Exposure

by Chauntelle Tibbals

  Aside from featuring performers of various gender identities and sexual orientations, tranny (hereafter referred to as TS) content does not overlap with queer porn in any way. TS scenes generally feature at least one performer who is in the midst of a male-to-female (MTF) transition. TS performers are generally partnered with cisgender men or other MTF TS performers, though I have recently noticed a slight increase in cisgender women performers working in TS scenes.3

  To those not versed in gender, identity, and sexuality issues, there may be a lot going on here. And obviously there’s more to all of this than could ever be explained in a few paragraphs, but put simply: Queer porn is different from all other genres of adult content because it’s overtly political and social-justice minded. Within the context of sex work and performance, queer porn seeks to challenge our culture’s conventional status quo. TS content, on the other hand, is generally not political. It’s actually just like any other genre of porn that emphasizes some sort of sexual proclivity, taste, or fetish. Though myriad messages and themes may also be incorporated (as is the case with all porn), “tranny porn” is first and foremost about the entertainment, the fucking, and the performers doing it.

  I once asked my friend Mr. D about these cross-genre structural similarities. Mr. D is an interesting and insightful individual, an adult content connoisseur in his private life and an adult industry professional in his public. As part of his job, Mr. D screens adult content, including “tranny porn” (as he also refers to it), for public relations purposes and production errors. I wondered about the patterns he had noticed during all this watching. His response was interesting and complex:

  First, the most noticeable thing is that the majority of transsexuals (at least those performing in the adult films I’ve seen) appear to be either Asian or Hispanic. Also for the most part, the TS performers involved are on the receiving end—they do not do the penetrating. Besides that, TS porn is very similar to mainstream porn in regards to how a scene breaks down. The standard formula remains—fondling to oral to a variety of positions to the pop shot.4

  So, Mr. D substantiated my assessment. In terms of production, TS content is structurally similar to mainstream porn. This is important. It’s also important to notice Mr. D’s use of “tranny,” TS, and transsexual, all basically in the same breath.

  In my observations, “tranny” is the attribution used most frequently by performers featured in TS scenes, by TS content producers, and by TS content consumers. Other commonly, but less frequently, used names include TS (which is obviously the term I feel most comfortable with), transsexual, and “shemale” (a term that makes me so uncomfortable that we’re just gonna set it aside for now). All these terms, incidentally, come from within the TS portion of the adult entertainment community. So when I question and/or feel discomfort with one of these chosen attributions, I also feel a bit like I’m trying to come in and make others’ struggles my own. The sociologist in me would call this an instance of colonizing or appropriation.

  Like queer, “tranny” also has a tumultuous history punctuated with contempt. Unlike “tranny,” though, queer has been reappropriated by many members of the population it once disparaged. Except that that’s not entirely true. Many folks from various communities, including TS individuals, use the word “tranny” quite enthusiastically (and many people debate and reject this usage). So really, there are only two definitive things I can say about these words: (1) Both “tranny” and queer have variable meanings; and (2) I’m okay with queer, but I feel uncomfortable with “tranny.” Thus, in my view, queer porn appears to be an empowering, chosen phrase, while “tranny porn” does not. Consequently, I constantly wonder why people who desire TS performers, employ and otherwise work with TS performers, or are themselves TS performers continue to say “tranny.”

  Maybe it’s because “tranny” is what’s familiar or recognizable. Could it be that people see that phrase and know immediately what they’re getting? Maybe it’s less about the problematic term and more about what’s inside the proverbial box? This may be the case, as I’ve heard arguments along these lines from all sorts of folks directly connected to TS porn production, including TS performers. But then, is this okay? To me, it sounds way more like a “have to” than a choice.

  “Tranny.” It just seems wrong to me, but questioning folks’ chosen identifiers is wrong, too!

