Girls Gone Wild: Producer Going to Hell

By now, many of you know that the only celebudick in more trouble than Mel Gibson is Girls Gone Wild fiendmeister, Joe Francis.

The LA Times nailed Francis to the wall for assaulting one of their reporters and repeatedly putting on exhibitions of himself as a sadistic predator whose whole operation could be called Rape-Lite.

GGW procures and pimps young women in a scheme just one hair from criminal offense. —Or not.  At the rate the lawsuits and subpoenas are piling up, Francis is one powdery white line away from a complete self-incineration.

Aside from the huge quantity of alcohol discussed in the Times story— used to lubricate every GGW scenario— there's no evidence described of other drug binges. No, the story only reeks of them. This guy is the king of The Mickey In Your Drink and the poster brat for Speed Kills. As Feministing says, it's "male privilege on crack."

Francis is such a lost cause that other attentions have turned to the young models, who fall for, and even seek out, his video camera's attentions. The girls think they're going to be "stars," they thrill to the idea of being "hot" without actually having to give up anything real (i.e., their virginity).

Francis, however, has every intention of taking their cherry and smashing it in their faces— but his PR is that it's all good fun and Mardi Gras beads.

Many parent-types have asked, "Why are we at a place where the only way a young woman thinks she can be important or meaningful is to take her top off for a creep's camcorder?"

Good point.

But many feminist daughter-types have countered, "It's not the topless part that's the problem, it's the exploitation by this prick. If the women took their tops off for their own movie, their own orgasm, and their own point of view, it would be a completely other story."

I identify with both sentiments. I made a lot of DIY "feminist porn" with my friends when we were young, and never had a single regret, nor would I ever say that "it was all a blur." On the contrary, we had wildly ambitious goals about what we wanted to say about our bodies and desires. I still do.

Francis' dirtiest secret is that he traffics in porno-puritanism, in sexual shame. His profit lies in young women snookered into doing something "shameful" that they will want to hide the rest of their lives— once they sober up. They have been ruined— the ultimate GGW turn-on. It's the frisson of humiliation that makes him, and his audience, hard.

And why, pray tell, is ruination the hottest American Fantasy du Jour?

It seemed appropriate that when Francis himself got assaulted by one of his little druggie pals, he was made to stick a dildo up his ass, at gunpoint, and repeat on camera how much he loved every minute of it. (I'm tellin ya, it's all in the LAT!)

Whoever pressed that button wanted to make sure that Francis finally got a taste of his own medicine. Too late— I'm afraid the nausea of repressed prurience already ruined us.

For an interesting take on what it's like to be a female viewer of Girls Gone Wild porn, check out Greta Christina's analysis, which I think beats the hell out of anything Joe Francis or the Times could articulate.

Comments

[C.S. Lewiston]

"And why, pray tell, is ruination the hottest American Fantasy du Jour?"

Hey, what the heck, in this day and age millions of Bush-worshippers are waving their little plastic flags (made in China of course) and reveling in the utter ruination of These United States.

[itinwi]

Wow... I just read that LAT article. That guy fills every terrible vision one would have of a guy who did that. A sick racist who hates women, revels in their supposed stupidity, all the while profitting from them.

I feel sick. Sicker, because although his empire seems on the verge of collapse (seriously... how are people STILL buying those things.. everything else aside... doesn't it get boring?) I have a feeling he'll be around for much too long.

Maybe the lawyers will get him someday...

[Natty Soltesz]

"At the rate the lawsuits and subpoenas are piling up, Francis is one powdery white line away from a complete self-incineration."

Susie - This is fucking hilarious. Thanks.

[Rowan]

There was a documentary on TV-- I don't remember when-- that my husband watched about Francis. We have always wondered about the legal issues connected to taping seemingly drunk/high/etc young women for public viewing. According to this show, nobody was actually drunk/high/etc, everyone signed release forms and had 24 hours to reconsider, blah, blah, blah... He even fired a cameraman on the spot for doing some unauthorized taping. A staged demonstration of his ethical business practice? I wonder.

Anyway, I have always felt that GGW is part of the problem regarding women and sexual expression. However, while my husband is not a fan of GGW, he thinks a guy saying, "Hey, I love tits and seeing girls make out!" doesn't make him a bad person. It's part of his sexual expression. He would never disrespect a woman for WANTING to show people her tits so why disrespect a guy for taping it (with her permission)? Of course, this article changes things a bit.

