Women in Porn: Shattering the Myths

CYBERSPACE—Sssh.com announced today an event called Women in Porn: Shattering the Myths, an interactive panel discussion that pits prominent women working in the adult entertainment industry against some of porn’s harshest critics to debate the nature of the industry and women’s changing role in it. Scheduled for July 22 at 3pm Eastern time, the live video broadcast event will be available to viewers free of charge on MindBrowse.com. “When critics of porn take aim at the adult industry, one of their main arguments is that the industry is inherently misogynistic, and that the women who work and perform in the industry are basically broken people, poor souls who have been manipulated into working in porn,” said Angie Rowntree, founder of Sssh.com and organizer of the event. “To women like me, who work in this industry absolutely by choice and are passionate about what we do for a living, that’s an extremely insulting and demeaning claim. This event gives some of the industry’s strongest women a chance to look their critics straight in the eye and prove to them that they’re wrong in making that assertion.” The panelists, who Rowntree said will be identified in subsequent announcements, come from a wide variety of backgrounds and perspectives, and include a top adult content producer, an experienced performer, the operator of a user-generated content site and a staunch anti-pornography activist. “This is going to be a truly open discussion, one in which we face the criticisms directed at our industry head-on,” Rowntree said. “We may disagree with our critics, but we respect their opinions, and we see value in answering them point by point in a setting like this, rather than just dismissing them as prudes or moral crusaders.” She added that Women in Porn: Shattering the Myths promises to be both in-depth and dynamic, and said that panelists will be prepared to discuss a predetermined set of topics, plus the event will also be live tweeted and monitored at @ssshforwomen under the hashtag #WomenInPorn, so that viewers can interact during the event by posing their own questions and points, which may then be discussed by the panelists. To participate, viewers can ask their question and then add #womeninporn to the tweets. “Porn has reached a point where it’s just part of the broader cultural landscape now, so this isn’t just a discussion to be had by the industry and its critics,” Rowntree concluded. “We’re giving porn’s fans and detractors a voice in the discussion too, via Twitter.” Further information about each panelist will be released as the event’s date nears.