Porn advocates say it celebrates the beauty of the female form, that it is not violent or racist. Let us now celebrate women with a tour through Capital Video’s Wethersfield (CT) porn shop, where NPN bought a large batch of magazines in September.
The pictures below are the first of a selection we present for you to judge for yourself. We have cropped out the genitalia, but we imagine most people will find these images disturbing nonetheless.
Our presentation is continued in the PDF file below. This file should only be viewed by those 18 or older. Many will find these images unpleasant and some of the text is explicit. We are not asking the government to censor this material, but we do appeal to Barry and Annette Goldberg of Longmeadow (contact address) to avoid profiting from it in leasing their property at 135 King Street to Capital Video.
Capital Video Wethersfield CT Magazine Selection (PDF, explicit text)
21 thoughts on “Capital Video’s Magazine Rack: Bondage, Racism and More”
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So just to be clear- bondage is “bad”?
You are of course aware that bondage subcultures have existed as an integral part of the gay man and lesbian communities. Further- and this point I am now repeating to you- you are aware that what goes in inside someone’s head as a fantasy, or even in their bedroom as sexual psychodrama is not an endorsement of any particular behavior outside of very specific contexts. To make this more concrete: just because one likes tying up and abusing women in the bedroom (or men for that matter- go down to Diva’s on Tuesday night if you’re feeling brave) says little to nothing about their attitude about women outside of this very limited context.
In short- you make a lot of assumptions about the sexual practices of consenting adults that just aren’t seen by anyone who, y’know, actually knows someone with “deviant” sexual practices. Some people are turned on by causing pain. Some people are turned on by feeling pain. Should they be seeing doctors to make them “well?”
I suggest that the current scandal in the House of Reps shows that the problem with th world is definitely not too much free expression of sexuality. Further, it seems at least worth considering that pornography is a product of sexual repression. Rather than freely exploring their fantasies, people are forced to settle for bizarro, ersatz versions of them with all the psychodramatic elements distilled to the purity of fishscale cocaine…
Use that big brain, NPN! Apply some basic anthropological examination of the symbols employed by pornography. Your idea about Greek Tragedy isn’t far off…
I suppose that arguing with chimpanzees is easier than arguing with humans, but don’t think Hamp won’t notice.
You really think we’re all just a bunch of back woods rubes here, don’t you?
How is there racism involved here?Could you explain that? Is it because there is a woman of color in one of the magazines? If that’s your case for racism,then you must see racism in everything.And I also noticed that you mention nothing about men that are involved in the bondage magazines.How one sided is that?Please people,you are really digging to new lows to get your point across.
The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (decades old and very academic) states that: “less than 10% of the X-rated or hard-core material contains aggression, and very little of that agressio ninvolvs physical violence or rape (1% to 3%). … it is no more violent today than in the past. R-rated material contains much more violence …”
Folks, stop painting 97% to 99% of porn with the same brush, and by the way, I hear from actual practitioners that there’s plenty of women that get into bondage, etc., too.
This is another example of the intellectual dishonesty at your web site that upset me from the start, and led to TalkBackNorthampton, etc. Think about it …
The women in many of these bondage pictures don’t look too happy. Even if they are just acting, we are concerned the pictures are training the viewer to be stimulated by the sight of a bound, unhappy woman.
You’ll notice this large caption in one of the photos:
“The look in her eyes tells us that she would like this bondage session to be over pretty soon. Forget it, girl!”
Here the viewer is being trained that even if they are aware the woman is distressed, they should ignore this in favor of their own pleasure (or profit).
We further explore the “porn as safety valve” myth here.
On the contrary. If we had little respect for our neighbors, we wouldn’t have gone to such great lengths to take our case to them on the web and in the mail. We probably would have focused on speaking privately with city officials.
Tarring our campaign with charges of elitism makes no sense. From our FAQ:
FAQ: Doesn’t your campaign smack of elitism?
A: Why no, the reverse is true. The most visible porn advocates have been saying that freedom of speech is so important, it trumps all other things people might value, such as a safe neighborhood, one that’s comfortable to walk around in, economically prosperous, where people won’t be harassed or solicited for sex.
