of the behind-the-scenes interviews, frequently added to DVDs under the title “extras.” Porn performers have “fascinating stories to tell,” she said, and “anything is on the table” in her BTS segments.

Cast of the “Chemistry” series
Photo courtesy of puckerup.com

From an on-screen perspective, porn is a woman’s world and Tristan reinforced that notion with the typical porn mantra that “women are the stars, men are disposable.” In fact, men are traditionally regarded as mere “props.” To expand their larger reality for the viewer, the feminist director also interviews them. Feminist porn works to change how men are perceived and today the “disposable” image is fading.

Reiterating that porn performers love to have sex, Tristan’s filmmaking devotes some attention to maledom rough sex. However, she points out that female performers choose what they want to do, often influenced by their personal fantasies. In this context, combining pain and sex is honored, but only if it is consensual for everyone.

Consent and Respect

In wrapping up her presentation, Tristan updated the feminist porn definition. It has expanded in the last few years. Here are some of the newest considerations.

Tristan’s signature film
Photo courtesy of Puckerup.com

Consent, respect, and a safe working environment, long-standing feminist traits, are more important today than ever before. This standard has reached beyond the feminist model into porn studios that may not necessarily think of themselves as feminist in that regard. Though feminist filmmakers take the next step by actively seeking the “participation and collaboration of the performers,” Tristan said, most Porn Valley cinematographers have not come on board with that.

Today feminist porn also emphasizes consent when delving into the power exchange that shows up in BDSM and rough sex filming. Though such images may be misconstrued as humiliating and demeaning to female performers, Tristan admits that she cannot control the way her filming is interpreted. The viewer needs to remember that every woman in feminist porn is calling her own shots, especially in the dominant/submissive scenes she may prefer.

Addressing social imbalances is more evident in feminist porn than ever before. Racism is one example. Tristan “rejects the way it [casting and shooting non-whites] is done in the porn industry,” she says, emphasizing that she welcomes “performers of color” on her set and puts them on-screen where they “have the power to represent themselves.”

By the way, a college speaking engagement inevitably bring ups one question from students: “How do I get into the business?” Referencing the runaway popularity of Duke University’s Belle Knox who is just nineteen, Tristan stressed that she does not hire performers under twenty-one because teenagers do not have a mature understanding of their own sexuality to perform sex acts in front of a camera. Belle is the exception. Tristan suggested that any potentially interested young person wait a few years and investigate the industry before plunging in.

In conclusion, Tristan Taormino stated that “the lines between mainstream [porn] and feminist porn are more blurred and movable” than any time in the history of the industry. Indeed, feminist porn is now “a movement, genre, and an industry,” she said, not to mention a career.

To contact Tristan, go to her website here.

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Tagged as Belle Knox, Candida Royalle, Expert Guide to Anal Sex, FEMME Productions, John Stagliano, Tristan Taormino

November 10, 2014 · 9:46 am

She’s Somewhere Out There

by Rich Moreland, November 2014

Once again, Girlfriends Films renowned director, B Skow, has created another intriguing tale that examines modern society’s foibles and abberations. His latest film, The Gardener, is worth a long and penetrating (no pun intended) look. No doubt it will join other Skow productions as an adult film classic.

* * * * *

An unkempt garden with an algae-infested pool is the backdrop for a naked young woman and an older man. She is primeval and Eve-like with a distant defeated stare, eyes locked forward as if to block out pain. He cajoles her to perform oral sex, capturing his seed for a creepy impregnation ritual involving a short section of garden hose.

The Gardener is a perverse tale of a psychopath who abducts a little girl through his minions who snatch her off the street. And she is not the only victim. The film will introduce others whose stay in the garden is much shorter.

Amanda Trask (Jessie Andrews) is remembered as a sweet eight year old who left for school one day never to return. Charlotte Trask (Darla Crane) remembers the last time she saw her daughter “skipping down the driveway with a bright, pink backpack full of love.”

Amanda and “Rose” in the garden
Photo courtesy of Girlfriends Films

That was over a decade ago, but Charlotte remains convinced Amanda is still alive. And so she is, though emotionally numb and obedient to her captors.

The family, as Richard Alan Goetz (Kurt Lockwood) calls his brood, runs a business called the ‘Goetz’ Organic Farm. It grows vegetables of all sorts and uses fresh fertilizer, the garden’s focal point. New topsoil is always available to scatter memories and cover evidence.

Richard renames his prize human flower, “Rose,” hoping to erase the kidnapping that plays out in flashbacks. Richard has a system: brother Neil (Alec Knight) drives the truck while Piper (AJ Applegate) and Sally (Karla Kush) lure the victims. In the first flashback Amanda and her pink backpack are seduced with evil sweetness, all shown with characteristic Skow cinematography.

Three is Not a Crowd

The sex scenes revolve around the unaware prey who are used for entertainment then quieted by Neil’s shovel. The garden grows with each new meal.

Maddy standing ready for fun with AJ and Karla Photo courtesy of Girlfriends Films

Maddy standing ready for fun with AJ and Karla. Teddy can’t look.
Photo courtesy of Girlfriends Films

Among the unfortunates is Betsy (Maddy O’Reilly) who consoles a frightened Amanda with “Don’t be scared little girl, they’re not going to hurt you, they need you to replace me.”

But first a little fun as Betsy is enjoyed by Piper and Sally. In the film’s first three-way, there’s a good deal of spanking, oral, and fingers with an abbreviated three-girl daisy chain. A true porn superstar, Maddy is sultry and always a pleasure to see on screen, though her time in The Gardener is brief.

Incidentally, careful scrutiny of the setting reveals a small Teddy Bear face down under the party lights. Amanda perhaps, unwilling to look?

Later, an impromptu party celebrates the complicating issue of the film, “Rose’s” pregnancy. Keep in mind nothing is what it seems in The Gardener. The reluctant Amanda will get a special gift from Richard, the “opportunity” to have sex with strangers. The scavenger team baits two unsuspecting hayseeds from Kansas, Clarence (Bruce Venture) and Leroy (Clover) to “do” a reluctant Amanda for everyone’s entertainment. Jessie Andrews’ oral work is showcased and her body is fully on display in this version of a three-way. In a recent interview, Jessie explained that her ability to suck “like her life depended on it” has lifted her industry success. Skow’s camera work reinforces that carnal truth.

The scene is shot in a catch-all rec room where the girls did a number on Betsy. This time, everyone is present to watch “Rose.” (She lives in a tent on the property where another mattress will later accommodate Jessie Andrews’ anal action). An ever-present lava lamp, a bowl of dog food, long-handled tools (very Freudian), and a box filled with plants are scattered about. Again, Skow sends the message that the lesser sorts (he has a delightful penchant for the redneck element in his films) and their sexual frolics are never far away. It does make for raw sex and Jessie Andrews’ eager sluttiness drives this scene.

When the pop shots do their gonzo best to decorate Jessie’s back and face, Neil moves in with his shovel and the flowers get another treat.

Kurt Lockwood
Photo source unknown

Incidentally, Skow’s version of gonzo is subtle and engrossing. He shoots bodies in their entirety and occasionally moves in for genital close-ups, but never lets them intrude on showcasing his girl du jour. He has a talent for capturing female oral work with angles that minimize the all-sex expectation of eyes focused upward toward the camera. Skow takes pages from the cinematographer’s gonzo manual, but uses an artistic vision to push porn’s standard fare to a higher level.

By the way, special kudos is offered for Kurt Lockwood’s performance as the demented Richard. He is worthy of a best actor nomination for 2014. Porn has its award shows, AVN, XBIZ, XRCO to mention three, and Kurt acting talent in this film demands serious consideration.

Furthermore, to suggest that B Skow be heavily favored for director of the year is an understatement. The real problem is selecting the movie that would best present his talent. The Gardener, along with the dynamic These Things We Do, should be on the list.

Sharing a Toy

Not until the second half of the film does Amanda’s character come alive and speak at length. She reveals her pregnancy to Neil and has a request, she wants to be pleasured and because of the baby, it’s got to be anal. This episode is the film’s marketing highlight—Jessie Andrews’ first backdoor shoot. The scene is another quality performance from an actress who spends much of her professional time away from adult film, a disappointment for porn fans but a boon for Jessie’s career. Sometimes, less is more.

Karla Kush
Photo courtesy of Girlfriends Films

The pregnancy urges Richard to propose marriage (“Rose” really has no choice) and a move to put his special flower in the family house. A replacement must be found for the garden tent so Neil and the girls are sent out again. Karla Kush as Sally is worthy of comment in her scene with Neil inside the truck. They’re passing time waiting for Piper to reel in the new catch, Erica (Nadia Styles). Neil chokes Sally while she gets herself off and taunts him with “imagine if we were getting her for you, imagine what you could do to her.” They’ve played this game before. Abetting the humiliation Neil feels at the hands of his brother, Sally then moves her head into his crotch. Among all the trashy girls in the film, Karla’s portrayal here tops everyone because its sexy without being that explicit, she does it with attitude.

Erica is enticed to take a ride in the truck, setting up the final sex scene and the film’s denouement. At this moment, Skow summarizes this perverted bunch with five flowers. Blooming in separate pots on the ledge in front of the bed, three are female (full foliage) and two are male (long-stemmed). Now an outsider enters the group and the question arises, will Erica be a potted addition or fated fertilizer? Interestingly, she is renamed “Magnolia,” a flower southern “hospitality” associates with terror and lynchings.

