2011 Has Kind of Sucked

Not to sound like a bummer, but 2011 has kind of sucked for porn. Not the product, though nothing has really jumped out and amazed me. I mean for the industry in general. Every time you wake up there is another story to bring us down or piss us off.

We lost Den from CAVR.com shortly after discovering that Lenny from LSBReviews.com had also passed away. That’s two really good critics and great people who no longer offer their talents to eager readers. I miss them both very much.

We had the whole porn wiki leaks fiasco. Personal information and medical records leaked to the public by people within the industry or at least on the edges of it. The whole thing was a fucking nightmare for porn performers past and present. All attempts to battle the site with logic and compassion were met with the sort of petty bile that infects the darkest corners of the internet. Anyone who came close to that site got shit on and the whole thing was like a depressing soap opera. Things aren’t bad enough in our industry and the country in general? We have to intentionally fuck with each other for fun? The whole thing was just a cluster fuck and a waste of time and energy.

If attacks from within aren’t enough to bring you down, how about the attempts to shut down…errrrr I mean “make safe” the adult industry? AIDS activist groups have teamed with OSHA and anti-porn nutters like Shelly Lubben to wage a full scale assault on porn. Their goal, but stated and actual, is simple. Stated, they want to make porn safer for performers by instituting a mandatory condom policy on all sexual activity. Their actual goal of course is to completely shut down the porn industry in California. No sane person would argue that condom-only porn would actually be shot here. The industry would simply move elsewhere. Yeah, that’s just what the industry and this sinking ship of a state needs.

If that doesn’t get you, then how about the whole XXX domain debate? I can actually see some good in moving adult sites to a new domain, but of course it is being fucked up horribly. Who has claims, how much does it cost, what will it do to hosting? If we lived in a decent world where people did what was right for the right reasons, this debate might be moving towards something that would be good for the industry and would help shield children from hard core porn (Something we all agree would be a good thing) without fucking over people trying to make a living in the adult industry. So why aren’t we doing it? Remember, I said it would work if we lived in a decent world where people do the right things for the right reasons. Sadly, we don’t so it’s all fucked up.

Add all of this onto the piracy issue and slumping sales and it has been a pretty shitty year for XXX so far.

So now that I have brought everyone down let’s flip it. There have been plenty of good stories this year and good things going on.

Tell me your favorite story or the best thing about porn this year. I will post it and maybe even do a nice long blog post like this one highlighting the good stuff that has managed to thrive even in what has been a rather troubling year so far.

Email your good stories or your thoughts on these bad things to rog@rogreviews.com or post them below.