On Monday, I introduced "The Unporny Valley." On Tuesday, I wrote about the Unporny Valley in reality. Today, the Unporny Valley is an idea. In order for porn to do its job--arouse--the porn consumer must temporarily suspend belief that porn's subject--a porn star--is a human being. Porn stars are screens upon which viewers project their fantasies with impunity and without guilt. As adult director DCypher has pointed out to me, a porn star is a simulacrum of a person. What happens when a porn star becomes "too real"? Desire turns into distance--and viewers descend into the Unporny Valley. Online, porn stars are breaking down the fourth wall between Porn Valley and mainstream America. Take, for example, Ashley Blue's blog, where she exposes the real Oriana Small behind the sex star. One day, porn will be nothing but pixels, and porn stars will be nothing more than avatars. In future porn, porn stars will work like phone sex operators, and the porn industry will be a far less dirty business. Until then, the Unporny Valley is Porn Valley's reality.
