Porn Nonsense In Time Magazine
There’s a long article about porn in Time Magazine that I haven’t read. And why didn’t I? Because the first paragraph pissed me off:
“In hotel rooms where pornography is available, two-thirds of all movie purchases are for pornos; and the average time they are watched is 12 minutes. The image instantly summoned is of the traveling businessman who wants a smidge of sexual exercise before retiring, but who is too tired, timid or cheap to summon a call girl.”
The image instantly summoned in my mind is one of pity for the hypothetical wife or girlfriend of Time columnist Richard Corliss, who wrote that last squalid sentence.
Horny travelling men who don’t “summon a call girl” must be “too tired, timid or cheap”, eh?
It must surely suck to be married to that man.
Shorter URL for sharing: https://www.erosblog.com/?p=1242
You know, he’s really got a point. I mean, I often find myself caught up in the decision between watching porn and hiring a prostitute… because, you know, they’re so similar.
In next week’s issue of Time: Why are Asian hookers so much hotter than my wife? by Richard Corliss. Stay tuned.
Funny, I always thought Time Magazine was one the “intelligent” magazines. But I guess it’s finally fallen prey to mediocrity and sensationalism.
Why does the reporter assume these men are too “tired, timid or cheap to summon a call girl?” Maybe these men are married (or in a committed relationship), and take their marriage vows seriously. Perhaps these men don’t want to take the chance of catching an STD. Or maybe they’re afraid of being somehow caught and arrested? If the reporter is referring to American hotels – last time I checked prostitution is illegal.
I offer a different scenario: The businessman is a normal person. He feels like a little self-love to help him drift off to dreamland… and look at this! Porn that he doesn’t have to run out and get himself! What a wonderful thing this is. Ahhhhh…
I prefer my image.
Okay, so I read the article for you. It was kind of The History of Film Porn in a nutshell. Basically that 30 or so years ago, porn was made by people who wanted to make *art films* – yeah, there was sex, but the films had plot, had decent actors, good scores, and great cinematography. A lot of “Deep Throat” references and quotes. And a big feeling of nostalgia – people quoted that newer porn videos “have no soul.” The end has five reviews of classic (60’s – 70’s) porn films.
Corliss claims that big films like Spielberg’s Jaws and Star Wars killed the hope that the porn film industry would someday merge with Hollywood. Because it was kids and teens that went to see movies, not adults.
All in all, you’re not missing much, Bacchus. ;)
He could have just added … or it is against his morals.
As in: “…but who is too tired, timid or cheap to summon a call girl…or it is against his morals.” Then everyone would have been covered, including the “good husbands”. But the sentence does’nt really work. Oh well.
He probably expenses the escorts he hires…
hi from italy. and compliments for your fantastic blog. :D
The last paragraph of the five-page article would piss me off even more, if I tended to get pissed off about these things:
“Granted, I can’t authoritatively swear that today’s hard-core stinks. That’s because I haven’t seen a porn video, or digito, whatever they call them, in decades. Except once, a few years ago, in a hotel, for about five minutes.”
That’s like writing a scathing article about politics, with the qualifier of “But I haven’t actually followed politics since the 1970’s, so there you go”.
I’m sure said hypothetical female partner will be so pleased when next he goes away on business and isn’t tired or timid and has some spending money (although the poor writing won’t be going away)
As if the reasons for not hiring a prostitute while away from one’s spouse stem from exhaustion or timidity. Sigh.
Excellent point, Bacchus, and well-said.
I’ve written an entry in my own blog about this. Corliss’ other assumption is that it’s only lonely businessmen watching porn in hotel rooms. The truth is it’s more than 50% couples. So he’s ignoring the fact that a lot of women enjoy porn too.
The mainstream media just don’t get porn, do they?
I read an interview with a porn director who said “If you see more than the first half of my movies, I’m not doing my job.” Twelve minutes seems a bit short, but to each his own.
It’s interesting how the average time is 12 minutes. In Paulo Coelho’s book Eleven Minutes… well, it takes eleven minutes with a prostitute for a guy to get off, apparently.
Yes the introduction was malformed, but there is something a little more telling oing on here. It’s that porn movies bought in hotel rooms are only watched for the opening 12 minutes. That’s a lot like reading the first paragraph of an article and passing it off as a blog entry.
I agree that Corliss isn’t the man to be writting about porn if he hasn’t seen it in many years, but he’s making a living, and we all know about that, right Bacchus.
If my husband were travelling on business, alone and far from home, and horny, I’d much prefer he pick 12 minutes of a dirty movie and masturbation, than he hire a call girl. I sure as heck hope it wouldn’t be because he was too timid, cheap, or tired.
Half of the “anti call girl comments” miss the point. For the traveling man, the options are most limited in America. That’s what sucks about traveling there. Do you spend a boat load of money for something that is hit or miss, or just play it safe and spank the monkey?
Now if America had some good freelancer bars, or other good venues for picking up women, life would be be much better.
Skippy-san, calling any of these comments “anti call girl” also misses the point, seems to me. We’ve got some comments in favor of relationship fidelity, sure, but that’s hardly anti-call-girl. I’d call them more “anti cheating bastard” myself.
I just read the first page of the article online, and it was enough for me to think this guy is just a typically annoying Baby Boomer cranking about how much better things were “in the good old days,” when everyone and everything was soooo much cooler than now. :doze:
And you’re right, it REALLY must suck to be married to him.
The first rule of sex journalism is to seperate oneself from the sordid base desires of the ordinary pervert. Corliss doesn’t just jerk off and go to sleep. He orders xxx room service! He’s not tired, timid or cheap. He’s a classy guy! I bet he doesn’t even watch porn at home. His DVD collection and Internet favorites are all Erotica!
Bacchus failed to understand the metaphor Mr. Corliss put forth and then launched into an attack against Mr. Corliss without at least reading the article to understand where Mr. Corliss is going with this opening paragraph.
Mr. Corliss was not advocating that businessmen (or women) hire prostitutes else they would be considered too “..timid..” but instead is trying to set a scene that would seem to justify why so many erotic films are purchased from hotel rooms yet watched for so little time on the average.
This set the basis for the rest of the article. But, Bacchus is just to highly upset and disgusted yet so intelligent that “he” doesn’t even need to read the rest of the article. He can insult the writer with but a short paragraphs read.
Bacchus is high on arrogance and assumptions. Too bad.
BTW, I do not advocate prostitution nor will ever avail myself of that venue. But open discussion of it shouldn’t be grounds for insulting someone that you know absolutely nothing about and refuse to even try and understand.
I have a different take on the “12 minutes” rule. I don’t see a timid married man afraid to hire a prostitute at all. I could see a man, lonely on the road, looking for some quick release. But I could also see a couple who pays for the video and then, 12 minutes in, are so aroused by what they have seen that they turn off the video and get to the real action themselves!
The columnist’s editor must have been overworked that day, or surely he would have advised him to rethink his choice of words there.
If the “image instantly summoned” for Mr. Corliss is as he says, fornication with a prostitute, then I’ll bet if Freud or Shakespeare were alive today, they could formulate an insightful paragraph or two about his apparent need to turn Time Magazine (and it’s entire readership), into his confessional…