CYBERSPACE—Farrell Timlake, owner of pioneering amateur studio Homegrown Video, is speaking out on the execution of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s former girlfriend for her alleged role in producing and selling amateur sex videos — a practice Timlake says people risk as a form of protest in countries where porn is banned.
“The recent death by firing squad of Kim Jong-un's girlfriend [Hyon Song-wol] for the so-called crime of making amateur porn demonstrates how a totalitarian regime — no matter if it is political, religious, or class based — controls sex and sexuality to subjugate completely the heart and souls of its people,” Timlake says. “Nothing is so universal, as well as so personal, as the freedom to express one's sexuality; therefore, it should be held as a basic human right.”
According to Timlake, Homegrown Video receives amateur-made sex videos from many of the countries where porn is banned and where it’s production and distribution can be punishable by life in prison or death. The company applauds the defiance and determination shown by those submitting the videos, but is cautious about purchasing.
“Homegrown Video is in a very unique position to see the political importance and revolutionary significance of how amateur porn works into this context. We get videos from around the world,” Timlake reveals. “Within the last few weeks, I have received inquiries from China, Syria, and Turkey. In situations where it is obvious the only motive is profit, then we are quick to reject it because the potential for it being non-consensual is much greater. We look for those who do it because they believe in their right to do it.”
Timlake views these submissions as a form of protest similar to the orgy parties held clandestinely in Iran. “For those involved, the risks are huge; it becomes a political statement, a protest against the suppression of their rights,” he notes. “I think there is a similar form of protest in making videos.”
Timlake knows his outlook is a difficult one for many in our very own country to believe.
“For some, seeing those who make porn as champions of freedom and democracy or as revolutionaries — fighting with pillows in a sense — for basic human rights remains impossible,” Timlake says. “Unable to free the bonds of the stereotype that persists and makes people in the adult industry targets for everything from condescending disdain to being enemies of the State, many will have a hard time embracing the notion the act of committing sexual enjoyment and exploration to recording can be considered a patriotic act.
“No one understands this better than those with the misfortune to live in cultures, societies, religions, etc., where sexuality of any kind is persecuted, where a simple beautiful act of nature can be twisted into becoming a crime against nature.”
Timlake stresses, however, the importance of calculated risk, and notes the delicate balancing act Homegrown Video must do when presented with videos from porn-banned countries where consequence can be deadly.
“At Homegrown, a very fine line must be walked. We want to support those who wish to share their intimate videos, but we do not want to have anyone suffer for it as a result,” Timlake points out. “From the conservative counties of the USA —like Broward in Florida, where people are arrested for lewd conduct as a result of making amateur porn in the privacy of their own homes — to the countries in the Middle East where making porn is often a crime punishable by death, the risks must be addressed and fully understood in order for us to even think about purchasing those videos.
“We don't want anyone to suffer for something that is supposed to be about joy and happiness,” Timlake continues. “We do believe it is their right to make these videos, and we patriotically stand on the belief that the liberation of sexuality can plant the seeds of freedom, speaking in a language everyone can understand.”
All amateurs are invited to submit their homemade adult movies to Homegrown Video here.
