Does anybody not watch porn these days? It really is a fascinating subculture in this country. Mostly because it’s not so sub anymore; in reality, it’s as mainstream as Justin Bieber and Transformers. Folks just don’t talk about it all that much. As a result, there’s a massive industry, a historical legacy, and for some folks, a way of life that goes unseen, even by the vast majority of the people watching the finished product.

For those curious enough, credit LA Weekly for being progressive and cool, and covering porn’s latest legal struggles in depth. The issue in question basically revolves around using condoms (or alternatively, not using them) on set, and as you might imagine, it’s put the porn industry directly at odds with both the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, and a handful of proposed regulations. Dennis Romero’s piece is an informative look at a debate that involves complicated questions. More than that though, it pulls back the curtain on an industry that happens to be, ironically enough, kind of underexposed.

It’s the staple of porn and an element of Americana so pervasive that it has become a term to describe any crescendo in pop culture, from a game-winning basket by Kobe Bryant to an emphatic punch line by Sarah Palin.

More than 20 years ago Jeff Koons made his soon-to-be wife, porn star La Cicciolina, the star of his explicit Made in Heaven series of huge photo portraits, which, in part, glorified and immortalized the money shot, giving it a place even in the world of haute art.

Almost everything in adult video leads up to the final “pop,” as those in the business call the visual release of semen. But most of the rest of the time is spent setting up shots and adjusting body parts for the perfect lead-up. Behind the scenes, it actually can be tedious to witness. And there’s no fast-forward.

Watching Star Wars XXX: A Porn Parody (due for an Oct. 10 release) being made this summer was certainly anticlimactic. Billed as the most expensive adult film ever, its production was as professional and deliberate as any big-budget Hollywood project: Take after take, flubbed lines, megaphone instructions to the cast, minutes if not hours of breaks to set up shots, makeup, wardrobe, extras walking around in stormtrooper costumes.

Even a furry Chewbacca look-alike paced the set — a stuffy warehouse just west of the Los Angeles River downtown — letting out the occasional, wistful growl.

And Princess Leia. Oh, Princess Leia — played by Vivid Entertainment’s newest contract star, Allie Haze. If not for Haze strutting around the set, her hair in trademark buns, her obscene curves visible beneath a sheer white gown, it all would have been an absolute bore.

In the last few years, the rise of free online porn — content-rich sites that tease viewers to subscribe for more — and pay-site juggernauts like Brazzers have put the L.A.-based adult-video industry against the ropes. Its answer, in part, has been the high-dollar parody, designed to attract ComicCon nerds, science fiction fans and other pop culture aficionados who must collect everything within their target oeuvre.

On the eve of the 40th anniversary of porn’s introduction to the mainstream via Deep Throat and Behind the Green Door, it might be too little, too late.

“That’s the main reason for the success of my movies — because I went after a different demographic,” Star Wars XXX director Axel Braun tells the Weekly on set. “I’m not going after fans of porn; I’m going after fans of the original source material.”

Braun’s films, in partnership with Vivid, the industry’s largest studio, have been blockbusters at a time when — as with mainstream studios, record labels and newspapers — online consumption is draining profits. Porn parodies (Elvis XXX, Spider-Man XXX) are a rare bright spot in an industry that has seen its bottom line rocked.

Filmmaker and industry activist Michael Whiteacre says porn star unemployment is high, with performers “working a lot less and getting paid a lot less. The money is just not there for these girls.”

And so many adult actors, particularly the women, are devolving to work as “escorts,” a kinder term for prostitutes. Former performer Gina Rodriguez says that if the girls last one year in porn movies — most last only three to six months — they get hooked on the relatively big money and gravitate toward prostitution when the film producers seek fresh new faces and bodies.

“It’s a money trap,” Rodriguez says. “They take in the 18-, 19-year-olds, and within a year they’ll be into escorting.”

