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5 Behind and Beyon d the Bedroom Door s I From John Gray to Candida Royalle It's 1 0 P.M. on a Sunda y nigh t a t th e Marriot t Hote l i n Indi anapolis , the night befor e th e seminar I'l l attend : "Me n Ar e from Mars , Women Ar e from Venus, " a n offshoo t o f th e thrivin g industr y o f "rela tionship guru" John Gray. This city seems like the perfect place for Gray' s offerings; i n th e earl y 1980 s i t passe d a cit y ordinanc e writte n b y Catharine MacKinno n an d Andre a Dworki n tha t mad e pornograph y a violation o f women's civil rights.1 But even the most sexuall y prudish o f cities can't kee p national hote l chain s fro m offerin g adul t programmin g on cable; I choose what seem s to be the most "transgressive " i n terms of this place , a selectio n calle d Hardcore. Ironically , however , th e movi e turns out to be a sort of critique of hard-core porn; even though it still has a good dea l o f sex , the three feature d couple s al l find thei r happines s i n romance an d rejec t th e cras s an d nonmonogamou s pornograph y indus try . And, true to most cable programming, the sex is decidedly soft-core — with no shots of either male or female genitalia. 2 Hardcore open s with a "typical" porn scene— a woman i n a revealing red bodysuit and a naked, well-built man have sex on a stairwell, in a variety o f position s employin g th e step s an d th e railing . Bu t afte r severa l minutes, the scene is interrupted b y a director wh o inquire s whether th e man needs a different woma n in order to climax. The woman in red is obviously angry: "Can' t w e just get to the cum shot? " she says in an obvi ous slam of the predictability o f the standard pornographi c mone y shot , the male orgasm . Tired o f the emptiness o f se x on stage , the porn sta r decide s to hire a double to take her place so she can vacation. In a romantic mountain set ting , she attends he r bes t friend' s weddin g an d hersel f fall s i n lov e wit h the best man, a sort of genteel cowboy. Scenes of kissing, romantic walks, 167 168 I Behind and Beyond the Bedroom Doors and soft-cor e lovemakin g o n grass y hillside s ar e intersperse d wit h th e newlyweds' soulfu l campfir e sex . Meanwhile, bac k o n th e por n set , th e star's double finds hersel f i n over her head with repugnant mal e costars. Finally, she agrees to d o a kitchen se x scene but will do i t only with he r manager an d only because, it seems, they have fallen i n love. The pornographic se t thu s become s a sit e o f romanti c coupling ; furthermore , th e star and her double merge in that both have found lov e and thus offer th e audience the pleasures o f pornography and th e promise o f a happier re lationship . The them e o f th e Mar s an d Venu s seminar—althoug h there' s n o ex plicit discussio n o f sex—i s no t al l tha t differen t fro m Hardcore: a celebration o f gendere d difference s i n th e pursui t o f bette r relationships . Men—that is, Martians—define thei r sense of self through their ability to achieve result s (th e cum shot , th e conquest ) an d t o protec t an d provid e (courtship an d marriage) . Women—tha t is , Venusians—achiev e thei r sense of self through sharin g their feelings an d emotions; they need to be understood an d reassured (particularl y a s a respite from th e demands of the wor k world) . I n short , say...

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