Nadia Styles is returning to porn after a lengthy hiatus, but she has not lost her touch. The Latina is hot and intense in taking on Richard and Neil in the film’s third three-way. Like brothers do, they are sharing a toy. Complications, however, are in the wind because another flower has already been shared, not to mention there is collective guilt sprouting in every garden bloom.

The end of the film is fast-paced and action packed. Before she rescues her pink backpack, Amanda dispenses with “Rose” and confronts Richard who claims were it not for him, all the family would be dead by now.

“I am dead,” she screams. “I’ve been dead since I was eight and you killed me!”

Not far away, an unaware Charlotte Trask says, “I just know she’s somewhere out there.”

So do we.

Taking a break1 Photo courtesy of Girlfriends Films

Taking a break with Jessie Andrews
Photo courtesy of Girlfriends Films

Here is the trailer for the film courtesy of Adult Video News. Be advised it contains pornographic images.

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Tagged as AJ Applegate, Alec Knight, B.Skow, Darla Crane, Girlfriends Films, Jessis Andrews, Karla Kush, Kurt Lockwood, Maddy O'Reilly, Nadia Styles, The Gardener

November 3, 2014 · 9:51 am

Everything You Wanted to Be: A Review of Zero Tolerance’s “Shades of Scarlet”

by Rich Moreland, November 2014

With the explosion of “Fifty Shades of Grey” to the highly marketable “mommie porn” audience, adult film has been spinning its own version of the dominance/submission formula for a while now. Mostly, the result is a variety of BDSM lite shoots where a bit of flogging and a blindfold are standard fare. “Shades of Scarlet” moves past this fluff and turns up the heat a bit. The film’s BDSM scenes flavor an emerging adult genre I call “submission porn,” a cross between low-cal BDSM and Kink.com‘s harsher fare.

“Shades” introduces an erotic writer Roz Collins (Anthony Rosano) who responds to a fan email with a cell phone seduction that appears off beat. His image on-screen is strictly in profile, dark and foreboding with extreme facial closeups. Of course, that is not by accident.

Karlie Montana
Photo courtesy of Officefantasy2.com

His fan, the bookwormish office worker Karlie Montana, delights in Collins’ creativity, especially his latest work, “Scarlet: When Passions Collide.” His books take her away from her mundane reality emphasized by the film’s Midwestern setting. As a result, she romanticizes Collins as “a man I could never meet” and Scarlet, as “as a girl I could never be.”

In their first conversation she says she could never do the things he writes about.

“Never or not yet?” he replies and the tone for the film is set.

Collins asks her if she would like to meet the characters in his book. “They’re real?” she asks. “They are now,” he says, and leaves instructions for her new adventure.

Giddy at first and then apprehensive, Karlie obeys, knowing that her fear of her desires is hovering over her. She will meet Collins’s kinky mind with the sex play of two couples: Mr. Pete and AJ Applegate, and Tommy Pistol and Romi Rain.

Two Visits

Entering a warehouse covered with street art, a stunned Karlie encounters Mr. Pete and the submissive AJ fully engaged in a BDSM scene. The scenario will be repeated later when she walks into a dungeon-like room in which Tommy and Romi are likewise playing. To emphasize their vulnerability, both women are blindfolded and subjected to whipping, cropping, paddling.

AJ Applegate
Photo courtesy of Zero Tolerance

In the first scene, the voyeuristic Karlie reaches into her panties; in the second, she fondles herself after being ordered to remove them. Mr. Pete and AJ transform Karlie’s expression from reticence to fascination; by the time Tommy and Romi’s sexual romp ends with the pop shot, she’s entranced.

Director Mike Quasar has constructed two dynamite sex scenes with just the right blend of bondage and hardcore sex. There’s smacking and spanking, lots of deep throating and vaginal penetration, but no anal because it is not a big seller in the couples market.

After watching Mr. Pete and AJ, Karlie inwardly confesses that she’s in love with Collins and is ready to engage him. However, before they can meet, he insists she must return to the warehouse and seek out a man called “Tommy.”

“I don’t remember that character,” she says.

“I haven’t written him yet,” Collins replies.

Collins knows Karlie is obedient; Tommy will test her will to submit.

At first Karlie winces as a suspended Romi receives her punishments. Before Tommy unshackles his submissive for sex, he confines Karlie to a jail-like cage to watch his raven-haired captive pleasured by her “master.”

Romi Rain
Photo courtesy of romirain.com

An educational moment for neophyte BDSMers occurs here. Tommy turns to Karlie and demands to know if she wants him to “hurt” Romi. She shakes her head. He then asks his caged guest if he should “go harder” with his playmate. Karlie is okay with that. In response, Pete and Romi lovingly kiss and Romi smiles appreciatively when the going gets rough, declaring she loves the pain because it intensifies her sexual response.

BDSMers separate emotional hurt from pain. Pain is enjoyable in an erotic sense. Hurting is never acceptable and Quasar makes that point here.

Goodbye to Scarlet

The film’s final sex scenes are contrasts. Karlie gets a call from Collins informing her a package is arriving with clothes to wear for tonight’s appointment. As usual, she anticipates meeting with him but the time is not right, she learns.

Again in the warehouse, Karlie stands, blindfolded with a leash held by James Deen. This three-way scene will feature the sultry Skin Diamond, James’ submissive, who will become Karlie’s dominant. It’s training for Karlie who addresses James and Skin as “master” and “mistress,” thanking them for everything they do to her.

There’s mild to moderate flogging and cropping suitable for viewers who feel comfortable getting into BDSM. Interestingly, Karlie Montana’s bondage resume does not include Kink.com, whereas AJ, Skin, Tommy, and James have shot for the San Francisco studio several times. Yet, Karlie’s performance is convincing enough to pass the authentic Kink submissive test. That’s verisimilitude.

There are a variety of position changes to go with the usual porn fare: lots of oral sex to highlight the action featuring enthusiastic, top of the line performers. When the sex gets steamy, the bondage ingredients tend to be dropped, something which often happens with real life lovers experimenting with BDSM.

The next day at work, Karlie takes a call from Collins.

“How was your night?” he asks.

“Incredible, I never in a million years thought something like that would happen to me,” she says.

He tells her the time has come and she enthusiastically expects to meet with him. But first, he wants to know what her imagination tells her he looks like.

The significance of her journey is revealed. Karlie must engage reality through her fantasies, to find common ground with her fears so her sexuality can be released. After she describes a tall handsome man, Collins terminates the call with a good-bye to “Scarlet.” She politely corrects him with “Karlie,” but it is too late, her imagination has leapfrogged reality.

Karlie is given her dream man, a meeting set up by Collins who tells her “you get to be everything you ever wanted to be.” In a final phone call, Collins says a farewell to “Scarlet,” reminding Karlie that “this is where the story ends,” and, of course, her hoped for reality begins.

She enters the warehouse one more time.

The final sex scene with Derrick Pierce is Karlie’s awakening through restraint–leather cuffs, a blindfold, and bondage sex–put in motion by a voice she can never meet, a creator of characters that are not real. Though there are submissive elements, Derrick is gentle and romantic, fulfilling Karlie’s fantasies.

Karlie in Derrick's hands Photo courtesy of Zero Tolerance

Karlie in Derrick’s hands
Photo courtesy of RAI

The scene is uplifting with music that lends a dreamy quality to the sex. In fact, dreams are the closing image of a film that ends where it began, in the imagination of a sleepy office worker who puts down her copy of the Scarlet novel and drifts off, alone in her bed, into a bondage phantasmagoria.

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Tagged as AJ Applegate, Anthony Rosano, BDSM, James Deen, Karlie Montana, Mike Quasar, Mr. Pete, Romi Rain, Shades of Scarlet, Tommy Pistol, Zero Tolerance

October 29, 2014 · 1:18 pm

“You of All People”

by Rich Moreland, October 2014

In an industry where brilliant story telling is often overlooked, B Skow’s dark and brooding These Things We Do (distributed by Girlfriends Films and written by David Stanley) is among this year’s best adult offerings.

Water is running from a bathtub tap as the opening credits roll. The grouting around the tub and tile has a worn, tired, and discouraged look. As the credits conclude, the camera moves beneath the water line, focusing upward toward the distant shower head. Still water moves ever so perceptively.

An over voice says, “It’s all your fault . . . You were supposed to be helping me, you of all people.

Three Candles

These Things We Do is a sordid tale. Dr. Tom Berkin (Alan Stafford) cannot escape his personal demons to clear a path for his patients. A “voyeur” of the worst order, he masturbates while his female patients describe their sexual dysfunctions.

Today it is Mandy (Kimber Day) on the couch. In Freudian psychotherapy mode, Tom sits behind her. She can’t see him, but she knows . . .

“I can hear it. I can hear it right now!” the incensed girl shouts. Without warning, an aroused Tom pours water in Mandy’s mouth, gagging (drowning?) her, shutting out her story and minimizing her reality. Water is a major motif in the film. Soon Mandy will fill her own mouth with the deadliest water, her final vision that of a shower head, bent downward toward her.

