For the last eight Januaries, we've traveled the I-15 to Las Vegas for the annual AEE (Adult Entertainment Expo). Outside of Germany's Venus, this is considered the Super Bowl of the adult industry - to use a bad analogy - and is where we go to visit vendors, scout new products, meet new media contacts, drink, eat, and generally hang out amongst each other to talk in our uniquely uninhibited manner for a few days. If there's one thing that stands out in our industry, it's the unbelievably cool people who inhabit it and we revel in the freedom we have to speak almost entirely in politically incorrect terms. Indeed, it's not often you'll encounter females rambling on casually about their vaginas over a tossed salad at the Grand Lux without fear of career-ending lawsuits hovering over your head.
Which begs the question, why IS everything about sex so taboo? Why can violence be celebrated with Oscar and Emmy nominations (i.e., There Will Be Blood, The Sopranos, CSI, etc.) while showing half a nipple in a football halftime show triggers government crackdowns and fines that dwarf the bail amounts for serial murderers? What is it, exactly, that's so harmful about Janet Jackson's nipple? And how is that half a nipple more explicit than, say, the Victoria's Secret commercial showing a parade of women wearing practically nothing?
Recently one of CNN's headline stories read "Kansas Seeks to Shut Down Porn Shops." In fact, these "porn shops" are just like ours! OK, maybe not quite as upscale or homey, but they certainly don't deserve to carry the pornography label. This is analogous to saying Best Buy is in the "entertainment industry" because they carry The Nutty Professor on DVD. It's clearly time for some serious rebranding, at the very least, and more appropriately, a total public relations makeover. We as an industry are at our crossroads; it's time to step forward and hammer home the idea that what we do for a living should not only be accepted, but embraced by our prudish culture. What are we ashamed of, anyway? The ability to express our sexuality is the most beautiful, exciting aspect of being human, so to Kansas we say, you might be able to stop us now, but the fight is only beginning!
Hence, we've taken the initiative of putting the negative language behind us and forging ahead to define our industry on OUR terms. We felt so strongly that we make a statement to the world that we put our house on the line last month and put on a show called Love LA, which we dubbed "A Sexual Health, Education and Entertainment Expo." Which is to say, a pornography-free event in which people of ALL persuasions could comfortably learn about, hold and touch a huge variety of vibrators, insertable devices, oils, creams, and furniture, and even talk with world-renowned sexual therapists and educators; all of this held in the heart of Hollywood in a venue as beautiful as the topic itself. While the turnout was lighter than we'd hoped, we received huge media coverage and every one of the 35 vendors who took part graciously agreed to do next year's event. We've even begun talking about putting a new trade group together to continue to pound our sex-positive messages home.
On another note, the new year brought an interesting set of resolutions, the two most prominent being to finally make enough money to pay off the credit cards and to expand our sexual horizons to encompass a few experiences not yet explored. With the former, we may finally cash in on some of the goodwill we've built in the industry over the last eight years in the form of paid writing gigs, media appearances, and even some targeted advertising to increase web traffic. On the latter, a bit more anal play on both sides of our relationship is definitely in the cards, while a few visits to nude beaches and sex clubs (though we will exclude swinging) might spice things up. If you have any additional suggestions you think might contribute to either of our 2008 goals, please let us know via e-mail at [email protected].
GayVN
- By