My husband does not look at women as "ruined" for being sexual. Every time he learns just how in the minority he is, his heart breaks a little more. If this article is true, my husband was sucked into a big con-- the con of believing that Francis was ethical and legit. Now it's not just the portrayal of "out-of-control girls" that we don't like, it's the reality.

I fear that this is actually helping the market in some way. The audience that loves to see women "ruined," tainted, made to dance and then punished for a lack of modesty, is just eating this up. To be tricked into such shamefulness-- even better! I wish I knew why. I wish I knew why some men love to look at a woman being "dirty" and then spit on her.

[Jenny Factory]

Am I the only one who is disgusted by the police officer quoted at the end of the _LAT_ article? The one who says he didn't intervene when Francis was assaulting the reporter because, although the situation sent up a red flag, it seemed that they knew each other? What the fuck kind of logic is that?!

[On an unrelated note, I am getting such a kick as I type this comment, because I see in the sidebars both _Susie Sexpert's Lesbian Sex World_ and _Nothing but the Girl_, two books I remember well from my days of working in a queer bookshop in college.]

[Steve]

Funny. I don't consider the girls "ruined" for doing this. That might just be a matter of where each individual is coming from. How about the gay version? Were the guys treated the same way? Frankly, I think taping him with a dildo up his ass sounds just fucking poetic.

[misterniceguy1960]

I've been avoiding the company of men all my life, and things like this are why.

I love porn. I love BDSM. I don't like to see women being treated this way, and don't find it the least bit erotic.

I'm probably shirking my duty by not going among men and trying to raise their consciousness (why should women have to do all the work?), but I don't know....

[Greta Christina]

-"Francis' dirtiest secret is that he traffics in porno-puritanism, in sexual shame. His profit lies in young women snookered into doing something "shameful" that they will want to hide the rest of their lives— once they sober up. They have been ruined— the ultimate GGW turn-on. It's the frisson of humiliation that makes him, and his audience, hard."

Sigh. Here comes Greta again to take the unpopular position and defend what would seem to be indefensible. And after Susie's nice plug for my article, even.

No, I'm not going to defend Joe Francis. The phrase "creepy abusive asshole" would be an understatement. But I'm really not sure that the above quote is a fair characterization of the content of the GGW videos. I know, I said in my article that it seemed from the TV ads that one of the thrills of the videos was humiliation -- but I also said that once I watched the actual videos, that perception largely dissolved.

I've seen a few of these videos -- and it seems to me like most of the girls know what they're doing and want to be doing it. I could be wrong, I'm not there on the streets of Sprng Break with a Breathalyzer and a lie detector test (not that those work, anyway), but while I certainly saw some pretty altered states in the videos, I didn't see anything that made me think consent was obliterated. And nowhere are the girls shamed for what they've done... unless you count collapsing into your girlfriend's arms in a fit of "I don't believe I just did that" giggles to be shame. I suppose some of the girls may have had deluded career goals they thought they were advancing, but most of them seemed to just be having fun. And yes, I'm sure at least some of the girls will regret what they did in the cold light of day... but you know, making dumb choices that you regret is part of being young. It's the flip side of risk-taking and adventure.

Which is what I think the thrill of GGW really is -- not humiliation or shame or ruination, but transgression, line-crossing. I think the girls are having fun doing things they consider "naughty" and wouldn't ordinarily do -- in other words, crossing sexual lines and expanding their sexual horizons -- and I think their audience has fun watching them do it. And I'm right there with them. Sexual transgression *is* hot. (Anyway, while Joe Francis may be the mother of all creepy assholes, I'm pretty sure he's not the one out there on the streets with the video camera.)

I've actually been thinking about this all day -- and before today, actually -- and there's a thing that's bugging me about much of the sex intelligensia's response to the GGW videos. Maybe I'm not being fair, but I'm detecting a whiff of patronization, and even elitism, in a lot of the writing about them. It's as if sexual liberation is only for those of us with the right sex-positive feminist credentials -- not for yahoo sorority girls who want to pull their shirts up on camera. Like they don't deserve to have sexual choices, because they'll make the wrong ones.

