Trigger warning for violence against women.
When people talk about degradation in porn, they usually don’t know what they’re talking about. The majority of porn is shot by decent people, starring intelligent people, and is entirely consensual. Even when it gets rough, the scene is planned beforehand, with “do”s and “don’t”s clearly laid out between performers.
I know there are cases in which non-consensual degradation actually exists, but I had never really confronted them until last week. I was reading Danny Wylde’s blog, which currently features some badass interviews with pornographers and porn stars. The main topic is ethics, and there are questions about degradation. I saw the same person — Khan Tusion1 — mentioned in two separate interviews. First in Kimberly Kane’s interview, in which she said:
I had a situation where I met Khan Tusion, the guy from Meat Holes [a controversial line of porn films]. I was twenty. And he tried to strangle me. This was not even on camera. This was like him strangling me in a bathroom somewhere. And it was terrible. And I thought, “Oh my god, I’m gonna be murdered, this sucks. Everyone was right. Porn’s so evil.” But he’s like the most evil person to ever come into porn. He is like that nightmare that every mother and father who’s child is in porn is like, “That’s who they’re working with every day. It’s Khan Tusion.”
So that was terrible. That was degrading, and awful, and scary, and terrible. I didn’t even work with him. I just met him. It was awful. But some people have worked with him and I’m sure they could tell you horrible stories.
After seeing the name mentioned a second time in Dana DeArmond’s interview…
My co-star was Charlotte Vale. And he dug in really hard on her and asked her very personal questions about her family, and her twin sister. I could tell that it was upsetting her.
…I took to Google to figure out who the hell this guy is. First, it is important to note that this guy is probably no longer making porn. But when he was, he was responsible for the deplorable Meat Holes series, and the short-lived and violent Rough Sex series (absolutely no relation to Tristan Taormino’s fabulous — and gleefully consensual — series of the same name). On Khan Tusion’s Rough Sex 2, one reviewer wrote, “I can’t say [I] enjoyed this two and a half hours. In fact, it made me pretty damn depressed.” On Meat Holes 14: “If you don’t get off on brutality and joyless sex then there is nothing for you here.”
I don’t want to go all Gail Dines on everyone, but… this Khan Tusion guy is absolute filth. Kimberly Kane was right: the people who have worked with him can tell us horrible stories.
First I found a video (no longer available) of porn star Ashley Blue talking about him with visible disgust. To me, she seemed… traumatized.
Then I found some interviews with Khan Tusion. While obviously trying to put on a professional front, some choice quotes just blew his cover completely:
- “Degradation drives the business.”
- “I believe that in order to be exhilaratingly erotic, the woman has to exhibit some shame.”
- On the same women returning to perform for him: “Yes, some of them are coming back. It’s the battered wife syndrome, they want to get away, but they just can’t.”
Further searching led me to some old forum threads talking about Khan Tusion. One thread contained a post by porn star Taryn Thomas.
Meatholes was a bad time in my life. If you liked that I am sorry but don’t ever plan on seeing me mentally abused ever again or for that matter abused in any way like that. I would never do it again. I do not like being MENTALY ABUSED! No one should ever have to be mentally abused like that. I do porn because I love sex and I love to have fun but Meatholes was not fun. It is just sick and I am sorry to say that is something that I am not proud of. Because I am generally proud of all my work.
And here is where I really dug into this guy’s “work.” Apparently, breaking women down mentally is his schtick. His fans say he is so great because of this. Because he “pushes the envelope.” Because, while other people are shooting “regular” BDSM, this guy is taking things much further.
There was mention of a Khan Tusion scene where the woman cried the entire time; this was accompanied by a few clips, which I watched with horror and rage. Ashley Blue’s scene was also mentioned with a link attached. It was a link to four screenshots and four clips from the scene. I knew I should not click on them, but I did. I watched as Khan choked her until she passed out. Then I felt sick.
(Addendum, 09/13/11: Ashley Blue — real name Oriana Small — has written an autobiography entitled Girlvert. In it she chronicles the first time she met Khan, and she writes about the choking scene as well. There’s a video of her reading this excerpt, but I don’t recommend watching it, as the scene is playing in the background of the bookstore. Instead, just listen to it.)
My sickness was made worse by some of the posts in the forums. Someone would say something like, “only sick fucks would get off on this,” and another person would march in and retort, “how would you like it if I said that about something that gets you off?”
You do not get to use this argument in cases of non-consensual violence against women. There is a line, and that shit crossed it. It crossed it so obviously. Anyone watching would be able to see that Ashley Blue was not consenting. I’ve seen plenty of choking in porn scenes, and I have never felt ill from watching it. So yes, anyone who gets off on that is a sick fuck, because they are getting off on it being non-consensual.
