“If you consume adult entertainment, go vote!” »
In the United States, an activist advertising campaign wants to stimulate the male electorate with an unusual warning before viewing pornographic videos: their freedom to consume this content is threatened by ultraconservatives.
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“Pornography should be banned and the people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned”, we can read from the first pages of “Project 2025”, an ultraconservative program created by those close to Donald Trump, although the latter seeks to break away from it.
The collective #HandsOffMyPorn (“Hands Off My Porn”) spent $200,000 to distribute messages on specialized sites, particularly in key states for the presidential election, such as Pennsylvania, Arizona and Georgia.
“If you consume or create entertainment for adults, you must go and vote, without hesitation,” journalist and porn star Siouxsie Q explains to AFP, before summarizing one of the advertisements in which she features herself. : “Hey, I know you’re busy. Hold back for a minute. If you want to continue to be able to do this, you really need to go vote on November 5… Have fun. »
The campaign, funded by the independent committee Artists United for a Change, particularly targets men, who consume more porn than women – or at least admit to consuming it more easily, according to several studies.
With less than two weeks until the election, the race remains extremely close between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, but one thing is clear: women lean more Democratic and men lean Republican.
The vice-president’s campaign team is absolutely not associated with #HandsOffMyPorn, but “we hope that, secretly, she appreciates what we’re doing,” smiles Siouxsie Q.
“Lightning rod”
The porn industry is not new to threats from conservatives, but for Holly Randall, who has worked in the industry for more than a quarter of a century as a photographer, director and producer, ” Project 2025 is the most explicit iteration of the desire to ban it completely.”
And that includes the years of repression of hardcore porn under the presidency of Ronald Reagan (1981-1989), during which his parents, also in the industry, had to film certain scenes in secret.
Siouxsie Q, who made her name in feminist, queer and bondage porn films before moving into production, says she worries about the possibility of being imprisoned because of her work.
But she also warns of consequences beyond the porn industry. “It’s the canary in the coal mine,” the “easiest” thing to attack when it comes to freedom of expression, she explains.
“Because this embodies the uncertainty and fears of some regarding changing morals and gender fluidity. »
But behind this “lightning rod” lies the ultraconservative ban on sex education books in school libraries, attacks on the rights of trans people, on the marriage of LGBT+ people and even on reproductive rights, says She.
Stormy Daniels
Donald Trump repeatedly repeats that he has nothing to do with “Project 2025”, but an investigation by New York Times showed that “more than half” of its authors were part of his administration or campaign teams.
The Democrats insist on the fact that many of the Republican’s proposals are in line with those of the ultraconservative program, in particular on the reorganization of the federal state or immigration.
According to Holly Randall, the former president “doesn’t care whether or not to ban” porn, but he could “give in” to “the people around him, like his running mate JD Vance, these far-right conservatives” .
JD Vance, radically opposed to abortion and self-proclaimed defender of conservative morals, notably prefaced a forthcoming book written by the president of think tank at the origin of “Project 2025”, Kevin D. Roberts, also author of the section concerning pornography.
Holly Randall highlights the irony of the situation: last April the Republican candidate was found guilty of hidden payments to former pornographic film star Stormy Daniels to avoid a sex scandal just before the 2016 presidential election.