Kimber Day.
Photo courtesy of Digital Desire

Mandy is sassy and a tease (a cover for a tortured soul?), just the right ingredient for the self-destructive chemistry she has with her doctor. He pushes at her, she pushes right back. Despite her emotional turmoil, Mandy is in charge of the pulsating sex that ensues in his office, a feminist attitude that permeates adult film today. By the way, AVN film reviewers should nominate Kimber Day’s performance in this scene for a 2014 award.

The settings for the sex in These Things are stark. In the consultation room, the wall is blue, the couch a dirty beige, a reflection of Tom’s perversions and his seedy affairs.

A small bookshelf sits to the right of the couch, empty except for three small candles, the film’s central image.

A frustrated and angry Mandy storms out of the room, slamming the door. Skow’s camera follows her, capturing the door’s reflection in the full length mirror beside it. Naked, Tom studies himself in the glass. His debilitating self-absorption is illustrated with a single drop of fluid dangling out of his semi-erect penis. Mandy will see this image pointing down at her as she breathes her torments away below the water line.

Incidentally, keep in mind that Skow uses rapid camera shots to explore the neurotically driven sexuality that is the film. There will be sudden flashbacks and off center angles, techniques reminiscent of Orson Welles’ classic, Citizen Kane.

Back in the office the doctor’s secretary, Roberta (Dana DeArmond), takes a call from the police. No words needed, just an image. An overhead shot of a submerged and nude Mandy, staring straight ahead, legs splayed, water gentle rippling over her and into her, an invitation in death.

The cast on set, left to right. Siri, Steven, Dahlia, Alan, Dana, and Marie.
Photo courtesy of Girlfriends Films.

Not for Real, Just for Fun

The narrative moves to Tom’s bedroom. Staring at her cellphone, his wife Abby (Marie McCray) utters, “My little sister is dead.” Flashbacks of Tom choking Abby and forcing himself on her are Mandy reminders. Is he trying to silence his internal demons? The camera quickly reverts to Tom and Abby reflected in an oval mirror above her dressing table. A bouquet of roses, mixed reds and whites in full bloom is to the right. The roses are Freudian orgasms, the colors an entanglement of the two sisters Doctor Tom covets, one illicitly, the other nominally.

Tom and Abby.
Photo courtesy of Girlfriends Films.

Another flashback to Mandy on the couch once again. She begins a thought that is sharply cut off, just like her life. Was she about to mention her sister? The camera shifts back to the bedroom. Tom is masturbating while his wife sleeps; a voice over transitions the scene to the doctor’s office where another patient, Sara (Siri), recounts her boyfriend’s kinks.

Sara’s narrative moves the story forward. Her boyfriend Hodgy (Steven St. Croix) has a toolbox filled with ordinary items that serve a delightfully deviant sexual imagination.

Dahlia Sky taking a break.
Photo courtesy of Girlfriends Films

She confesses a fear of him at first, but once Hodgy got into his kinks, “it was nothing like I’d ever experienced before.” Emphasizing that the pain was “exquisite,” Sara deliberately plays to Tom’s fatal Mandy connection. Sara tells the doctor that everything was “an act.” Hodgy, who manhandles one of his BDSM submissives, Anna, played by Bailey Blue (aka Dahlia Sky) wouldn’t hurt anyone. It’s just a play session, Sara insists, “not for real, just for fun to make the sex better.”

Listening to her story, Tom wriggles in his chair. Erotic excitement carries with it discomfort and tension, all part of Sara’s agenda. She describes is a highly charged three-way played out in a sterile room only a clinician would love. The bed is covered in black with nothing on the walls except a pair of lights. Skow lays bare the turbulent emotions and violent outbursts that are the film itself.

Awful and Wrong

Because Skow lets his performers do what they do best, the sex scenes are unscripted. The three-way dabbles in BDSM; Anna wears a collar and a leash, light spankings with spatulas and long handled spoons flavor the sex.

Overall, it’s BDSM lite with lots of oral, vaginal, anal, and a DP that includes sex toys. Skow’s camera keeps all bodies fully on screen, giving performers a larger reality than is normally seen in a wall-to-wall shoot. A mechanically operated dildo drives Anna and Sara to ecstasy and after the pop, a nasty clean up between them seals the deal.

Sara says she never “felt so much pain” and “it was awful and wrong, but great,” a phrase that indicts Tom. Like a wounded adolescent, the guilt ridden doctor retreats into his fantasies to ward off his own anxieties. Unconsciously projecting himself into Sara, he asks, “Are you afraid of hurting somebody or if somebody is going to hurt you?”

Shifting immediately to the bedroom and a comatose Abby, a nearly empty wine bottle and tumbler are on the bed stand along with some pills. Felled by Mandy’s death, Abby is as emotionally dead as her sister is physically gone.

Abby and her sedatives.
Photo courtesy of Girlfriends Films

Hearing a voice repeating, “What are you afraid of?” the doctor’s fascination with a pocketknife corkscrew and his unresponsive wife is devilishly psychotic.

I Know What You Are, Doctor

While on the couch, Sara confesses that she’s thought about making him cum, and wondered what his expression would be. Skow concentrates on fidgeting in this scene: Sara’s hands look to release energy; Tom’s face twists as he yields to his compulsion and opens his pants.

In a wicked seduction, Sara tempts him with “Don’t you know a free meal when you see one, doctor?” Girls like her “know what boys like,” she taunts.

Reaching for his crouch, Sara’s anger seizes control in a deft movement. “I know what you are, doctor!” she explodes.

While Siri’s acting is top of the line, Alan Stafford is superb as the obsessive physician. His facial expressions reveal Tom’s distorted mind. However, at times Alan’s dialogue is not easily understood which may be as much a technical issue as an acting one.

Later Skow captures the deadness and futility that pervade this film with a single image.

Tom and his matches.
Photo courtesy of Girlfriends Films

Once again, Tom is sitting at the bed’s foot board. Shut away emotionally from her husband, Abby lies self-tranquilized, her legs spread. The doctor stares straight ahead before lighting a match. Sadly, there is little left to stimulate her in a relationship that is barely a flicker.

Harpies

In the office, Roberta attempts to blackmail her boss over the Mandy affair. Sara bursts in, grabs Roberta and throws her on the couch, preparing the viewer for the girl/girl sex to come. Skow’s camera dwarfs an astounded doctor by showing Roberta and Sara visually taller.

The women run the sex. Tom can watch, Sara concedes, but he can’t cum.

The girls will trade slaps, choking, and finger banging, ducking in and out of positions as dominants. Though they laugh with each other, they scowl at the doctor, humiliating him repeatedly.

A water cooler adjacent to the couch is a reminder that fluid will stay pent up in this scene. Before the water can run and wash away guilt as in Mandy’s fated bathtub, more must be resolved. In the end, the girls climax, Doctor Tom does not.

During the sex, Roberta lashes out, “You’re not doing anything to help me,” she says, taunting the doctor in the guise of Mandy’s ghost who hovers over the final scenes of the film.

Improvised camera work (a la Blair Witch Project) shows up here, but seems a bit out of place. At one point, a camera carelessly appears in the shot. Why that wasn’t edited out is a mystery.

Female revenge is the centerpiece of the dinner scene later at Hodgy’s house where Sara has invited Tom to join them.

Dana and Alan go over the script.
Photo courtesy of Girlfriends Films

At last, the layers of the three candles are revealed. Tom, Abby, and Mandy form a three-way fated relationship. Now Tom, Sara, and Hodgy are a trio with a different theme: revenge. In a oddly brief sex scene, they sit on a couch with Sara in the middle, repeating the dinner table arrangement where the emotionless distances between the characters is illustrated in beautiful camera work.

When the scene shifts to Tom bound to a chair, Roberta and Abby join Sara in an unholy trinity. They are the final version of the three candles: the Harpies, who in Greek mythology carry those responsible for the deaths of family members to the Furies for punishment.

As the film concludes, conflicts are muted after a cleansing outburst of Abby’s Freudian id, and most important, pictures appear on the walls to conquer sterile desolation. In the final scene, the serenity of boats in a harbor at sunset watch over Tom and Abby’s sexual reconciliation. Forgiveness is possible, after all.

Photo courtesy of Girlfriends Films

* * * * *

Sometimes when reviewing adult films, the story surpasses the sex. These Things is such a movie. In an industry that depends on the erotic to survive, it is unfortunate that good filmmakers like B Skow cannot spend more screen minutes developing their artistic storytelling talents and less on sex acts that can fall victim to repetition. Just a thought.

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Tagged as Alan Stafford, B.Skow, Bailey, Dana DeArmond, Girlfriends Films, Kimber Day, Marie McCray, Siri, Steven St. Croix, These Things We Do

August 23, 2014 · 9:49 am

A Dirty Little Secret?

by Rich Moreland, August 2014

Recently, Assembly Bill 1576 requiring the use of protective barriers in adult film was tabled by the California State Senate. As a result, the adult industry will avoid further government oversight statewide except for Los Angeles County where a similar ordinance remains on the books.

The story of AB 1576’s demise as reported by XBIZ can be found here and Adult Video News’ version is referenced here.

The following commentary is about AB 1576’s unanticipated impact on the industry.

