I recently spoke with Kelsey Obsession — porn performer and producer, emerging sex educator, and sociological colleague — about GIF porn… and why it’s not the ethical feminist utopia Cosmopolitan magazine, et al would like you to think it is

Portions of our conversation contributed to a recent piece I wrote for Mic.com (here), but there was no way to address everything Kelsey raised. As such, I am sharing the rough cut of our correspondence below. 

There is much to learn about this subject — Enjoy!!

—

DrCT: Tell me about the problems with GIF porn…

DrKO: The main problem with Tumblr GIFs is that they frequently lack watermarks — which every porn producer absolutely always puts on their work, particularly in this age of piracy. If a watermark were present, the source would be clear and we could all go on our merry way.

Yet most of these GIFs are not created by the porn companies themselves, but rather Tumblr users. Often there are no watermarks — because the user cropped the watermark out of the image. What is particularly infuriating is to see a GIF watermarked with the Tumblr username of the person who created the GIF — NOT the company or person who created the content.

(pictured: Kelsey Obsession)

Linking back to the source is a commendable attempt to address the piracy issue (as is the offer to remove any content known to be violating copyright). However these source links typically go to other Tumblr blogs, including those who place their own watermark on the image, rarely to the original site itself. Without any watermark, performer names, or links there is literally no way to find the original scene and pay for it. Many of these GIFs have a huge amount of “notes” (likes and reblogs) — I [am looking at one] right now with 24,655 — even if 0.5% wanted to pay to watch the scene, that represents over 1200 customers. Let’s say the sale of that scene (whether purchased individually or part of a membership) netted the company a mere $5 — that’s potentially $6,000 from one post. Multiply that by how many GIFs there are on Tumblr, and it adds up VERY quickly.

One could also make an argument about the namelessness of GIF porn. What’s interesting is that certain strains of feminists have long made the argument that porn turns women into sex objects for male use, and that this perpetuates a broader dehumanization of women and a denial of their own personhood. I clearly don’t agree with these arguments, of course. But what’s interesting is that by naming the actors — at least listing their performer names in the text portion of the post — this turns them from mere bodies humping to real live human beings. Humans that, more often than not, have social media accounts where one can actually interact with the “objects” of desire, thereby removing them from pure object status. They have breakfast, pets, and favorite TV shows, just like the viewer. Now, I do not believe the same feminists that equate porn to objectification to dehumanization are the same ones celebrating Tumblr GIFs, nonetheless, I believe it helps men to see and relate to women as humans, which I believe benefits women on the whole.

There is certainly a comparison to be made with tubesites, who are also profiting from others’ content. The one pseudo-positive thing tubes have done, however, is to at least allow producers to become “content partners” and link directly to the source site to earn a profit from the minority of viewers willing to become paying customers. Most my colleagues in the industry find this insulting, yet it is a necessary evil for many of us to brand and get traffic to our sites.  With content partner accounts, at least our brands and links are in front of the viewers eyes, as are performer names. It is relatively easy to find the scene to pay for it under this model, even while I find tubesites to be disgusting and unscrupulous, I appreciate this element has developed — as it has not with Tumblr.

I do not see how profiting from anyone else’s work could possibly be feminist, or politics aside, anywhere near the realm of human decency. The amount of labor and capital it takes to create a porn scene is something few understand outside the industry. Depending on the company, a producer may be paying for models, [STI] testing, makeup artists, wardrobe, props or toys, location fees, videographers, photographers, lighting people, video editors, and graphic designers, to name a few. They must also market the scene and the website overall to drive those Tumblr GIF-makers to even find out a scene exists. Whether the GIF creators pay for the scenes they bastardize is unknown, but the image quality appear substantially better than tubesites, so at the very least it seems they are working from a sellable video (not a tube video). Many people working behind the scenes are also women and people who have families, and this directly affects their livelihood as well.

DrCT: Why has “free” somehow become equated with feminism in the sense that paying for things is often considered antithetical to feminist ideals (and, on the flip side, expecting payment for one’s work, counter to feminist principles)?

DrKO: One could disagree with the philosophy of capitalism, but that does not negate that we live in a capitalistic society. We all need money to live, and therefore we must pay one another for the goods and services we offer.

I think that free, in this context, is appealing because it means one can enjoy erotic content without feeling guilty about supporting the porn industry, which is potentially or actually gross in many people’s eyes. This is bolstered by the way GIFs can isolate those sensual or intimate moments, which while sexy, can allow the viewer to imagine this is a fully consensual act everyone is doing solely of their own accord (i.e., not for money).  Clearly many people enjoy pornographic content while they feel uncomfortable with what they perceive to be a questionable at best, abusive at worst, industry. Yet instead of taking time to find porn created by models and producers who respect women, respect themselves, and enjoy what they do (which do exist, and not just in feminist or queer porn) — i.e., porn that fits the values many wish were reflected in the porn industry as a whole, myself included — they kid themselves by indulging in pirated content, severely limiting profits and thereby the possibility that “good people” can create “good porn.” I myself would have created a number of additional projects at this point in my career, emphasizing consent, communication, and true pleasure, if only the funds and potential profits were there. How can one create porn reflecting the values of feminists and those concerned with the welfare of adult models, if people are not willing to pay for it?