If you’ve read our recent articles on pornography, you’re no stranger to the wonderful world of ethical pornography. Ethical porn is “that which is made legally, respects the rights of performers, has good working conditions, shows both fantasy and real-world sex, and celebrates sexual diversity.” (abc.net.au) Unfortunately, the history of the porn industry most definitely does not reflect the values that present day ethical porn does. In the ‘70s, the porn industry was not an ethical place and ethical consumption was not promoted. These issues carried over into the industry’s treatment of it’s performers. Today, I want to make space to discuss the history of the porn industry through the eyes of the worlds “first” full length pornographic film stars: Linda Lovelace. With the rise in acceptance of sexual liberation in the ‘70s, pornography production was also on the rise. 1972 saw the release of Deep Throat, the worlds first full length pornographic film. The character of Linda Lovelace (played by Linda Boreman) serves as a symbol for feminine oppression during the ‘70s, consequently emphasizing the patriarchal fight for power in the porn industry. More than this, her role in the history of the industry serves to show the need for ethical standards to be strictly enforced and followed.
Context
In the ‘70s, the women’s liberation movement encouraged sex-positive communities between women. Along with the “proliferation of women’s liberation pamphlets, a rich literature was emerging in the form of publications…[that] theorized the nature of women’s oppression under the patriarchy, challenging the assumed naturalness and inevitability of women’s subordinate position.” (Long, 25) This literature was successful in “...locating pornography… within a context of patriarchal male violence against women” and led to the birth of anti-pornography feminism and sex-positive feminism (Long, 26) The notion that “equality occurs only with the abolition of the social division of labor based on gender” (Dixon, 20) reflected the sentiments of the porn industry at the time. The gender binary influenced the power structure present within the work industry. The patriarchy granted superiority to the male, with the female left fighting for equality. A woman’s position as subordinate in 1970 society depended on her “...position in each of five major spheres of social activity: sexual relations, reproduction, homemaking and socialization of the young, education and economical production, and political decision making.” (Dixon, 20) Due to the patriarchal structure of society, women were expected to remain subordinate in all aspects of their lives. This subordination then of course translated into the lives of women sex workers at the time.
Issues With ‘70s Era Porn Such as Deep Throat
Pornography served as a vehicle for patriarchal ideas about sex, such as feminine sexuality, to mass audiences. Deep Throat portrays women as subordinate beings who exist to please men sexually, placing more emphasis on the issues being dealt with in the women’s liberation movement. The film featured Linda Boreman as Linda Lovelace, a woman who couldn’t orgasm from penile penetration because of the convenient location of her clitoris in the back of her throat. Lovelace sought a diagnosis from a male doctor, who proceeded to “treat” Lovelace’s sexual dysfunction with a prescription of fellatio on his penis. The film relied on patriarchal sexual dominion for the character narrative. Boreman even referred to herself as the “Linda Lovelace Doll” when discussing the use of her body during the film. (Lovelace, 153) In this sense, the film’s narrative communicated the patriarchal desire for women to remain submissive at the time.
Moreover, when the film premiered in 1972, viewers were unaware that “Linda Lovelace was beaten severely to force her to perform sex acts in the pornographic movie…”.(Beaten, Forced Into Sex. Says Linda Lovelace,1). Since the audience was unaware of Boreman’s abuse during filming, they were left to analyze the film Deep Throat as a marker of consensual female sexuality. Today, we know that there is an issue when ethical conduct is not adhered to during filming in the porn industry. In the ‘70s the porn industry was not regulated in any sense and so directors often got away with un-ethical protocols. Boreman was not only abused during the filming of Deep Throat but was also forced into filming Deep Throat initially by her then-husband and manager Chuck Traynor, underscoring the influence of patriarchal ideology on film production. She wrote a biography detailing her experience of staring in Deep Throat titled Ordeal in 1980. The biography “ recanted the blithe nymphomaniac image [Lovelace] had burnished… [as] gone were the endorsements of uninhibited fornication…” ( Merkin,2) within the book. Boreman vocalized a “... new persona as a victim of male exploitation and as an anti-porn crusader…”(Merkin,2 ).
The story of Linda Lovelace continues to serve as a tragic reminder of what can happen when ethical standards are not enforced in the porn industry. Linda Boreman was one of many porn legends who were actually victims of the industry. Iconic 70’s films such as Deep Throat should no longer be analyzed in the context of erotic cinema but rather through the lens of what should not be done in the porn indsutry. The golden age of porn left behind a legacy in the porn industry, one that many feminist pornographers are working on rewriting today. Women pornstars in today’s world are the stars of films that center their storylines are actual depictions of feminine pleasure that do not reinforce patriarchal ideologies. Women directors like Erika Lust are working to undermine the patriarchal structures that have governed the industry for so long. The history of the porn industry is not a pretty one. In this sense, it’s important to create space for the stories of the sex workers who were victims of the patriarchal structure of the industry. The next time you watch an erotic film look into the stories of the performers- remember that porn stars are people too. You want to make sure that the porn you are watching is an accurate depiction of consensual human sexuality!
By: Alyssa Morterud