*TRIGGER WARNING*
Today marks the national premiere of the much- anticipated Disney film Oz: The Great and Powerful, starring James Franco. James Franco’s past film credits include his Oscar-nominated role in 127 Hours, Tristan and Isolde and Rise of the Planet of the Apes, among others.
Now Franco can add a new credit to his name- pornographer.
James Franco is the producer of pornographic documentary Kink, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January. The title Kink refers to a BDSM porn website, where extreme violence against women and torture are the norm. Common acts include non-simulated actual footage of rope, metal and wood bondage, underwater suffocation torture, electric shocks, sex with machinery, gang rape, slave training and public humiliation.
Promotional material for the website:
“In our videos you will watch as some of the best riggers in the business bind, torture and f*ck gorgeous women”
“paddled, caned and flogged until their bodies are marked and red”
“Pushing the very limits of their endurance and pain tolerance”
“a descending mob…leaves no chance of escape”
Gail Dines, sociologist and author of Pornland writes on Counterpunch:
”The women, like others who enter porn, are young and often don’t know the full extent of what will happen on the set, and cannot anticipate the lasting psychological and emotional effects. The ultimate lie of Kink is that it claims to do candid interviews with the women at the end of the scene so they can show how much they enjoyed the “sex.” This is like asking sweatshop laborers to talk about how happy they are to be working for some multinational corporation as the CEO films the interview.” Read more here.
Porn star Aurora Snow shared her traumatic experience making a Kink film.
“They are a company that looks for the moment when a girl has been mentally and at times physically pushed too far; the borderline of tears and pain. Sometimes talent leaves with giant bruises that take weeks to disappear.”
“The scenes will push a girl over the edge. It’s standard practice on set to take breaks in between filming and during these breaks the talent is fawned, told how amazing they are, catered to, etc. It makes for a very confusing experience when trying to evaluate one’s own feelings about what’s really happening.”
See images of a bruised woman taken after a Kink shoot here. (WARNING, GRAPHIC.)
Why is James Franco using his public platform to promote the extreme violence and actual torture of women? Franco’s “feel-good” documentary normalizes and brings violent pornography to the mainstream.
You can decide whether or not you will give financial support to James Franco’s films.
Boycott James Franco films
Contact James Franco’s Agent, Kami Putnam Heist from Creative Artists Agency info@caa.com ATT: Kami Putnam Heist
Tweet James Franco and Walt Disney Pictures @JamesFrancoTV @DisneyPictures using the hashtag #boycottfranco
First published at Collective Shout.
12 Responses
Typical male coercion and male manipulation of young women wherein the male pornographers use the same ‘seasoning tactics’ as their male pimp colleagues and other males who inflict intimate violence on their female partners.
The males always subject the female victim to physical sexual violence and then the male predator will treat the female victim with kindness and claim ‘she is so wonderful etc. etc.’ and then the male sexual violence against the woman begins again. These are deliberate male tactics and its aim is to swiftly destroy the woman’s sense of autonomy and self worth. The male sexual predators/sexual exploiters want the female victims to constantly worry ‘when will he attack me again and what have I done to cause him to do this to me, because he is one minute violent and the next he is very kind and concerned for me.’ Keeping women confused is what men commonly do because how can a male inflict such pain when he keeps claiming ‘but I value your input; you are doing good work.’ Franco is no different from those other mundane male pornographers who film themselves/other men inflicting sadistic sexual violence on women.
Pornographer James Franco’s attitude is the same as his male pimp colleagues because their aims are always the same – to totally destroy the autonomy and self-hood of the woman and turn her into a disposable sexualised commodity for men to consume.
If James Franco filmed himself or other males subjecting male political prisoners to sadistic male sexual violence, male libertarians and male politicians would condemn Franco for inflicting sexual violence on innocent men. But when the issue is one of sadistic filmed male sexual violence against women suddenly it becomes ‘fantasy’ and the womens’ bruises and pain are ‘erotic and sexy.’ Ah yes that neatly erases women’s pain because this is what women exist for – for men to inflict sadistic sexualised torture in order that these men and male viewers can achieve eroticised male sexual pleasure and reinforce their right to view/subject those supposedly non-humans – women to sadistic male sexualised torture.
Filmed male sexual violence against women and girls is not ‘fantasy’ real men inflict sadistic sexual violence upon these women, but men don’t care when all they want is to view filmed male sexual violence against women because these men enjoy seeing real women suffer.
This is all consensual. So if you don’t want to do it or don’t like it don’t do it and don’t watch it.
Like being gay, being BDSM is not for everyone but each to to their own.
There are plenty of male subs on these kind of sites and similar.
The previous comment from Jennifer Drew is basically saying that these women do not have the right to decide what is done with their own bodies, they do not have the right to their own sexuality.
This could easily have been written by the Taliban or the ultra right conservatives.
