An issue of Otago's student magazine Critic has been banned by the official censor, for containing an offensive, but clearly satirical, article that allegedly advocates date rape.
I find it somewhat Victorian that NZ even has a position of "official censor". Censorship of text is not usual in a democracy. This BBC article suggests that attempts to censor text died out in the UK during the 1970's, after a number of failed prosecutions (Lady Chatterleys Lover, OZ, Inside Linda Lovelace). In the US, most recent efforts to censor text have fallen foul of the First Amendment.
Personally, I believe that information should only be suppressed if there was a crime involved in its production (child pornography) or that it consists of specific incitement to a crime that is likely to be acted upon.
I saw the article when it came out and it was none of this - it was a piece of satire intended to shock. I can't unfortunately find it cached anywhere. If anyone does know of a copy then pass it on - I know people outside NZ who might mirror the text.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
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This article was in the Critic archive yesterday and has gone today. It's not the one objected to - but apparently the whole magazine is tainted by association now:
"Max Hardcore: the most offensive man in porn
Posted: 2005-09-16 11:41:49
Porn is probably the first thing that comes to most people’s minds when you say the word “offensive”, so we could hardly leave it out of the offensive issue. Some people are morally opposed to all porn, some see it as inherently degrading to women, others think it has a rightful and generally harmless place in the social fabric of our society. Yet even these people would probably agree that one man in the porn industry, Max Hardcore, well and truly crosses some sort of line.
Hardcore is the producer of probably the most obscene porn in the United States, while staying within the bounds of the law. Typically, his films feature women (admittedly all are paid actresses over the age of 18) depicted in extremely degrading positions. His own website (www.maxhardcore.com, for the brave) proclaims “Max shoots classy broads who think they know what’s going on – until they get their throats and asses reamed by Max!” and “Max turns ordinary teens and mother’s [sic] alike into piss and cum splattered sluts before your eyes”. Misogyny is a clear theme – erotica is not. Indeed, it is hard to believe that anyone could find the violent and gruesome acts he portrays arousing. In some films, Hardcore draws lipstick across the mouth and face of the actresses in a careless and grotesque manner. In others he does unspeakable and painful things with a medical speculum and camera. In all his films, the discomfort and humiliation experienced by the actresses is writ large on their faces.
Nevertheless, Hardcore is the past winner of an Adult Video Network honor award and a triumphant defendant of obscenity charges. Critic volunteer Bill was able to secure an email interview with Hardcore for our offensive issue. Why feature him in Critic? Perhaps to highlight a disturbing misogynistic trend in pornography. Perhaps to highlight a worrying aspect of the human psyche which finds such material exciting. Perhaps to alert readers to the alarming level of highly offensive material readily available on the internet (as if you didn’t know already) or to raise questions about the sort of society we live in that has given rise to such material. Perhaps to remedy the tedium of the letters page. Perhaps, as Hardcore himself would contend, simply to profile a man providing people with what they want to see. One thing is certain: he sure is offensive.
Critic: In 2002 you were the subject of an obscenity trial after one of your actresses said that she was 12 years old on film. This was the first obscenity trial in California in 15 years despite it being the porn-producing capital of the world. Did you ever think that this was a message that the porn you’re making is simply just too offensive?
Max: You’re wrong from the get go, buddy, and obviously didn’t do your “fact checking”. That’s no way to start an interview. “Obscene” is a word our government uses to define illegal porn. I’m doing nothing of the sort.
Now, to address your question about the girl who said she was twelve in one of my movies; to be honest, she was so quiet, I didn’t even hear she said it, nor did I know it made the final cut. But I see nothing wrong with age based role-playing, or any role-playing for that matter. That’s what we do. And I know from considerable experience, that most woman love doing it. And it says on the warning page of my site that we are presenting scripted, fictional accounts that don’t always demonstrate safe sex, and the full range of human emotions.
