Jake Genesis Apologizes for Porn Past
Several months ago, at the height of his fame, Jake Genesis suddenly deleted his twitter account and left the porn industry. Jake — who has always been open about his Catholicism — cited his religious beliefs as the primary reason for his departure from the industry. This decision comes as a bit of a surprise given that he’s shot scenes with a ton of big name studios since his debut, including Raging Stallion, Men at Play, and Lucas Entertainment.
It’s been several months since Jake left the industry, but he’s still slated to appear in Lucas Entertainment’s Original Sinners, the first part of which premiered last week. So, if you were panicking that you’d never get to see any new Jake Genesis films, you’ve still got one more hope. And it’s a pretty amazing finale to his career. [More after the jump]
In an email to QueerPig.com, Jake explained his decision and his feelings about the porn industry (quoted at length because, well, it’s a fascinating read):
A few months ago at the height of my popularity, I quietly stopped filming in the adult entertainment industry. I quietly deleted my Twitter account and my Facebook and Facebook Fan page. I stopped posting on my website and eventually had all the content removed. I quietly turned into myself, looking deeply and asking what I had done to my life.
A little less than a year ago, I began a short but intense career in the adult entertainment industry. There were lots of factors that lead me to that place at that time. Many of those factors I am only now beginning to understand. What is undeniable is that, despite the factors which contributed to that decision, that decision was my decision and I am responsible for having made it. I am responsible for the effects and consequences of my actions. I was not forced, coerced, or tricked into doing pornography. I was not economically destitute or without other options. I had low self-esteem, I was depressed, I felt I had nothing to lose and I did not fear or care about the consequences of my actions. My choice was arrogant and it was selfish. I hurt people as a result of the choice that I made. I hurt my family. I hurt my friends. I hurt my brothers and former colleagues in the police department in which I served and the religious order of which I was a member. I hurt the men with whom I filmed pornography through my participation in the industry and I hurt the countless people who have seen what I did and who will see it. I take full responsibility for my decision. I accept the consequences, both known and unknown, of my decision. With a contrite and broken heart I ask the mercy and forgiveness of those who were hurt by my involvement in the pornographic industry.
Pornography does violence to human spirit and, in its effort to display human sexuality openly, pornography perverts it. Pornography destroys families and relationships and lives. Far from being a victimless act, pornography victimizes every single human being involved. The victims of the adult entertainment industry are those who consume pornography and their families but also those involved in the production of pornography and, especially the models or actors.
100% of the actors in pornography are victims to varying degrees. The very young, the economically destitute, and the uneducated are victimized to a higher degree than men like me who made a more conscious choice, but everyone is harmed deeply by the experience and no one escapes the knife that cuts deeply the innate dignity of the human person.
One thing that I am grateful that I never did was to recruit someone into doing porn. There are “agents” who make a lot of money doing this. I want to speak for a moment to anyone reading this who might be interested in doing porn or who knows someone who may be. Many young men wrote to me during my time in the industry with the same basic question, “How do I get to be a porn star?”
This was always my response:
“The best advice that I can give you about working in porn is not to do it… ever. Put the idea of your mind completely. Go to school or finish school and use your talents to do something useful. The porn industry will exploit you, it will chew you up and spit you out. You will be popular one day and a ‘has been’ the next day. The people in the industry aren´t necessarily bad but they are first and foremost concerned with making a profit and not with your wellbeing as a person. They will use you as much as they can when you are a new face, wear out your image, then toss you to the side when the next new face comes along. I’m being totally honest with you. Working in porn is hard for very little money. We are little more than prostitutes. The benefits are very few and the drawbacks are many. If there is anything else you can do in life- do that instead even if it means working at Starbucks or the GAP. You have to consider carefully all the doors porn will close for you and you must not overestimate the number it will open, for it is very few. Don´t think that you can do one or two scenes and then hide them. What is filmed and put on the internet is forever. It will also ruin your romantic life- everything becomes exponentially more complicated and having a truly healthy relationship that is fair and equal is almost impossible. Do something else. Do anything else. That´s my advice. I hope it helps you make a good decision.”
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Perhaps the most interesting part about Jake Genesis’ invective is his advice to aspiring porn actors. His advice pretty much amounts to “just don’t do it,” which of course implies that current porn actors shouldn’t be doing it either. Just another case of personal morality overstepping its bounds?
We also have to wonder if, in light of his recent uber-public tryst with Seth Knight, his comments about the impossibility of maintaining a “healthy relationship” aren’t a little more pointed than they appear.