Porntifications

Posted by mikezillion at December 29th, 2007

Don’t know why I found this article on the Freakonomics blog so damn sexy. It describes how senior Naval officer candidates enforce discipline at the meal table. They call it “eating by the numbers,” and it involves a complex and very specific ritualized procedure for each bit of food taken. Every step of the process–and there are eight before each bite may be swallowed–is done in unison with all the other cadets in the room.

As one commenter points out, ” It’s amazing how a few months of these exercises can overcome years or decades of civilian living.”

I guess that’s a good thing? <–Sarcasm

Posted by mikezillion at December 26th, 2007

I truly appreciate living in California. Our Supreme Court just verified what we all knew already; malls are public places, and the public has a right to express itself according to the legal protections of the First Amendment in any mall. “A shopping mall is a public forum in which persons may reasonably
exercise their right to free speech,” said Justice Carlos R. Moreno, summarizing the 4-3 majority ruling. In the case which raised the issue, a San Diego mall was ruled to have violated the First Amendment rights of protesters handing out leaflets inside the mall.

Yes, my next trip to the mall may be disrupted. I think that’s a small price to pay for freedom of speech. I despair to think one day I might be so old and crotchety that my concern over personal discomfort could interfere with my sense of the importance of free speech.

My next question: what about public places online?

Posted by mikezillion at December 24th, 2007

Folks seem to be getting all upset about Larry Flynt’s recent comment in Vanity Fair: “I don’t hate gays. But I don’t want to live in an apartment full of
them. They’ll bitch and cry and all. That doesn’t bother Giuliani. It
doesn’t bother Giuliani to put a dress on to do ‘Saturday Night Live.’
I don’t trust him.”

Seriously, the man is making political statements, not social ones. He’s pandering to the right wing extremists who will be put off by associations between Giuliani and those tired stereotypes of homosexuality that resonate so clearly. Flynt is not a stupid man. He has shown time and time again that he is not a homophobe. He just doesn’t want Rudy Giuliani in the white house. I don’t either.

Rock on!

Posted by mikezillion at December 13th, 2007

Seth Godin’s postings always entertain, and sometimes point out useful resources, but this one surprised me. There’s no question that the adult entertainment industry is in the throes of violent upheaval. My inclination has been to go with my strengths and produce original and unique content that feeds the interests of my preferred niche. That’s based on seeing my agenda as a producer with known connections and a solid audience. But Seth’s right; opportunity comes when times change. Now I have to ruminate about the actual implications of these changes in the industry, and how best to leverage them. (Humph!)

Technorati Tags: media, chaos, publishing, adult entertainment

Posted by mikezillion at December 11th, 2007

According to an article at LiveScience.com, not only can fruit flies be induced to exhibit homosexual tendencies after genetic manipulation, but that tendency can also be turned on and off in a matter of hours with drugs: “In the new work, University of Illinois at Chicago researcher David
Featherstone and coworkers discovered a gene in fruit flies they call
“genderblind,” or GB. A mutation in GB turns flies bisexual.”

The implications for humans and other species are still under debate. But the first thing I did was run out and register the domain GBMutants.com. Any suggestions what I should put there?

Posted by mikezillion at December 4th, 2007

Some of the bareback studios seem to think that giving the performers treatments after exposing them to unsafe sex on camera makes them responsible. Well, it seem that the term responsible may be getting some testing.

A bareback performer in the U.K. who goes by the name of Craig may be filing a lawsuit against the studio where he claims he was infected during a shoot. It’s a shame it has to come to this. Frankly, I don’t know if the young man has a case; he did make his own choices, and he was old enough to know the risks. It may also not be easy for him to prove that his infection was actually related to the shoot. I am less familiar with the laws in the U.K. than I am with the laws here in the United States. We tend to err on the side of individual responsibility over social conscience.

It’s great that HIV infections are treatable, and that the disease that
can result is no longer a death sentence. I don’t think infected
performers (or people in general) should be stigmatized. The point is that there are real consequences to filming bareback porn. Beyond the overall social impact of eroticizing dangerous activities, there are actual men getting actual diseases on camera for money.

Posted by mikezillion at December 2nd, 2007

Bareback is the norm in straight porn. It is also the driving business model of several edgier gay porn companies. This split comes as a result of the higher level of awareness in the gay community about the dangers of barebacking. Some gay consumers get off on the danger of barebacking, either in their porn or in their personal lives. I don’t know of any studies, but I imagine that the popularity of bareback sex in porn has increased the popularity of bareback sex in real life.

Straight consumers don’t really seem to consider it a sexual act if some body fluid isn’t shared. At the moment, straight porn companies are hard-pressed to sell safe sex porn. Instead, the industry has turned to testing performers. That works for the performers, but it is a cop-out when it comes to social responsibility. Instead of eroticizing bareback sex, we as an industry could be demonstrating the broad erotic potential of safe sex.

The social networking sites are also split between bareback and safe sex seekers. Now a company called Safe Sex Passport is capitalizing on the popularity of bareback sex and the fear of disease with a service that will certify people as disease-free for a membership fee of $75 and a testing fee of about $200 or so. They claim to have over 15,000 registered members already.

It will be interesting to see how this new business model develops.