If you have an Audible account, go listen to Jon Ronson's The Butterfly Effect.

[politicat]

It's about porn.

Specifically, online, free porn and video streaming and how the industry has changed, and the effects it has had on the performers, producers, and consumers. It's often funny, often charming, always very human and deeply touching. One of the standout parts comes in a discussion of takedown notices and copyright infringement: it's hard for beloved musicians to keep their work paying their rent. Imagine how much harder it is for porn workers, who are dealing with a stigmatized profession anyway.

It's free using the Channels feature in the app; think of it as a 3.5 hour book or 7 episode podcast series.

[pansypoo53219]

1. love ronson.

[Ron Obvious]

2. I was just reading his article in the Guardian on the subject

I am on the set of the porn film Stepdaughter Cheerleader Orgy. There’s a little trouble outside. The director, Mike Quasar, is trying to shoot an establishing scene – cheerleaders arriving home from practice – but even though we’re in a secluded house (in the San Fernando Valley, southern California), some neighbouring teenagers have positioned themselves up on a nearby hill and are catcalling, jeering and hissing. Until now, this had been a happy set, a kind of familial bubble, but these mocking outsiders are making everyone self-conscious. The girls pull on their short skirts and crop tops to cover up. Unsettled, everyone goes back inside, and that’s when I get talking to Nate, the second cameraman.

It is very unusual to find second cameramen on porn sets these days: the internet is killing porn-makers who take pride in production values. It’s because the money is now in the pockets of the tech giants in faraway cities such as Montreal, owners of sites such as PornHub that are crammed with pirated content illegally uploaded by fans; PornHub is currently the world’s 38th most popular site.

Over the past 18 months, I’ve been tracing the consequences of all that free porn. It’s laying waste to the Valley, compelling some actors to take up escorting, and putting crews and production companies out of business. But today nine people are all to have sex simultaneously, so Quasar has needed to hire Nate. They’re old colleagues from the pre-PornHub days, but now barely see each other.

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/jul/29/jon-ronson-bespoke-porn-nothing-is-too-weird-all-requests