In the past, a porn star taking money for off-camera work might not be a big deal. But the straight-porn biz is under attack for its general refusal to use condoms — even on uber-mainstream sets like Star Wars XXX, where producers say prophylactics are optional, but nobody uses them. Porn leaders insist that once-a-month testing of performers keeps the L.A.-based pool of workers safe from the likes of HIV.

But when straight-porn actors take side gigs as prostitutes to make a living, having sex with strangers off-set, that changes everything. They’re quietly going outside the safe pool. Some are almost assuredly not using condoms, then returning to local porn sets — 200 porn productions pull permits every month in the City of Los Angeles alone — without a word.

The L.A.-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is on a mission to get state and local authorities to enforce condoms on set. On the surface, it’s not a bad idea, especially if porn stars freelance as hookers.

But here’s the key stumbling block: That would also mean the end of the industry’s bread and butter — the sacred money shot, shooting semen and all. Industry leaders are fighting tooth and nail against condoms. Even a relatively mainstream filmmaker like Braun says condoms would push production out of state because the mostly male viewers just don’t want to see films where a key component is sheathed in latex.

“We’re selling a fantasy,” he says, adding later: “Think about it. If you make something illegal that has so much demand, you’re going to send it underground. You send it underground, you’re going to have people not getting tested anymore.

“I don’t think it’s the right approach.”

AIDS Healthcare Foundation seized on news in August of another HIV scare in porn. After a performer in Miami had an initial positive test from a medical clinic for the virus that causes AIDS, a weeklong shutdown of porn production from coast to coast in early September ensued, affecting scores of major and minor productions.

Luckily for the titans of this industry, it turned out to be a false positive. They got back to work, but not before accusing AIDS Healthcare Foundation and its leader, Michael Weinstein, of being overzealous in their attacks against the porn industry and its wholesomely named lobbying group, the Free Speech Coalition.

Weinstein accused the industry of “a full-scale cover-up” in its reaction to the HIV scare, noting that it took nearly a week for the public to find out whether the unnamed porn actor actually was positive and that “the results of any confirmatory tests should already be available” before that.

Because Free Speech Coalition took the lead in publicly explaining the Miami case, Weinstein criticized the group, telling reporters it “is not qualified to investigate a public health outbreak of this kind.” However, FSC’s leaders dismiss his criticism.

Free Speech Coalition and the porn company that employed the male performer, Manwin, both called for Weinstein to “retract” his allegations. It has been, to be sure, a war of words.

Porn’s leaders seem to march in lockstep in accusing AHF and Weinstein of having a profit motive: Many of them allege the health care group wants to take over testing for porn, wants a potentially lucrative contract for inspecting sets, and even wants to get into the highly competitive business of producing condoms — which it would sell to the adult-video business.

“This is about money,” says filmmaker Whiteacre.

Weinstein retorts: “We’re not interested in doing testing for the porn industry. We already have our own brand of condoms, which we give out for free.”

AHF bills itself as “the nation’s largest provider of HIV/AIDS medical care,” and it had assets of $18 million in 2010. Condoms and porn first appeared on its map in 2004, when a Los Angeles performer named Darren James contracted HIV, apparently during a trip to Brazil, where he worked and exposed 12 female performers to the possibility of HIV-positive status.

Ironically, back then, some of the bigger producers like Vivid, which focused on softer-core pay-per-view sales at major hotel chains, were condom-mandatory companies by choice, so condoms were used for everything but oral sex. But tastes got raunchier, even in otherwise buttoned-up hotels that cater to business travelers, and the condoms came off for good.After the 2004 outbreak (at least three women who worked with James after he returned to L.A. from Brazil tested positive for HIV), AHF took an official stance in favor of mandatory condoms. In 2009 the health care group started to lobby actively for the rule.

That’s when the group discovered that using condoms during porn shoots was already required under federal law — albeit a law everyone had ignored.

Senior officials at the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal-OSHA) say that its interpretation of federal law prohibiting employees from being exposed to blood-borne pathogens (blood, semen and the like) means that condoms are indeed required on set.