This reactionary and fantastic interpretation could equally have been written about women’s abortion rights or tights to equal pay.
Womens liberation is about liberating us all from sexual and gender stereotypes and surely it is about time people were more tolerant of others.
I don’t recall women’s liberation being about tolerating forced blow jobs, gang rapes and torture?
Keith, if you actually read the piece, you would be aware that just because porn actresses may consent to the violent acts against them does not mean that they enjoy them or that there are not severe emotional consequences for them in the future.
You would also be aware that there is plenty of actual, non-simulated torture and just because the porn stars act like they are enjoying it (key point there- ACT) does not change the fact that it is actual torture.
‘Consent’ seems like a very easy (lazy?) political standard to advocate–almost all the abuses done to women and children in this world can be excused with this yardstick. If only ‘consent’ was enough to protect women from the traumatic stress disorder and real-world disadvantage caused by the pornography industry and other sources of exploitation and harm. Unfortunately all the choice and consent in the world doesn’t lead to good outcomes for women in pornography, and it’s precisely ‘consent’ that is expertly used by the pornographers to inflict the most horrible abuses on women. If Keith wants to keep using consent as his yardstick then he’s going to live a life that is useless in terms of actually doing anything to stop sources of harm to women and children in this world.
Im a little concerned about the way we are heading, why are we finger pointing and boycotting? Can it not be said that perhaps people are ignorant and education is key? There are plenty of men and women that do not see or know about the abuse that acutally goes on behind the scenes and plenty of people make the assumpation that it is consensual. How can they know otherwise when corporations sell it to us that way? Its easy to say that some one should know better, but in all honesty, perhaps they dont. The saying that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar rings very true here. Be outraged, be angry, but educate, dont hate.
Maddy, I agree that many people (consumers) are ignorant as to the abuse that goes on in the production of pornography, and often about the economic conditions women face that may lead to them working in porn.
That being said, I don’t believe for a second that those who produce and profit from pornography are ignorant as to its harms. Porn producer Jim Powers said that every girl who enters the porn industry is a “broken toy”, and that they “couldn’t hold down a job at McDonalds”.
What I don’t understand is how James Franco could study the porn industry, specifically Kink with such painful and degrading acts (including ‘piss videos’) and simply fail to notice the inherent misogyny and violence, or the fact that much of Kink’s content constitutes torture. Instead he came up with a ‘feel good’ documentary. That is not ignorance, that is deliberate.
I don’t find anything hateful about a boycott. It is simply a reminder that we as consumers have the right to a voice- meaning we can accept or reject what is being sold to us. I choose to reject torture as sexy and normal, therefore I will not financially support James Franco.
I feel saddened that the only other male comment is a misogynist with fancy bull talk that makes him sound like he is one of the disgraceful misogynists within the left? Clearly he has no idea about how pimps groom young girls or doesn’t care. It’s said that is expression of sexuality is a sexualised one free of any inherent creativeness or expression himself. If anything is reactionary it is him holding on to his male privilege! whilst Womens rights are continually eroded I bet this guy even has the cheek to call himself a progressive?
Wow so James Franco obviously isn’t much like the heroic survivor he played he 127 hours. So i nstead of being an inspiration he is basically a type of pimp.
Generally speaking I’m against pornography in all of its forms. It doesn’t only exploit the actors. The sexuality of those who view it is being bought and degraded. What is supposed to be a beautiful aspect of human nature that brings people together becomes a self gratifying form of abuse. As men are the traditional target audience of pornographic material I feel I constantly have to guard my sexuality against it. My sexuality is not for sale.
But what disturbs me about this promotion of BDSM is that it’s not “each to his own” as someone previously said. Society shifts and standards change as high profile people present their “art” before us. The line between what we accept as “right” and “wrong” keeps going into darker territory. It was once defined by how we treat others,
“If it doesn’t hurt anyone then it’s okay”. But more and more it’s as if that idea is being pushed aside. Our culture is more willing to gain happiness at the expense of others.
Thumbs down.
But what do we do? Ban this stuff? Boycot? I wish I knew of an effective way to encourage men to defend their own sexuality and not sell themselves out. But sex sells so well its like going up against a giant.
Alby, if BDSM doesn’t turn you on, then it is not for you. Simple. Porn producers who make BDSM porn are catering to a market of BDSM practitioners. Subs like me. Doms like my friends. Switches like my flatmate.
Keith Underhill, I don’t think you are a misogynist. On the contrary, thank you for standing up for our rights to flog and be flogged, spank and be spanked. 🙂
Ugh, this information about ‘Kink’ and James Franco makes me disgusted. Cheers for the post.
Hey LilyRose, I read a piece on Kink today where an actress lost her virginity on a shoot. It took her months to heal and she needed vaginal reconstruction surgery. Thanks for standing up for her “rights”.