  I’ve been stockpiling TS porn for years now, and occasionally I try to make some sense of my ever-growing collection. I always get caught up in these mind-boggling, socio-social-justice linguistic and gender identity go-rounds, though. What’s more, for the past couple of years, I have attended the “Tranny Awards”5—a ceremony dedicated specifically to TS women performers and the consumers who love them. I’m always super excited to learn more about this less visible but extremely vibrant segment of the adult community. Plus, it’s always interesting to compare similar events catering to different dimensions of the industry, especially in light of occasional controversy occurring at other ceremonies.

  For example, one year, some TS performers claimed that a large, more general awards-granting organization was discriminating against them. They alleged that they were not permitted to walk the red carpet (that was perhaps circumstantial as the red carpet at this event runs on a very strict timeline), and they correctly pointed out that awards honoring TS performers were not presented with significant fanfare. After some back and forth, adjustments were made, and the Transsexual Performer of the Year award is now announced on stage alongside its Male Performer of the Year and Female Performer of the Year counterparts.

  Pushback and change, yes, but there are still the same linguistic issues with variability and deciding who defines what.

  As I said before, the most important thing to remember in all of this is that people are entitled to identify as they choose. And I need to accept that, in spite of what particular language may or may not make me uncomfortable. Ultimately, if folks want the Tranny Awards and tranny porn, then the Tranny Awards and tranny porn they shall have! I will continue to mull over it anxiously, though.

  Without speaking to folks directly, there is no way to characterize individuals accurately. So until you ask or you’re informed about a preference, there’s no way to know if a person identifies as a TS porn star, a transgender woman, a queer female, a tranny, a cisgender man, all of these, none of them, or something else entirely. What matters most is freedom of identity and expression.

  11

  Pegging: The Oldest New Trick in the Book

  FOR FOLKS IN THE KNOW, THE ADULT VIDEO NEWS (AVN) Awards show is considered the highlight of each year’s Adult Entertainment Expo (well, in a fading-supernova-mixed–with-industry-politics sort of way).

  Often referred to as the “Oscars of Adult [Entertainment],” the AVN Awards are among the industry’s highest accolades. They’ve been presented annually by the trade magazine since 1984, honoring work in production (e.g., Best POV Release), individual body of work (e.g., Best New Starlet), specific performance (e.g., Best Three-Way Sex Scene—Boy/Boy/Girl), marketing, technical, and specialty categories. There are numerous specific awards within each category—truly, an unwieldy amount—that seem to multiply, disappear or reappear, and shift each year.

  I have served as an AVN Awards judge since 2010. It’s an extremely daunting task. Judges have to watch everything, and “everything” is always a lot of content. The nominations are generally announced in early December, and companies begin shipping DVD screeners soon after. Some days the number of boxes arriving is so great they literally obstruct my front door. Not surprisingly, the judging process takes up a lot of time during what’s already a pretty busy season. This, incidentally, means that I’ve watched porn in more than one airport. Being a judge is also unpaid and basically thankless. But I continue to volunteer my time in this way because I believe in recognizing the creative work that goes into all aspects of adult content production.

  Some people like to complain about t
he awards’ nomination and judging process. It’s fixed, they say. The same people win over and over again, blah, blah, blah. I always find this a bit frustrating because, though I don’t doubt that over the years there’ve been people who have bent the rules, I know that I take the entire thing very seriously. I’ve even developed my own viewing and voting system. It makes things far more manageable. First, I figure out which titles have the most nominations. Then, I gather up the other films or scenes that have also been designated alongside these “most frequent” noms for each respective award. Finally I watch. And take notes. And rate each nominee on the basis of several relevant criteria. By the time I’m done with this process, I’ve covered a lot of ground, but there’s always more. So, regardless of my best efforts, any semblance of order falls by the wayside toward the end, especially when some companies send you their content weeks late!

  It’s a lot of work, but I love it. And though I struggle somewhat with awards in the technical category (Best Editing?), I love getting to see the best of everything—the blockbusters, the star showcases, and the newest installments in long-running serials. My favorites, though, are always the specialty awards. Because with categories like Best BDSM Release, MILF Release, and Best Transsexual Release, how could you not love ’em?

