Oh, Anthony...

I cannot seem to understand the stigma attached to somebody having been a porn star/escort/sex worker. Unless that person needs some sort of special clearance to work with some very specific population, the fact that they used to fuck for money is absolutely irrelevant. At least in my eyes. It should not be a factor when taking into account the talent or the value of a person.

Yet, as we hear from Anthony, his biggest fear was that somehow, somebody would recognize him and spill the beans on what he used to do before he became an artist. But why? How does having suck dick on camera affects the way a person can create art, or do any job? 

Long standing debates on sex work range across disciplines with questions on how to name the profession, how to regulate it, and whether the profession should be criminalized. Much of the debates have philosophical roots on questions of morality of the occupation and objectification of the body and underlie empirical and policy research in sex work. The question of morality, especially in the context of purchased sex as opposed to “free” sex or sex within marriage, has been amply discussed in the literature with questions arising because of the binary distinction between purchasable sex and sex within marriage. These moral standpoints often influence the legislative frameworks within which sex work is located with different countries following prohibitionist, regulatory, or abolitionist frameworks on the profession.

@Della&Hiui 2021

From where I'm standing, people are too wrapped up in their own morals, or the way they see the human body and sex, to have any other reaction but judgement. It's astounding to me to find this kind of discourse in 2022, to tell you the truth. It's very Puritan (even though they used to fuck like rabbits), very Victorian (even though prostitution flourished during the era), very sanctimonious and very hypocritical. Being immoral to me is being a Repuglyclown or supporting the Rethug's way to approach government. Being immoral to me is not caring about other people. Being immoral to me is focusing on our own possessions and forgetting about everybody and anything else. Being immoral is having a fortune of several billion dollars and using that money to fly to... the atmosphere or attempt buy a social network instead of improving people's lives. Being immoral is conspiring overturning a government. Conspicuous consumption is immoral. Consumerism is immoral. Fucking someone for money or making gay porn is not immoral per se. That tag is attached to those activities by people who basically pathologize sex. 

The fact that a perfectly nice man would have to feel ashamed of something that he did (while being an adult, with his consent and with his mental faculties all in place) years prior to his current job (which is not constrained by  any kind of moral fallout) is beyond pathetic to me. He's put in a Madonna/Whore position by people who are able only to see others as sex objects or bastions of purity. People who see sex and sex expressions as dirty, as something to keep secret, or problematic, or something immoral, need to check their prerogatives and probably seek some kind of help? Not everybody needs to be sexual or like sex, but everybody has the right to express their sexuality and sexual desires as they see fit without fear of judgement. 

So good for Anthony for having met the controversy head on and having cut the possibility of being shamed by the person doing the interview. His past as a porn star should not influence how people see him as an artist. I'm here slow clapping for him.

XOXO

P.S. Kristen Bjorn has been producing fantastic gay porn for twenty five years! Holy cow.

@KRISTENBJORN

@KRISTENBJORN

Arpad! 

P.P.S: I may not be able to visit your blog today, Constant Reader. I'm gonna be on the road...