* * * * *

Casey Calvert sends the message.
Photo courtesy of Casey Calvert

“Here’s the dirty little secret about porn production in California: it’s just work,” says Assemblyman Isadore Hall, whose effort to require condoms in adult film has just expired in a Senate committee.

The Honorable Mr. Hall confirms what everyone connected with the adult industry has known all along, porn people are entertainers who pick up a paycheck. Their job is hardly “a dirty little secret.”

What is missing from Assemblyman Halls’ sardonic comment is the acknowledgment that an effective industry wide blood testing protocol is already in place, and has been for years, to take care of what AB 1576 purports to address: worker safety. Adult entertainment can take care of its own and do it without burdening the taxpayers of a state rife with financial problems.

From California’s standpoint, money is the issue. Driving a multi-billion dollar industry underground or into the friendlier neighborhoods of Nevada, Florida, and New Hampshire (yes, it is legal to shoot porn in “The Granite State”) makes little sense. Enforcement of any protective barrier law demands more government spending, a difficult prospect in tough economic times, and increases unemployment as businesses move elsewhere.

Unfortunately, for LA county the expenditure already exists and state coffers are taking a hit anyway. Segments of the porn industry have vacated California as indicated by dwindling film permits.

Better Equipped

Having said that, only the naive are persuaded that the protective barrier fight is over. Michael Weinstein of the AIDS Health Foundation (AHF) will carry on his private war with the industry. It’s a moral imperative for him just as it may be for Isadore Hall, though both claim performer safety is their concern, an astounding assertion since the public has traditionally cared little for people who make their living selling sexuality in any form.

But for now, the issue is tabled and it’s time to assess the benefits from an industry standpoint. Here’s a quick review.

A degree of political unity is emerging. In the condom debate, the Free Speech Coalition led a vanguard of concerned groups that stood against AB 1576. The Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, the Transgender Law Center, the Los Angeles LGBT Law Center, Project Inform of San Francisco, and the AIDS Project Los Angeles, are among the associations who voiced their opposition. And, the valuable support of the business oriented Valley Industry & Commerce Association cannot be overlooked. It has a stake in keeping porn dollars in the LA economy.

While this is a beginning, other longer term developments are taking shape.

The latex controversy has revealed that performers, always known for their renegade attitudes, can organize to express their opinions. The earliest, most primitive rumblings occurred in raucous protests before Measure B became law in LA county an election cycle ago. At the time, it was too little, too late and haphazard, at best. But as reality settled in and the battle moved to Sacramento, performer interest intensified. Stars like Chanel Preston, James Deen, Casey Calvert, Lorelei Lee, Jiz Lee, Nina Hartley, Annika Albright, Alex Chance, and others lobbied legislators.

Bottom line? Porn performers can advance their agenda and may have more political clout than they realize.

A performer organization, the nascent APAC (Adult Performer Advocacy Committee), is emerging. Among APAC’s successes is Porn 101, a video educating talent about STDs. Porn people are sex workers foremost, just as Isadore Hall suggests, and where better to help than with health issues. As APAC grows, the political entanglement over condoms adds to its importance and performers are now better equipped to fight the next round.

In the meantime, two gutsy industry executives are creating their own political dust ups with AHF. First, Vivid’s Steven Hirsch has filed an appeal in the 9th U. S. Circuit Court involving the enforcement of Measure B. Second, Peter Acworth of Kink.com is taking on Michael Weinstein in a direct confrontation. In Acworth’s view, the company was unfairly fined over $78,000 for OSHA “violations” in San Francisco. When he moved some production to Las Vegas, AHF tailed him into town and initiated legal complaints over unprotected oral sex. “Baseless” is Acworth’s word for their accusation (this has gotten irritatingly personal) and Nevada, which envisions a porn biz financial windfall, is stepping around AHF for the moment.

At present, Peter Acworth is ahead in his fight; Steven Hirsch’s efforts remain in limbo.

So, where are we now? The condom push fell victim to state funding, the oft-cited reason for failures to increase government regulation. But, in this case, the aftermath is bringing together an industry willing to wrestle for its life. The message is awareness coupled with united action, ingredients for an effective voice in every political scrum.

Simply put, the porn world is not what it used to be. The people who are committed to adult entertainment understand that porn is a career and are better educated and more professional than ever before. They safeguard their working conditions and have a blood testing protocol to protect against STDs.

All the while, shooting scenes remains what they have always been. In this case, Isadore Hall is right on target, “it’s just work.”

————————————–

After posting Isadore Hall’s comment on porn and work, I decided to clarify that many performers enjoy their profession and believe it is an artistic expression that goes beyond making a living. With that in mind, I will quote awarding winning director Jacky St. James:

“Sex at work can feel very good, but at the end of the day, it’s still work. There do not have to be emotions involved…and having sex with a variety of people does not invalidate what you feel for your partner. Most of the long-term, stable relationships in adult are between two individuals that possess a strong sense of self and can see their profession for what it is – a job.”

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Tagged as AB 1576, Alex Chance, Annika Albright, APAC, Casey Calvert, Chanel Preston, Free Speech Coalition, Isadore Hall, Jacky St. James, James Deen, Jiz Lee, Lorelei Lee, Michael Weinstien, Nina Hartley, Peter Acworth, Steven Hirsch

July 29, 2014 · 8:39 am

Hilarious Dads: A Review of Jacky St. James’ Father’s Day

by Rich Moreland, July 2014

In a classic stag of yesteryear, the main character is the butt of a joke that centers on an early version of the glory hole. On the other side of a farmer’s fence, the buffoon thinks he is copulating with a hottie he can’t see, but he’s in for a surprise. Three young women control the fun, substituting a goat for one of their own. It’s comedic porn in its purest form.

Comedy is the key difference between Jacky St. James’ Our Father (reviewed here) and Father’s Day, an amusing set of tales in which the clumsy step dad is seduced by his sexually aggressive stepdaughter.

The dads are hilarious. In the first episode, Evan Stone is a cheesy disco era throwback with an unbuttoned shirt, lengthy unkept hair, and a medallion. The second segment features a self-indulgent Hollywood agent (Steven St. Croix) who “seduces” his career seeking stepdaughter, but is clueless to the real deception. A shy and warmhearted Mark Wood is led by his stepdaughter through sex with a tender touch. Lastly, step dad Alec Knight is so embarrassed by his stepdaughter’s nonchalant poker face that the smiles keep coming along with her, of course.

These shoots are no nonsense porn unburdened by troublesome issues of real family sex. That’s their magic. Mom is never around and rarely mentioned; this is just a bit of fun.

That Would be Tragic

Casey Calvert is home for summer vacation and mentions that her stepfather always tried to be “cool with the kids.” Once she found this embarrassing, but now grown up, her affection for him has matured.

While cleaning Casey’s room, Evan Stone finds a small object sitting on the bed stand. Remembering his younger days, he immediately thinks drugs and confronts his stepdaughter. Suppressing giggles, Casey casually mentions it’s an “anal plug.”

Casey and Evan.
Photo courtesy of Eddie Powell

In an amusing exchange, Evan admits that in his time unless a man was gay, he would rarely have anal sex. “Your mother thinks it’s disgusting,” he says.

“Well, I don’t,” Casey responds and raises her miniskirt to reveal another toy inserted in her backdoor.

With tongue firmly planted in cheek, she says, “You can’t die without ever experiencing anal sax. That would be tragic.”

With pants quickly unzipped, dad is in for a treat.

Other than carrying on a dirty talk monologue, Evan Stone’s character steps aside because the shoot is all about Casey Calvert’s provocative and exotic look. Porn is a menagerie of female body types and the sultry Casey’s is smooth, pure, and perfect.

With her characteristic “bang me hard” frown, she deep throats, loves rough sex and choking, and alternates seamlessly between anal and vaginal penetration. Her reverse cowgirl is the best shot in the entire film. By the way, don’t miss Casey’s turquoise heart-shaped ear studs, appropriately tacky for the sophomoric college girl look.

Of course, a St. James motif is in every scene. Notice the three-pronged candle stand. The center candle rises above the other two, just as anal dominates oral and vaginal when Casey gets down to work.

Jacky St. James’ casting is close to perfect. Evan is the right look for this scene and Casey Calvert is worth the price of the DVD.

The ear studs and a hot frowning Casey.
Photo courtesy of Digital Sin

Incredibly Naive?

“I guess you could say I nailed the part,” Remy La Croix thinks after doing her step dad Steven.

This episode borrows an old stag theme, the casting couch. Remy is a Hollywood hopeful and stepfather Steven a big deal agent who wants to play her in the finest Tinseltown tradition.

Eying his “incredibly naive stepdaughter,” the self-assured Steven fully intends to use his power to satisfy his carnal desires.

First, he must get her to ditch her hula hoop and “girl next door” look. (Remy La Croix is more than an award-winning porn performer, she’s an accomplished hula hoop artist and dancer.)

Dad, daughter and the hula hoop.
Photo courtesy of Eddie Powell

The high comedy of this episode occurs in the bathroom where Steven’s freshening up routine is sensational . Set for the kill, he kisses a photo of himself hanging on a hook beside a towel.

Later, Steven puts his hands on Remy’s hips, drawing her close to him. “What are you doing?” she protests weakly before demonstrating how much she wants the part and, co-incidentally, how well she is playing a part. As the supposed “victim” of his power play, Remy’s drama skills rival Steven’s bathroom antics.