This review of Khan Tusion’s Piss Mops #2 sums up everything, and adds a few crucial points:
Unlike most scenes starring these beautiful women, you could tell that they totally didn’t want to be there. You also could tell that they didn’t like the guys who shot this film, and in many cases they feared for their own personal safety . . . some of the scenes are downright disturbing.
The director of this movie disguises his voice. Probably for his own protection because if any relatives of these girls viewed this, they would probably kill him. All of the males in this movie also hide their faces. They apparently get off on beating women, but they don’t want to show their faces. They are not men… they are merely males.
This sort of movie hurts the porn industry. This is the type of thing that gives fuel to the people who want to ban adult movies. This is the sort of thing that causes legislation against pornography. This is the sort of thing that porn producers should stand up against.
I asked some of the girls who have worked for Khan Tusion why they didn’t walk away from the filming? . . . most of the girls are in fear of personal, legal and career repercussions for walking out of a scene. Khan uses a very strict contract, and the girls are all but locked in by the time they set foot on the set.
This is important. So is continued consent. Some of the posts on the forums demonstrate a disregard for continued consent. “Well, she agreed to do the scene” may be how you justify your enjoyment of something so reprehensible, but you’re using a rapist’s logic. If a woman is waving her arms, drooling, and clearly unable to breathe, you have gone far beyond a typical scene.
Especially when a woman is telling you, repeatedly, to stop. I came across an interview with porn star Regan Starr in which she describes her horrifying experience shooting with Khan Tusion.
So what they did was leave the crying and the kicking and the screaming in when I was saying, “Stop the cameras” because this man was hurting me. He tossed me over his shoulder and was using hard fists and slapped me on the ass and grabbed me by the throat and grabbed me by the neck and I was choking and I wanted them to turn off the cameras because I thought that wasn’t really what I wanted to get involved in. I was scared for my life, to be honest with you. And they literally brought so much terror to my forefront, and I was so horrified, and so shocked that their glory was showing on camera that I had no idea that I was going be beaten up. They basically caught that raw emotion and they also caught me sobbing and saying, “Can you stop it? Like for real, for real, for real.”
I saw the one cameraman put down his camera and walk away, like, “OK guys, she’s not joking around,” and then I saw the back one kicking in and shooting as I’m running off the set in tears going, “You fucking assholes.” . . . I felt like I was getting totally violated, how somebody being raped would feel when they’re saying, “Stop it,” and then the guy doesn’t stop and then she feels that she deserved it. I was crying and it’s just… it’s really sad.
At the time I was paid 300 dollars to keep my mouth shut and to get off the set. I was off in a corner and I never thought to press charges . . .
At this point, I had to stop myself. I was not going to find anything uplifting. It was all going to be like this: a horrifying story/review followed by some forum douche defending Khan’s movies for being “edgy.”
Usually I will defend porn to the death, but right now I’m feeling very disenchanted. I’m irritated with myself for not knowing about this sooner, and for being incredibly uneducated about cases of true degradation on porn sets. I know there is more out there, because I’ve seen the names lumped together with Khan Tusion’s. But I am honestly afraid to look now.
All I can say is, you might wanna boycott JM Productions, the company that distributes most of Khan Tusion’s movies. That’ll be easy for me, since all they seem to produce is over-the-top shit like The Violation of Harmony (which I still can’t believe I sat through, my god) and Oh No! There’s A Negro In My Mom. And if you see a shop carrying anything that Khan Tusion has directed, tell someone. Because it is not okay for filmed abuse to be in circulation.
P.S. If you try to comment on this post with something along the lines of “hay women are degrading themselves lol shut up u stupid feminist,” your comment will be going straight to trash, where it belongs. You are not listening to women and you fucking disgust me.
- Yes, as in “contusion” — a bruise. [↩]
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February 7th, 2011 at 2:07 pm
Shit, there are times when I want to be a feminist vigilante and quietly dispose of certain horrible people. Or maybe I’ve been watching too much “Dexter” . . . either way, he’s deserving of it.
And “Kahn Tusion” is supposed to be an awful stupid fucking pun on “contusion”, right? Ugh.
February 7th, 2011 at 3:17 pm
Not sure if you caught this article in The Atlantic called “Hard Core” but I’m pretty sure that chick only reviewed Khan Tusion’s porn.
February 7th, 2011 at 3:37 pm
Audrey Hollinder’s (Sp?) husband seems like he is pretty abusive. If not physically, he is definitely emotionally abusive. They interviewed them in 9to5. He was a total ass to her on and off scene.
February 7th, 2011 at 3:39 pm
@Conrad: So I’m not the only one who got that feeling from him in 9 to 5… it was disconcerting.