  The darling of the specialty awards, in my opinion, hands down, is Clever Title of the Year. Sometimes funny, often in poor taste, and occasionally kinda mean, these titles are generally not the “best” releases in any one category. Usually, they just have catchy monikers. In 2012, for example, the nominees included Bust a Nut or Die Tryin’, Sweaty College Girl Butt Stinky Panties, I Want You to Make My Mouth Pregnant, and Beggin’ for a Peggin’, among many others.

  The winner of 2012’s Clever Title of the Year award, however, was not my choice. My vote went to I Want You to Make My Mouth Pregnant, but the winner was Beggin’ For A Peggin’.

  Here’s the film’s quite useful synopsis, quoted from the box copy:

  As the Urban Dictionary describes it, pegging is the sexual scenario in which “the tables are voluntarily turned on heterosexual anal intercourse and the female services the man with a strap-on dildo.” And while pegging has been a part of popular culture since Gore Vidal wrote about it in Myra Breckinridge, you can now see it performed by some of adult entertainment’s hottest stars in the taboo-bustin’ new Reality Blue Media release Beggin’ For A Peggin’. . . . Once you see what these girls can deliver, you’ll be “beggin’ for a peggin’” too!

  Now, despite my earlier comments and what generally occurs with the Clever Title of the Year nominees, Beggin’ was not just a flashy, all-sass/no-substance title. The same year, Beggin’ also won the creative technical award for Best Fem-Dom Strap-On Release. And whoever wrote the film’s synopsis is indeed correct: Pegging has been around for quite a while. Myra Breckinridge was published in 1968, so the practice goes back at least that far. You can also find pegging scenes in the earliest professional adult content productions. Case in point: The Opening of Misty Beethoven, from 1975, has a prosthetic-enhanced scene in which the Misty character has her guy’s needs . . . pegged. And, also just like Beggin’, there’s more to Misty Beethoven than might first meet the eye.

  Misty Beethoven is an adult take on a mainstream literary classic, George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion. Suave Dr. Love endeavors to transform the jaded and passionless “sexual civil service worker” Misty Beethoven into an elite, erotic “it” girl. By the end of the film, however, the tables have turned. Misty has become the trainer, and Dr. Love has become her subservient.

  Here’s something I wrote about the pegging scene in Misty Beethoven in “From The Devil in Miss Jones to DMJ6:”

  Generally, the sex depictions in Misty Beethoven epitomize content of the Reel Era [of adult content production, 1957–1975], however the film does contain one depiction that is both extreme for the era and extreme within the context of the entire sample. During the film’s third sex scene, the woman lead character is shown penetrating a man character’s anus with a strap-on prosthetic while he penetrates a second woman’s vagina. Although three-way sex depictions involving a man and two women are fairly standard fare in the adult films informing this discussion, no other scene in this sample contains depictions similar to those in this scene. This particular depiction both destabilizes adult film sex depiction scripts and presumptions about heteronormative sex behaviors within the context of this sample while simultaneously reifying a consistent heteronormative cultural taboo.1

  So a woman starts out being “remade” in a very heteronormative2 way, only to end up remaking heteronormativity herself. That’s interesting! And it’s also interesting to consider what a strong presence pegging had back in the earliest days of adult. Because even though this was only one scene in one film, it was still a significant part of a very high-profile title. Relatively, pegging in Misty Beethoven was a big deal.

  Nevertheless, pegging seemed to disappear quickly. When I was writing about Misty Beethoven in “DMJ6,” I had a hard time figuring out what pegging was actually even called. The pegging genre hadn’t quite resurged back then. What’s more, pegging is not even directly referred to in that “DMJ6” paper. When I was researching and writing it, the nomenclature had become so obscure that I couldn’t find a citation or attribution considered “legitimate” enough to hold water in an academic paper. So I describe the pegging that occurs in Misty Beethoven, but the term itself is not present. It was edited out during the peer-review process.

