Watching Porn: And Other Confessions of an Adult Entertainment Journalist

by Lynsey G

Overview

Lynsey G. never imagined that she would ever work in porn, but at 24 years old, with a degree in English literature and an empty bank account, she found herself reviewing the film East Coast ASSault for an adult magazine in New York City. One interview later and it was official: she was a porn journalist. The job was supposed to be temporary—just a paycheck until she could spark her legitimate writing career—but she loved it and spent nearly a decade describing the nuances of money shots and the effectiveness of sex toys. As both a porn consumer and a porn critic, she was not quite an insider, not quite an outsider, but came to know the industry intimately.She found it so fascinating that she co-founded WHACK! Magazine. Finally, she had a platform to voice her thoughts and observations of the adult film world, as well as educate the rest of us about what really goes on behind the scenes. Eventually, Lynsey was thrust back into the “real†? world, but not before realizing that one of the most diverse and nebulous—and profitable—industries on the planet isn’t so quite as different from the rest of the world as she thought. Tantalizing, eye-opening, and witty, Watching Porn is a provocative book about an average girl’s foray into the porn industry and the people who make it what it is, both in front of and behind the camera.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781468315325
Publisher:	ABRAMS
Publication date:	06/06/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	NOOK Book
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	987,399
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Lynsey G. is a writerly type who has focused primarily on the intersection of pornography, feminism, and sexuality for the past decade as a reviewer, interviewer, critic, documentary filmmaker, and blogger. Her work across multiple genres and areas of interest has appeared in publications including Glamour, Refinery29, BUST, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and Bitch magazine.

Table of Contents

Introduction 9

Chapter 1 Before Porn 13

Chapter 2 Getting In 23

Chapter 3 East Coast Assault 29

Chapter 4 The Early Days 41

Chapter 5 The Backward Slide 49

Chapter 6 Whack! Magazine 59

Chapter 7 The Conflicted Existence of the Female Porn Writer 73

Chapter 8 In the Flesh 81

Chapter 9 The Guys 91

Chapter 10 Vegas and the Sex Toy Revelation 103

Chapter 11 Creepazoid Territory 113

Chapter 12 The New Girl 123

Chapter 13 Editor in Chief 139

Chapter 14 Racism in the Industry 155

Chapter 15 Other "Isms" 171

Chapter 16 The Gay Divide & the Condom Wars 185

Chapter 17 The Feminist Porn Awards 205

Chapter 18 Making It in Miami 219

Chapter 19 Losing It to the Tubes 227

Chapter 20 Porn, Art, and Obscenity 249

Chapter 21 Winner 266

A Glossary of Porn Terminology 283

Recommended Viewing for the Feminist-Minded 289

Further Reading List for the Curious 293

Acknowledgments 295

Bibliography 299

Editorial Reviews

Approaching the subject as an enthusiast herself, Lynsey G. has an unfailing sense of what about porn makes us hot . . . even, or sometimes especially, when we think that it shouldn’t.Watching Pornis an engaging romp behind-the-scenes with a ribald guide, exploring the many ways porn reflects and shapes our desires, and giving a longing look at what it could be in the future.”

Lisa Vandever

Lynsey offers a deeply personal and highly readable perspective of a porn fan who is critical of the genre, mixed with the insights of an industry insider.She documents and dissects the issues facing today’s porn industry from a sex positive perspective, determined to look at all aspects of a complicated business without perpetuating stigma or the usual anti-porn hysteria. She contrasts her experiences of ‘mainstream’ US pornography with the growth of the feminist/ethical porn industry and does a superb job of examining the diverse philosophies of fucking within this business.Watching Pornis a much needed view of the diversity of pornography today.”

Ms. Naughty

Watching Pornis a feminist's trip down the rabbit hole through a rapidly changing, surreal wonderland. Get your girlfriends together and discuss this book over a bottle of wine.”

May Ling Su

Easily the most charmingly informative book on the porn industry, Watching Pornfills a unique literary gap in the Porn Studies canon.Through it, she tackles some of the current industry discussions: What is feminist porn? What are ethical considerations on set? Why is there a debate about condoms? This is a book I can refer to all the journalists and students seeking to understand this elusive and oft misunderstood film genre.”

