Jews and Pornography in America

I was making my regular visit to Aangirfan's blog and came across this story on Kinsey and the Jews. Aangirfan is always a good read irrespective of whether you believe what is written there or not. It has the appearance of being thoroughly researched and there are always links to the points being made. And, I have recently watched the Liam Neeson film where he stars as Alfred Kinsey.

So, having read the post, and having learned a few things that I did not know (or probably, and more likely, they were things that I did know but that had just not registered in my over-loaded 2% or so of my brain that I use), like Ron Jeremy is not only prolific in the porn industry having starred in more than 1600 films and directing 100 more, but that he is a Jew.

One of the links in the Aangirfan piece is to the Jewish Quarterly (Winter 2004), and in particular an article by Nathan Abrams about the triple exthnics.

My good mate, Treespotter, thinks that he is a bit of a smut peddler, but I have got to say that even his exploits seem to pale in comparison to the role that Jews have played in developing the porn industry in America into the behemoth that it has become.

These are just some of the quotes that piqued my interest from the article:

"Jewish involvement in pornography has a long history in the United States, as Jews have helped to transform a fringe subculture into what has become a primary constituent of Americana. These are the ‘true blue Jews’,"

and

"Jews accounted for most of the leading male performers as well as a sizeable number of female stars in porn movies of the 1970s and ‘80s. The doyen of the Hebrew studs is Ron Jeremy. Known in the trade as ‘the Hedgehog’, Jeremy is one of America’s biggest porn stars,"

and a little more on Jeremy,

"Jeremy has achieved iconic status in America, a hero to males of all ages, Jewish and gentile alike - he’s the nebbischy, fat, hairy, ugly guy who gets to bed dozens of beautiful women. He presents an image of a modern-day King David, a Jewish superstud who supersedes the traditional heroes of Jewish lore. No sallow Talmud scholar he. His stature was recently cemented with the release of a pornomentary about his life, Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy,"

and

"‘Porn is just one expression of [the] rebellion against standards, against the disciplined life of obedience to Torah that marks a Jew living Judaism.’ It is also a revolt against (often middle-class) parents who wish their children to be lawyers, doctors and accountants. As performer Bobby Astyr put it on the same website, ‘It’s an “up yours” to the uncles with the pinky rings who got down on me as a kid for wanting to be musician,’"

and finally

"It is a case of the traditional revolutionary/radical drive of immigrant Jews in America being channelled into sexual rather than leftist politics. Just as Jews have been disproportionately represented in radical movements over the years, so they are also disproportionately represented in the porn industry. Jews in America have been sexual revolutionaries. A large amount of the material on sexual liberation was written by Jews. Those at the forefront of the movement which forced America to adopt a more liberal view of sex were Jewish. Jews were also at the vanguard of the sexual revolution of the 1960s."

And to think that Kinsey's interest in the sexual habits of Americans was driven by the fact that he once was caught masturbating.

It is important to learn new things everyday. Today, I learned something new :D

Have a nice and education-filled day!