And so, after AIDS Healthcare Foundation began filing complaints against companies like Larry Flynt’s Hustler video empire, carting boxes of DVDs depicting condom-free sex to the offices of Cal-OSHA, the workplace-safety division started levying fines on a piecemeal basis.

Flynt’s company was hit last March with $14,000 worth of fines for failing to require its actors to use condoms. The multimillion-dollar enterprise didn’t even feel the tiny sting. Flynt practically yawned, declaring he wouldn’t require condoms at Hustler productions.

Cal-OSHA officials admit to L.A. Weekly that resources for enforcing the federal blood-borne pathogens law are scarce during this era of multibillion-dollar state deficits. Deborah Gold, Cal-OSHA senior safety engineer, said late last year, “We realize that strong, consistent enforcement is imperative to our program. We’re doing what we can within our resources.”

Cal-OSHA lead counsel Amy Martin refuted that stance in a recent interview. She says the state is actively investigating possible on-set violations but reveals that the state is focused on reacting to complaints — not on digging up problems through surprise checks. The lack of “resources has not prevented us from opening inspections based on complaints,” she says.

AHF has pleaded with the City of Los Angeles and the L.A. County Department of Public Health to come down on productions that don’t require condoms. A memo from the office of City Attorney Carmen Trutanich in April indicated that condom use was required under L.A.’s permitting process, noting, “California Code of Regulations Section 5193 [requires] employees exposed to blood-borne pathogens to wear protective gear. In the event any terms of the permit are violated during the permitted activity, LAPD has the discretion to revoke the permit.”

But that’s not happening, even as more and more porn actors in Southern California turn to prostitution, dragging unknown pathogens into the acting pool, thanks to the recession and the severe economic hit from free online porn.

Trutanich’s office informed the City Council that “it’s doubtful” Los Angeles can “actively enforce” condom use on set. It seems that lack of resources is to blame: Imagine the Los Angeles Police Department acting as prophylactic police. County health chief Jonathan Fielding said the same — that regulating the adult industry’s workplaces is a state duty.

The industry has argued that the blood-borne pathogen rule doesn’t apply to it, that it was intended to cover medical clinics, and that requiring such possible “protective gear” as latex gloves, goggles and face masks on set would be absurd — but state officials say that’s not what the law requires.

Michael Weinstein: “You can get tested today, infected tomorrow.”

“The idea they would consider applying a rule created for medical clinics and emergency rooms to an adult production — it’s hard to choose from the variety of insulting words: asinine, mindless, inappropriate,” says attorney Jeffrey Douglas, chair of FSC’s board of directors. “If it were in effect, dental dams would be mandatory and everybody would have to wear rubber gloves. Everyone would have to be more closely protected than a dentist working on your mouth.”

Some porn insiders also note that mixed martial arts fighters (of the Ultimate Fighting Championship variety) are often exposed to blood during bouts that are sanctioned by the state of California.

Again, the state responds that its investigators focus on complaints, not on proactively trying to unearth exposure to pathogens. Cal-OSHA’s Martin says that if the agency received complaints about blood exposure in “the octagon” — the eight-sided enclosure where UFC competitors fight — the state agency would investigate and issue citations where necessary.

So far, the industry’s major straight-porn producers (gay porn largely employs condoms for anal sex but often allows the money shot in other cases) have ignored the federal mandate. Cal-OSHA, at the behest of AIDS Healthcare Foundation, has been working on a specific rule that would cover adult video in California — specifically mentioning condoms and the industry instead of relying on federal law that might or might not have been intended for medical facilities.

The new rule could be taken up by Cal-OSHA’s standards board by the end of 2011 — and that will set off a fury in the already hammered porn industry. Nobody knows if it will contain fines significantly bigger than the $14,000 fine on Flynt, which he laughed off.

Cal-OSHA attorney Martin tells the Weekly there’s no way to know if the proposed new rule, designed to force mandatory condom use squarely upon adult-video makers, would actually change the way the business behaves.

“I don’t know,” she says, pausing. “Hopefully they’ll comply with the law.”

