MTV confessional: "I Work in the Sex Industry"
Posted at 11:37 PM Apr 09, 2008
This episode of MTV's True Life profiles three young twenty-somethings as they struggle with the personal ramifications of working in the adult industry. Rebekah is a cute pink-haired girl who works on the administrative side of an amateur porn company, while Aaron is a gay-for-pay porn performer, and Shawntelle is a college student who co-hosts a radio show in which she gives all the gory details of her sex life.
Perhaps I'm overly jaded (ok, not perhaps - I am), but I expected this show to be all about how the sex industry was ruining these young people's lives, but that turns out not at all to be the case. It's a pretty sensitive portrayal of some adult industry workers with different personal and professional boundaries. Each of their stories normalize the working part - the nudity and other weird stuff of the adult business actually seems pretty normal. The main focus of each vignette is about interpersonal relationships - trying to date and answering the "what do you do?" question, telling your family about your sex-for-money job, and trying to maintain intimacy with a loved one while also keeping a zesty professional life.
Not to totally ruin the ending for you, but I actually felt the cold little parts of my jaded heart being warmed.
The video embedded in this post is the first of six clips of the show - you can see the rest on MTV's site here.
It's well worth a read through the comments too. Though there's some of the garden variety terrible internets grammarz and haterade, the conversation gets more interesting on the subsequent clips, especially since there is a woman who joins the conversation who is a friend of Rebekkah's.
--Audacia Ray
Thanks for the tip: Wendi M, editor-at-large of The Coup Magazine.
more: Media Critic
Do you really think that guy was gay for pay? My friends and I are in great debate about it. Yes, it exists. But with this guy it seemed that his first step to coming out was coming out as doing gay porn. Thoughts?
Posted by: mia at April 10, 2008 10:41 PM
I totally believe that guys can be gay for pay without really being gay or bi - I mean, I know plenty of lesbian prostitutes too. But I'm not so sure about this guy, especially since several times he talks about it being the "best job in the world" and there's no evidence of past or present romantic relationships. But on the other hand - I don't care a whole lot about what people choose to call themselves, as long as they aren't in the kind of denial that makes them sad and miserable. This guy doesn't seem sad and miserable, but who knows what someone's internal life is like.
Posted by: Audacia Ray at April 10, 2008 10:54 PM
AJ is actually straight. I know him personally(I was in the episode as well, briefly). And he definitely is straight, its just a job for him. He's not there to have sex, he's there to get paid, lol. I work in this industry every day(Agent) and it would amaze you how many different types of people are in this industry and why they do it. PS, the numbers he spouts out about how much he gets paid is total BS.
Posted by: Matt at April 11, 2008 12:30 PM
@Matt - thanks for the comment. Like I said, ultimately someone's reasons for working and their sexual identity are their own business; everyone else's opinions are only speculation.
As far as the scene rate goes - yeah, that struck me as pretty overstated. Guys in gay porn do certainly make better than the straight guy rate (usually around $400 a scene), but definitely not $5k.
Posted by: Audacia Ray at April 11, 2008 1:55 PM
Thanks for the responses. I don't care too much about labels either. It's great a straight man can be so comfortable in his sexuality. Male homophobia is so boring.
Posted by: Mia at April 13, 2008 9:14 PM