As for my obscenity trial, I know that it’s just part of the business. I’m surprised it took the government so long to come back at the adult industry. The reason for the attack on me, and a couple of others in the industry around the same time, is that the Los Angeles Vice Squad felt emboldened by Bush’s election, and were eager to get more federal money to justify their pitiful existence. It didn’t pan out too well for them, as we put up a vigorous defense and beat back their unorganized attack. The final result for them, after spending over a hundred thousand dollars to prosecute me, was a misdemeanor “go away” fine of $2,500 for being a “Public Nuisance”. I agree with that, your honor. I do make a lot of noise.
Critic: Do you feel like a defender of Free speech, the Larry Flynt of the new Millennium?
Max: No, I feel like Max Hardcore, a groundbreaking pornographer of the 90s and early part of this century – which is what I am. I’m not the second coming of anybody, and don’t aspire to be. And although I do my part for the protection and expansion of our basic right as citizens to watch and learn what we like, I leave the details of the defense of free speech to the specialists, like my lawyer Jeffrey J. Douglas, and countless other Americans who feel strongly about this important constitutional provision.
Critic: How do you feel about 3 more years of President Bush? Are you scared of a clamp-down on your kind of pornography?
Max: He’s going to be gone long before I am, just like Regan, Bush, and Clinton before him. People have been saying “the sky is falling” since I got in the business in 1992. After a few years, I just ignored it.
The thing about this business I’ve learned over the years is that nothing really ever changes, it just gets bigger, and I keep getting richer. Every so often the government harasses a few companies, and declares they are attacking obscenity. But as with my case a few years ago, it finally just ends, and doesn’t really disrupt the business at all.
Critic: How much of a script do you have before you start?
Max: We always have a story before a scene – just like we have a game-plan for life and everyday activity. Always have a plan “B” is one of my many mottos.
Of course most of the girls I hire aren’t trained actresses, who can remember dialogue, [so] we keep the stories simple. Mainly I put a girl in a fantasy situation, reveal to her the attitude to have, and give her a few standard lines. I ask her to imagine how she would react as the story moves ahead, and give her inaudible helpful hints.
A scene goes surprisingly smooth when we have a cooperative model. With our experienced crew of three cameramen, and several assistants, we’re firing on all cylinders. And it’s really amazing how a girl who’s never acted or been professionally photographed performs so well from the first scene. It’s all in the preparation, and we’re solid from the ground up.
Critic: Do the girls know what you’re going to do to them before you start?
Max: We go over it in detail as time allows, but most experienced girls just want to get on with the show. I obviously spend more time up-front with newcomers, going over the scene with pictures and video, so they know what’s expected of them. Still, no amount of explaining can fully prepare them for what is going to be the most extreme sex they had ever heard of much less seen or experienced. But with very few exceptions, we always make it to the finish line. Failure is not an option. Just refer to plan “B”.
Critic: Is it true that you gave a girl a vaginal hemorrhage that required hospitalisation during filming? How did that happen?
Max: Not this story again. Okay, I had one girl a long time ago, who claimed well after the fact that I tore her pussy in a fist-fucking scene, which she was very much into. I never saw any blood, and she didn’t complain at the time. This story keeps on popping up, but I was never shown any record of any hospital treatment, or spoke to her again. Still, fist-fucking can be a dangerous thing to do, so at the beginning of every video, I say, “Don’t try these stunts at home!”
Critic: Has a gape [Hardcore’s trademark camera / speculum manoeuvre] ever gone wrong?
Max: Safety and security are our first and second priorities. Live sets are always dangerous, and bad events may occur if you’re not really careful. But there’s not too much that can go wrong with the ass-gape maneuver unless a light falls on your head. But if you get a girl on her shoulders in pile-driver position, and all the blood rushes to their head, it could knock her out temporarily. That has happened once or twice. A bigger concern is that after a couple of hours of ass-reaming, a girl’s rectum could be bruised. But we use caution, and the best lube, so the girls normally heal up after just a few days.
Critic: Surely girls have got to vomit while you throat them? What’s it like to have someone vomit on your cock?