The diminutive veteran’s sweetness and natural body highlight this segment. Steven and Remy have an overflowing mutual chemistry that underscores their teamwork.

Remy and Steven.
Photo courtesy of Digital Sin and Jacky St. James

Like other scenes in Father’s Day, this vague familial set up is overtly covered in a porn overlay. The plot line tends to scoot away, though in her usual manner, Jacky St. James drops in a reminder that it is still relevant. In the background are two items of note on a shelf: a pair of trophies (who really wins one for their deception?) and a modern sculpture of two s-shaped figures, one looming over the other. The flowing motion of the art work relfects the Remy/Steven sexual Show.

Incidentally, Eddie Powell’s cinematic trademark—facial close-ups—eroticizes the sex no matter what the shoot demands. Remy La Croix knows how to balance enticement and innocence with subtle expressions.

After the pop, Remy’s voice over reveals a humorous little twist that begs the question of whose lusts are fulfilled. Her wry smile tells all.

The Unbroken String

For anyone who fantasized about making the grade with the blonde cheerleader type will love newcomer Lucy Tyler.

Having attended a sorority gathering with step dad Mark Wood, Lucy wants an after-date payoff. He walks into her bedroom with a few cut flowers as a “thank you” and she seizes the opportunity, pulling his tie to give him a kiss.

Thinking sex with an older man may disgust her, Mark is hesitant. But Lucy tosses aside his concerns along with the flowers. She has an unbroken string of dates with sex afterwards, she says, and she’s not about to stop now.

Mark and Lucy.
Photo courtesy of Digital Sin and Jacky St. James

Behind her cute, huggable demeanor, Lucy Tyler hides a lusty appetite that feasts where it likes. Though the sex is fairly standard (oral, doggie, mish), Lucy’s smiles create a lighter atmosphere than Casey’s wicked sensuality and Remy’s manufactured naivete.

In a chair beside the bed is a mysterious pair of black platform heels pointed toward the action. Why?

At the end when Lucy and Mark are cuddling like lovers, she says in a voice over this was the day she “slept with her mom’s husband.” The phrasing is odd. Perhaps she doesn’t think of Mark as a father because he is a recent addition to a family she is growing out of, thus the slutty shoes, a mother-daughter commonality positioned to spy on a blossoming affair.

You Should Just Look

The final vignette features a down-to-earth Dillion Harper who disrobes bit by bit in front of her stepfather Alec. The game is strip poker and Dillion manages to lose repeatedly. As her nakedness takes over the tale, Alec psychologically backs away, fighting temptation in the name of preserving family dignity.

A little discomfort now has a payoff later!
Photo courtesy of Digital Sin and Jacky St. James

He wants to know if she is bluffing him (what do you think?) only to get “Are you flirting with me?” from Dillion. At the height of the merriment, her boobs are staring at dad. “You should just look,” she says, before losing the last hand.

Once the panties are gone, they sit across from each other with mischievous stares.

The camera shifts immediately to the sex and Dillion’s slurpy, bubbly oral is her calling card. She’s as nasty as they come (pun intended) and her eagerness absorbs Alec’s manhood. Because she passes for barely legal, Dillion is perfect for the stepdaughter role.

Dillion enjoying dad. Photo courtesy of Digital Sin and Jacky St. James

Dillion riding dad.
Photo courtesy of Digital Sin and Jacky St. James

This segment has a couple of shooting moments the others pass over. There is good male to female oral and Dillion gets a partial facial, a Jacky St. James concession because most feminist filmmakers prefer to avoid them.

* * * * *

In the modern era of adult film, the array of fetishes can overwhelm the viewer. Sometimes just straight up sex, charming and not overly gonzo, is a treat.

Of course, the performers are the linchpins of memorable shoots, no matter the subject.

Casey Calvert, a girl who cares and gives her best in every scene.
Photo by Eddie Powell

In the Behind the Scenes segment, Lucy Tyler references the industry’s earlier days when talent would sometime look bored and disinterested. Her remarks brought to mind 1990s director Greg Dark who tired of the business for a variety of reasons, one of which was the attitude of the starlets. In his mind, they showed up for the money, had sex with a “fuck buddy,” and left with no thought of how their performance turned out.

Today the art of porn is challenging such attitudes. Performers, and the directors who bring them together, take pride in their work in a business that is moving closer to mainstream culture. Nowhere is that more evident than in the films of Jacky St. James whose fans can be certain there is no ennui on her sets. In an industry that can get trapped in its reliance on sameness, a St. James shoot has hardworking talent that imbues every scene with a fresh outlook.

Father’s Day stands as evidence.

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Tagged as Alec Knight, Casey Calvert, Digital Sin, Dillion Harper, Eddie Powell, Evan Stone, Father's Day, Greg Dark, Jacky St. James, Lucy Tyler, Mark Wood, Remy La Croix, Steven St. Croix

July 23, 2014 · 7:59 am

Whatever is Best, Dad: Part Two of Our Father

by Rich Moreland, July 2014

A delightful installment in Digital Sin’s Tabu Tales series, Our Father proves once again that Jacky St. James and Eddie Powell are among the most creative filmmakers in adult cinema.

Incest porn’s “transition moment” is the topic of Part One of my review. Part Two explains how it is used in this film.

* * * * *

Dakota Skye on the box cover. Photo courtesy of Jeff Koga

Dakota Skye on the box cover. Can you keep a secret?
Photo courtesy of Jeff Koga

Our Father concerns step dads who tackle their stepdaughters’ sexual hang-ups. Each of the four vignettes is a secret incestuous arrangement that requires the willful suspension of disbelief. How this taboo is handled reveals director Jacky St. James and cinematographer Eddie Powell at their cleverest. By using the “transition moment,” they move the viewer away from perceived familial perversity and into a porn film.

To mollify viewer reservations about family sex, each episode is heavily laden with dirty talk, a porn fixture that, along with cheesy music and looped sex scenes, played to audiences of yesteryear when adult film was creating an industry. In Our Father, nasty verbiage is a reminder that this is a porn movie with professional entertainers who can psychologically move out of their characters when the sex starts.

Anal is First

“It was weird how much I confided in my step dad,” Penny Pax says in an over voice. She’s sitting on the kitchen counter top talking with “dad” (Alec Knight) who is sipping coffee.

The conversation is about pregnancy avoidance. Alec speaks authoritatively about sex toys (he uses them in his practice) and offers Penny a backdoor education in birth control.

Penny and Alec
Photo courtesy of Eddie Powell

To close out the storyline and set up the transition moment, Penny convinces herself any experience with her stepfather would not be “in a sexual way” because he is an instructor. She declares, “I think we should do it.” When the lesson evolves into real sex, the film changes gears, willful suspension of disbelief is abandoned and pure porn takes over.

Getting there, however, requires that St. James’ script highlight Penny’s naiveté. Alec explains everything about anal and she concedes to his authority. “Whatever you think is best, Dad,” Penny coos.

Comfortably lying on her stomach, the trusting “student” never looks back at dad. After inserting toys into Penny’s backside as a warmup, Alec quietly penetrates her. Unaware, she says it feels great, though different and natural. Suddenly daughter spots dad’s hands and turns to look. “We shouldn’t be doing this,” she says, trying to preserve propriety.

Her initial cooperative demeanor has moved through doubt into acceptance. Does she want him to stop? No, and they make a secret pact: she won’t tell mom, he won’t tell her boyfriend.

The camera pulls back, framing each of their bodies equally. For the first time the penetration appears on screen, completing the transition. She tells him it feels good and wants to know if he’s enjoying himself. Penny Pax is an anal queen and the scene continues with doggie and oral.

After the pop shot, willful suspension of disbelief reappears. Resuming her stepdaughter persona, Penny thinks of her boyfriend and dismisses any further thoughts of sex with her stepfather. Nevertheless, the experience was a valuable exercise with an upbeat conclusion.

Jacky takes a break with the talent
Photo courtesy of Jeff Koga

A Lolita

In the second segment, the script uses the transition moment to create arguably the best sex scene in the film.

Stepdaughter Dakota Skye is struggling with a negative self-image and claims she has good reasons for wanting breast implants. Stepfather Ryan McLane hopes to quell her demands and insists via an over voice that his “intentions were innocent,” at least in the beginning.

Their disagreement quickly persuades her to pull up her shirt. With perky boobs staring at him, Ryan covers his face in feeble protest. Dakota’s invitation is up front. “You’re not my biological dad.” He concedes her assets are “incredibly beautiful” and the transition moment hits like freight train. A few kisses and the sex is underway.

Ryan and Dakota
Photo courtesy of Jacky St. James

This episode has a different feel because the players are more youthful. Athletic and hard bodied, Ryan McLane seems much younger than his years. Dakota, on the other hand, is Lolita-like. Obviously, St. James paired these two so that the hardcore is anticipated when the performers first appear. In other words, such a step dad/daughter encounter is possible when age differences are minimized.

As the sex heats up gonzo style, Dakota screams “Please fuck me, Daddy” in the best of BDSM tradition where submissive women deliberately seek older men for “age play.” Incidentally, this small touch sets up the third episode starring Carter Cruise and Steven St. Croix which will delve into the power exchange common in BDSM.

