Let me start out by saying that I appreciate the message and the focus of the book. I think that Lynsey G (great name by the way), has an excellent idea for a memoir and I love that she is sex-positive and has a great message about the need to produce and contribute (and consume) pornography that is ethical and hot at the same time. I think that what she is doing and what she writes about is a story worth telling and reading. What she does that I did not enjoy and could have been easily amended is telling similar stories a few too many times, making the same point, (I think I read about her favourite line of porn three or four separate times). What is worse is that she tells a story that is so predictable that I can see the climax (sorry) coming (sorry again) a mile away.
Typically, the idea is that someone seemed nice or an idea seemed to be a good one, and then she discovered that the person wasn’t so nice and the idea wasn’t all that good. If she were to refine her delivery, some of the points would hit the reader a little harder (sorry a third time). As it is, anecdotes like the one in which James Deen is creepy is a troubling reminder of the state of the porn industry (and the fact that Deen is still working). Perhaps if she had outed someone else as also being a creep or talked in general about the should-be pariahs of the industry, that could have been very helpful. A discussion of the good guys (and girls, mainly girls) was interesting, and even though a few names were repeated, it was good to read about positive representation.
Lastly, the story ended in Toronto, at the relaunched Feminist Porn Awards at the (now-called) Ted Rogers Hot Docs Theatre, so for a book to end this way was a welcome surprise.
Watching Porn: And Other Confessions From An Adult Entertainment Journalist was provided by The Overlook Press in exchange for an honest review. It may be purchased from your friendly independent bookseller or other fine bookstores.
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