  But pegging does exist! It always has. And even though you may not have seen much pegging in mainstream, or even fringe, adult content during the eighties, nineties, or early 2000s, pegging is making a major comeback today. Case in point: the aforementioned Beggin’ For A Peggin’. In the film, “her fantasy becomes his reality. . . .”

  Beggin’ For A Peggin’ features five fairly big-deal women performers (a sure sign of mainstreaming) pegging five variably known dudes: Francesca Le with Christian XXX; Jewels Jade with Gabriel D’Alessandro; Aiden Starr with Tom Moore; Chanel Preston with Jason Katana; and Kristina Rose with Christian XXX again. In each scene, we get a bit of slightly awkward-seeming fem-dommey play (which is understandable since fem-domme is the foremost forte of only one of these women performers), some traditional fucking, and then the pegging. Throughout, the dudes appear to be super happy. The women are into it, as well. It’s uplifting.

  And the sociological implications are huge. Just as in Misty Beethoven, heteronormativity is destabilized—but now in contemporary times with well-known performers in an increasingly popular genre. People want this kind of porn, so producers and performers respond with time and energy and products. Beggin’ and films like it are important because they are evidence of society’s shifting ideals about gender and sexualities.

  A lot of sociologically interesting commentary also happens during the film’s behind-the-scenes footage. Filmmakers interview some of the peggin’ gals about what it’s like to fuck a dude with a strap-on, in some instances for the very first time. I found this absolutely fascinating, both because it violates a key performers’ Golden Rule—never let your first time doing anything be on camera—and reveals a measure of sexual inexperience. Evidently, porn performers don’t just naturally know how to do everything sexual.

  I was very appreciative of the opportunity to watch this film and others like it. It allowed me to expand my own, somewhat stunted, experiences exploring the pegging genre. And it really got me thinking about changing trends in sex depictions, what’s popular, what’s mainstream, what’s acceptable, and everything in between.

  This type of thing is just one of the reasons why I love being an AVN Awards voter.

  12

  Beyond Porn Funk

  I’VE ALWAYS BEEN VERY MUSICAL. MY PARENTS MADE SURE of that. Both of them were always into all different kinds of music, my dad being more country and classic rock oriented and my mom more into metal and emerging/edgy. She was responsible for intr
oducing me to several artists who have since shaped dimensions of my entire life, from Guns N’ Roses to Concrete Blonde. When my brothers and I were young, we all had music lessons of some sort. And though I did go through an embarrassing preteen New Kids on the Block stage, my first real concert was an Ozzy Osbourne/Black Sabbath/Sepultura show at an outdoor amphitheater in Los Angeles. My parents took me.

  Not surprisingly, I grew into quite the adolescent metalhead. From Megadeth to Pantera and everything in between—even Tesla and Cinderella—I was into it. And having been a teenager in the nineties, I’m still and always forever grunge. Somewhere in that mix, I also developed a great love for Tool, music beyond description that allowed me secret segues into other genres.

  In college I grew to have a deep love of cheesy radio funk and LA-based Latin hip-hop. You could always find me at some county fair where a Gap Band revival was playing, and I used to go hear Ozomatli every Tuesday night back when they were the house band at the Dragonfly. The uncommon imagery of Modest Mouse still slays me, and then there were those forty-odd Fishbone shows I attended all across the entire LA basin.

  Eventually, as I became more of an adult, I started to appreciate what I used to think of as “girl music”—Neko Case and Sleater-Kinney, Björk and Bikini Kill, Selena and Dolly Parton, and so many others—brilliant women artists whom I didn’t appreciate until I was into my twenties.

  And since then, so many more significant influences have only added to the brilliant tapestry of music I’ve been so lucky to behold—music in Texas, music in New York, music in small mountain towns in Arizona. I’ll spare you further name drops though and leave you with just two words: The Shins.