While Dakota is getting her fill, Jacky St. James’ talent for placing explanatory objects about her sets steps up once again. In the background is a Grecian-type urn or amphora sitting on a pedestal, a reminder that the ancient Greeks believed the penetrated person, rather than the one who penetrates, gets the pleasure from sex. Dakota’s toe curling verifies their wisdom.

Following the pop shot, Ryan’s voice over embraces the Lolita shadow. “That’s how I convinced my stepdaughter to stay a sweet young girl as long as possible,” he says.

Please Daddy!

Steven St. Croix is a stepfather with an undisciplined daughter (Carter Cruise) who parades into his office, boasting that her mouth is her classroom asset. When Steven, whose business success hovers over the scene, gets annoyed, she retorts, “You can get farther in life by sucking cock than working hard.”

“If you were my daughter I’d spank you,” Steven growls. Dropping her pants, Carter goads him with, “Pretend I’m your real daughter.” He obliges, giving her a few whacks, then tries to get back to work. Unfazed, she taunts him about his porn mags and infatuations with college girls.

This episode has a strong age play component and high believability because parents do spank kids. But it doesn’t end there; the spanking is foreplay and suspension disbelief will soon be set aside when the sex gets rolling.

Carter tells Steven they are both screwed up and when she demands, “I want my Daddy to spank me,” the transition moment occurs. The viewer is immediately in the BDSM arena watching the players act out their dominant/submissive roles. “Brat,” “bad girl,” and “baby girl,” are thrown around as Steven manhandles her to intensify the sex.

Carter Cruise
Photo courtesy of Eddie Powell

Hair pulling, choking, spitting and slapping heighten the show. By the way, BDSMers appreciate a denial moment. Carter’s sucking wants a workout, “Please daddy, please daddy,” she begs, but Steven won’t let her. It’s all part of the game before she gets her wish.

In the background there’s a small statue of a raging bull, typical of a stock broker’s office, snorting and bellowing as if awaiting his turn. After the pop, Carter, whose orgasms sweep over her with a dead quiet, dips her fingers into Steven’s closing statement and licks away.

Disbelief suspension briefly returns; Steven notes that he now pays all her bills in the best of sugar daddy fashion.

(Note: The Carter/Steven sex scene lasts approximately 28 DVD minutes. At its beginning Steven’s watch reads 4:10 and when the sex is a wrap, the clock behind the desk is at 5:55, corresponding closely with the last shot of Steven’s watch at 5:50. Breaks discounted, the cinematic results are impressive.

Making a porn movie maximizes budget and time. Most of the money goes to talent who can turn on when the lights are up. Unfortunately, appreciation is rarely extended to editors whose skills foster everyone’s success, so kudos to Gabrielle Anex!)

A Virgin?

In the final vignette, “dad” (John Strong) is having sex with everyone but his wife. Though he wants to be a role model for his twenty-year-old stepdaughter (Ava Taylor), an opportunity arises he can’t refuse.

Ava Taylor
Photo courtesy of Sweet Sinner/ Mile High and AVN

The bookwormish, but hardly shy, Ava wants to know how many women he’s nailed (a hundred, John replies) and coyly asks if he’d like to deflower a virgin. Dad hopes Ava won’t tell her mom because he’s game.

“If you weren’t my daughter, you’d be naked right now,” John says, maximizing his Lothario come-on.

Ava eagerly strips, sporting tats and piercings that highlight a shaved pubis. This is a virgin? Not on your life, but it is the transition moment, dissolving a weird situation in which a sexually well-traveled stepfather is willing to bang his untouched stepdaughter.

Chuckles abound when dad asks if his step sweetie knows how to “suck a cock” and if not, would she like to learn. Of course, that’s silly because Ava Taylor is a pro; she deep throats and sticks out her tongue for the pop shot, no virgin here! Suspension of disbelief aside, Ava is an exotic beauty with superb oral skills and a great career in front of her.

This final episode is all in good fun and there is never a moment when the viewer is in doubt this is porn, pure and simple.

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Tagged as Alec Knight, Anal sex, Ava Taylor, BDSM, Carter Cruise, Dakota Skye, Digital Sin, Eddie Powell, Jacky St. James, John Strong, Lolita, Penny Pax, Ryan McLane, Steven St. Croix, Tabu Tales

July 19, 2014 · 10:08 am

A Suspension of Disbelief

by Rich Moreland, July 2014

Written and directed by Jacky St. James and filmed by Eddie Powell, Our Father is part of Digital Sin’s Tabu Tales series . This is the first of a two part review of the DVD.

* * * * *

Our Father, a series of four vignettes about stepfather/daughter relationships, plays with the incest theme, a taboo familiar to commercial pornography but not frequently filmed.

Jacky St. James and Eddie Power offer up titillating sexual encounters that are a mix of seasoned performers and new entrants into the business. The older man role features four outstanding veteran actors: Steven St. Croix, Alex Knight, Ryan McLane, and John Strong; the younger woman is played by Penny Pax, recent arrivals Dakota Skye and Carter Cruise, and newcomer Ava Taylor.

Of course, a taboo that hints of incest survives on a secret. Because daughter and dad are willing co-conspirators, so to speak, the stepfather must not allow his sexual escapade to bring down his marriage. And, neither sex mate wants to upset an attractive arrangement beneficial to both. The result is a “don’t tell mom” collusion that flavors the forbidden intimacy.

But why does a porn film about pseudo incest work when the idea is “gross,” as Penny admits in her BTS (Behind the Scenes) segment? The explanation lies in a literary mechanism that convinces the imagination to allow a story, in print or film, to come alive: the willful suspension of disbelief.

Coined by British writer Samuel Taylor Coleridge, suspension of disbelief is the reader’s (or viewer’s) desire to go along with the improbable for the sake of the story at hand. Logic and the limitations of realism are ditched (sacrificed?) in the name of entertainment. In other words, we can go down the rabbit hole with Alice and delight in the ride.

In Our Father, when the brief plot line of each vignette is established, the viewer engages the story as just that, a story. Disbelief suspension excuses any feelings that the episode is disgusting because it isn’t realistic or likely, at least in an ordered society as we know it. To think about it another way, the burden of disbelief lies with the audience, the filmmaker is merely the persuader who constructs the narrative to finesse the viewer’s imagination, recognizing that what works for some may not work for all.

Transition Moment

The idea is simple enough, but porn offers an interesting twist, something St. James and Powell skillfully employ. At the “transition moment,” the viewer reverses his or her expectation and, consequently, the reason for watching the film. The spectator now settles in for a porn movie in which the sex moves center stage and the larger reality of the performers as step relatives, established in the suspension stage, is set aside. For the duration of the film, a deliberate suspension of disbelief is no longer needed. Now it’s people having sex and they could be anybody. The scene survives on the performer’s skills and their attractiveness, the heart and soul of a porn shoot.

In fact, despite a brief wrap-up following the pop shot, the viewer is finished with this encounter and disposes of the characters’ final comments that are necessary to package the episode. The segment’s actual conclusion is an old porn standby dating to the stag film, the camera moves to fade out.

Notice that mom is mentioned in passing but never appears. As a result, she doesn’t mess up the arrangement and does not have to be dealt with as a real figure. Guilt is assuaged all around because the wife/mother character remains ethereal; in fact, she is non-existent. The viewer can relish the sex and once it’s finished who cares if anyone—family, friends, neighbors, or co-workers—really finds out.

Incidentally, an old stag component—the third party—can be added without skipping a beat. Perhaps an aunt, a cousin, or a neighbor happens onto the scene. No worries because a suspension of disbelief reappears to adjust the storyline, then it’s onto the sex especially if the third person jumps right in.

The transition moment is a clever artistic device St. James understands. Without its placement in the script and animated in the directing, an uncomfortable viewer may feel “grossed out” and set the movie aside.

Daddy Theme

Madison Young
Photo courtesy of Jiz Lee

On another level, there is the Daddy theme that requires no willful suspension of disbelief, but can involve suspension of another kind that is not the subject of this review. Sexually submissive filmmaker Madison Young’s recent book by the same name discusses the many levels of “Daddy” that operate in the sexual arena, particularly BDSM. It involves the need to please and yield control in a loving relationship that fills a void and stimulates desire within both parties.

St. James’ script hints at the Daddy idea, actual relationships some younger women seek with older men that, incidentally, are not unusual within the porn community. For example, twenty-one-year-old Jessa Rhodes admits in the BTS for The Sexual Liberation of Anna Lee that the Daddy complex is her “thing,” though at one point she thought is was “so wrong.” Porn superstar and BDSM devotee Casey Calvert has always preferred older men, her personal long-term relationship is well into his forties.

Casey Calvert
Photo courtesy of Twisty’s

In other words, age differences do not always require a disbelief suspension but may beg for sociological, cultural, or psychological exploration. Are Madison, Jessa, and Casey playing out a Freudian scenario, a father fixation within a their sexual make-up, or do they simply have a natural attraction for an older man? Or, are they flaunting a society that insists sexual relationships have a narrow age acceptance, unlike generations past? Hard to say, perhaps their real life lovers simply indicate that sexually one size does not fit all.

If porn performers are widely accepting of age difference, then a twenty-something girl having on-screen sex with a man twice her age comes with no qualms or sense of impropriety.

