Anyone who has worked in the world of adult entertainment and sees this book available for purchase will be instantly attracted like a moth to the flame, but not in the way you may think. I remember an old passage from a biography on Thomas Jefferson. It spoke about the dangers of fire in eighteenth-century America. How it was used for so many things in daily life, yet could destroy your home and life in a heartbeat. That is the comparison I look to exploit with my review of Dr. Heather Berg’s book Porn Work: Sex, Labor and Late Capitalism. “Porn work” in general, is something that does not always burn the winged performer who so beautifully hovers around this force it is drawn to. A pursuit of fame, power, and a means to put food on the table. That is where I think the appeal will be to the civilian world with this book, as I can tell that it has the potential to reach so many worlds. Civilians will be just as shocked to see what they dislike and do not know about the industry. The UNC Press has given a voice to many people that have been forgotten with Dr. Berg’s monumental research, and I am not just talking about sex workers, porn stars, and adult entertainers/performers. In Jim Steele’s interview with author Dr. Berg, we discovered that this book is as much about the economy, social status and the corporate world and capitalism, as it is about the eighty-plus porn stars who were interviewed within its pages. My thoughts going into this review were, “FINALLY!” That is what I told Dr. Berg specifically, numerous times in our correspondence over the past few months. I am a man who has seen the insides and outsides of this industry in many lights. There are numerous ups and there are so many downs. The XXX film world contains many sights of beauty, with places to learn real-world lessons. Teachings that can be even more valuable than an internship at Amazon ten years ago. Sex workers are in most instances therapists, confidants, companions, and yes, teachers. This is where we begin with Porn Work, by Dr. Heather Berg. With hopes that it shows this country some things it did not know about itself.

Porn Work: Sex, Labor, and Late Capitalism

Author: Dr. Heather Berg @DrHeatherBerg

Publisher: University of North Carolina Press

Release Date: February 2021

Related Subjects: Gender Studies, Porn History, Labor Studies, Gender Studies, LGBT Studies, Sociology

The Reveal: (Introduction)

I would not be giving my porn brothers and sisters justice if I were to not treat this as I do any other project or review within the industry that I love. Saying that, I know that this review may go over many deaf ears. Passed over by many eyes due to the fact that this editorial is on a porn review website, but what Dr. Berg shows, just within the first three chapters of this book, is a dedication to speaking truths that will keep any reader with an open mind firmly interested. It takes a truly open mind and heart to understand what the base of this book really is. What I viewed, within the first few pages, was a person looking to show her fellow human beings some simple truths about modern society. Truths that are becoming less and less known in the age of thriving capitalism across the globe. Aided with a World Wide Web that is not used for knowledge as much as it is propaganda and “production” in 2021. Her daring and honest words about Marxism, the connection that porn performers must have to survive in one of the most vast, yet censored marketplaces on earth. They are words that people with closed minds will not want to hear or see, but they are words of a future that has already arrived. “The reveal” of an adult film is the subconscious way that true filmmakers hook their audience. It is a tactic that all artists use, no matter their art form. Here, we see Dr. Berg shows us that porn work may also be work that is far ahead of the societal curve with its unity and hidden togetherness. Unity is blocked by social media websites, news outlets, and media editorial that is passed off as researched fact when it is anything but. Never have I been so engaged to hear the stories of my porn brothers and sisters told the way they are in Porn Work.

What this industry writer will tell you, is that this professor did her homework. It is hard to put down a book that has had workers treated as contractors since the adult film world began this worldwide phenomenon so many years ago. It will be a punch to the gut of some critics, and false prophets to now see that so many working class Americans are now being treated as independent contractors, and we are talking about people who work at your local neighborhood corner store, not just artists, actors and set builders. Employees with no health benefits or insurance. Working class people whose collars are both blue and white, who could be killed on the job tomorrow and come to find out that the owners' insurance did not cover them because they were not an employee, but an “independent contractor.” Porn Work sheds light on the fact that these great entertainers have known such adversities since the seventies. and have slowly taken forty years just to come up with the concept of a worker's union. Does anyone remember Joe Hill? Well, his name may come back into the words of American’s mouths again, as crony Capitalism catches up to a way of work that it does wish to do away with. Societies judgement is not because of the sex, the porn stars and the free love, but due to what it does to the wallets of the “haves and the have-nots.” This is just the first part of the reveal, dear readers. This is not even the “encounter” of this tale of reality. The part where you really see the action intensify. In ways that create fear and love all at the same time. Dr. Berg shows that delicate balance, and it is written about with such depth. This is what non-fiction should always be. Facts! Research! Plain and simple.

