The
most popular search term on the internet for pornography is “teen”—even
though, in most states, adults shouldn’t be having sex with anyone
under the age of 18, leaving only two legal years. This speaks volumes
about human sexuality and the way that men interact with women: Why do
we, as a society, harbor such a sick obsession with not just youth, but
what we consider youthful women? Why is fucking an 18-year-old a fetish? Why do you want a “barely legal” girl?
While
the porn industry itself exists in a bubble, we are not impervious to
the zeitgeist. This includes—but is not limited to—racism, sexism, and
classism. The world is obsessed with youth, so pornography is inundated
with that theme. “Teen” or “Barely Legal” porn isn’t something new. Even
before the internet took hold, Playboy was releasing special “college girl” issues, while Hustler’s Barely Legal magazine pandered to men’s fantasies of young, sexually inexperienced women.
Men
often try to excuse their desire for barely-consenting-age women under
the guise of human nature—namely, our innate instinct to reproduce. The
issue with that argument is that a woman’s childbearing ability doesn’t
peak until between the ages of 22-26, so the reproduction case doesn’t
really stand when it comes to lusting after teens. Another theory for
why men desire too-young girls is the anxiety of aging. An older man may
feel uncomfortable or inadequate with themselves—specifically their
sexual performance—and are able to feel superior in situations with
someone with less life experience (teenagers are significantly more
impressionable than even twentysomethings). This desire to have
authority and control over molding another human being that you’re
having sex with is toxic, to say the least.
Most teenage-themed
pornography is as follows: a male authority figure catches a female
subordinate doing something her character shouldn’t be, prompting the
female actress to have something come over her (for lack of better
phrasing), offering to seduce this man in exchange for keeping her
secret, not getting her in trouble, you name it. This female subordinate
is often a student, babysitter, or friend’s daughter. We create a taboo
narrative around these people having sex. This authority-subordinate or
association scenario is stimulating because it’s supposed to create yet
another layer of forbiddenness on their sexual act—because the consumer
wants to feel like they’re doing something wrong.
I
believe it’s a combination of predatory behavior encouraged by social
conditioning: men are often demonized and ostracized for deviating from
acceptable gender norms and discouraged from seeking help or
expressing feelings. Society and media have an obsession with
simultaneously sexualizing and infantilizing women. This infantilization
of women is seen in every available medium, and as women age, the
representation of people they can relate to in media diminishes
extensively. Advertisements sell us on anti-aging material and
youthfulness is not just praised—it is mandatory. So it’s not terribly
surprising to see this practice in pornography as well.
This conversation isn’t just about pornography though. People love shock value and pushing limits.
Porn isn’t a monolith; it’s a medium. This industry, like all forms of
media, holds a mirror up to society. In reading texts that explore the
reasoning behind the teen porn phenomenon, a lot of them seem to compare
youth and being a teenager to the extreme of old age—taut skin compared
to its saggy counterpart. What I find interesting about this dichotomy
is that there is almost no talk of the middle ground—twenty- and
thirty-somethings who are not quite grandmotherly—which is odd because
that’s the age range where most adult actresses happen to land. The
majority of women you see in “teen porn” are in their early- to mid-20s.
In fact, on forums comprised of women concerned that their partner is
consuming teen porn, much of the answers and advice state just that:
it’s only a title and most of those women are older. This brings us to
the supply and demand aspect of pornography: people are requesting
things that they want, but they only want it because it’s what has
already been provided to them.
Though I’m 21 and will be 22 in
July, I see my face plastered on porn sites with the label “teen” every
day. I was 18 years old when I started shooting so I saw no problem
having myself labeled as a teen—it’s what I was. But as a not-teen it’s
strange for me to see myself being called one online. It also may
subconsciously encourage my fans to speak down to me as if I’m a child.
It’s funny to see how gullible people are when consuming media,
believing that every porn scenario is real and that that guy is really
my dad’s best friend I’m having sex with in the garage. More often than
not, the directors making this stuff aren’t that into it either. We
laugh about making teen stepsibling porn, stuffing every SEO word
possible into scene titles. Nowadays, I do my best to not partake in any
scenes that make me feel uncomfortable due to power structures like
authority figure role-play and “teen” stuff, but my feelings and
boundaries shift and change every day as I get older and gain
perspective.
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