Max: It can of course happen when a girl gets repeatedly throat-fucked. I may even work it into the story sometimes, with lines like, “Is this how the supermodels stay skinny, mister?” It doesn’t bother me at all. It means that we’ve reached a higher ground and can see further than ever before. It means the girl is giving it her all, and I appreciate that.
Critic: A lot of people, hearing about what you do to girls, might think along the lines of Ron Jeremy “If a girl’s not smiling, if she’s not enjoying it, then I don’t like it”.
Max: Everyone is entitled to their opinion. But that’s not how I view my position in this business at all. I make movies for the people who WATCH them, not for the people IN them. The people have spoken, and they want to see extreme sex. And in my movies, that doesn’t always equate to happy female faces. This is a full contact sport. Can you imagine football players, smiling at each other, saying, “I’m sorry, did that hurt?” These girls are making a thousand dollars nowadays for a scene. I expect them to work for it, and put up with some discomfort. And let’s not forget, many ordinary women have some pretty contorted looks on their faces during sex, which could easily be mistaken for pain.
Critic: Do you ever look down at a girl, her asshole gaping, piss, cum and spit on her face, make-up smeared and think “Hang-on, what the fuck am I doing here?”
Max: Never for a split second do I doubt myself, or I do what I do, because I believe in my mission in life. Along with entertaining people, my job is to show what’s possible, and what I, along with my girls, are capable and willing to do to please an audience.
But in spite of my on-screen persona, which is fictional, I do have a heart, and pity some of the people in the business, because I know they don’t have the skills to navigate through life and be successful. I’d love to change the world, but don’t know what to do.
Critic: Why do you think America has become anal obsessed?
Max: No, America, along with the rest of the world, has become fast food and computer obsessed. Do you know the average weight of an adult model has gone up more than ten pounds since I started the business? It’s getting hard to shoot around all that flab.
But to your point, people naturally want whatever they can’t have. Anal and outrageous sex are still taboo in America. I realized this when I started, and gave the people what they wanted to see. Other producers became obsessed with making movies as outrageous as mine, in an effort to be cool and keep up.
Critic: Do you have any words of wisdom for a guy trying to convince his girlfriend to try anal?
Max: I would try the truth. Start by saying, “You don’t want to get pregnant, do you?” If that doesn’t work, you can try b, c, and d. Explain that a lot of pussy fucking causes problems like yeast infections and nasty discharges.
Anal sex has no such problems. And most girls really enjoy it once they get used to it. The secret is to start out slow. Get plenty of lube worked up into the ass with a finger, get plenty on your rod, and push it in slowly, and let the girl adjust to it. I’ve yet to see a girl who couldn't do it, and liked it, when she put her mind to it. If all else fails, tell them you’ll take them shopping and to dinner.
Critic: You’re famous for wearing a cowboy hat in basically all of your scenes. How did you come up with that?
Max: In my 20s I spent a lot of time working outside in Florida, so I took to wearing the big brim for shade, so I had the look before I got in the business. I still get outside quite a bit when filming on location or traveling to and from adult expos, which is why I continue to wear it.
What I didn’t know when I started, was that there were no other cowboys in the business. So obviously, it became a unique identifier and made me stand out in a crowded marketplace. I’d like to thank Marlboro for making the cowboy, and by proxy, Max Hardcore, a world wide icon.
Critic: You’ve been said to be the inventor of several inventive new techniques and positions. What’s next for Max Hardcore?
Max: I was the first one, and perfecter of the gaping bung hole, showing for the first time to the world, the beauty of a girl’s cavernous asspipe. And we here at the Max Hardcore Institute for Finer Filth, are always working on new and imaginative ways of creating mayhem on the sets. So you haven’t seen the last of my creations.
Critic: Thanks for your time.
Max: No problem. Thanks for wasting of my time. Now fuck off and die. I’m just kidding of course. I’m pleased to be in your paper, and would like to add that if any attractive and trim young ladies would like to contact me and explore the potential of making more by the hour than my lawyer, please check out my main site. I will answer all inquiries.
Interview by Bill, introduction by Holly Walker
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