Just Like the Alanis Song: There’s No Irony Here

- Coleen Singer at Sssh.com Porn For Women

Over the past week or so, a sort of “compare and contrast” thread on Reddit has mushroomed out into the wider blogosphere, the upshot of the conversation being some big name female celebrities attending the recent Met Gala wore outfits more revealing than what many female porn stars wore to the last edition of the AVN Awards.

While a lot of people have chimed in on the ‘irony’ of someone like Jennifer Lopez or Beyonce’ showing more skin than Alexis Texas and Zoey Monroe, if you think about it (at all) there’s nothing even remotely ironic about it.

The underpinning assumption here appears to be because porn stars earn their living while largely wearing nothing at all, they would turn up at an awards show wearing nothing but smiles and thongs. It’s a thoroughly ridiculous assumption of course – something akin to expecting Andrew Garfield to show up at the MTV Movie Awards dressed as Spider Man.

Alternatively, maybe I’m supposed to expect Jennifer Lopez to start dressing more modestly now that she’s a proudly sexy and gorgeous 40-something who likes to wear adventurous outfits at such events, instead of a proudly sexy and gorgeous 30-something who has been doing the same damn thing dating back at least as far as the 42^nd Grammy Awards 15 freaking years ago.

Maybe I’m not supposed to be amused, though, but upset on the behalf of porn stars due to a double-standard under which porn stars are considered whores for performing sex acts on film, but mainstream celebrities who show up in public dressed in oversized lace doilies are often praised for being “bold” in their fashion choices.

With all due respect to porn stars who might feel offended about such a perceived double standard, I think it fair to say there’s a difference between being looked down upon for getting paid to have sex on camera and being looked down upon for wearing a low-cut dress to the Met. Don’t get me wrong; in my book, it’s total bullshit to look down on people for either of these reasons, but you can’t really call it a “double standard” when performing in pornography is pretty clearly and fundamentally a different thing from going to a gala event wearing next to nothing.

At the end of the day, a person’s reaction to looking at the two sets of photos being compared on Reddit and elsewhere probably says more about them than it does the celebs or the porn stars depicted in the photos, or even about varying societal standards. 

My reaction, for example, tells you I simply don’t much care about the way other women dress, regardless of whether they are receiving a lifetime achievement award from The Academy, or stepping out to pick up a carton of milk on laundry day. Many others obviously feel differently and care more, as is absolutely their right, but to me this sort of thing is always going to feel like much ado about who gives a fuck.

As for double standards and unfair judgment, I’m afraid humanity will always be stuck with such, because these contradictions are a function not only of long-accepted social norms, but the way each of us was raised, individually. 

For example, when I was growing up, my mom used to give me a hard time about the way I dressed – but it was usually along the lines of: “You have such a nice figure; why do you always hide it beneath oversized t-shirts and baggy jeans?” Some of my girlfriends, on the other hand, would find themselves grounded at length if they dared to cross the threshold of the family home’s front doorway wearing a dress which didn’t reach at least four inches below their knees. 

Whether you see this sort of discrepancy as ‘different strokes for different folks’ or something more serious and troubling, it’s probably not going away any time soon – regardless of what J-Lo wears to next year’s People’s Choice Awards, and whether she gets labeled a heroine or hussy over her choice of wardrobe.

At this juncture, it seems like a good time to put on my old Wonder Woman Halloween costume and head down to Safeway to dump my penny jar into the Coinstar machine. If I get a really wild hair up my ass, I might even adorn the tiara with daffodils. 

Don’t worry; nobody is going to think I’m a slut…. Just some loon who’s too lazy to roll up her coins and deposit them at the bank like any normal, respectable person.

About Coleen Singer:

Coleen Singer is a writer, photographer, film editor and all-around geeky gal at Sssh.com (@ssshforwomen), where she often waxes eloquent about Female Friendly Porn, sex, pleasure products, censorship, the literary and pandering evils of Fifty Shades of Grey and other topics not likely to be found on the Pulitzer Prize shortlist. She is also the editor and curator of EroticScribes.com. When she is not doing all of the above, Singer is an amateur stock-car racer and enjoys modifying vintage 1970s cars for the racetrack. Oh, she also likes porn.

Visit Coleen at Sssh.com for more kinky sex news, original movies and hot porn for women and couples!