Possibly then, willful suspension of disbelief in incest themes may be easier than at first it seems.

It Feels so Good!

There is an added component. The Daddy/Babygirl or Brat paradigm is not uncommon in the BDSM community where Madison and Casey flourish and Penny Pax often resides. In Our Father, Dakota says to Ryan as the foreplay heats up, “Please fuck me, Daddy.” In her spanking scene with Steven, Carter recalls this dynamic when she responds to his pronouncement that she’s a “manipulative little brat” with “I want my daddy to spank me.” This is language that is the lifeblood of BDSM age play.

Jacky with the cute and cuddly Penny Pax.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Koga

The fetish community’s Daddy/Babygirl dynamic carries over to non-BDSM porn with the power exchange. In the first episode of Our Father, dad’s pride in his daughter and her sexual performance is part of that energy. Penny says to Alex at one point, “It feels so good,” and wants to know if he’s enjoying himself in a hoped for verification that they are sharing the moment. Sitting on the younger side of the age dynamic, Penny wants to please, complimenting Alex with “Daddy, you fuck me so good.” In the case of Carter and Steven, the daughter plays the power card in the beginning to get what she wants, the dominating father figure who’ll pay her bills, then allows the power interchange to reverse course to reside in his command over her.

In truth, power exchange is found in all sexual relationships. The playing field is never level and Eddie Powell’s brilliant cinematography captures this imbalance by focusing on faces and expressions. In traditional porn, pleasure is individualized, just as it is for the viewer who uses the film to “get off.” Unfortunately, that can disconnect performers from each other in gonzo type shoots that mute their abilities as actors. Eddie Powell never lets that happen. His close-ups move the eroticism along with a sensuality that complements the hardcore penetration.

Unlike porn romances, parodies, or BDSM fetishes, the art of making an incest-oriented movie is to assure the viewer that he or she can become a voyeur for voyeur’s sake once the story line is established then silenced via a transition. In other words, to appreciate the sex show for what it is, the sexual situation along with the characters’ attitudes and desires must be muted. The taboo may lurk in the back of the mind, but the viewer knows that the director and the performers are in on the game.

* * * * *

In the part two of this review, each vignette will be examined with their respective transition moments noted.

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Tagged as Alex Knight, Ava Taylor, Carter Cruise, Casey Calvert, Daddy Complex, Daddy/Babygirl, Dakota Skye, Digital Sin, Eddie Powell, incest porn, Jacky St. James, Jessa Rhodes, John Strong, Madison Young, Our Father, Penny Pax, Ryan McLane, Steven St. Croix, Tabu Tales, The Sexual Liberation of Anna Lee

July 9, 2014 · 8:00 am

Is That Something You Can Live With?

by Rich Moreland, July 2014

Proud Parents is B Skow at his cleverest, a parody of porn history and a history of porn told tongue-in-cheek. Skow presents an inside look at adult film with a movie within a movie that entertains a question every parent faces.

The sex scenes are top notch with three standout women, India Summer, Lily LeBeau, and the incomparable Casey Calvert. There’s enough nastiness in that trio to guarantee the success of any adult film.

The movie opens with Stan (Steven St. Croix) and Marge (India Summer) being interviewed by an unseen film director (B Skow). After meeting on a porn set—it was “love at first thrust,” Stan says—they married in 1982. Porn has brought Stan and Marge a comfortable home with a swimming pool they never use and enough money to pay for their daughter’s elite education.

Though their conversation has the casual appearance of a BTS (Behind the Scenes) segment that is common in today’s DVDs, Stan and Marge are actually talking with the documentary filmmaker who is following their daughter Casey (Casey Calvert). Unbeknown to her parents, she plans to enter the business and is set to do her first shoot.

Skow establishes the tone for the film when it’s revealed that Casey grew up around porn. Despite the opportunities the business has provided them, Stan and Marge are adamantly opposed to Casey following in their footsteps.

The Happy Family.
Photo courtesy of Girlfriends Films

Jamie Gillis, the rough-sex porn icon of 1980s and 1990s—the era of the VCR and white nose powder all around—is offhandedly mentioned. When Stan and Marge move into the film’s first sex scene at the request of the documentary filmmaker, the legendary Marilyn Chambers’ oral skills on Gillis in Insatiable II (1984) are recalled. Marge drops her head over the bedside for Stan’s pleasure in a salute to Chambers. At film’s end, Casey Calvert will offer another round of the same.

A Garage Studio

When Casey shows up for her first shoot in garage studio (the American dream often starts in a garage), Skow presents a hilarious 1980s moment. A dude named Leonard bops in wearing a tacky two piece outfit that thankfully is locked away in pop culture’s disco past. In this uncredited cameo, Richie Calhoun tries vainly to produce wood for his scene with Casey. It’s hopeless, of course, because he’s really the late John Holmes, cokehead extraordinaire, whose droopiness couldn’t respond to the best oral efforts of Marilyn Chambers in Up and Coming (1983).

Casey moves in to handle the casting couch on her own.
Photo courtesy of Girlfriends Films

1980s cheesiness is not all rotten apples, however. When Casey’s identity is accidentally exposed, the garage director, Jean Kreem (Scott Lyons) is ready to drop her like an overheated halogen lamp. To save the day she reverses the casting couch schtick (they are on a couch, literally). She sucks him off. All the while Jean takes on a bizarre, wild-eyed look. Remember the fantasies of 1980s filmmaker, Rinse Dream (aka F. X. Pope), whose Night Dreams I, II, and III (1981, ’89, ’91) are avant-garde classics to this day?

The garage has a green screen and in an all-too-short segment, Casey’s friend Franny (Aiden Ashley) has a brief fling with porn newcomer, Keisha Grey. It’s steamy, but nothing like Franny and Casey’s earlier scene for the documentary guy.

Challenging Casey’s career decision, the director suggests that sex for money is different from loving sex. Casey’s answer is to have a good grind with her friend in his presence. Beyond the finger banging and oral with a scissors wrap-up, what makes the Casey/Franny scene top quality is their slutty demeanor. In warming up for her best sex, Casey’s eyes narrow with a wantonness that is deviously framed in a puckered brow. It’s the Casey Calvert erotic trademark. Like a cat ready to strike, Casey draws back a little before feasting on her lover with a smuttiness that redefines salacious. On the other hand, Aiden is demure and dreamy, but when the action starts is as aggressive as Casey.

Aiden Ashley
Photo source unknown

“Does that answer your question?” Casey says, finishing up with Franny.

To add an exclamation point to her performance, Casey crawls across the bed toward the director and as the camera focuses on her chest and neck, muffled slurping is heard. Remember a teenaged Traci Lord’s rep for doing everyone on the set?

Gonzo Implanted in a Feature

B Skow shoots the garage sequences in the reality TV mode popularized in porn with John Stagliano’s Buttman series. By the 1990s, gonzo, as the style came to be known, was appropriated for all-sex productions. Close-ups of anal and oral thrusting moved to the front of the line. Skow pays tribute to Stagliano with over-the-shoulder POV shots, including Franny’s tongue on Keisha’s crotch. The final sexcapade between Casey and Kurt Lockwood ends with a splashy facial (Casey is careful to keep her eyes closed), gonzo to the core.

Skow’s camera moves about in Stagliano style, not always removing objects around the cluttered garage. With sex scenes hastily set up in an amateurish way, Proud Parents seems like an off-the-cuff production. In truth, it’s a carefully crafted tribute to porn in the new century, gonzo implanted in a feature.

The Threesome. Photo courtesy of Girlfriends Films

The threesome with the strap-on attachment at hand.
Photo courtesy of Girlfriends Films

An eventual three-way between Stan, Marge, and Casey’s friend Zooey (Lily LaBeau) is superb, proving that Skow’s sex scenes are rich and diverse. During Zooey’s oral work on Stan, cameras drift in and out of picture adding moments of delightful confusion. In one part of the sequence, Stan holds the camera that is shooting Zooey’s efforts and a crewman’s foot is spotted momentarily.

This is porn set reality. Things and people get in the way inadvertently and because of limited budgets, retakes don’t happen and editing doesn’t cover it all. Proud Parents is a commentary on how movies are made.

There is much in the threesome to be appreciated, though one shot stands out. Skow moves his camera above the action when Stan doggies Marge, Marge munches Zooey, and she kisses Stan. Later when Zooey moves to the floor, a cameraman hands Marge a strap-on. Priceless.

Zooey and Marge warming up.
Photo courtesy of Girlfriends Films

Raised in the Wild

Shoot cancelled, a disappointed Casey comes home reluctant to deal with her parents. The documentary director persuades her to give it a try, saying, “They raised a horse in the wild and they don’t expect it wants to run?”

When Casey finds a note her parents are out, her agent, Mark Spiegler, calls with a booking (Casey Calvert is a highly regarded Spiegler girl, by the way). Excited, the determined neophyte returns to the garage to be surprised by her parents and her old babysitter, their good friend Kurt (Kurt Lockwood), who refused to do Casey in the earlier scrapped scene.

Everything is a go now. Before they start, Kurt mentions the reality of a porn career. “Every day on the set, you’re going to do something you regret,” he says to Casey. “Question is, is that something you can live with?”

