A Porn Actress's View
Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2001 7:30 pm
Having seen the messages from IV and gradgrind and all the very cogent and reasonable replies I thought you might be interested in the text of a speech I gave at the debating society of the University College, Dublin last Autumn. I hope it doesn't cause too many of you to nod off 
Wendy XXX
Mr Chairman, ladies and gentlemen I oppose the motion that 'pornography causes more pain than pleasure'. However, before I do so, you make like to know that standing here makes me far more nervous than taking my clothes off in front of a camera!
Strictly speaking the term 'pornography' means pictures of Greek prostitutes but today it has come to mean any books, magazines, videos and films that are considered by a minority of people to be obscene. They consequently try to ban such material. For the sake of argument though I'll use the term pornography to mean any images or words designed to produce sexual arousal.
I have appeared in numerous sexually explicit videos and magazines and do not believe the production of images of me involved in sexual acts has caused me or others any harm. I am a model and performer by choice. I have not been forced into it by others nor do I perform because I need the money. I do it because I enjoy it and because I know others enjoy my work. I do not regard them as perverts and I receive lots of fan mail from both men and women who tell me they find my work interesting, arousing and realistic.
To stand up and support pornography instantly labels me in some peoples minds as corrupt or depraved or perverted or in need of psychiatric help or a combination all four. I am none of these things. I am a perfectly normal individual that just happens to appear in pornography. I do not regard myself as degraded by my work, indeed quite the reverse. If nudity is degrading then we're in trouble because we're all born naked. If sex or images of sex are degrading then surely we have to ban mirrors in bedrooms.
Some people would say I was being exploited but I am not exploited any more than anyone else working in any other industry. Sure people make a profit out of the things I do but then so do I. Car manufacturers make a profit out of making cars but no-one argues that car production should cease because the workers are exploited. If anyone is exploited through or by pornography it is those that consume it rather than those that are in it. The biggest exploitation in this area however is the selling of unspecified hard-core images in cellophane wrappers which when opened turn out to be nothing of the sort. This is a common scam and one used to make the fortune of a certain well known English newspaper owner.
I will concede that pornography does cause very great harm when it involves children. However, of all those people I have met in the industry I have never met anyone involved in its production and if I did I would report then instantly to the police! All of my colleagues in the industry would do the same. Child porn does exist I'm sure but I have never seen any. What I do know though is that it is very rare and should not be spoken about in the same breath as normal adult material.
Some people talk about sex and violence in the same breath yet no two activities could be further apart. Over the years research into violence and pornography has been contradictory, some studies suggesting a strong link with sexual violence, others the converse. I think this says more about the motives of the researchers than of those studied. But I'll let you into a secret: when sex offenders blame pornography in court, they've got a strong motive - to transfer the blame and get away with a reduced sentence!"
In most societies those most at risk from violence are young males and no-one would try to argue that this statistic is in any way related to the availability of pornography. The argument that pornography causes violence against women is deeply flawed. Most violence against women is committed by someone they know and goes largely unreported. As the full extent of this type of violence is unknown how can anyone make assumptions about it's causes such as porn made him do it
It has been argued that pornography causes sex crime and, in countries where it is freely available, increases the incidence of rape and sexual offences against women. Apart from the fact that rape is more an act of violence and power this is simply not true. When Denmark relaxed its laws on pornography in the late 60s the incidence of sexual offences actually fell. I believe that in other countries where there may have been an increase in reported offences this is more to do with the fact that in a society in which people are more open about sex, more rape is reported.
Of course like anyone else I have my limits. For instance, I won't do anything that involves pain or humiliation of me or my co-performers. Everything I do involves total consent and I wouldn't be party to anything that wasn't. However, in all my experience I have never witnessed anyone being forced to do anything against their will. Indeed, most of the people I have met in the pornography industry are really nice people who I count as good friends. They are certainly not the depraved evil degenerates portrayed by some factions of the media.
