Porn Laid Bare

Six British people in their 20s with different attitudes to pornography visit Spain to explore its sprawling adult film industry. Meeting producers,performers, whistleblowers and the police, the group immerse themselves in one of Europe’s biggest pornography production hubs where they’ll confront ugly truths and complex dilemmas. They’ll discover who makes porn; how they make it; why they make it; and who makes the money. Can the group reconcile what they see with their own values and ethics? In this episode, the group visit one of Spain’s biggest producers called Cumlouder where they witness their first porn shoot with performers Rob Diesel and Julia De Lucia. They then head to a porn shoot on a Spanish beach with a producer called Thierry Kemaco who is trying to avoid being caught filming outdoors by the police. Over dinner that evening the group meet an academic called Dr Sam Carr who thinks that overconsumption of porn reduces real life empathy. The group then split to meet a performer Canela Skin who shows them how she prepares for her scenes and reveals that she once caught a sexually transmitted disease on a shoot as well as being the subject of racial stereotyping on porn sets. Later three of the group meet a whistleblower Ishmael López Fauste who reveals the dark things he witnessed when working in the industry, and then they speak to a former porn performer called Sabrina who recounts her experiences and concerns about alleged widespread drugging and prostitution in the industry. Concerned about Sabrina’s testimony one of the group meets a police officer fighting human trafficking and sexual exploitation in porn, before three of the group come face to the face with one of Spain’s most notorious producers, Torbe, also know as ‘The King of Spanish Porn’ who in renowned for filming group sex scenes. They witness a gang bang shoot with a young woman who is new to the industry, raising concerns about the vulnerability of young women in Sp

Touring porn sets in Spain the group have seen what the adult film industry means for producers and performers – good and bad - but now it’s time to reflect on themselves and consider the impact that porn is having on their life, their relationships, and on wider society. The group explore questions including how porn effects the brain, how it shapes our views of our own and others’ bodies, how it shapes societal attitudes towards racial groups, women and our understanding of sexuality, and asks if porn addiction is becoming a problem amongst heavy users. To help answer these questions three of the group submit themselves to scientific tests by neuroscientist Dr Nicole Prause where their brainwaves and genital responses are measured when watching different types of pornography. One member’s results when presented with gay porn and an adult film with black performers provokes a heated discussion between the group, leading to disagreement about how porn fetishizes certain racial groups. Two of the group also seek to explore the impact of porn on body image by visiting a plastic surgeon Dr Ignacio Sanza who is operating on a man who wants a penis enlargement and two extra testicles inserted to create a bigger bulge. They then get into their scrubs and witness the surgery as they are invited into the operating theatre. Two of the cast decide to delve into the world of gay porn and explore how it differs to the heterosexual shoots they’ve attended so far, meeting director Macho Serge as he shoots an aristocratic themed porn film in Barcelona. Meanwhile one cast member concerned about his dependency on pornography enters therapy and makes a profound revelation about his life and reflects on his own problematic porn usage. Finally, two cast members who reported a dependency on porn visits a representative of the ‘NoFap’ movement, Jesús Gomis, who advocates giving up porn and masturbation as a way to overcome porn addiction.

The group have been exposed to some of the good and bad practices in Spain’s porn industry, as well as exploring the positive and negative influences porn has on consumers, but in this episode they are questioning that if there are aspects of mainstream pornography that are damaging then what should be done about porn? They’ll explore whether there are ethical alternatives to mainstream porn that means the industry can change from within, or whether the solution is to limit the reach of pornography as much as possible to protect society. Finally the group get the opportunity to put what they’ve learnt into practice, choosing between going on a march against pornography taking place in Madrid or helping to make a porn film in Barcelona applying more ethical principles to the shoot – but after two weeks seeing the good and bad of Spain’s porn industry, how will the group divide? In this episode three of the group meet feminist campaigners the Towanda Rebels protesting against violence seen in porn. The campaigners show the group a genre of porn called ‘public disgrace’ where a woman is humiliated sexually in public, and they are shocked to learn that one of the actors in this genre is someone they’ve already met. Keen to find a more ethical alternative to more violent forms of porn the group meet producer Erika Lust in Barcelona who claims her films are more responsibly produced and focus as much on female pleasure as male pleasure. Three of the group discover what some argue is the most ethical form of pornography out there: films made by couples which completely bypass producers. They meet amateur performers Eze and Jowy who are making a porn film featuring bondage. Later the notion of there being an ethical alternative to porn is strongly challenged when they meet academic Heather Brunksell Evans. Her views inform the group’s decision at the end of their two weeks in Spain on whether they want to shape the production of a porn film being filme