February 7th, 2011 at 4:17 pm
i have only recently gotten into watching porn. i could never understand why a woman would make porn because i thought thats how porn actually was, a guy slapping around a girl, doing other unmentionable things i found horrible. then i learned its scripted, not all like that and what have you. reading this though, wow… i felt bile rise to the back of my throat, and it made my blood boil.
February 7th, 2011 at 4:20 pm
@absolute irrelevance: Do not let this deter you from watching porn. This is a very extreme case. Look up the Feminist Porn Awards and find the movies that the winners have made; they are all very ethical and awesome.
February 7th, 2011 at 4:21 pm
@Epiphora: Extremely. I can’t watch anything with her in it now, without feeling really bad for her.
February 7th, 2011 at 5:02 pm
See, I actually think it’s *really* important we do talk about the bad, totally unnacceptable conduct that is out there in porn. It’s the only way society as a whole might, just might, recognise that there are good and bad apples in pornography, just like in the wider world.
And just like in the wider world, it makes sense to support the decent people, the ones working hard to promote positivity and joy, while calling out the douchebags.
NK x
February 7th, 2011 at 5:15 pm
Oh crap. That alone was hard to even read. I can’t believe this kind of thing even exists. I mean, it obviously does, but man…that’s just terrifying and disgusting. Thanks for bringing this up.
February 7th, 2011 at 5:58 pm
I like rough sex porn so I’ve encountered Khan Tusion before and his stuff is undoubtedly unethical and abusive. There is consensual rough sex BDSM and degradation and then there is abuse masquerading as that.
and if you need more reason to boycott JM even when where not dealing with Khan Tusion level of wrong they are still extremely unprofessional at best, here is a lovely example: http://www.kylieireland.com/aboutme/diary/archive/00000837.htm
Short version: unethical, idiot director puts girl he is banging on the set of a movie she is unqualified to do needless pain, allergic reactions, injuries and yeast infections follow. What also stands out to me is the irony that by all accounts if idiot director had listened to Ireland the whole thing would have not only gone better but would have likely been just as much if not more over the top, but then the director wouldn’t be ale to bang his talent in the bathroom *eyeroll*
Another, good place for ethical porn is kink.com, which while not prefect (the recent Niki blue “deflowering” controversy for one, which they at least handle professionally) is knowing for negotiating consent and safe on set conditions.
February 7th, 2011 at 6:29 pm
Hey Epiphora… Thanks for letting me know about this via Twitter.
I actually interviewed Ashley Blue for the ethics series. It’s going to be the last one to go up. But basically, when I asked her about Khan Tusion, she said she didn’t want to talk about it. This speaks more than words to me. She’s known for doing very hardcore scenes and was actually contracted with JM for three years.
I remember when I was pretty new to the business, there were a couple directors who used to joke about Meat Holes. Like, any time they gave a girl or guy a rough time (in a joking manner), they’d refer to it as meatholing. I didn’t really know what that meant until much later.
But my findings match yours. I don’t know anybody who speaks positively about Khan Tusion.
As far as JM Productions go, I’m less virulently opposed. There are obviously people who don’t like JM and think Jim Lane (their primary director) is the epitome of degradation. But I also know people who are friends with him and like to work for him. I worked for JM several years ago. Given I was pretty new, I was more worried about keeping my dick up then trying to be mean. But I don’t remember being asked to do anything abusive to the girls at all.
But given the controversy surrounding such a company, and the fact that so many people have such positive experiences working for kink.com or Tristan Taormino or even Dungeon Corp (I have no firsthand experience here – just from what I’ve been told), it seems like a fair assumption to say, “It’s more likely that performers working for JM are working without informed consent.” Even if that’s not always the case.
To everyone else who might assume, from this post, that such behavior is typical of porn, let me say straight up: IT’S NOT! I have been a performer for nearly five years. If most sets were like Khan Tusion’s, I wouldn’t have lasted this long. Neither would any of my performer friends.
Thanks for bringing this up though. I think it’s great to know where you’re getting your porn from. Maybe Khan Tusion products shouldn’t be on the list for spending your consumer dollars.
February 8th, 2011 at 12:42 am
This is why porn needs to be brought into the light, so to speak. It needs to be more accepted and considered mainstream. If it were, Khan Tusion would have had his ass thrown in jail the very first time he raped someone on camera, if not before. Because the performers would have felt free to turn him in, the cameramen would have stopped him, etc. (What the hell kind of rotten excuse for a human being doesn’t stop something like that if they’re there, anyway? I hope they all have trouble sleeping at night.)
What I don’t understand is why it is legal to carry any of this. Maybe because there seem to be two sides to the porn debate: those who think all porn is like this and those who defend all porn, pretending it is all perfect and spotless, no matter how misogynistic, abusive, racist, and/or non-consensual any particular porn is. There is lots and lots of terrible porn in the world — good porn is a relatively recent development. I worked at a video store that rented porn back in the mid-90s. About 1/10 was softcore/artsy/”Kama Sutra” stuff. Another 1/5 or so was “barely legal” “sorority hotties” etc. The rest was variations on the theme of men raping women, usually anally.