Sex is the most natural human activity. At its best it is done in a loving relationship but outside that relationship it can still be fun and exciting. Parts of society are still hung up about sex. Politicians and other noteworthies devote a lot of energy into perpetuating the myth that sex is dirty and should remain hidden from anyone's view. Why they do this is quite beyond me. Who are they to force their so called morals on others. Perhaps their energies would be better directed to things that actually do cause harm such as pollution, poverty and disease.
People do not have to watch my videos if they do not want to but they do have a choice. People do not have to visit my web-site unless they want to. That is they have that choice if the politicians give them that choice. People are free to buy my videos in most of Europe and the USA but not in the UK or Eire unless in a heavily censored form. Why? Surely Europeans and Americans are no more or less depraved or corrupted than the Irish or the British. It is fatuous and bigoted to suggest that any country that has liberal pornography laws is more corrupted and depraved than those with strict censorship laws. Besides I consider that the reverse may well be true.
Because I am sexually liberated and an exhibitionist perhaps others may be pressurised into being more like me or my ilk. If I am filmed performing a particular sexual act or in a particularly athletic position perhaps other women, wives and girlfriends will be pressurised into doing the same or feel that their sexual technique is in some way inferior to mine. This is clearly wrong but is no more wrong than watching football and wanting to be a better footballer or watching a cookery programme on the television and wanting to be a better cook.
I would not like children to view pornography not because for the most part I would consider it to do them great harm but because their innocence is worth preserving. However, I would draw you attention to a recent experience that my partner had concerning a well known London museum. Here there were realistic models of headless corpses, dismembered bodies, executions, murder victims and other macabre images. Children in their droves were filing past these models and with their parents too. Yet, if the models were of persons having sex then their parents would never have taken them to such a place and the museum would have been prosecuted for producing obscene images. What a very strange society we live in!!!
Some people may consider me attractive others may not. Some people may think I am without shame others may not. Some people may wish they were like me others may not. Some people may consider me brave others may not. Whatever people think of me they have a right to their own opinion and I would fight for them to have a right to that opinion. My opinion is that pornography is harmless and I therefore oppose the motion.
Wendy XXX
Mr Chairman, ladies and gentlemen I oppose the motion that 'pornography causes more pain than pleasure'. However, before I do so, you make like to know that standing here makes me far more nervous than taking my clothes off in front of a camera!
Strictly speaking the term 'pornography' means pictures of Greek prostitutes but today it has come to mean any books, magazines, videos and films that are considered by a minority of people to be obscene. They consequently try to ban such material. For the sake of argument though I'll use the term pornography to mean any images or words designed to produce sexual arousal.
I have appeared in numerous sexually explicit videos and magazines and do not believe the production of images of me involved in sexual acts has caused me or others any harm. I am a model and performer by choice. I have not been forced into it by others nor do I perform because I need the money. I do it because I enjoy it and because I know others enjoy my work. I do not regard them as perverts and I receive lots of fan mail from both men and women who tell me they find my work interesting, arousing and realistic.
To stand up and support pornography instantly labels me in some peoples minds as corrupt or depraved or perverted or in need of psychiatric help or a combination all four. I am none of these things. I am a perfectly normal individual that just happens to appear in pornography. I do not regard myself as degraded by my work, indeed quite the reverse. If nudity is degrading then we're in trouble because we're all born naked. If sex or images of sex are degrading then surely we have to ban mirrors in bedrooms.
Some people would say I was being exploited but I am not exploited any more than anyone else working in any other industry. Sure people make a profit out of the things I do but then so do I. Car manufacturers make a profit out of making cars but no-one argues that car production should cease because the workers are exploited. If anyone is exploited through or by pornography it is those that consume it rather than those that are in it. The biggest exploitation in this area however is the selling of unspecified hard-core images in cellophane wrappers which when opened turn out to be nothing of the sort. This is a common scam and one used to make the fortune of a certain well known English newspaper owner.
