Susanna Breslin, the writer of porn industry blog Reverse Cowgirl, has published an essay, “They Shoot Porn Stars Don’t They,” about the porn industry, its realities, and its fantasies. Its ultimate focus is how the recession and new media are affecting porn, perhaps inordinately, but along the way it takes several fascinating, and disturbing, detours to explore some of the unseen corners of the porn world.

In my last post about porn, I wrote mostly about the new wave of pornographers, specifically the new female porn stars who are more involved in the business side of the business. Women like Joanna Angel and Jilly Kelly run their own porn studios, and I’m sure they, along with like-minded male porn producers, treat their stars with respect, don’t bully them into doing things they’re not ready for, don’t traumatize them into a fugue prior to shooting scenes; that said, some of the stories told in Breslin’s essay are hard to swallow. It’s hard to imagine defending an industry that supports such outright emotional abuse and exploitation, even if only in the edge cases, even if only when things go too far. I recommend you read the whole thing. It’s not a hit job on the porn industry, but it shines a light on it, letting you see some parts you might want to forget about.