But we all deserve sexual liberation. We all deserve the freedom to make sexual choices -- even dumb ones or crass ones. As someone whose name I can't remember once said, not all censorship battles can be about Ulysses. Girls Gone Wild mostly makes for pretty tedious porn (although a couple of them were a lot hotter than I'd expected), but I think the concern about the poor exploited college girls who don't know what they're doing and would never do such a shameful thing if they weren't so drunk... piffle. It's patronizing.

Oh, and for the record: I was in some of that feminist porn Susie was talking about. I didn't get paid for it any more than the GGW girls do... and the profits from my labor also went (largely) to a crazy, abusive asshole. (Female, but so what.) If I can still feel good and empowered about it (and I do), I don't see why the Wild Girls can't.

[Anthony Kennerson]

Being a man who makes it his business to educate other men on respecting women as full sexual beings, I join in the consensus that this asshat gets whatever Hell he deserves for his antics.

What fascinates me most about Francis and his "act" (in the way that a 50 car pile up or a mass grave fascinates me) is that his target audience seems to consist of the most sexually repressed, lonely, fratboy-class men who would shrivel in their own grease spots at the sight of a legitimately sexually assertive woman who directly propositioned them...exactly the kind of man who would be spending his time scanning the late-night TV for his "infomercials".

However...I wouldn't go that far to say that this poisons permanantly the notion of women willingly flashing their boobs or lip-locking or even drinking with their friends. Why should young women be denied the pleasure of being the subject of safe, fun and humane sexual attraction just because a living sewage pit like Joe Francis wants to make money exploiting them??? The problem here isn't girls going wild; it's men going out of control and disrespecting women for being sexual beings.

Just another example of how pruience and Puritanism work together to injure women far more than a naked breast or pussy ever will.

Go straight to Hell, Joe Francis....and don't let the doorknob hit your sorry ass on the way down, either.

Anthony

[Greta Christina]

-"Frankly, I think taping him with a dildo up his ass sounds just fucking poetic."

I must passionately and vehemently beg to differ. If the story is true, then he was raped. And nobody deserves to be raped. Rape is never poetic justice.

[Richard ChauDavis]

Instead of movies celebrating that time of life for men and women we get this stuff. I forget the chapter and verse but God says to King David at one point 'I would give you anything but you did this' after he had a loyal man killed to avoid 'problems’ concerning the mans wife. There is very little denied us if we do it right. Surgeons rip the hearts out of people everyday and are a blessing (well usually...)

[Melissa Balmer]

The saddest thing about it all really, is that it continues us along the culture of women performing sexually while men sit back and get off. I don't say this to male bash, because women are part of the problem, but regardless it continues down a very dismal path. It's a very easy fantasy for young men (or any man really), they don't have to learn how to please women sexually, they just have to sit back and watch. Ten, twenty years from now it will be fascinating as these men who once fancied themselves as studs will face beer bellies and receeding hairlines as the women they use to oggle as objects more than people wake up and decide they need to get in touch with their own sexuality rather than just being a projection of a male fantasy - with younger men who are willing to listen.

[chanelle]

Of course there's nothing wrong with whipping your top off for attention--though I've been grossed out by the behaviour it's spawned ("show us your tits!" shouted from moving vehicles) and it's easy to see how it's linked to the rotten creep at the centre of the empire. One of the inspirations behind the Feminist Porn Awards is the knowledge that if the kids are going to be soaking in porn and pseudo-porn, why not let them know that there are options out there, including ones that feature y'know, women getting off?

ps. Susie, can you fix the link to the "feminist porn" you refer to?

[Sera]

I think it's not really about whether "you" see them as ruined; some people do and some people don't. It's about the girls themselves, and how at least some of them (especially in light of the fact that they did it for a man who turned out to be a skeeze so epic they should make a hilariously dark HBO movie about him) might feel violated or ashamed. Maybe they'll keep it secret, or maybe they'll shrug it off like it's nothing, or maybe -- worst of all -- they won't even admit to themselves that they feel deeply gross about it. Regardless, it'll affect them. And the more dirt comes out about the skeeze, the worse they're gonna feel. It really does matter who you flash your tits at, when you think about it. Okay, for some chicks it's no big deal, but for some -- had they been sober, they NEVER would have behaved that way. Sobering up and discovering you did some embarrassing, cheesy soft-core for someone basically fair and well-meaning can't possibly feel the same as discovering you did it for a sociopathic rapist.

