Blacksburg Gone Wild
Interesting. Just before we move to Blacksburg, it’s announced that “Girls Gone Wild” intends to film there. Opposition is intense, as it should be, and I’m hoping they get run out of town.
Folks like GGW founder Joe Francis make things difficult for those of us who don’t normally have issues with sexual expression or pornography. The issue is not the content but the behavior of the company itself. Their business practices are clearly predatory and exploitative: GGW sets up shop at a bar and encourages clearly drunk and impaired women to strip or otherwise perform sexually. GGW gets a $40 million dollar sales empire. The girls get t-shirts. There’s more on this LA Times article.
Francis likes to holler First Amendment. As far as I’m concerned, the First Amendment does protect his right to make and distribute pornography. But that does not mean his business practices need to be tolerated or condoned. Whatever the content of the film, the models should be treated with respect, fairly compensated, and given fair contractual terms when they’re sober enough to understand them. That’s the essence of “consensual.”
So I hope the students at Virginia Tech make it as difficult as legally possible for GGW to film there. They are not good corporate citizens and they do not deserve cooperation or, for that matter, consideration. Boycott the bar that hosts the event. Discourage your friends from participating or buying the videos. And do so not on anti-porn moralistic grounds, but instead make the argument that GGW’s behavior is unacceptable, that everyone deserves a fair wage for a fair day’s work, and that media companies should be forced to deal honestly with the talent they employ or contract.
Update: The Roanoke Times says several student organizations are planning events opposed to GGW — but hasn’t provided any links or additional information. If you’re one of those groups, please let me know in the comments so I can post a link to you.