At a June meeting to discuss the proposed rule in an auditorium at a state building in downtown L.A., about 70 performers showed up, mostly to protest. You’ve never seen such tight jeans and structurally sound body parts in a Caltrans facility.

During the hearing a female performer stood up and said, “You guys are discussing what I need to do with my own body.”

It’s a point frequently argued by some of the women of porn: This is a privacy issue, just like the right to abortion. “I don’t know how they can tell us what I can and can’t put in my body,” Haze says while on the set of Star Wars XXX. “It’s a choice.”

At summer’s Adultcon convention downtown, porn star Trinity St. Clair was wearing a schoolgirl uniform, inspiring a gray-haired man to say, “She looks barely old enough,” before he posed for a picture with St. Clair. But talk turned more serious when she said, “We get to decide what we want to do as women. It’s kind of like abortion and those rights.”

Perhaps the most interesting argument against using condoms in porn movies comes from Roger Jon Diamond, a Santa Monica attorney who has been involved for many years in defending strip clubs and adult businesses. He cites freedom of speech.

“I would say such a rule would interfere with the First Amendment right of the producer and director to create a product,” he says. “I don’t think the state has the authority to do that. It would be a public health issue versus a freedom-of-expression issue. If it interfered with the artistic nature of the movie, I think there would be a First Amendment argument. But, in terms of politics, I don’t think the industry wants to take on this battle.”

It would take serious time, dollars and legal might for the adult biz to fight for its right to the money shot as a form of artistic expression. But some in the industry are gung-ho. Mandatory condoms, says porn star and activist Nina Hartley, would be “prior restraint on speech.”

The death of John Holmes (the inspiration for Mark Wahlberg’s character in Boogie Nights) in 1988 was attributed to AIDS, and many blamed his “crossover” work in gay film and his alleged drug use.

Denial is a river that overflows in the industry of smut, and Holmes was seen by many performers as a victim of his own lifestyle choices. It wasn’t until 1993, when another HIV outbreak hit the industry, that porn began to think seriously about how to confront the virus and other STDs, says William Margold, an industry veteran and gadfly who has worked as a writer, actor and filmmaker since the early 1970s.

In 1998 industry insider and former porn star Sharon Mitchell launched the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation (AIM), a nonprofit where performers could get tested and treated. By the next decade, it was the epicenter of the industry’s official testing protocol. Performers working for major production companies such as Vivid, Evil Angel and even the more online-focused Manwin are tested monthly and must show proof of negative HIV results when they arrive on set.

In recent years AIM even began posting the results of porn stars’ tests on a restricted website, which producers could check to see if an actor was good to perform.

That all changed last spring, when a website called PornWikiLeaks put online, for the world to see, performers’ medical records, apparently culled from AIM’s database and sometimes matched with addresses that are federally required to ensure movie performers aren’t underage.

At about the same time, AIDS Healthcare Foundation was filing complaints against the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation as part of its mission to get condoms required in porn. In AHF’s view, testing service AIM was the new enabler in the industry’s denial about condoms.

On one front, AHF alleged that AIM was violating performers’ federal privacy rights by making their test results available online to producers; on another it said AIM wasn’t properly registered as a clinic, which was true.

Legal action by AHF ultimately toppled AIM last May, when the organization closed its doors. The Free Speech Coalition stepped in with a replacement system called the Adult Production Health and Safety Service, which promised to honor privacy while administering the once-a-month testing protocol.

The industry argues that its testing system works by quickly alerting it to new HIV cases, leading to shutdowns of production, preventing HIV from spreading on set.

Of the 10 HIV cases in the porn industry that both the AHF and the Free Speech Coalition agree have cropped up since 2005, the industry says nearly all were contracted off-set, the implication being that many of the original virus carriers didn’t work in the industry. FSC chair Douglas says, “In all of the tens of thousands of unprotected sex acts [since 2005], there is only one documented occasion where someone transmitted HIV on the set. That’s a regret. It should never have happened.”

