From about five seconds after the camera was invented the porn industry has led the way in everything that’s GREAT about America (and the world, for that matter). From printing and film to technology to fashion to entertainment and so much more, just about every major advancement in technology and entertainment owes something to the porn industry — we went from grainy film to 8mm to 16mm to DVDs and 4k UHD not because people want to laugh or cry better, but because it’s better for enjoying porn and (jerking-off to it). We went from newsprint to full color glossy because its better for looking at tits and, well, the color pink. We normalized the F word and the L word and all the LGBTQ words, we mainstreamed the Internet, and online payments, and MILFs and BJs and BBWs and BBCs, too. (I heard the word MILF on NBC the other day.) We’ve taken no shit, not given a fuck and fought since Day One for Freedom of Speech and Artistic Expression and WON EVERY TIME because, though “they” hate to admit it, we are a POWERHOUSE and people LOVE what we do so much that we’ve changed lives, and the world, in the process!
But right now there’s a great threat facing us all and we have the power to change it, to stop it dead in its tracks. No, it’s not the government (politicians will always pretend to be on our ass) or religious groups (let’s face it, they’re their own kind of porn), but rather SUBSTANCE ABUSE. Many of us have battled with it. Many of us have won. (I’m 2 years sober in April!) It’s a dirty, nasty stigma that affects our entire industry — the stereotypical drug addict pornstar. But it’s also a threat that affects, in some way, every single person who supports and/or enjoys what we do.
And WE have the power to stop it.
We have the POWER to normalize and mainstream SOBRIETY as we’ve normalized and mainstreamed Mothers I’d Like to Fuck. We have the power to make SAYING NO attractive and “cool”. And if nothing else, we have the power to make people stop and THINK about it. Perhaps no other industry, not Hollywood, not even the music industry, wields the power we have to MAKE SHIT COOL — to change the old narrative of “Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll” to just “Sex and Rock & Roll”, or maybe throw some “Good Food” in there, “Sex, Good Food, and Rock & Roll” or whatever. Seriously, NOTHING ELSE seems to be working. WE HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BY TRYING. I’ve lost over a dozen friends in three years. I don’t want to lose any more. SOMETHING needs to change.
And believe it or not, CHANGE can start with US. Let’s make sober HOT.
In the immortal words of SCREW founder Al Goldstein, “Substance Abuse, Go Fuck Yourself!”
—P.
Publisher
As a child my mother said to me, ‘If you grow up to be a soldier, you will become a general. If you grow up to be a monk, you will become the Pope.’ Instead, I grew up to be a degenerate, and now I’m publisher of SCREW.
