Yesterday, I watched about 90% of the porn episode on Oprah. I should preface this by saying I'm not really an Oprah fan. While I appreciate some of the things she's done like her book club which seemed to reintroduce some people into reading books again, I also look at people like Dr Phil who was propelled forward due to the Oprah machine and have no appreciate for a bad thing, in my opinion. Plus people follow her like lemmings. Definitely something wrong and scary about that!
But, I like
Violet Blue. I read her blog. I own several of her books (educational & erotica). I read her column occasionally & follow her on Twitter. I knew how excited she was about being asked on the show. And, I also know she has not always had good experiences on shows as the expert guest. Hearing how she felt about being on the show made me want to see it.
My first observation: the audience did not seem comfortable with the show's subject matter. Usually if Oprah asks for a response, people are eager to give it to her. This didn't seem the case this show. It seemed odd and awkward, in my opinion. Each time she would ask the audience a question, she seemed to have to prod them to respond.
The second observation: Oprah didn't seem comfortable with the topic - or as prepared for her guest Jenna Jameson as she should have been. Jenna talked about the industry like a business (as it is) and about her coworkers in terms of their performance (puns intended as well). Both seemed to throw Oprah off a bit. While Oprah described Jenna as a business woman, she didn't seem to put her on par with herself or other women who build their own empires. When Jenna described her requirements for a leading man as needing to show up prepared, give the desired performance, have good timing, etc, Oprah seemed a bit surprised at how business like of a job requirement Jenna had. In fact, she tried to clarify what that meant, but struggled with the words. Instead of saying, "oh, so he needs to be able to get and maintain an erection so that the movie can be made on schedule" - she fumbled with words until Jenna said exactly that. And her struggle to figure out how to say, "he needs to cum on queue" was another funny thing to watch. Jenna tried to bail her out, but Oprah's awkwardness seemed to be contagious as they both struggled for the right words.
The only time Oprah seemed in her element was when she and Jenna were talking about how Jenna is going to have to explain to her sons that mommy was a porn star. Oprah's confidence was back as she asked intelligent questions of Jenna. Back to porn, she was awkward again.
The third observation: Lisa Ling needed to loosen up a bit. Holy shit was she playing the investigative reporter role a bit too much! I kept wondering if she was going to launch into a tirade about how women were forced into the industry due to the lucrative pay or something. I mean, the tone of the report as well as how she interviewed people resembled a report I once saw on the women sex slave industry and how women were lured into it from Eastern Europe without understand what they were getting into. While some parts of the porn industry are serious, the overall tone of Lisa and everyone seemed like we were talking about a much more serious topic.
One big thing that caught me as suspect was the fact they presented the porn industry and related industries as rapidly growing. I could have sworn that I recently read that the immersion of the "tube sites" (x-rated you tube like sites) was really kept people from buying and renting movies the way they used to since it is available free on the Internet. In fact, many of the adult movie studios are having to dramatically rethink how the shoot and market movies to fit this ever changing delivery mechanism called the Internet. Additionally, I know that Playboy and Hustler and their related franchises are struggling. Larry Flint, to make a point about government bailouts, went to Washington, DC to look for a bailout for his struggling business too. I guess knowing this, I would like to understand more what they mean by a "growing industry". Wrong terminology? Maybe continues to grown on the Internet? If that's what they meant, I would agree.
Lastly,
Violet Blue rocked. They truly needed someone on the show who could represent porn/erotica in a way that was positive and who could present it without stigma. Anytime she was asked a question or added to the conversation, she had the words to present it in a way that was not awkward and was intelligent. You could tell Oprah was happy she was on because of what she added to the discussion. One of the best lines of the show was when Violet was talking about how you should think of erotica as a tool in a woman's sexual toybox. "It can be as reliable as a woman's vibrator," she said.
Overall, I don't know what the show was trying to accomplish. But then again, I am not the intended audience. I mean, I watch porn, read erotica, and would admit it if asked. I do think, like Violet Blue said, it is something in a woman's arsenal of ways to get turned on or get off. Nothing wrong with admitting it and talking about it, in my opinion.
In reading
Alison Tyler's site, I did see that the episode has caused a lot of backlash on
Oprah's site already - specifically in the comments related to the show. That could be a fun read if you want to be entertained. (Alison Tyler, for those who don't know, writes Erotica and edits collections of Erotica.)
Should be interesting to see how this effects Oprah. I'm sure there are many who are unhappy with her choosing this topic and will stop watching in protest or something. Who knows. We'll see how the Oprah machine weathers this storm of controversy. I do know that one of Violet Blue's books has quickly risen on the Amazon top seller list. At least she'll get some benefit from it, I hope!