STD rates for performers are “much lower” than those of the general population, says FSC executive director Diane Duke. Such numbers are hard to calculate, however, because porn’s population of workers is transient and changes by the month, a fact Johns Hopkins M.D. Lawrence S. Mayer noted in an industry-commissioned report that debunks studies claiming high STD rates in adult video, which he called “without basis in science.”

One of the industry’s more unsavory arguments against using condoms is that some of its HIV cases occurred when male straight-porn actors engaged in unprotected “crossover” work in gay porn, or had relations with gay men in their personal lives.

In 2004, when James contracted HIV after his visit to South America, Ron Jeremy suggested with a metaphorical wink to this author that there are a lot of beautiful women in Brazil, “and some of them have dicks.”

Derrick Burts, the performer who tested HIV-positive in 2010, was quickly outed by industry insiders as not only a crossover actor — he did both gay and straight porn — but also as a prostitute whose “escort” services were advertised on gay site Rentboy.

“I do believe that there should be strict rules for crossover,” porn star Shay Fox tells the Weekly. “That’s where the problem is.”

A former porn star who did not want her name used says that many who work in adult video believe “HIV is hard to get.” And, she added, “It really is.”

The subtext among some straight actors is that it’s hard to get — unless you’re gay.

At a summer press conference, AHF’s Weinstein called criticism of crossover performers “just code” for gay bashing. He told the Weekly, “There’s a myriad amount of dangers” for all performers “and the reality is you can get tested today and get infected tomorrow.”

Indeed, some porn insiders admit that run-of-the-mill STDs are common — so much so that outbreaks are sometimes “covered up with makeup so it doesn’t show up on camera,” says former performer Gina Rodriguez.

The industry’s testing system “is a joke,” she says. “Think about it. This is the truth. If I took my test 29 days ago, I’m OK to work with you because I have a valid test.”

The “dirty secret” of porn isn’t “crossover,” says Weinstein. It’s taking escorting jobs, or what some in the business call “making appearances” with fans such as Charlie Sheen. (Sheen seemed to have no problem tracking down some of his favorite adult performers during his famous meltdown last winter.)

“I said 50 percent of the women in porn were ‘escorting’ back in the late ’90s,” says adult filmmaker Whiteacre. “The number is certainly higher today.”

Escorting is porn without the lights and cameras but definitely with the action. Whether it’s safe is a question for its practitioners. Some experts say, ironically or not, condoms usually are required by the individual women themselves for such off-set activity.

Continue reading at LA Weekly

First impressions are pretty important. And given that Azealia Banks, in what’s likely to be her introduction to the vast majority of the folks that see it, comes out swinging, guns blazing, this one could be polarizing. It’s hard to know what to start with — The propulsive, dancehall-raver hybrid thump, the fact that she drops “cunt” a good ten or fifteen times, the elastic voice.

The Nicki comparisons are probably inevitable, and the parallels are there — the performance swag, the fluctuating accents, the bars, the aggressive raunch. But right around the 1:50 mark, the energy of “212″ breaks with convention in a way that recalls a handful of other notable female performers in equal measure, say, Kelis, Santi or even Karen O. If I’m hyping, I’m hyping. But at twenty, Azealia seems poised to become our next big topic of discussion. And as introductions go, this one definitely makes its impression felt.

I feel like this one’s been a long time coming. And it’s always a beautiful thing to watch somebody truly talented start to take off on their artistic journey. Even more so when it’s somebody that’s had such a dope presence and a profound impact on your life. I know I’m not the only one who flipped out the first time Danielle showed them a piece she’d been working on. Now, over the course of the last year, I’ve had the distinct privilege of watching her creative energy take shape into a style all her own.

Danielle’s work is overtly sexual, almost confrontationally so, but it also tends to have a playful tone to it. Whether using a simple black and white aesthetic, bright color or complex, Keith Haring-indebted patterns, these pieces are direct, celebrating female form and sexuality in a powerful, immediately relatable way. Because I know folks are curious, I spoke with Danielle recently about her work, touching on her inspirations, her creative process, and appropriately enough, feminine beauty. Read on for a conversation with Danielle Schnur.

