Email Exchange with Jill Edmondson on Frisky Business

After reading Jill Edmondson's books I have found it interesting to correspond with her. After completing Frisky Business, a review of which is my last post, I exchanged emails with Jill.

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Jill:

Thank you for forwarding a copy of Frisky Business.

I have fewer questions and more observations in this email about Frisky Business. As set out in my review which I have posted today I found the book challenging.

As I read the book it struck me that there was comparatively little about the experience of men as actors in porn movies beyond Clint.

You set out how the women are lured into the industry from troubled and difficult backgrounds. Do the men have the same backgrounds?

It was clear that the women had no positive experiences and could only endure the movies by shutting down emotionally. What about for the men? Have they been damaged by acting in such movies?

When Sasha interviews Clint, a “co-star” with Kitty, she effectively finds him an average guy who happens to work in porn movies. His motivation sounds like many young people striving to get ahead:

“Look, I make a lot of money, I cum several times a day, I’m just about mortgage free, and if I play my cards right, I can retire before I’m forty.”

Is Clint the exception among the men or a typical male porn actor? I do not recall any of Sasha’s women clients having a home or condo or retirement plan.

If men and women have different backgrounds and effects upon them of being in the industry did you reach any conclusions on the reasons?

With your abhorance of the adult film industry do you think there should be regulation of the industry or censorship? If so, where would you draw the line as courts and legislatures have found it very difficult to determine what is erotic and what is pornographic among adults and what should be banned.

The book has left me thinking.

Best regards.

 

Bill

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Hi Bill,

Thanks for your note.  I'm glad the book left you thinking - always a good thing :)

Have you read the book I referred to in the author's note at the end? Empire of Illusion by Chris Hedges (my all time favourite author). If you haven't, I recommend reading CHAPTER 2 from said book. Frisky Business was 99% inspired by that chapter.  I suppose the other 1% inspiration comes from a paper I wrote when I did my MA.  The essay was on Human Rights and the Sex Trade.  (I may have mentioned this to you in an earlier communication...?) 

As for the tension between erotica and porn... yikes!  An age old question, one for which there will (likely) never be an answer.  And censorship... oh oh... My knee-jerk response is that censorship is a no-no and must remain so - as awful as some things may seem to me, I fear slippery slopes and thin edges of wedges.  Educate rather than silence.  

But I must qualify above with a couple things:

- no minors

- full, informed consent - which is (as you know) much more than saying "yes".  An addict who's desperate for a "fix" is not consenting with a clear mind (in my opinion).  

I really do see many sex workers (porn actresses, call girls, etc.) as victims.  

Not long ago, I had a conversation with a middle aged man I've known for years.  I was stunned when he claimed that a hooker can't be raped.  I haven't talked with the man since then.

I really do think there needs to be more support/options for people who may land on a downward spiral (people from abusive situations for instance, drugs, etc).  Whether that support is shelters, rehab, training programs or some combination of these, is not for me to say, but it's tragic to me when a human being ends up being treated like a piece of meat or a receptacle.  

Back to you... Jill