[andrew]

I have seen those dvds. I will admit that at first I was interested in a mardi gras sort of way. Upon subsequent viewings I always felt a certain queasiness. I began thinking "Do those girls know that their actions will be forever recorded? What if they want to be in politics or a CEO? What about their parents or future spouses and children?" To have some pervert drug addict making milions off of youthful indiscretion makes me sick. I was in college and had my share of fun and at my age i'm glad no one had a video camera back then. My own memories (or lack thereof) are just fine.

[Susanne]

I don't want to say that two wrongs make a right, but in this case it did seem like Joe Francis deserved it.

[Alex]

People, stop with the anal-rape-revenge-yay! idea. I really think that meme is too common - If I had a dime for every time I heard somebody make a prison rape joke about somebody who was going to jail...That shit is nasty, seriously.

And the freak who broke into Joe Francis was not some fucked up crime fighter there to avenge the honor of the GGW girls, so just stop that smirking, ya sick evil bastards.

I'm just sayin'.

[Alex]

Although, my feelings about indulgent revenge fantasies aside, somebody ought to smack that cop.

[Ms Naughty]

"And why, pray tell, is ruination the hottest American Fantasy du Jour?"
That is a question I've been pondering for a while now. I'm a porn webmistress and I'm all for safe and consensual erotic material. What disturbs me is the popularity of "reality" porn which depicts women being tricked into sex, treated cruelly and then laughed at or called stupid. The models are all paid and willing of course, but I worry about the audience. Why are so many men getting off on seeing women treated hatefully? In the scheme of things, GGW isn't as bad many websites I've seen, although that doesn't excuse the attitude or actions of its owner. But I do find it frustrating that it essentially echoes the general zeitgeist of American porn - one that derides women for being sexual while simultaneously revelling in it.

[Alex]

Stupid people find trickery appealing because if the stupid person lies about something, then they know something the other person doesn’t and that means that they’re very smart and cunning and the other person’s very vulnerable and stupid, hee hee!

Watching somebody else trick somebody is for people smart enough to know they’re shitty liars. They know if they tried to trick a girl into something, the girl would go: "What do you take me for, asshat?" and pull out some mace. So they watch other people and go: "Hee, hee, that girl thinks she’s gonna get paid, but actually she isn’t." Or whatever the setup is.

That’s pretty much the appeal of serial killing as well: "This girl thinks I’m not going to cut her head off and keep it in the fridge, but actually I am, hee, hee! I am very cunning."

[Sandrino]

As the proud parent of a 20 year old college student, I think that the parents are to blame for their daughters deficiencies. I made a point as I brought up my daughter to challenge her to think for herself and to not let other people influence her. I also made sure that she had the best information about sex that I could get her. She is now a very smart and assertive young woman who I am sure would hardly fall prey to the likes of Joe Francis. I may not like every choice she makes but I know she is very thoughtful and intelligent. No doubt she will make mistakes, as we all do, but I am certain that she will not be easily manipulated by anyone.

As parents, we are responsible for giving our children the tools to deal with the world. Being over-protective and withholding information only produces children who are ill-equipped to make good decisions. We need to educate our children and build their self esteem to the point that they don't succumb to sweet sounding lies.

Our society's puritanical attitude towards alcohol is also to blame. Instead of introducing our children slowly to alcohol as they grow up, they are supposed to know how to deal with alcohol once they turn 21. Instead of being something you enjoy with a meal, alcohol turns into this irresistible taboo. Instead or learning how to enjoy alcohol responsibly at home, many children sneak drinks with their friends and learn to abuse alcohol. The one, two punch of sexual and alcohol ignorance combines with low self esteem to make these girls highly vulnerable to sexual predators like John Francis.

Ignorance is no defense.

[Rob Horine]

C.S. Lewiston , does everything have to be about how bad Bush is? C'mon, he's gone in 2 years and 3 months.

[Greta Christina]

-" I think that the parents are to blame for their daughters deficiencies."

Deficiencies?

Deep breath. Count to ten. Attempt to stay civil and polite.

DEFICIENCIES?!?!?!?!?

Okay. Obviously that didn't work. Try again. More deep breaths. Calm blue ocean, calm blue ocean...

