NEW YORK -- The New York Times today takes a look at how LFP founder Larry Flynt spends a typical morning, why he thinks the adult biz has changed and what he really thinks President Obama's chances are for the upcoming presidential election.
In a piece titled "Pornography and Politics," New York Times reporter Brooks Barnes in his "Scene Stealers" column also takes a quick peek at Flynt's empire, just days after one of his adult entertainment company's divisions, LFP Broadcasting, said it would purchase transactional TV service for New Frontier Media for $33 million.
Barnes met up with Flynt at Culina at the Four Seasons, Flynt's "signature" spot, where he has eaten breakfast or lunch there most days for at least a decade.
The hotel's diner has even added a Larry Flynt’s Salad on the menu, for $27, compete with Dungeness crab, shrimp, chopped vegetables, egg and garbanzo beans. “They at first tried to skimp on the seafood,” Flynt said, “and I told the chef: ‘Don’t even try it. Fill that bowl with goodies.’ ”
Flynt said he doesn’t have a good feeling about next month's election. “I’m not sure Obama can win,” Flynt said. “There is racism at work against him. It’s disgusting, but nobody has the guts to talk about it.”
LOS ANGELES — A pornography trade group has called for a nationwide filming moratorium while performers are tested for syphilis and Los Angeles County public health officials investigate a possible outbreak of the sexually transmitted disease.
One performer has tested positive, and the performer’s sexual partners are being notified, according to Joanne Cachapero, a spokeswoman for the Free Speech Coalition.
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LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County health officials are investigating a possible cluster of syphilis cases among adult film industry performers.
The Los Angeles Times reports (http://lat.ms/PB14XI ) the county Public Health Department has received reports of at least five possible cases in the last week.
Peter Kerndt, director of the county's Sexually Transmitted Disease programs, tells the newspaper officials will make sure the infected individuals are properly treated and try to determine who else may have been affected.
Public health workers are also attempting to find out the original source of the recent cluster.
Kerndt says there was an increase in syphilis cases throughout LA County between 2010 and 2011.
Porn has hijacked our sexuality, according to anti-porn author Gail Dines. Her sentiment is not unlike that of other ‘raunch culture’ commentators – the sex industry is damaging because it represents ‘fake’ pleasures and ‘fake’ bodies. Both queer and feminist communities have produced porn/magazines/performances aiming to represent desires, bodies and acts that are ‘authentic’, ‘genuine’, ‘documentary’ and ‘real’. But is this line between ‘fake’ and ‘real’ so clear-cut? Zahra Stardust explores the issues.
As someone who works in the sex industry – in spaces that purport to be ‘real’ as well as spaces that are accused of as being ‘fake’ – it seems like there is no distinct line between the two. As someone who works with a body that is sometimes perceived as ‘real’ and other times read as ‘fake’ – it seems that the bodies which move across these spaces are equally fluid.
As someone whose pink bits have been airbrushed in magazines, but which have also been on explicit display; who performs both with and without make-up; whose ‘real’ name is my stage name, distinctions between ‘fake’ and ‘real’ don’t always make sense.
I experience pleasure at work in the mainstream sex industry that I certainly perceive as ‘real’. This pleasure comes from physical sensations (lactic acid, endorphins, sweat, carpet burn, whipping hair, a double ended dildo angled against my g spot, real orgasms) but also from the thrill of voyeurism (exhibitionism, cameras, being naked in front of thousands of people).
Pleasure comes from creative aesthetics (coordinating colours, angles, props and shapes) and the kick of doing something that is (to some) taboo. I consider that pleasure a genuine part of my own sexuality. Sure, it’s work – and during shows I am also thinking about choreography, musicality, crowd control, not falling over, pole grip, camera angles, the audience member who is wandering off with my g-string – but work and pleasure are not mutually exclusive.