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Several years ago I worked at an adult entertainment company. They were involved in pretty much every vertical of adult content except perhaps print. When I rea

Several years ago I worked at an adult entertainment company. They were involved in pretty much every vertical of adult content except perhaps print. When I read articles like this one I'm always amazed at how well the tone of numbness carries through. This is the essential characteristic of the adult industry, as everyone involved in it, top to bottom, is numb or becomes numb.

MichaelGG 13y ago
Numb in what way? Numb to the mundane in-and-out stuff of the business? I'm sure many people in many industries become numb to things.
- calvinwest 13y ago
  It's a numbness to being objectified, passed around and drained of value. It's not only the "talent" (as the performers are called) that is treated in that manner. All employees are subject to it - from HR, secretaries, video editors, developers, IT, marketing associates, all the way up to executives. In adult entertainment you are not an individual, but rather a resource to be exploited. I've worked in a few other industries and I've never felt the callousness that I did while working in the adult industry. Because everyone is numb, it ends up creating an environment where there is no support and you'll eagerly step over a fallen comrade and right into the meat grinder yourself. I remember sitting at a pub with a group of 8 coworkers, one of whom had just given his two-weeks notice. He confided in us, over beers, that he was extremely depressed. No one at the table said anything in response; no reassurances, no thoughtful gestures. We sat quietly for a few moments before someone changed the conversation, but we all knew why he felt that way.
  - aeontech 13y ago
    I don't think that's unique to adult industry though... I know plenty of people in programming business who are depressed. Read some stories about gaming company death marches. Financial business is also notorious for numbness and meaninglessness it often engenders in its participants. Let's not fail to mention the innumerable hundreds of thousands who are stuck in menial/warehouse/retail/tech support jobs that offer little to no mental nourishment. "Wage slave" is a common term for a reason. I think pretty much any industry can numb and dehumanize people who are not careful to build and maintain their relationships and social structures. I would not expect to be best friends with all my coworkers, and I would feel my life to be severely one-sided if I only had friends among coworkers.
    - calvinwest 13y ago
      I didn't say unique to, but "essential to." It may also be essential to those other industries, but I have no experience in them. Sure, shady and disheartening things can happen at any company. However, if that type of negative culture is cultivated at the expense of everything else, it can be jarring even for the most stable individual. I experienced some things that were pretty terrible (and illegal) that gave me pause, but more veteran employees shrugged those things off with cavalier sarcasm. I left because I didn't want to become like them.
stplsd 13y ago
I would add humourlessness. There is good old article on adult industry by Martin Amis: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/mar/17/society.martinamis1 http://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/mar/17/society.martina... "But then humourlessness, universal and institutionalised humourlessness, is the lifeblood of porno"

MichaelGG 13y ago

Numb in what way? Numb to the mundane in-and-out stuff of the business? I'm sure many people in many industries become numb to things.

calvinwest 13y ago
It's a numbness to being objectified, passed around and drained of value. It's not only the "talent" (as the performers are called) that is treated in that manner. All employees are subject to it - from HR, secretaries, video editors, developers, IT, marketing associates, all the way up to executives. In adult entertainment you are not an individual, but rather a resource to be exploited. I've worked in a few other industries and I've never felt the callousness that I did while working in the adult industry. Because everyone is numb, it ends up creating an environment where there is no support and you'll eagerly step over a fallen comrade and right into the meat grinder yourself. I remember sitting at a pub with a group of 8 coworkers, one of whom had just given his two-weeks notice. He confided in us, over beers, that he was extremely depressed. No one at the table said anything in response; no reassurances, no thoughtful gestures. We sat quietly for a few moments before someone changed the conversation, but we all knew why he felt that way.
- aeontech 13y ago
  I don't think that's unique to adult industry though... I know plenty of people in programming business who are depressed. Read some stories about gaming company death marches. Financial business is also notorious for numbness and meaninglessness it often engenders in its participants. Let's not fail to mention the innumerable hundreds of thousands who are stuck in menial/warehouse/retail/tech support jobs that offer little to no mental nourishment. "Wage slave" is a common term for a reason. I think pretty much any industry can numb and dehumanize people who are not careful to build and maintain their relationships and social structures. I would not expect to be best friends with all my coworkers, and I would feel my life to be severely one-sided if I only had friends among coworkers.
  - calvinwest 13y ago
    I didn't say unique to, but "essential to." It may also be essential to those other industries, but I have no experience in them. Sure, shady and disheartening things can happen at any company. However, if that type of negative culture is cultivated at the expense of everything else, it can be jarring even for the most stable individual. I experienced some things that were pretty terrible (and illegal) that gave me pause, but more veteran employees shrugged those things off with cavalier sarcasm. I left because I didn't want to become like them.

stplsd 13y ago

I would add humourlessness. There is good old article on adult industry by Martin Amis: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/mar/17/society.martinamis1 http://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/mar/17/society.martina... "But then humourlessness, universal and institutionalised humourlessness, is the lifeblood of porno"