I will concede that pornography does cause very great harm when it involves children. However, of all those people I have met in the industry I have never met anyone involved in its production and if I did I would report then instantly to the police! All of my colleagues in the industry would do the same. Child porn does exist I'm sure but I have never seen any. What I do know though is that it is very rare and should not be spoken about in the same breath as normal adult material.
Some people talk about sex and violence in the same breath yet no two activities could be further apart. Over the years research into violence and pornography has been contradictory, some studies suggesting a strong link with sexual violence, others the converse. I think this says more about the motives of the researchers than of those studied. But I'll let you into a secret: when sex offenders blame pornography in court, they've got a strong motive - to transfer the blame and get away with a reduced sentence!"
In most societies those most at risk from violence are young males and no-one would try to argue that this statistic is in any way related to the availability of pornography. The argument that pornography causes violence against women is deeply flawed. Most violence against women is committed by someone they know and goes largely unreported. As the full extent of this type of violence is unknown how can anyone make assumptions about it's causes such as porn made him do it
It has been argued that pornography causes sex crime and, in countries where it is freely available, increases the incidence of rape and sexual offences against women. Apart from the fact that rape is more an act of violence and power this is simply not true. When Denmark relaxed its laws on pornography in the late 60s the incidence of sexual offences actually fell. I believe that in other countries where there may have been an increase in reported offences this is more to do with the fact that in a society in which people are more open about sex, more rape is reported.
Of course like anyone else I have my limits. For instance, I won't do anything that involves pain or humiliation of me or my co-performers. Everything I do involves total consent and I wouldn't be party to anything that wasn't. However, in all my experience I have never witnessed anyone being forced to do anything against their will. Indeed, most of the people I have met in the pornography industry are really nice people who I count as good friends. They are certainly not the depraved evil degenerates portrayed by some factions of the media.
Sex is the most natural human activity. At its best it is done in a loving relationship but outside that relationship it can still be fun and exciting. Parts of society are still hung up about sex. Politicians and other noteworthies devote a lot of energy into perpetuating the myth that sex is dirty and should remain hidden from anyone's view. Why they do this is quite beyond me. Who are they to force their so called morals on others. Perhaps their energies would be better directed to things that actually do cause harm such as pollution, poverty and disease.
People do not have to watch my videos if they do not want to but they do have a choice. People do not have to visit my web-site unless they want to. That is they have that choice if the politicians give them that choice. People are free to buy my videos in most of Europe and the USA but not in the UK or Eire unless in a heavily censored form. Why? Surely Europeans and Americans are no more or less depraved or corrupted than the Irish or the British. It is fatuous and bigoted to suggest that any country that has liberal pornography laws is more corrupted and depraved than those with strict censorship laws. Besides I consider that the reverse may well be true.
Because I am sexually liberated and an exhibitionist perhaps others may be pressurised into being more like me or my ilk. If I am filmed performing a particular sexual act or in a particularly athletic position perhaps other women, wives and girlfriends will be pressurised into doing the same or feel that their sexual technique is in some way inferior to mine. This is clearly wrong but is no more wrong than watching football and wanting to be a better footballer or watching a cookery programme on the television and wanting to be a better cook.
I would not like children to view pornography not because for the most part I would consider it to do them great harm but because their innocence is worth preserving. However, I would draw you attention to a recent experience that my partner had concerning a well known London museum. Here there were realistic models of headless corpses, dismembered bodies, executions, murder victims and other macabre images. Children in their droves were filing past these models and with their parents too. Yet, if the models were of persons having sex then their parents would never have taken them to such a place and the museum would have been prosecuted for producing obscene images. What a very strange society we live in!!!
Some people may consider me attractive others may not. Some people may think I am without shame others may not. Some people may wish they were like me others may not. Some people may consider me brave others may not. Whatever people think of me they have a right to their own opinion and I would fight for them to have a right to that opinion. My opinion is that pornography is harmless and I therefore oppose the motion.