In the spirit of resucitating controversy, an old question is brought up on the ADT chat boards today- an often discussed topic about degrading sex scenes.

Henri Pachard www.adultfyi.com/read.aspx?ID=10754 weighed in with his thoughts from a November post: Questions similar to this topic are being posted more frequently every year; and – as always – it gets a lot of play here.

The more I think I know about this business, the more I’m convinced there’s much more that I don’t know. And instead of coming up with fewer – and better defined – reasons as to why there’s a continued increase of porn that features women being sexually abused and degraded, instead, I keep coming up with more theories that seem less defined. But I keep trying to understand this thing we do. Or to at least try to understand myself.

So, for what it’s worth, here’s some random thoughts on why I think this kind of porn continues to be used:

1. Pornography needs controversy to stimulate enough curiosity to get people to look at it. I think most of us are pretty much aware of this by now.

2. Porn needs to stir some kind of sexual energy by its users just to be defined as pornography. For both the occasional and frequent user of porn, the market has indicated that this includes violent, abusive and degrading sex acts. But I don’t think this is completely correct. I think it’s a result by default; and there’s more about this shortly.

3. While those contributing members on this site tend to comment and post their thoughts about what extreme stuff the men are doing to the women, it’s just as likely that there’s a similar – or even higher percentage of viewers using porn that shows women sexually dominating, degrading and humiliating men. And I’m sure there’s another high percentage of viewers that seek similar sexual acts with the same gender – which are most likely guys.

4. People that use porn frequently, probably prefer to watch what they don’t do themselves – and perhaps would never want to do. In other words, if I frequently experience getting my cock sucked, I don’t need to frequently watch guys getting theirs sucked.

5. There is a much smaller percentage of viewers that use porn very frequently; while there’s a much higher percentage of occasional viewers. However, since this smaller percentage of viewer uses far more porn than the occasional user, the industry will react quicker to its buying tendencies. In other words, if it sells well, we’ll shoot it again; but we’re really not acknowledging that it’s a lower percentage of end users that determine what’s selling well and what’s not. We tend to look at the numbers, but not the numbers that determine those numbers.

6. Pornographers – just like its steady customers – have our own private issues with sex, relationships, life, love, rage, power, control, fears; and so on. And it’s very likely that all or most of these issues are what ultimately compel us to shoot what we choose.

And whether or not a pornographer’s stuff becomes popular with viewers, I don’t think it’s what motivates him to keep shooting it. We might take advantage of the money that’s suddenly discovered from what we shoot; but I doubt if it’s what compelled us to shoot it in the first place.

Nevertheless, it’s the top selling porn is what the non-pornographer/distributors attempt to cash in on. But what they emulate never tends to catch on like the original. And while this would seem obvious to the rest of us, I don’t think it is.

7. There’s all kinds of intense, extreme violent sexual porn being shot all over the world. But most of that kind of stuff never gets into our industry’s wider marketing loop; simply because it’s just not that important to most of us in the business – or for those end users that we would feel comfortable enough to shoot for.

In other words, to make a gross and outrageous example of this – while it is possible that there could actually be some viewers that would be willing to watch some body fuck a young toddler and then eat it for dinner, it’s not at all likely that there would ever be any one willing to first shoot and then share it with another.

8. However, there have been actual situations where somebody would shoot something very shocking and extreme; and somehow manage to get some of it sold and ultimately used, before it suddenly gets dumped. Recent examples are some vomiting and punching loops. What usually happens is that they stop being shot, because not enough people want to watch them, or sell them, or appear in them.

9. Whether or not some of us choose to challenge our viewer’s limitations – or our own shooting limits, it will never really answer what privately compels any of us to shoot what we choose. Nor will it provide any answers to why its new-found viewers be compelled to watch what challenges them enough to want to watch it again.

10. There are more pornographers in the game than ever before. But I don’t think most pornographers today are truly aware of why they keep at it; because it’s not the money.

But I am convinced that those who use porn, whether frequent or seldom, are not merely seeking a sexually rewarding experience. It’s more difficult than that.

They seek a PREVIOUS sexually rewarding experience. And I don’t think there are that many pornographers around that know how to do this often enough to thrive and endure.

So I think it’s because of what we’re not able to provide enough of, is why there’s so much more of the extreme, shocking and violent stuff that continues to be produced.

It’s not the motivation we lack; or what compels us to shoot what we shoot. What we do lack is the understanding why it’s watched as often as it is.

Henri Pachard