Neurotica: Do It Yourself Porn

A few weeks ago, my friend “Courtney” told me about a problem she’d had with her live-in boyfriend. She went out of town for a week and when she got home she found a stash of porn magazines he’d bought while she was gone. She didn’t mind that her boyfriend was jerking off to porn, but he was overcome with guilt.

“He said he just really missed me,” Courtney said, “but he doesn’t think it’s right to look at other women.”

The solution to her problem seemed simple enough: Why not make your own porn? That way her boyfriend could still indulge himself the next time she’s away without feeling guilty about lusting after other women. I suggested Courtney get herself all tarted up and take some photos. She could have fun with it; dress up as a French maid or a nurse. Her boyfriend could even help her with the photos, making it fun for both of them. The ‘zinester in me suggested she do some cutting and pasting to make her very own porn ‘zine, but digital pics or a video would do just as well.

Do-it-yourself porn isn’t such a novel idea. People have been making (and celebrities have been losing) homemade sex tapes for years. With the means of production as widely available as they are now, it’s easier than ever for the average citizen to make and even distribute their own porn.

To me, amateur porn is almost always the best porn…as long as it is truly amateur. So much of what you find on the Internet is simply porn star audition tapes. The beauty of authentic amateur porn is that the performers are not porn stars. They are real people of different shapes, sizes and sexualities you probably won’t see in the Ken and Barbie world of porn.

But what I love most about amateur, do-it-yourself porn is that it completely deconstructs the notion of pornography as exploitative. No matter what insiders might say about the merits and myths of porn, they are professionals working in an industry. Their opinions and perspectives are colored by the fact that porn pays their bills, and good PR for the porn industry means more work for them.

In amateur porn, however, the “porn star” answers to no one. The subject is involved in and controls every aspect of his or her own supposed exploitation. It’s pornography without even the possibility of coercion; naked pictures as a form of self-expression…or maybe just narcissism.

As with any aspect of sex, do-it-yourself porn enthusiasts need look no further than the Internet. There are thriving DIY smut communities, oddly enough, on LiveJournal.com. Users can post pictures as well as journal entries on the bloging site in communities like “Hot Sex Acts” and “Show Your Bits.” Each community has it’s own rules and standards. Some target queers, others heterosexuals; BDSM enthusiasts, or vanilla lovers. Some are photo posts only; others encourage users to tell their dirty stories as well. Most are closed communities and all are 18 and up.

My personal favorites are the communities modeled after hipster smut site SuicideGirls.com. I recently joined two different “Suicide Boys” communities. These attract guys with tattoos and piercings; guys in bands who have ink black hair and never leave home without their iPods. You know, scene kids. Not only do you get to ogle hot guys and girls, but you also get to know them through their journal posts. Forget the silly, superficial Playboy bunny profile. These are the actual thoughts and experiences of real people. Somehow knowing that someone spent the day in an abandoned Victorian building makes their photos that much sexier.

Of course, now that I’m a member of some of these DIY porn communities I’m beginning to have the urge to, well, do-it-myself. A digital camera is officially on my wish list.