This week Self Magazine featured O’actually in a great article called: This is Why You Should Pay for Porn.
I don’t tend to love sentences that use the word should, but this I can absolutely get behind.
If only I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard, “Who pays for porn these days? Kit, you know the internet is covered with free porn, right?
Oh really? I hadn’t heard…. 😉
Yes, clearly I’m familiar with the onslaught of free internet porn. I also think it’s a curious thing that we’re trending toward an expectation that our porn be free.
A belief that porn should be free, mirrors our society’s general devaluation of sex, sexuality, and sexual pleasure. After all, when we value something, we’re willing to pay for it.
I pay for my yoga membership, I pay for my organic skincare, I pay for my farmer’s market food, and I pay for my porn.
In fact, I’d be super concerned if any of those things were free. I’d wonder how the studio owner pays her bills, what’s actually in my fancy glass bottled face-wash, how can the farmer afford to give me all those carrots for free? I’d also ponder: if the porn is free, how are the performers and crew being treated?
When we created the O’actually brand trailer, I was delighted to hear from the cast and crew about how much they enjoyed the experience too. My team and I had put a lot of thought and care into ensuring that everyone on the set felt good while they were creating something intended to make others feel good.
We paid them more than they would have made on a PG set, which seemed like a no brainer to me but is actually unusual within the industry. We asked for dietary preferences and fed them delicious and nutritious food. Our budget for meals was on the expensive side, but was I going to feed my cast and crew Taco Bell and then expect them to have a delightfully embodied, sensual, and sexual experience?! Hell no.
But it’s an oddity to me that we shell out cash for Rom-Coms and yet scoff at thought of a small fee for films that actually yield pleasure, release, and climax.
In fact, my dream is for an X-Rated Rom-Com category. After all, what does happen in-between the kiss in the rain and the pancakes in the morning?!
But to create that category and other high quality, beautiful, feel good films, requires a shift towards a deeper valuation of our sexual arousal. And further begs the question, “Are we willing to see our sexual health as a key component of holistic health?”
The full Self Magazine article is here.
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