Before Paris or Kim, there was Pamela. Original martyrs of the sex tape leak, Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee are only now receiving their apology (via Hulu miniseries). But who knew that this “voyeuristic dive into the guileless intimacy of two tabloid darlings” would change the way we consume p*rn forever? In this episode, Hannah and Maia track the decline of p*rn, from its high culture “p*rno chic” days, to its low culture era on VHS, and the way Pamela’s sex tape kicked off two decades of peeping Tom culture on the internet. With the rise of vlogging today, the question arises: can a life be p*rnographic? Or better yet, without Pamela, would we have Emma Chamberlain? Special tangent includes: Maia getting excited about “Bob Marley: One Love”.
Support us on Patreon and get juicy bonus content:
https://www.patreon.com/rehashpodcast
Intro and outro song by our talented friend Ian Mills:
https://linktr.ee/ianmillsmusic
SOURCES:
Pamela, a love story (2023), Netflix
Amanda Chicago Lewis, “Pam and Tommy: The Untold Story of the World’s Most Infamous Sex Tape” (2014), Rolling Stone https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/pam-and-tommy-the-untold-story-of-the-worlds-most-infamous-sex-tape-194776/
Hillyer, Minette “Sex in the Suburban: Porn, Home Movies, and the Live Action Performance of Love in Pam and Tommy Lee: Hardcore and Uncensored.” (2004), Porn Studies
Chuck Kleinhans, “Pamela Anderson on the Slippery Slope” (2001), The End of Cinema As We Know It .
Mark Gimen, “Sex Sells, Doesn’t It?”, Salon (1999)
https://www.salon.com/1999/12/01/ieg/
Frank Rose, “Sex Sells”, Wired (1997)
https://www.wired.com/1997/12/sex-3/
Susie Bright, “Pammy and Tommy’s Honeymoon Video”, Salon (1997)
https://www.salon.com/1997/12/05/pamela_2/
Erica Gonzales, “Pamela Anderson Writes a Plea Against Porn”, Harper's Bazaar (2016)
https://www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/latest/news/a17495/pamela-anderson-porn-op-ed/