What makes a woman sexy?

That’s redundant.

I know Keith Haring has been an inspiration, at least on a visual level. What about him do you admire?

I mean, Keith goes. As an artist, he embodies a lot of what I’m about. The man took the ’80s, hip-hop, and social issues, dipped them in primary colors and made a statement. I absolutely pull from his work, aesthetically, because it inherently speaks to me. He painted dicks and lines. I draw boobs and patterns.

Who or what else inspires your work?

I like contrast. I think we thrive off of contrast. I think that we like continuity but contrast pushes us. My pieces have contrast between color and texture, and even the content.

Your work consistently speaks to female sexuality. Is there anything in particular you want women to take away from it?

I think that the wonderful thing about the female form is our innate level of comfort with it. While my work may speak to female sexuality, it only occasionally refers to sex. These curves are maternal and boundless. I think that there is a sensuality and a warmth from these shapes that speaks to womanly beauty, more than anything.

Anything you’d want men to take from it?

I don’t discriminate! I draw men too. But my intention is not to gender my work at all. The female figure is just undeniably accessible. These are undeniable things, we like these things; naked women and geometric shapes.

Is there ever an intentionality, or a message behind your pieces?

Well, not yet. I mean, I think that women are fucking epic goddesses of the earth but I don’t think that my pieces necessarily speak to any further truth. But I’m growing as an artist all of the time. One day they’ll be full of subtle commentaries on deworming orphans in Somalia, I’m sure.

What do you make of the reactions you get from people?

It’s dope. While I appreciate the love, what I enjoy most about feedback is just getting to talk to people about art. Folks see my stuff and they want to tell me what they like and about art that they make. I love that energy.

Are there specific life experiences that inform your work? Environments? People?

I’m usually on a pretty solo tip. I like alone time, music time, thinking time. I like simple things. Reclusive kids get creative.

You’ve always told me that your own body served as a model, or on some level, an inspiration for your work? Can you speak on that briefly?

Ha, not exactly. Actually it was other people who first alerted me to this phenomenon. I have drawn self portraits but they’re not included in my shared work. I will say that I am definitely drawn toward shapes that I can associate with. So, yes, I like curvy girls.

For more from Danielle, check out her full catalog here.

At 24, South African photographer Natasja Maria Fourie is already an extremely accomplished photographer. Exhibitions with Ryan McGinley, work in publications like Dazed, Vice and Nylon, and most recently a prize for the best international photography entry from Ten Best Ten are just a few accolades she’s racked up so far. The love is deserved, and her aesthetic and outlook are unique. But perhaps most impressive, and most common in her catalog are images of women. Often, her most powerful images are raw, less stylized portraiture, focusing in on the naked body, and the concept of nudity on a visual, psychological and even philosophical level. The female body is always a beautiful thing, but Natasja’s work is just exceptionally dope.

Natasja on her work:

“I have an obsession with the naked portrait. The naked human body raises intense psychological issues. My personal photographic work deals with all those complex feelings when one is stripped naked, the feelings of shame, amusement or indifference. Everything comes back to the body and human sexuality”

Photography by Mario Hills

By Mario Hills

Growing up in and out of San Francisco I had never experienced The Pride Parade. The people were smiling, the times were changing. Who would have thought this would be such a great year for the City of San Francisco. It seems like only yesterday that the Giants won the World Series, and now the City marched to a different tune. Feelings of pride and exuberance engulfed the city, and with the passing of the Gay Marriage Bill in New York, it looks as if change is surely on the way.

The 41st annual Pride Celebration and Parade left nothing to the imagination. Saturday, the Dyke March from Dolores Park to the heart of the Castro was going ham, as I found myself striding with men, women, and children of all creeds and culture, all with their own unique story about why they were celebrating. It was a heartfelt experience, the feeling of freedom and change overwhelming. Thousands of people attended the storied Pride Parade the next day, dressed in rainbows, make-up, and some wearing nothing at all. It’s hard to put everything I felt into words, but hopefully these pictures will do.