Porn advocates appear to be indifferent to the suffering of ordinary people, whether it’s porn workers with STDs, spouses of porn addicts, or cities whose downtowns can’t grow due to the presence of an adult business. Despite mounting evidence of the social harms of porn, the porn advocates assert they simply know better what’s good for America, and that the people can’t be trusted to impose the slightest regulation on adult businesses or soon we’ll all be burning books. That’s elitism.
We can also look at this from a power perspective. Who has access to millions of dollars, expensive lawyers, Ivy League MBAs and luxury homes? The porn merchants. On the other side, vulnerable young porn workers, small towns with limited resources, parents busy raising children. Who are the elite in this situation?
If I see a black woman bound and gagged under a large headline that says, “ONCE A Slave…”, to me that sends a racist message.
Of course, Capital Video looks down on other races as well. Consider the magazine White Trash 5, “Featuring 5 Nasty Little Whores”, with headlines like “Down and Dirty Trailer Trash Tramps”.
You could say Capital Video looks down on everybody, especially if they’re female.
I looked for male bondage magazines and images at Capital Video’s Wethersfield store. I found some but few. Female bondage, however, was easy to find.
We don’t make the lows, Capital Video does. We just report it.
Peter, it’s obvious for all to see that a significant amount of Capital Video pornography involves abuse, bondage and cruelty. It is Capital Video that’s proposing to place a large porn shop at 135 King Street, so it’s appropriate to focus on what they sell. Capital Video describes themselves as “the largest adult retail chain in the nation,” so it’s not like they are some small outlier.
It’s flat-out false to say porn hasn’t gotten more aggressive over time. Even directors of porn movies will admit this. Let’s hear from John Stagliano, speaking to Martin Amis for the Guardian:
Amis observes, “Features porno is much, much dirtier than it used to be, but Gonzo porno is gonzo: way out there. The new element is violence.”
Academic researchers Gail Dines and Robert Jensen concur, “As the industry ‘matures’ the most popular genre of films, called ‘gonzo’, continues to push the limits of degradation of, and cruelty toward, women. Directors acknowledge they aren’t sure where to take it from the current level.”
As for your chats with “actual practitioners”, this is not very compelling in the face of news reports about the actual experience of the majority of porn workers. Martin Amis relates how STDs are endemic to the industry, and U.S. News (2/10/97) observes that most porn actresses certainly exit the business quickly enough:
“There is a constant demand for new talent, and few actresses last more than a year or two… Checks sometimes bounce. The borderline legal status of the industry makes performers reluctant to seek redress in court…”
Finally, let’s hear from porn director Jonathan Morgan:
“Some girls are used in nine months or a year. An 18-year-old, sweet young thing, signs with an agency, makes five films in her first week. Five directors, five actors, five times five: she gets phone calls. A hundred movies in four months. She’s not a fresh face any more. Her price slips and she stops getting phone calls. Then it’s, ‘Okay, will you do anal? Will you do gangbangs?’ Then they’re used up. They can’t even get a phone call. The market forces of this industry use them up.”
Sounds like a great career.
Again- you duck the point. Do you honestly think there aren’t people from both genders who don’t enjoy being on either end of a good tying up and beating? Children with no exposure to pornography engage in bondage and auto-erotic asphyxiation as part of their pre-pubescent sexual play.
Again, please check into reality and compare / contrast it with fantasy. Thxkbye.
After a certain point, sadism and masochism cannot be called normal, healthy behaviors. Those suffering from these conditions would probably benefit more from a therapist than Capital Video’s products.
Today’s porn is also taking us into dangerous territory by suggesting that consent is not needed even when a participant is showing distress.
At what point is sadism and masochism not normal? Please be specific.
Also- do you think Martin Sheen is President?
If you’re stimulated by suffering, your own or someone elses, you need to look inside yourself and ask if you’re on a good path. To answer this question, it might help to consult a person you think is wise, or a skilled therapist.
