Comments Elsewhere

Kait Williams:

DT was, in fact, different from its predecessors in an important thematic way: the sexual satisfaction of the female protagonist was the issue; unlike the run-of-the-mill porn movie, male pleasure was not of paramount importance.

During the Victorian period, one of the most popular forms of pornography was the Turkish Harem story, in which a white European virgin is abducted and sold into sexual slavery in the harem of a Turkish Sultan. The pornographic content is a story of repeated rape; the arc of the plot invariably involves the once-reticent virgin coming to love being sexually violated. Sometimes a European rescuer comes along at the end of the story; the rescued woman is often reluctant to leave the harem.

These stories were told from the female protagonist’s point of view and are superficially about her sexual pleasure. Do you honestly think that that makes a story like this one in which “male pleasure was not of paramount importance”? Do you think that Deep Throat — a story based on a wild anatomical fantasy that makes the “female protagonist” take orgasmic satisfaction from sex acts that are normally only sexually stimulating to men — is different in any important respect? If so, how?

Given that Traynor was frequently sent away from the set, Lovelace’s tales of being forced to work at gunpoint beggar belief.

How is this any different from demanding of any other battered woman “Well, why didn’t you leave?”

Was she manipulated by him? Certainly, but it should be noted that her subsequent tales of violent abuse only surfaced after her failed foray into mainstream movie making, when she was fading into obscurity.

How is this any different from smearing any other woman who testifies that she was raped as a “gold-digger,” “publicity-slut,” etc.?

Whether you believe what Linda Boreman said or not, using these kind of smear tactics in order to discount her testimony is, frankly, despicable.