Sasha Grey, like myself was born in 1988, and I’d be willing to bet that her 22 years on the planet have been pretty different from mine. I guess that’s part of my fascination with her. The whole story of the precocious porn star who actually comes off as cultured and intelligent certainly has an allure to it, and even if she’s just pushing that particular image, it certainly seems to be working. The transition to legit acting with Steven Soderbergh’s The Girlfriend Experience and last year’s stint on Entourage, and a full-on art-photography book published by Vice this year all added credibility to her mission, as well.

For his short film portrayal of Ms. Grey, artist Richard Phillips shot her on location at John Lautner’s legendary Chemosphere House on Mulholland Drive. Briefly overlooking the San Fernando Valley from the Hollywood Hills, Phillips’ piece aims to “focus on her expressive and psychological transformation into a cinematic actor”, rather than strictly playing off her former career. Whether we can separate her from the “performance artist” perception, when her grimier moments are a Google search away, is questionable. But the film is still pretty dope.

Art critics tend to say a lot about Jason Rhoades, if only because his intentions weren’t always easy to figure out. Listen to some tell it, and he was one of the most quietly influential artists of the past decade or two. In any case, the consensus is generally that Rhoades’ work was, to say the least, seriously imaginative. Most notably, Rhoades was known for his installations, which pieced together elements of his own lifestyle with sprawling messes of kitschy objects and arrangements.

The last of Rhoades strange experience-oriented pieces produced before his death in 2006 was entitled The Black Pussy, which presumably took its name from the piece depicted here. All in all, the installation boasted 427 slang terms for vaginas, spelled out in hanging neon lights. A commentary on the pervasive nature of sexuality in our culture? A clever “fuck you” to art snobs? Despite the strange claim that the project was inspired by Islamic religion (the title being a not-so-subtle allusion to the Black Box), pinning down Rhoades’ “intent” isn’t easy to do. For some artists though, words like “intent” or “point” don’t always apply.

Life necessitates three kinds of activity: to assure its survival, its means of existence, and its nourishment; to realise its reproduction according to forms of activity generally connected with sexuality; and, lastly, to establish rules of behaviour that allow different individuals to perform their roles within the framework of the species. In human society, this is represented as three necessities, three aims of life: material goods (artha) assure survival; erotic practice (kama) assures the transmission of life; and rules of behaviour, a moral nature (dharma), assure the cohesion and duration of the species.

So with religion, morality (dharma) and material success (artha), kama is the third goal of human life. Kama is further defined as the enjoyment of appropriate objects by the five senses of hearing, feeling, seeing, tasting and smelling, assisted by the mind together with the soul. The ingredient in this is a peculiar contact between the organ of sense and its object, and the consciousness of pleasure which arises from that contact is called Kama.

Kama is to be learnt from the Kama Sutra (aphorisms on love) and from the practice of citizens.

Excerpts from The Complete Kamasutra, translated by Alain Danielou.

Trying to put things like this all the way into context is difficult to do, so I’ll try to let this one do the talking, for the most part. Suffice to say, life isn’t the same for everybody, and if you like where you’re at, there’s plenty of reason to be thankful. Aside from that, I think this one demonstrates pretty powerfully how crucial the things we believe in can be, and the potential those beliefs have to shape the trajectory of our lives. More specifically, Prostitutes of God is the story of young women in India who are introduced to, and often forced into prostitution at an early age, a practice long justified by religious practices. I’m a bit at a loss for words, so any thoughts on this are welcome. There’s a lot to speak on. As always, we have Vice to thank for a healthy dose of perspective. The trailer’s above, and the special is below in its entirety.

