SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Some of the top adult entertainment industry figures have banded together to call BS on Utah’s anti-porn resolution, citing poor efforts on sex education as the real culprit.
Performers jessica drake and Brooke, as well as GameLink’s Jeff Dillon, adult filmmaker Jacky St. James, Wasteland’s Colin Rowntree and Sssh.com’s Angie Rowntree, have come out against the resolution, which states porn creates “a sexually toxic environment” and labels it as “a public health hazard leading to a broad spectrum of individual and public health impacts and societal harms.”
Countering the claims, many in the adult biz are pointing the finger at Utah’s poor sex education as the real culprit for the state’s top ranking in 2015 regarding incidences of sexual violence.
“Just when you think it’s 2016, and we are progressing as a society, Utah goes and does something like this,” said drake, a popular sex educator and contract performer and director for Wicked Pictures. “Once again, the Utah government is rejecting all attempts for the state to move beyond an archaic abstinence-only sex education, when it’s continually proven there is a direct link between abstinence-only programs and increased sexual violence.”
Part of the resolution recognizes “the need for education,” yet in February, a Utah House panel blocked a bill to reform the state’s sex education policies, said Drake.
“Porn is about promoting healthy sexuality,” she added. “Repression and lack of education are what actually create a toxic sexual environment.”
Dillon noted that the Utah resolution cites porn as “addictive” and treats women as “objects and commodities for the viewer’s use.”
"Anti-porn groups continually denounce porn as addictive, yet the majority of their research is backed by the Mormon Church,” said Dillon, vice president of business development for eLine.com and its adult e-tail site, GameLink.com. “Their data is extremely selective and is contrary to what scientists and behaviorists around the world are reporting. Utah is ignoring the real issue with their attack against adult entertainment.”
Dillon said that last year, GameLink.com launched a campaign called "Porn Sparks Love," which counters anti-porn movements with real accounts of porn viewers.
“It’s important to distinguish the difference between legal, consensual porn movies made by adults, for adults, from disgusting, illegal acts of sex trafficking and child pornography,” Dillon said. “I support any law that helps put an end to child por n, but it is upsetting when lawmakers try to bundle our industry in with criminals.”
Brooke, an adult industry veteran, who is making a return to performing after time off to obtain her bachelor’s degree and start a family, said her marriage is stronger than ever because of her previous time performing and exploring my sexuality.
“Porn didn’t kill our love, and I don’t believe it kills any love,” Brooke said. “Lack of communication and secrets kill love and ruin lives."
Angie Rowntree, female adult entertainment director and creator of Sssh.com, noted that the adult entertainment industry is a reflection of society.
“Sure you can make a case for misogynistic films, but look at the decade they were produced and what the prevalent ideology was,” she said. “The last 20 years has really been a shift in the industry. There are so many great films starring or directed by empowered, intelligent women, and there is nothing objectifying about it.”
Angie’s husband, Colin Rowntree, who founded BDSM site Wasteland.com, said: “The irony about Utah’s resolution citing societal damage leading to ‘difficulty in forming or maintaining intimate relationships’ is that the practice of BDSM in porn movies or real life is built entirely on trust, honesty, and real communication in couples. That’s a foundation any relationship should strive to have.”
“I want people to see my movies and realize that a woman is in control of her own sexual destiny,” said St. James, the adult filmmaker. “There is a freedom and empowerment derived from exploring your sexuality, and denying that we are sexual beings is a really backwards notion.”
Pictured: jessica drake