This from my archives. 2008.
Back when we fretted about such simple things as kindness consideration, and cause, and effect.
Porn as it was, and is demeans those in it.
So we thought my graphic art comrades of the time. Is there a way to do enjoyable erotica that doesn't hurt people? I mean the template we had then as now comes from when it was illegal. So the Mob produced it all.
In other words generations were given as a model the Mafia's idea of sex. Which is akin to autopsy pictures. So I proposed what in my earlier boyish innocence I believed porn to be. As a lad of 12 or 13 I'd see this stuff on newsstand racks. I thought the pictures were taken by the people in it. The women themselves took the pictures, and the articles interspersed were by them talking about why they did it, and how they had such a nice time with friends doing it.
An interesting idea we thought.
However when we actually proposed this to one of the skin rags they thought we were crazy, and said basically "fuck no" to the idea. Anyway by this time it was the early 1970's so I began to self publish gay poetry 'zines, and my Queer Angel, and Faerie drawings. Which was great fun.
( See an Angel drawing from those gleeful ancient times I did below "...Queer" post. )
Don't forget that a lot of people consider your art to be "porn" and you are not part of any Mafia. The early boy photos from the 1960s were not controlled by the Mafia. The same is true of the early internet when NNTP was a dominant force for freedom and was not commercial and was uncensored.
ReplyDeleteAfter the late '60s and early '70s things began to change a lot. Now you can't look at someone without being called a pervert or a sex maniac. After the '90s even newsgroups were censored dramatically. That's what the Mafia wants. Then they can step in and profit from it all.
I was speaking generally about the mob influence on published erotica. They did control the news stands, and what they carried. The old skin mags were part of the mob package of control.
ReplyDeleteThat template I mentioned is real, and still has an effect.
It's why porn is so dreary un-loving heartless.
Yes true mob publications were not the whole story, but they were the bulk of the product...at least in NYC.
Things have dramatically regressed.
My work for example. I used to publish small books of my Angels, and Queer faerie boys. I was part of a number of gallery exhibits.
Now 90% of it is un-publishable anywhere in any medium. Despite none of it being remotely illegal. Just putting my faerie up here is a risk. Even though it was used on a t-shirt by a radio station 20 years ago.
I don't see this changing for most or the rest of this century.