Look. People. Can we please, please, try not to extend our excoriation of Joe Francis to an excoriation of the women who've performed in his videos?

Can we please treat them like adults, and in the absence of evidence to the contrary, give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they do what they do because they want to do it?

Can we please at least try to remember that other people like different sexual things from what we like... and not jump to the conclusion that if someone is doing something sexual that we wouldn't enjoy, therefore they don't enjoy it either, and therefore they're only doing it out of manipulation, desperation, coercion, drunkenness, low self-esteem, cultural brainwashing, etc.?

You know, I bet my parents thought they'd brought me up right, too. I bet they thought they brought up a good girl who'd never perform in dirty movies, or model for dirty pictures, or pick up strange men off the street and fuck them. But when I became an adult, I was able to decide for myself what sexual choices I did and didn't want to make. And whaddya know, some of them were choices that would horrify my parents if they knew.

And they were still the right decisions for me. Even the dumb ones -- they were still my decisions, and making them was part of how I learned who I was sexually and figured out what I did and didn't want to do.

So can we please try to have some respect for women who like to go to big drunken parties and flash their tits on camera? Can we please stop treating them with patronizing pity and contempt? When we stop respecting them and their sexual agency, it's a small step to disrespecting Nina Hartley and Tristan Taormino and Annie Sprinkle and Carol Queen and the other great exhibitionists of the world.

P.S. I think it's interesting that this same company also makes "Guys Gone Wild" videos as well... and nobody, not one person that I've heard or read on this subject, has gotten upset about the poor stupid young college men with low self-esteem who got drunk and let themselves be manipulated into flashing their asses and dicks on camera, and who are going to feel violated and ashamed the next morning and will regret it for the rest of their lives.

[david noble dandridge]

Did anyone see that episode of Arrested Development where Zach Braff from Scrubs does a dead-on Joe Francis impersonation? There's a sub-plot about a line of vidoes called "Girls with Low Self Esteem"

[Sandrino]

Greta, you misunderstand me. I have no problem with exhibitionism or with adult women having consentual sex on camera. I don't look down upon the GGW qirls for appearing in the videos. What I mean is that many young women these days have poor self esteem and think that by having sex and performing on camera they will be loved or cared for. These young women thus become easy prey for men like Francis. If parents had brought up their daughters to understand that their value doesn't depend on looks or popularity they would not feel that they need the attention of men like Francis. They would tell him to go fuck himself and go on with their happy, fulfilled lives. Just because you are an exhibitionist doesn't mean that you should be exploited by the likes of Francis.

Capisce?

[Rebecca R]

I disagree with Greta. While I do believe it's possible for a woman to find happiness in going drunk to parties and flashing her tits, I don't believe that hoards and hoards of 18-year olds are actually finding fulfillment in that sort of activity. They have been told by the media and their peers that a liberated woman is comfortable with her sexuality, so the go out and act as though they are liberated. But the problem is they aren't going through the necessary steps to truly discover what their sexuality is all about--they're victims of herd mentality.

And I do not think it is a "small step" to disrespecting women like Nina, Tristan, Annie, and Carol. These women unequivocally have a lot more going on upstairs and a lot more self-esteem than the bikini-clad girls on Francis' tapes. These women are leaps and bounds more highly evolved...it's degrading to suggest they're barely different. Just because nudity is involved doesn't mean Tristan's videos are anything like Francis'.

I find the whole concept of GGW utterly disgusting. As Susie said, it's one thing when you whip out the camera with a few of your friends and take naughty pictures. It's another when you do the same thing for an asshole like Joe Francis.

Ariel Levy (http://www.femalechauvinistpigs.com/) did a great job of dissecting the GGW phenomenon. Her book/article is really worth checking out.

And yes, David Noble, I saw that Arrested Development parody--brilliant!

[tish grier]

And why, pray tell, is ruination the hottest American Fantasy du Jour?

I sometimes look at what's going on and (since I have an odd knowledge of literature) think I'm living in the time of the 17th century cavaliers...who, yes, were cavalier, and enjoyed ruining women or worse.

and there's definitely something sociopathic about it...

hmmm..is that possibly an old Chinese curse: may you live in sociopathic times?

[Mirza]

Whatever happend to personal responsibility?