Prostitutes of God

From VBS.TV

Dicks. Boobs. Lines of coke. Orgies. Sex, drugs and rock and roll. These kinds of things are inherently interesting, considered in and of themselves. The other day, Owen alluded to a sort of destructive instinct we feel as humans; a sort of pull toward that which is wild, unrestricted and dangerous. If anyone’s work encompasses that feeling as effectively as Dash’s Polaroids, I haven’t found it. With these pieces, some created or taken by Dash, and others simply showing snapshots of his life taken by friends, the line between art and simple documentation isn’t always clear. Whether you decide Dash’s short journey was wasted on vice, or a life well-lived is up to you. What’s important to me is simply that it was a real life, and a life well-documented.

via hrstudioplus

]]> http://www.wineandbowties.com/art/dash-snow-the-lost-collection/feed/ 22 http://www.wineandbowties.com/art/we-are-all-flowers/ http://www.wineandbowties.com/art/we-are-all-flowers/#comments Thu, 25 Nov 2010 03:21:49 +0000 Max Gibson http://www.wineandbowties.com/?p=20529

We are all flowers. Yet no two flowers are the same. We all start as seeds. Our experiences providing those essential elements, allowing us to break through the soil and become what we were destined to be. We are all flowers, yet no two flowers are the same. Our soil so rich, and it’s beginning to rain.

]]> http://www.wineandbowties.com/art/we-are-all-flowers/feed/ 1 http://www.wineandbowties.com/life/picking-through-the-pick-ups-discovering-the-decent-by-jesse-byrd-jr/ http://www.wineandbowties.com/life/picking-through-the-pick-ups-discovering-the-decent-by-jesse-byrd-jr/#comments Mon, 22 Nov 2010 23:14:25 +0000 Max Gibson http://www.wineandbowties.com/?p=20473
 

“Girl you so fine I’d look forward to child support”

…Damn.

People who use pick-up lines deserve a noogie. Pick-up lines are one of only a few things that have actually grown more ignorant over time. Even worse, nowadays most of them have evolved into full-fledged disrespect. And the rude immaturity of our generation has caused some women to seek refuge in older, more mature men.

Men who come from a time period where it was fashionable to be a gentleman. An era when men were more courteous, more considerate, and more chivalrous. When they would open doors and pull out chairs. Pick them up and pick up the check all in the same night! And who can blame them?

Those guys have more security, more stability, and overall more decency. Who could turn down a man with a mortgage, social security benefits and a plump 401K? Not to mention health care with dental. She’d be a fool to turn down health care with dental! The temptation is overwhelming. But before you slip Bob Barker your digits, there are a few things to consider…

Is the Sunday matinee and early bird special your idea of a wild evening? Are you yearning to bring in the New Year with prune juice and a Perry Mason marathon? Is it cool being seen with a man who introduces himself to people by both name and zodiac? These are the things to puff your pipe and ponder.

While a guy saying: “Every night I lie awake in hopes of finding a love worth loving, and today my dear, I have found just that.”

Surely sounds better than:

“Baby what’s up with that back!”

Both approaches are equally as misguided. Don’t let the smoothness fool you. Any man who is willing to recite a Shakespearean soliloquy just to have your phone number is a cause for concern. And any guy who loves you before he knows if you smack while eating, drool while sleeping, or fart while sneezing is delusional beyond repair. So while the abrasive approaches of the men in your age range give you cause to consider seducing a senior citizen; consider an alternative.

There are two easy ways to increase the likelihood of finding a decent guy.

1. Treat every encounter as if it is your first. I understand it’s hard to be open minded when so much foolishness is afoot but it’s important not to punish the decent for the indecent. “Ew” is not an appropriate response to: “How are you doing this evening?”

And: “May I ask your name?” should never be responded to with the “I smell boo-boo” face. Give the worthy a chance to prove themselves as such.

2. Search for sincerity.

The best thing a guy can do is to not do too much. Innocence in approach often reflects sincerity of character. People with no hidden agendas won’t be inclined to hide their true selves, and disguise their motives.

So hunt down honesty. Gravitate towards the genuine. And welcome the unconventional. A guy who is willing to be straightforward on an initial encounter is comfortable with who he truly is, and that is a quality not to be overlooked at our age.

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