Flesh Trade: Tales from the UK Sexual Underground
My Dec 21, 2005 email interview with author Bruce Barnard: * Why did you choose to write this book? Mostly because everything else out there tended to focus on the US scene, and if I’m being honest, elements of the US sex industry leave me with a vague sense of discomfort. American pornography is prone to many of the same criticisms liberal-minded British folk tend to adopt when discussing US foreign policy. Namely, it’s defined by brutality, seems motivated purely by the pursuit of profit, contains strong elements of racism and takes no account of the opinion of the rest of the world. The work of people like Max Hardcore for example, does for misogyny what ‘Der Strumer’ did for anti-Semitism. It’s always struck me as a profoundly depressing manifesto of abuse and humiliation that seems unconnected to any positive sexual impulse. We’ve always done things differently here - I wanted to capture that in print. The cliché “when America catches a cold, the world sneezes’ quite apt. The main reason why some British producers have started to include spitting, choking and gapers; purely to keep up with our brasher US cousins. I take the view that it is a creeping cultural imperialism we could do without, but I seem to be a lone voice and the push towards freak show misogyny shows on sign of slowing down. I’d also be lying if I said that the lure of getting to see naked chicks didn’t play a big part in the initial idea. * What surprised you the most? The people. Perhaps I struck lucky, but with just one exception, everyone I met tended to be trusting, good-natured, fun and willing to answer my questions without throwing any ego shit fits. Given all UK media coverage of the smut trade has historically been negative this came as a genuine surprise. The gay scene was something of an eye opener, but I was determined to cover it because I find it hysterical when I think about the pathological levels of homophobia evident in the straight sex industry. If a rumour spreads that a dick for hire has dipped his toe into the lavender world, it always kick-starts a witch hunt. I find that very funny, given that everyone is swimming in the same deviant pool. * What did you want to be when you grew up? A writer. This changed when I realised how difficult it is making a living, especially if your talent veers towards covering the margins of society, rather then boy wizards or Middle Earth trolls. Writing a book is no different to unblocking drains for a living, people seem to think there’s some kind of alchemy at work, when the reality is a dull, turgid process of constant graft, which will most likely die from critical apathy as soon as the book hits the shelves. * How did working on this book affect your relationships? How has the publication of this book affected your life? Has the feedback you received on it surprised you? How so? Feedback has been very positive; people are genuinely loving the book which is fucking great. It did feature in a recent divorce petition, but in the name of diplomacy I won’t go into any other details. People should buy it and make their own judgment I guess. I write: "You romanticize British porn. They're doing it for the money just like Americans, they just don't talk about it as baldly as Yanks do." Bruce replies:
|