Jiz Lee

Lynsey
G. is an intrepid explorer, boldly going where few reporters have gone with such a critical eye: deep inside the real world of commercial sex. She finds the charm in the obscene, the humor in the lurid, and makes you wonder why you were ever scared of porn in the first place.

Tina Horn

A young, vivacious, sexually-repressed feminist gets a job watching porn. Hijinks ensue . . . Lynsey G.'s wry, informed and nonjudgmental writing about pornography, and the adult industry is a breath of fresh air, cleverly portrayed by a writer who once generated euphemisms for pneumatic breasts. Her book deals equally and fairly with the erotic, the morally challenging, and the business sides of the adult film market, inviting readers along on her adventures through slippery movies, sexy parties and society's conflicted relationship with sex on camera. Along the way, Lynsey takes a "rock hard" sledgehammer to most misinformed assumptions and biases against one of humanity's oldest art forms—pornography.Watching Pornis a valuable and insightfulcontribution to our ongoing dialogue about the role that porn holds in society today, and what role we believe it should hold, in a responsible and ethical formulation of modern sexuality.”

David Ley

Enticing . . . Lynsey G. deconstructs the medium and its global fanfare, exploring how people enjoy, and often simultaneously deny, smut. Hers is a project laden with humor, incisive insights, and titillating, winking bawdiness. . . . [A] provocative feminist commentary.

ForeWord Reviews

While written as a memoir,Watching Pornalso operates on another level as cultural analysis and explores how challenging it can be for women to function in the world’s most provocative, triggering and debated industry—and one that has historically marginalized them.”

Playboy

Watching Pornis ahumorous, thought-provoking account of five prolific years in Lynsey's porn journalism career . . . [and] a kaleidoscope of broader themes: the impact the Internet has had on the industry; the paradoxical divide between gay and straight porn; and the revolutionary genres of queer and feminist porn.”

Kim Hedges - BUST

All of you . . . buy Lynsey’s book and then read it—very publicly! On the subway! Anywhere! So the word ‘porn’ gets out there and people are a lot more comfortable with it!

Cindy Gallop

G. positions her book in part as cultural analysis of pornography's complicated but inextricable relationship to social movements like feminist and queer visibility . . . Marvelous.

Meghan Daum - The New York Times Book Review

2017-04-04
An accidental porn journalist reflects on her role mining the sex and politics of the adult film industry.In her post-collegiate years, G. found herself writing about porn by necessity: she desperately needed a job to stabilize her life in Manhattan. The self-described "country girl with a flair for the dramatic" was raised conservatively on a farm where educative books about sex were hidden away. A traumatic sexual assault compounded the author's repression and tainted her view of bodily pleasure. When confronted with work on an adult magazine, G. briskly became accustomed to life as a paid porn journalist. What had formerly been her "greatest source of shame and satisfaction" had now become her livelihood. Co-founding Whack! magazine and a column as a "pervy outlier" at McSweeney's in 2009 solidified her resolve to pursue writing as a career. Though definitely not for the sex-shy, the narrative has a breezy, conversational flow even when the author graphically discusses shock-value gonzo porn or the history of dildos. G. remains consistently affable, never flinty, despite moments of work-related exasperation such as her marked revulsion toward an overly forward Ron Jeremy at an industry expo. In addition to the more erotic personal experiences she shares while a media fixture on the adult industry circuit, G. also amassed a wealth of knowledge about how individualistically it functions, the misconceptions of those involved, and issues of racism, homophobia, and condom use. She also provides thought-provoking chapters on feminist porn and obscenity laws. As a writer with definitive feminist leanings, working in porn left G. internally conflicted as she asked herself, "could I really be a feminist and not only watch this type of sexual behavior—but profit on it?" Her answer, and the ways she reconciles this and other adverse aspects of her life, plays out through the remainder of a cleverly seductive, straightforward, unapologetically carnal chronicle of an unconventional working life. An intelligent, provocative, and indulgent insider's view of the contemporary porn industry.

Kirkus Reviews