Like loving parents supporting their child’s first game, play, party, what have you, Marge and Stan are there to videotape the launch of Casey’s career. In hot sex with Kurt there is a standing sixty-nine, Casey positions her head upside down in front of his crotch in the best of gonzo acrobatics.

Oh yes, like Marge and Marilyn Chambers before her, Casey drops her head over the couch to fellate Kurt again. Stan later comes in to pause the action for the stills. In a reverse anal cowgirl, Casey seduces his camera with her signature expression, eyes of determined pleasure, as he clicks away.

“She’s going to have a great career,” Kurt says.

Who, then, are the Proud Parents in this film? Don’t be deceived by the obvious, because there is a twist to come. In a porn movie about making a porn movie with an embedded documentary film to drive the story, possibilities abound.

* * * * *

Not long ago, I talked with B Skow about the comeback of the feature, a vehicle that he admires and is able to supplement with gonzo elements that satisfy a modern audience.

Though the DVD does not sustain the popularity of the video tape when that was a viewer’s only option, it survives with verve because people want to own things, he says, “they want to have it somewhere.”

“If you make something interesting, there’s a crowd [for it],” Skow believes. The crowd does not have to be huge, it just needs to exist.

Girlfriends Films’ award-winning boy/girl director proves his point with each of his productions. Proud Parents sold out in two weeks of its release, unheard of in today’s market. But it is no wonder, B Skow has built a following with films he rightly considers art.

When I asked about Casey Calvert, Skow’s praise is effusive. “She’s one of the top,” he exclaims, “a girl that loves what she does.”

Casey Calvert. Photo courtesy of Casey Calvert

“Loves what she does.”
Photo courtesy of Casey Calvert

Casey Calvert treats Skow with similar enthusiasm.

“B Skow is very easy to work with. He pretty much lets us do whatever ideas we have,” she comments. He avoids over directing the sex scenes “unless he needs something super specific.” When I inquire about shooting with Kurt Lockwood, Casey references their creativity. “Skow sets up three cameras and just lets us do our thing,” she explains, “Kurt and I made up that last scene as we went.”

Though we don’t get into the MILF aspect of the film, Casey praises my favorite mature couple in porn.

“I LOVE India. Steven has played my dad in multiple movies, but we have never had sex. I like him. He’s very professional and a good actor,” she beams.

No doubt India and Steven have similar praise for Casey. There is a reason why these top tier performers appear on the boxcover; it’s all about competency, responsibility, and a personal pride in their work.

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Tagged as Aiden Ashley, B.Skow, Casey Calvert, F.X. Pope, Girfriends Films, gonzo porn, India Summer, Jamie Gillis, Keisha Grey, Kurt Lockwood, Lily LaBeau, Marilyn Chambers, Proud Parents, Rinse Dream, Scott Lyons, Steven St. Croix

July 5, 2014 · 12:40 pm

A Spark of Activism

by Rich Moreland, July 2014

In her recent Huffington Post article “Why I Don’t Want Condoms: A Porn Performer’s Perspective,” Casey Calvert explains the irony of AB 1576, the condom legislation that will alter California’s porn production landscape should it become law. Casey argues that the bill would lessen her sexual well-being at work because its provisions are less rigorous than the current industry requirements. At present, she points out, the Free Speech Coalition’s Performer Availability Scheduling Services (PASS) updates an actor’s status and protects everyone by identifying those who are not cleared to shoot. The system is based on a fourteen-day protocol that tests for seven infections including HIV, gonorrhea, and Chlamydia.

Casey goes on to discuss the realities of condom use. The downside of lengthy penetrations can negatively affect female talent’s availability if condoms are required, a fact apparently ignored by Michael Weinstein and the AIDS Health Foundation. Friction creates soreness and irritated vaginal and anal corridors can limit a girl’s work schedule.

In her argument, Casey repeats what everyone connected with the business fears if AB 1576 becomes a legal reality. Some companies will go underground to avoid compliance while others will depart for friendlier confines (Las Vegas heading the list), or go out of business altogether.

Self-Explanatory!
Photo courtesy of Casey Calvert

It’s not so much what Casey has to say that is the attention-getter. Rather, it is what her article reveals about performers that could spell changes for the future.

Michael Weinstein’s machinations aimed at curtailing adult film production is a call to action. He has pushed to the industry to the wall and there are hints that moving forward in a political way is more than just a discussion board topic. The testimony against AB 1576 in Sacramento is an indication of what porn people can do when they demonstrate a modicum of organization.

Some performers with sex-positive feminist leanings—Casey, Nina Hartley, Tasha Reign, Jiz Lee, Chanel Preston, and Lorelei Lee to name a few—have never shied away from their political opinions. Now we have the addition of a delegation that recently visited the Compton offices of Assemblyman Isadore Hall, the bill’s sponsor. Led by Nina Hartley, the group, which included Alex Chance, Anikka Albright, Mia Li, and Charli Piper, made the performer case against AB 1576 to a staff aide representing Hall. The account of their appearance can be found here.

Performers are learning that activism is possible in an industry unaccustomed to touting its political side beyond the work of the Free Speech Coalition (FSC).

Incidentally, should AB 1576 become law, the studios may be forced to regard performers as employees rather than independent contractors. If defined as employees, porn talent would then have organizational options. How much of a political voice they can muster may determine outcomes that are beneficial to them.

Organization demands leadership and its vital components, intelligence and commitment. Performers are exploring that scenario now with a new entity, the Adult Performer Advocacy Committee (APAC). Using education as its tool, APAC has established worthy goals that include the creation of a safe, professional work environment and a knowledgeable, respected performer.

Will APAC consider a more formal direction in giving porn talent a greater voice? The discussion has come up before. Industry vets will remember performer, director, and producer Ona Zee and her support for unionization some years ago.

Of course, talk of formal organization is problematic in an industry that tends toward libertarianism; porn performers value their unwavering independence and in the end, APAC may amount to nothing. But the specter of Sacramento, with its rules and regs, now looms over everyone and unless there is a dramatic shift in direction, the future is going to demand greater political involvement.

With a law on the books enacted under the auspices of AB 1576, would not performers be better off with a strong organization that would exclusively represent them? How, for example, is the law to be enforced on the set, who takes the blame if condoms are ignored, and how would workman’s comp issues be handled?

Nina Hartley, who believes organization is a good thing, once told me in a moment of frustration that performers lack an institutional memory about the business. They often assume that the way things are now in adult film is the way they have always been. Some performers do seem to get it, however. Like the outspoken Casey Calvert, they can become powerful activists if they choose to explore that possibility.

Here’s an example of the attitude needed for success. Casey says in her article that if studios “stay in California and flaunt the law,” AB 1576 will result in unsafe working conditions. Underground production is the easiest way out and sets up a scenario in which testing protocol evaporates and a host of problems can arise, endangering everyone.

“We self-regulate very well right now, but that’s bound to fall apart if we have to do it in secret. I’m not going to work if I don’t feel safe,” she declares.

What a feisty Casey does not say is she’ll leave the industry and she is adamant that she’ll not shoot underground. The Florida native and others will fight for all porn performers and their spirit of activism, evident in Sacramento’s legislative halls and in online articles and social media, will take up residence in APAC.

Positive changes begin with a spark, an attitude, and almost always a fed-up person. Remember Norma Rae and Erin Brockovich? Porn women are just as gutsy.

* * * * *

Postscript

At the hearing from left to right, Sid, Owen Gray, Jiz Lee, Chanel Preston, Casey Calvert, and Lorelei Lee Photo courtesy of Casey Calvert

Performers making a statement by attending the hearing. From left to right: Sid, Owen Gray, Jiz Lee, Chanel Preston, Casey Calvert, and Lorelei Lee
Photo courtesy of Casey Calvert

On the day of the Senate hearing, Casey and others from the industry appeared in the chamber to offer their views. Though each person was recognized, Casey reports, only designated speakers were allowed to make statements. The FSC’s Diane Duke and Kink.com-based performer and director Lorelei Lee presented arguments against the bill; the remaining interested parties were allowed a brief individual moment.

“We all got a chance to go up to the microphone, but all we were allowed to say was our name and that we oppose,” Casey states. As for the other side, “There were some people there to support the bill, but not as many as we had,” she adds. “The oddest one was Jessie Rodgers, who was literally in tears because she got herpes on set.”

Casey later mentions that herpes is “fairly common” in the industry and is often considered a “nothing disease” whose danger is hyped by drug companies. “It can’t hurt you at all,” she says and questions why Jessie was so over-the-top about it.

Former performers Sophia Delgado and Cameron Bay endorsed the bill along with Jessie Rogers, whose personal view on AB 1576 and the industry abuses she perceives harms all porn talent can be found here.

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Tagged as AB 1576, Adult Performer Advocacy Committee, AHF, Alex Chance, Anikka Albright, Casey Calvert, Chanel Preston, Charli Piper, Free Speech Coalition, Isadore Hall, Jessie Rogers, Jiz Lee, Lorelei Lee, Mia Li, Michael Weinstien, Nina Hartley, Ona Zee, Performer Availability Scheduling Services, Sophia Delgado, Tasha Reign

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“You of All People”

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Whatever is Best, Dad: Part Two of Our Father

A Suspension of Disbelief

Is That Something You Can Live With?

A Spark of Activism

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