I was compelled to talk about the sex industry because I recently watched this documentary on Netflix called “Hot Girls Wanted.” The documentary was created to expose the horrors of the amateur porn industry. Amateur porn stars are only “hot” or “in demand” for a few months, it’s rare to make a whole year as an amateur porn star. The documentary goes on to show how this one guy goes to the internet to find girls and bring them to Miami, Florida to work in the porn industry. About 10 girls live together in this house and each one of them take different jobs while they are there. They are split up into different categories like MILF or Tweens. The girls that resemble younger girls are more popular which is sickening to me because that means there is something about our society where young girls being sexualized is more appealing to men than an average aged woman. The guy who brings the girls to Florida makes an online ad with the header “Hot Girls Wanted” and he says he gets many responses. He searches the girls social medias to see how they look. If they they fit the standard (of course there is body image discrimination within the porn industry) than he books them a flight. Once they get to the home that’s when they realize what they have actually signed up for. They are living in a house full of strangers and they are working with random people that are semi-professionals. They are encouraged to have unprotected sex because those scenes are more popular and they will get paid more for them. They also have to take “morning after pills” after each one of these shoots. The guy behind this whole operation though is the one I want to focus on. They try to equate porn work to a higher standard than prostitution. But to me it is all the same. The guy who brought them to Florida pays for their flight, their living expenses, and books all their shoots. That doesn’t sound any different from a pimp, to me at least. Also, he takes a certain percentage from the girls after each one of their shoots. He also reminds them that the girls owe him, how they wouldn’t be where they are if it wasn’t for him. You can obviously tell that this guy is only in it for the money. He is making a gold mine off these girls because they usually come with zero experience so he has complete discretion to tell them whatever he feels they need to hear to make them do a scene he wants, it’s all a business.
The other side of things that I want to point out is how porn is a multi billion dollar industry. Millions of people tune into porn per hour. But let’s take a look behind the scenes. If the actress or actor is making $500-1500 per scene they still have to pay 10-15% to the person directing the film. If we do the math every scene of porn we see the people behind the scenes are making money off every single person being shot. They not only degrade women within this industry but they also are robbing them blind. The money they do make they usually have to put towards wardrobe for their next shoot, makeup, and etc. Let alone living expenses. So once that money is gone they have to continue to do more scenes (for amateurs) making it a vicious cycle that would be hard to get out of if they don’t want to go broke.
The point I’m trying to make about the sex industry especially surrounding the documentary “Hot Girls Wanted” is the men who run these porn sites and that run these brothels (which I am saying the house that the girls stayed in Florida is) are making a lot of money off these amateur porn stars and these girls don’t know what they are really getting into. They think that they are just going to make a couple thousand dollars and leave and they soon realize it’s not that easy. Once they let them go they are done. Is that how it should be? Totally up to the discretion of the men? The women get little say so in what they do. They have to pay up for their services of course. It’s interesting how some women feel empowered by sex work but not the sex industry, there’s a difference. I’m curious to see what you all think!
The sexualization of young girls and high search demands for teens disturbed me as well. I read in all of the blogs a little about feeling empowered by sex work, I wonder if this is the same for teens. This documentary sounds really interested. As a business major, I am particularly interested in the money side of this issue. I think education plans a big part in why these deals go wrong for people in the sex industry as well as the male dominant nature of the industry. I think the social media aspect is interesting. I can also see how it would make it hard for trans people to get recruited into the sex industry in similar was to the "hot girls wanted" since Alex mentioned that in his blog.
ReplyDeleteHi Faith,
DeleteI think the thing that struck me the most about your blog post was the idea of an "amateur" pornstar. I think it's interesting how the industry is able to make a separate role (that does the same thing: has sex on camera) somehow better - as if girls should work towards "the big leagues" of porn. I'd like to explore the cyclic nature of beauty standards and SES in your examples. If these girls are taken into a cycle where the beauty standards are very high (and indicative of a higher financial income[straight teeth, skin tone, make-up) then the $500 that could be seen as a lot to some people really gets diminished quite quickly. Additionally, I think the idea of all of the girls living together is quite interesting. When talking about SES, I think the "socio" aspect really comes into play when you think about who you can speak to and for how long - these connections become advantages based on your SES. For these girls, it seems like they are constantly surrounded by other girls experiencing the same thing which could act as a normalizing force to keep them within the cycle.
Oops - I accidentally replied to Elkena's comment instead of posting my own!
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