The Encounter: (The Body)

For years, my porn brothers and sisters have screamed for a “porn bible.” A manual that will tell a new performer what it is they are getting into. This marvelous piece of collected knowledge, I think it may be just that. All without any kind of hidden agenda, or hidden judgement. Dr. Berg shows the world the rates and ways of shooting in the industry. What a performer can expect in many departments of industry, business and politics. How they get should be prepared for making a film, and what comes before and after. If you are a porn outsider, you may be saying, “who gives a shit?” Well, you should, quite frankly. The adult film world has been plagued to never have such information at the entertainer’s disposal, and how does that affect you? Well, so much is modeled around the porn world in this vast economy, as documentaries on even CNN have pointed out. Much like her in-depth look at the industry's history shows. It is my opinion that so much of crony capitalism was created by people who double dip within the world of adult film. Businessmen and women, who own or work in high positions within the very reality fans and critics look to escape from with porn. So many of the new ways of business, I think have been brought on by practices in the adult world, and more will follow. This is the industry that began using credit cards over the internet first, well before Amazon. It is this kind of innovation and self-imposed discipline that Porn Work talks about in such detail. From how we police our industry, and keep our performer’s safe from STIs, to marketing that was sold for free well before Simon Cowell did it to with an infamous band, on one of his famous talent search shows that we will not mention here. There is knowledge within this book that will shock so many people. In ways that are good, bad, frightful and compassionate. That is what was needed to make this book true to the people within the industry and out.

Sight, Sound, Specs: (Format, Presentation and Marketing)

You can get this book from the UNC Press, as well as a few other places, and I hope to see it on more bookshelves and selling grounds as the months and years go on. This is the book that needs to be on an old conservatives bookshelves, as well as the youthful liberal. It is a work of brilliant writing that needs to be on the tablet of the next generation, ascending to power in this country. It is a work of art that should be in audio form for the lazy, and less fortunate masses of all generations in this country, who are still “up and kicking.” The book comes in hardcover form, and I recommend this as the way to purchase. This is something as sacred in the world of adult entertainment. As important as any other manual or doctrine, and I mean that with no humor intended, but as a hope that people will treat this book with the respect and admiration it deserves. At two hundred and fifty-four pages, it is the perfect fit for any level of inquisitive mind.

Don Juan’s Bottom Line: 

The might of this woman’s pen. The fearlessness of her pursuit to shed light on something taboo, yet the truth of this modern-day society. Dr. Heather Berg went to places few tread in this industry. From Prince Yahshua to Sovereign Syre, there is no place that this amazing woman did not go to tell a story and expose a truth that so many do not want to hear. For years, I have thought that the good things of this industry would be lost, just like they were in the terms of presidents Reagan, Nixon, and Eisenhower. Men and regimes that all threw out studies on the porn industry so that they could pursue this “American Dream” that we all live today. I find it bitterly ironic that we now face the divisions we do in modern society. Many believe it is unity that threatens to destroy this country because of this pursuit of happiness and greed within crony capitalism. Truth is, we could have looked at the truth. Saw race, sexuality, inequality as things we need to understand. Or at a minimum, speak out about, to show our fellow human beings that we may think more alike than we let on. Dr. Berg speaks of things that may rattle your nerves like socialism. Marxist theory and gender equality, but you must ask yourself, “why is that” after you have read this remarkable book. Which to me, is now a “porn bible” for my porn sisters and brothers, to now be able to navigate many worlds with a bit more ease and knowledge.

Porn Work: Sex, Labor, and Late Capitalism leaves no stone unturned. The marketing creativity of today’s performers and producers. The true realities of a porn star and how they make the films they take part in. There is so much in this epic read that I want to give away, but will not in the hopes that you will take this collection of words and become wiser from them as a person. This book is for so many, no matter if you are a webcam model or a retail worker who feels the pinch of this economy and spends their hard-earned money to fuel this very industry. The last words I will leave you with is a tale of where this world of adult entertainment is going, and how it goes hand in hand with our economy and way of American life. The last portion of this book is called, Fuck Jobs! Conner Habib begins by talking about not wanting to have a standard nine to five, but what is a “nine to five” in the digital age? This amazing professor, who put seven years of research into this book, tries to help some people of the world to understand and navigate by answering that very question with this book. Feminist studies, transgender porn, sex workers, content creators. Dr. Heather Berg links worlds with bridges we have all seen, no matter if we want to admit that or not. This wonder of Washington University will forever be immortalized because of this in the world of porn and I hope other places as well. Yes, as a woman whose work is published, but even more so, as a human being who gave a voice to the voiceless and did something that our many failed unions have tried to do for years. Let truth have its day in the sun. Because everyone deserves that, even a Porn Worker. 

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Special Thanks to Dominic Ace of@emmreport