Pornography – The Shamed Artists

Pornography in a way has existed for thousands of years, we today understand it in the digital sense but in the past in person pornographic exhibitions were the method. Although like actors they perform behind cameras and on stage, many do not consider them to be artists and in some countries their actions are criminal. In many ways they are the actors who explore the realm of sexuality, and because sexual acts are taboo so is their status as an artist. In the following paragraphs I aim to address the duality of pornography in our society both as a form of artistic expression and as a criminal act, I will conclude by discussing the most current digital porn – OnlyFans.

In its essence pornography could be seen as a form of performance art. Just like a movie set they have directors, lighting specialists and even the audio guy with his mic hovering over the scene, like in regular movies with each scene they film they intend to draw an emotion out of the viewer. The best pornographic films have attention to detail in all artistic elements of film, and therefore the composition could be characterized as art as well as the actors who participate. The expertise required to film porn is sometimes just as complicated as the expertise needed to film a simple sitcom, and few people claim that The Office isn’t art.

Pornography does have deeper roots in crime than film or theatre do, the exploitation of actors has been an issue for a long time in the industry. Exploitation usually happens wherever there is an opportunity for making money, some instances include, non-consensual content (such as leaking someones private images), trafficking, and coercing people into participating in films. These illegal practices make it harder for anyone to view pornography as an art form where people are freely expressing their creative nature. Consumers are also a big part of the problem as they continue to demand content that pushes the limit of what is legal, their demand is what creates an opportunity for money to be made on content that ruins the lives of many people and further contributes to the demonization of porn.

Because pornography is involved in both art and crime, it is understandable why many of the members of its community are not seen as artists and rather as taboo sex workers. But it is important to recognize people who film, act and produce porn legally as artists because denying them of that title is unfair to their personhood. Especially now that those people are exposed online to millions of people, they deserve to be respected just as other artists are. Maybe you do not appreciate their art but denying them the title of artist and replacing it with criminal is unnecessary and damaging to those involved.

This issue is especially apparent on OnlyFans, a platform that decentralizes porn and allows anyone to make their own porn and sell it. This year the porn artist Sophie Rain made 43 million selling her porn on the website, while many are quick to discredit her and shame her work, it is important to recognize she is an artist in her own sense, she is just exploring a taboo area with her work. OnlyFans gave her a route to artistic freedom and it allowed her to make millions of dollars from it, no one was exploited in the process, and she should be respected for her work as others are respected for theirs.