Here are more details about sadism and masochism from the Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders.
Consent is an important part of the picture. As we’ve shown, porn sold by Capital Video doesn’t always make a point of showing consent.
I agree that Porn exploits racism, yet when the issue is discussed in articles such as this, the emphasis is almost always placed on black females being degraded. Interracial porn is very popular but the MAJORITY of it is the black male degrading white female variety. See sites such as blacksonblondes or Black Attack Gangbang for examples. These sites depict young white women being physically and verbally abused. This matter needs more attention. I suspect most of your writers fear being labeled racists for commenting on this type of porn. This is no time for chickens.
Thank you for raising this issue. I believe it’s fair to say that both black women and black men are portrayed in racist ways by porn. We discussed portrayals of black men in porn last fall in this post:
A Review of Gail Dines, “King Kong and the white woman: Hustler magazine and the demonization of black masculinity” (explicit language)
…Black men in porn are even more likely than white men to be reduced to a single body part: their legendary enormous penis. (p.92) Many Hustler cartoons depict white men as pathetic, unable to compete with well-endowed black men for access to the few attractive white women. Black men are also commonly featured as rich pimps exploiting white johns. “The lower-class, sexually impotent male in Hustler cartoons is thus not an object of identification but rather of ridicule and a pitiful example of what could happen if white men fail to assert their masculinity and allow the Black male to roam the streets and bedrooms of white society. This character thus stands as a symbol of the devastation that Blacks can cause, a devastation brought about by ‘bleeding heart’ liberals who mistakenly allowed blacks too much freedom.” (p.99)
Portrayals of black men are also explored by Byron Hurt in his documentary, Beyond Beats and Rhymes: A Hip-Hop Head Weighs in on Manhood in Hip-Hop Culture. This film was screened at the Pornography and Pop Culture conference at Wheelock in March. From the conference agenda:
Thank God for your website !! I am having trouble kicking the internet porn habit, and found your site through a search for something completely unrelated. Keep up the good work and God bless you.
Thanks for your kind words. Glad to help.
I looked for male bondage magazines and images at Capital Video’s Wethersfield store. I found some but few. Female bondage, however, was easy to find.”
I believe that. Though possibly it’s because most porn is geared towards men.
I spoke to a straight submissive man I know and he said to me that he’ll only watch lesbian BDSM videos, where one woman abuses and dominates another, because it turns him off to see a penis involved…even if it’s role is a submissive as he is.
How many bondage magazines and tapes contained women-on-women?
Another factor to take into consideration is that mainstream society frowns upon a submissive man, and it’s easier to ‘come out’ so to speak as a male dom than a male sub.
“the porn advocates assert they simply know better what’s good for America, and that the people can’t be trusted to impose the slightest regulation on adult businesses or soon we’ll all be burning books. That’s elitism.”
The implication here is that the pro-porn people don’t know what’s best for America, but of course you do. Oh please, please, spare the world your self-appointed, self-righteous, oversight of everyone’s well-being. You should spend more time having sex and less spewing your tight-ass mentalities on this pointless web page.
At the end of the day, you have to decide how to live your life. We invite everyone to compare our case against the opposition and decide which is better supported, and likely to lead to a better life for yourself and those around you.
The idea of this entire website, but namely this article, is totally ridiculous. Pornography is nothing to be scared of. Why do you fear pornography so much?…Because you do not know it. I know porn. I am so very well acquainted with severe & extreme BDSM. And yes, there are videos where I am close to tears, and you can see that I am in pain – and also, I am about a second away from orgasm. Combining pain, pleasure, fantasy, and sometimes even reality, is not a danger to women. You are looking at this subject in a manner that is counter-intuitive to everything I enjoy about living in such an open and accepting area as Northampton.
Shame on you, hiding behind mindless theories.
I would actually like to step in at this juncture and point out that Sadism and Masochism, as defined in terms of mental disorders, are completely different from, or are at least not inherently related to sado-masochism as a sexual fetish, practice, or subculture, and deal more with issues of emotional distress.