A couple of days ago, Jake Genesis announced his retirement from the gay porn industry and wrote a statement which at the same time was a public apology. It was quite a remarkable statement in which he said that he and any other porn star are victims. He also mentioned that he is looking for God’s mercy.
Today, porn star John Magnum wrote his own statement on his Tumblr blog, which is a response to Jake’s original statement. He basically says that no-one is a victim of the porn industry, but of victim of themselves.
His statement is quite surprising, as he claims that he had never heard of Jake Genesis before. Apart from some odd philosophical phrases, I believe John’s public response does make sense.
Here’s the complete statement in reply to Jake’s statement:
There is no Truth out there…
Recently, a former gay porn star named Jake Genesis retired. He also felt it was necessary to write an apology for doing porn. In doing so, he painted a very frank portrait of porn.
Now I feel compelled to write my own statement. Which is out of character of me. Mostly because, does it matter? Does it matter what an ex-porn star has to say about doing porn? Does it matter what a veteran porn star says in response? On some level, I must think so. Because here I am, writing a response. Ultimately, it’s up to the reader to decide “Does it matter?”.
Jake Genesis said in his apology that porn victimizes everyone. The people that produce it, the viewers and their friends and family. He also said it does violence to the Human Spirit and perverts human sexuality through its openness. He is a self-proclaimed Catholic and uses religion as the basis of his argument.
I never met Jake Genesis. And to be honest, I never heard of the guy until another new comer asked what I thought about what he said. So I won’t make judgements on him as a person. I do relate to his situation. I too, got involved in porn not because I was financially destitute, coerced, lied to or any other nefarious means. I was depressed because I injured my hand before a bodybuilding competition and could no longer work out and couldn’t compete. And since the invitation was already out there, I decided “what the hell”. I made a decision based upon short-term circumstances, which had long-term consequences.
In doing so, many of the paths that were available to me before doing porn seem to no longer be available. And that’s a story that everyone who has done porn has believed in at some point. Many continue to fall into this trap. Now, this is a point-of-view, nothing more. No matter how real it seems, it is not based in reality. You are who YOU say you are. If you say that, “because I’ve done porn I can’t do anything else” or “I don’t have that many options anymore”, that will become your reality. And you are now a victim, not of porn, but of yourself.
You have victimized yourself. And if you look, this isn’t the first time you did. That’s probably how you go into porn in the first place. You made yourself a victim of whatever came before. Whether, it be your parents, your love life, your previous jobs, etc.
How does one become a victim of themselves? Well, you come up with a plan, first. You say, “This is it! This is how I’m going to be happy. I’m going to do (fill in the blank)” And then, it doesn’t work out the way you planned. Now, you’re back to where you started. Blaming whoever or whatever, because “they” must be wrong. Not you! You thought it was right when you started. It must be “they”. “They” can be anyone or anything. Blame and fault is always coming from the outside in. Even when you blame yourself. The occurrence is always “coming at you”.
None of this is the truth. There is no truth out there. Human-beings are unique because we have a invented “words”. And words have meaning. You string together enough of these and you get a story. A story about why this is the way it is. But it’s only an invention. An invention that predates us all. An invention that we take as the “truth”.
Truth” is another word, that humans invented. It did not exist before the word “truth” existed. What existed before? Look outside. Do you think that a tree thinks about “truth”? Or a bird? Or anything else besides humans? No. It does what it does or doesn’t do what it doesn’t do and that’s it. It doesn’t take days to think about what it should do or shouldn’t do. And everything seems quite content. Doesn’t it?
We all have our own unique point-of-view and every one of them is valid and true to us and those we convince using “words”. What we fail to realize is that we our attached to our stories. We will fight and some will even kill or die for their stories.
On top of all this, is that this, is just another story. One that you as the reader will either choose to believe or discount, based upon your own stories that you have created for yourself and your life.
We live in a Capitalistic Society. And our capitalism is driven by the consumer. If there’s a market for it, it must be capitalized upon. Is this not the basis of our Capitalistic/Consumer Society?
When viewed through this point-of-view, you realize that any reason Jake Genesis gives for why porn is “victimizing” could just as easily apply to commercial and investment banking, big agriculture, the service industry, the automotive industry, the technology sector and the list goes on and on. You can literally apply it to any sector of our economy because the point of Capitalism is, profit.
And like any other entertainment industry, there are highs and lows. Usually, really high and really low. And so the coming down is much more severe. Look at Chris Brown or Alec Baldwin(any Baldwin for that matter) both have been up and down in their careers. The only difference is they made a hell of a lot more money. So they were able to weather the storm in comfort.
Now, this really speaks to the only problem I see in porn. There is an unfair allocation of profits to the big companies while leaving the men, women and transgendered performers disenfranchised within their profession. Which is very much like the music companies. Musicians make the bulk of their money through touring on stage. Porn actors can dance or escort to make extra cash, our version of touring. And some do and are successful at it. Others go behind the camera and continue with their career that way. Most never make enough to really qualify for themselves that it was all worth it, getting naked in front of the camera.
And this brings me to the only thing that I agree with that Jake Genesis said: Whenever anyone asks if they should do porn, I say NEVER. Not because it is wrong. Because if you have to ask, you’ll never be satisfied with what you get out of it. Go do something that doesn’t require you to second guess yourself, because that is a recipe for disaster.
Remember, this is only my point-of-view, not the truth. There is no truth out there. And certainly no truth in here. Only the stories that we choose to believe.
If this is too philosophical, just…..
Stay Sexy
Magnum
John Magnum has worked for several big studios, including Men.com, Cocksure Men, Lucas Entertainment, Hot House and Bound Jocks.