Internet porn

Monday

William Newton

Greg Lansky: the artist with a scandalous past

St. Paul points out that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Despite that inclusive “all,” human nature inclines toward exclusion of the “other,” which is a very difficult thing for many of us to overcome — me included. Enter Greg Lansky, pornographic-film producer. Perhaps no one in recent memory has made a greater profit from the highly lucrative commerce paradoxically known as “adult entertainment” than Parisian-born entrepreneur Lansky. Within the span of about fifteen years, he went from dropping out of school and having few realistic prospects to making fortunes from adult media, partying with celebrities and receiving glowing profiles in magazines such as Forbes, GQ and Rolling Stone.

greg lansky

Tuesday

Ross Anderson

Can social media be sex-positive?

There’s a new dawn for social media, and tech CEOs have morning wood. Twitter has a new owner, Elon Musk — did you hear? — and he’s looking to turn the slovenly hellscape into a financially viable company. The path? Subscriptions and paid content. In response, Tumblr, once the horniest hub of the internet, announced in November that it was allowing nudity again after banning “adult content” in 2018, which cost 30 percent of its user base and even more cultural relevancy. This came after years of incremental changes from the current owner, Matt Mullenweg, who acquired Tumblr from Verizon in 2019. https://twitter.com/ajplus/status/1069671569495085059 This may spark optimism in those reminiscing over the hornier days of the internet, but it’s a false hope.

Tuesday

Cockburn

Romance at the porn convention

Northern Virginia is a wasteland. Twenty or so miles due west of Washington, DC you'll find a series of nondescript neighborhoods, with no distinct identity, no true town centers, a barely broken chain of outlet stores and closed restaurants. The stretch of highway leading from Arlington to Dulles Airport is the urban equivalent of an ellipsis: a “loading” screen of locales. There could be no more suitable place to host the most conventional of conventions. And conventions can be frightfully dull. Cockburn would know: his lengthy tenure with The Spectator has seen him grace the stalls of CPAC, AIPAC, the RNC. He is far too familiar with the jangle of elevator musak, the freebie fridge magnets, the plastic press passes. When it comes to corporate America, he has seen everything.

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Tuesday

Marlo Safi

Let’s talk about porn

If you have the misfortune of being Very Online, you likely scrolled past apoplexy from social libertarians this weekend following news of the letter from GOP lawmakers to Attorney General William Barr regarding porn prosecution. For those lucky enough to be out of the loop, four Republicans wrote a letter exhorting Barr to prioritize the prosecution of obscene pornography. They argue that the proliferation and ease of access to porn coincides with increases in violence toward women, human trafficking and child pornography. They also mention the writ large consequences of pornography for children, who are becoming exposed to it online at ever younger ages. Barr enforced obscenity laws that still exist today while serving as George H.W.

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