Would you respect someone less for shooting a porn?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Like many of you (?), I enjoy reading sex-positive web comics, and one of my favorites is the highly-acclaimed “Oh Joy Sex Toy”. It’s witty, informative, and upbeat. I have also enjoyed learning about the creator(*) from this and her other work, and I have a lot of respect for her.

So, in the latest comic “Talking Porn” she explains that she’s thinking about making a porn, and discusses the possible negative reaction to this decision.
**Link (NSFW): **

Sexy thoughtful stuff

Reading this one made me feel really weird. Like, queasy-feeling-in-the-pit-of-my –stomach oh-no-she’s-not-really-going-there!? type weird.

Part of the reason I felt troubled by this idea is that I have constructed an image of this artist and her partner and their happy marriage, and have projected myself into that, as I would into a fantasy novel. In this situation, I would feel betrayed if my partner shot a porno (despite the fact that her partner is, apparently, totally fine with it).
Of course, these are real people making their own decisions that have nothing to do with me, but in my life, they are like favorite characters in a story, and so I fret about something that might upset that narrative. (It’s stupid of me to think that way, but I daresay vicariously living through characters, real or fictional, is part of everyday life for most people.)

Now the really hypocritical thing in my first reaction to the comic is that I myself enjoy getting off to porn. And those porn performers are real people giving me something that I want. I really can’t say “this stuff is good for getting off to, but I couldn’t respect anyone who made it.”
But then how far can I remain non-subjective in my reasoning? What If someone close to me said they were thinking of being in a porn? I think I’d be very concerned.
What if one of my kids wanted to be in a porn!? I would be absolutely mortified!

So, this comic has really made me do a lot of thinking. I really hope such a situation wouldn’t lessen my respect for someone, but I wonder how it might change my perception of them.

I’m curious what you all think about this idea.
If someone you respect decided to make a porn flick, how would you react? Would you think less of them?

*Please note, I’ve deliberately left out her name, as she says that if she does make a porn, it’s not what she wants to be known for.)

2

yeah

pornography is degeneracy

3

While I disagree strongly with PSXer, I do confess to a bit of old-fashioned prudery and low-level WASP puritanism. So, yeah, I’d respect someone a little less if I learned they’d made porn films. But only a little, and I’d try to get over it, because it’s foolish to be judgemental that way.

Let he who is without sin make the first judgement. We’ve all got something in our lives to be at least a little ashamed of. Having sex with someone in front of a camera is a damn sight less shameful than, say, littering, stealing, making prank phone calls, blowing a bugle at two in the morning, and other stupid stuff some of us have done.

4

To respect someone less I would have to respect them in the first place. I have to assume among the people I respect that this would be a sensible decision and I wouldn’t criticize them for it. If it was a stupid act on their part the fact that it was porn wouldn’t matter, I’d feel the same if they stupidly did something considered more acceptable.

5

As is lack of capitalization and bad punctuation.

6

My youngest brother was, at least at one time, in a relationship with a woman who had done porn films.

My Late Mother refused to see her, meet her, or let her in the house.
I myself have never so much as seen any kind of photo of her.

7

Is it porn hunting season?

Do they use every part or just taking a trophy?

8

Yeah, even though I’m ex-religious, the puritanical view still kind of lingers with me (although in my case, it’s entirely hypocritical).

Also, I think you give some very interesting comparisons for perspective.
It makes me reflect on how willing many people are to loudly condemn something that doesn’t directly hurt or inconvenience anyone, while giving a pass to things that do.

9

I view most people who do sex work, whether in pornography or elsewhere, as victims rather than villains.

10

(Quickly rushes back to keyboard to head off the otherwise inevitable string of bad puns.)
***Stuffing and mounting horny stags and beavers! ***
(There, I hope that’s taken care of the worst of it.)

11

What about those who *want *to do porn?
(If you read the comic, you’ll see that this is the artist’s situation.)

12

I’m going on the record now and stating that I love porn. What’s not to like? I like beautiful women having sex on camera. Sorry if that offends anyone but … actually there is no but. Adults who choose to have sex while being filmed are enticing to me.

13

Rabbit season!

14

Fuck season!

15

Sometimes I think about possibly doing some very arty, indie porn myself. When enough of my elderly relatives have died off, maybe I will. I mean, I’ve already sent dirty pictures of myself to my partner, so I’ve basically already done it, just for a very limited audience.

I wouldn’t respect someone less for having done it, but I probably wouldn’t want to watch a porno featuring someone I had a close, non-sexual relationship with. That would make me uncomfortable.

16

No, I wouldn’t respect anyone less for doing porn, but it would kind of depend on what exactly I respected them for in the first place. Someone whom I respected for philanthropic work in the community might leave me scratching my head a bit. I think I would respect them less if they made bad porn, though. Making good porn is not easy. It’s work.

17

perfect!

18

As long as everyone is a consenting adult I really don’t care what anyone does with their bodies. Tattoos, piercings, S&M, swinging, abortion, porn, art installations, nail polish, getting a dollar sign shaved in to your hi-top, whatevs.

I’d be like “You are confident enough with your body to let someone film you having sex? Go on!”

If it was my cousins, friends, brother, no difference.

19

Yes, I would think pretty low of them.

Mostly its because my religion says its wrong but also the practical side of me says why do you need to do that to earn a living? And look how demeaning and gross porn gets to be.

Now I have seen some sex videos put out where its just married couples having sex. You can clearly see they are doing things because they want to express their love to each other and want to please each other. Orgasms are followed by intimacy. The goal is to show other couples ways to give and receive pleasure.

Those I have no problem with.

20

Private porn is one thing but porn made with distribution in mind, even if hot and entertaining, makes me think this is the end result of a series of questionable decisions by the performers often involving drugs and a desperate scramble for money.

I wouldn’t ever despise or hate on people who did porn, but I might think twice about putting them in positions of responsibility or any position with access to money or drugs.