Ken's Porn Column

Wondering why I'm always talking about why pornographers should strive higher? The debut installment of my new column in AVN Online might just explain it... :)

Lessons in the Bedroom: Porn as Altruism?
By: Ken Knox
Posted: 12:00 am PST 3-1-2006

“Why porn?” It’s a question I’ve been asked by a relatively large number of people, both friends and strangers, when they find out what I do for a living. People seem to either be fascinated or disappointed by those who work in pornography. They want to know not only how I came to be employed in this industry, but also why I would want to be part of such an industry in the first place. My short answers to the questions are usually (a) “Luck” (Har!) and (b) “Because I love sex” (Har! Har!). But the truth is a bit “loftier” than that: I work in porn because I want to change the world, and I think that one of the best ways to do that is to start with human sexuality.

As a gay kid growing up in a rather rural and conservative Pennsylvania town, I didn’t have a lot of exposure to sex. Stroke material for me consisted of the underwear sections from the Sears and JC Penney catalogs and a few choice sex scenes in various Hollywood movies. I gleaned any information I could about sex from the 1980 film The Blue Lagoon, which I begged my mother to take my brother and I to see when I was 8 years old because I thought I had a crush on Brooke Shields. (In hindsight, I came to realize that it was really all about Christopher Atkins in his tiny loincloth. Sigh…)

Right about the same time, I had my first taste of porn when my cousin Chris showed my brother and me a snippet of an X-rated flick he had secretly snagged from his father’s bed stand. I remember being glued to the screen, by turns fascinated, revolted, confused, and (certainly) aroused by what I saw. When I first saw a full-length porn flick at age 16 (incidentally, The Pink Lagoon, starring Jerry Butler and a very young Ginger Lynn), I was hooked on a purely sexual level. But it wasn’t until I saw my first gay porn flick (a wretched little dud by the name of Bi-Bi Love) that my whole world was truly rocked.

No longer did I have to imagine what the gay characters on Dynasty were doing behind closed doors. Gone were the days of repeatedly rewinding the 10 seconds of Tom Cruise masturbating in Risky Business. But most importantly – above and beyond the prurient matters, um, “at hand” – I finally had a context in which to frame my own long-repressed sexuality. Seeing two men engaging in purely consensual, shame-free sexuality ignited a psychological shift in how I viewed my own desires and helped me to begin to realize that I was, in fact, not alone in my feelings. It took a few more years of such reinforcement (I became something of a “quick study”) before I was able to come out to my friends and family, but for all intents and purposes, it was porn (well, and Madonna) that helped me come to terms with being gay.

Which brings me back to that whole “changing the world” thing. It might sound a bit crazy to some, but I firmly believe that if you want to start changing the way that people relate to each other, you start by giving them a context in which they can relate to themselves. Many of us are long past puberty and adolescent development, but we are never too old to grasp the degree to which our behavior can be motivated by sexuality and gender identity. As far as I am concerned, the bedroom is as good a classroom as any.

Now that the Internet has made it possible for porn to be, um, “studied” by virtually anyone, there is a whole new movement toward sexual liberation brewing, and you don’t even have to leave your house to take part. The wide array of niche sites (everything from BDSM and tickling to leather and lace) and the ability to whip up a professional-looking site catered to the individual tastes of the masses and the marginalized has led to increased awareness and acceptance of our sexual diversity. And you know what that means, folks. Without the shame and guilt that often comes attached to our sexual desires, people might just start being happy and well-adjusted for a change!

So, to the masses I say, viva la Internet revolución!

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