February 8th, 2011 at 3:09 pm
God, there goes my faith in humanity again. I just…wow. That was hard to read. Really hard. I think I’m gonna go ahead and review Champion today so I can regain some of it, because…god, this is why people are against porn entirely, and this is why porn needs to be brought to light, so stuff like this doesn’t happen.
February 8th, 2011 at 3:41 pm
Thank you for posting this, for being so brave as to say the things others won’t, for recognizing that all porn isn’t bad and making it a point to make that clear. All too often people lump “porn” as a category of entertainment into one basket and it’s just not the case. There are many movies that are “rough” yet you can tell it was consensual, that each of the parties agreed to the role they played, and should it get out of control at any minute there was always a safe word that actually carried weight. It seems with this Khan Tusion character that there were no set boundaries, respect, privacy or rights offered; he just wanted to beat them the fuck up and make them feel afraid and worthless (not in the safe or fun way either).
I’m sorry for all those women that had to go through the experiences he presented. I’m sorry for the people who sat through the movies as a first experience into pornography only to find themselves horrified and disgusted. I’m sorry for the women in his life, as I can only assume what he’s like on a day to day basis and I’m sorry that these series of movies slipped through the cracks and made their way to distribution. They never should have been made.
To say I’m horrified by this is an understatement. Though truthfully, it’s made me so very grateful for the people in my life that allowed me to glimpse at fear through our own sexual exploration while allowing me, through every second of it, to know that I was always safe and could end it with one choice word.
February 8th, 2011 at 4:33 pm
Wow, this is a great post. I have a friend who is very anti-porn and our ideas clash a lot. But I’m also very picky about the porn that I enjoy. I’ve seen some excellent films where all the stars appear to genuinely be having a great time. And I’ve seen some lackluster ones with no actual feeling at all. Luckily I haven’t seen something as vile as Khan Tusion’s.
I personally have a low threshold for dominate male behavior in porn unless the film has a kink edge to it. I’ve never been turned on by the strange half-choking that appears in many titles. The video clip with Ashley Blue is a little hard to watch, in her eyes you can see trauma from the event.
February 8th, 2011 at 5:01 pm
Well done, HeyEp. I feel like I’m going to be referring a lot of people to this post. You’ve done such a good job of differentiating the good versus the bad. Thanks for your investigation and reporting- it couldn’t have been easy, but you’ve really brought some dark material to light. Keep up the good work!
February 10th, 2011 at 1:41 pm
Wow. I wonder how many girls gave up on porn after working with this douchecopter.
February 10th, 2011 at 2:22 pm
Have to say, douchecopter might be my new favourite insult.
February 10th, 2011 at 2:24 pm
@Nymphetamine Kiss: It’s right up there with “douchenozzle.”
February 10th, 2011 at 2:33 pm
I have actually reviewed a DVD that was a JM productions. It was… weird. Granted, the film itself wasn’t bad, but after reading this I don’t think I could look at it in the same light.
In my review I even noted the behind the scenes footage made it seem like the girls didn’t want to be there. I even said, “in one snippet the camera-man questions what one performer was doing in the bathroom and she says masturbating, and he made a really uncomfortable comment about asking why she didn’t invite him in. It looked like she was either disgusted, annoyed, or creeped out by him (or perhaps all three).”
February 10th, 2011 at 2:36 pm
@TitsMcScandal: Um, that is definitely disturbing.
February 10th, 2011 at 8:35 pm
Great, great, GREAT article! Hadn’t heard of this douche before, but I’m glad I found out this way. Great info. I will be banning JM. Keep up the great work
February 11th, 2011 at 12:34 am
I’ve read over this a few time, and, just… There are no words. I’ve always known that some porn is exploitative, but I have never seen any that truly made me think “Hey, this is clearly fucked up”.
People like this guy are why porn needs to be less demonized. In a world that accepted porn as a natural part of sexuality that many people enjoy, a man like this would never be able to find work.
February 11th, 2011 at 5:00 pm
I usually have a pretty strong stomach, but this has me on the verge of running off to be physically ill. Intellectually I knew there was some bad shit out there, but I’d always been lucky enough not to stumble across it, even when I was actively searching for rough porn. It’s probably a good thing I never found this stuff, because while I like me some rough sex, I don’t even deal with scripted, enthusiastically consensual degradation well. If I’d accidentally watched the real shit, I might have run screaming from the world of porn-watching forever.
Thank you for researching and speaking out against this. We need more porn-positive voices who are willing to admit that sick shit is still out there, to expose it as the crime it is.
Now excuse me while I curl up with some stuffed animals and hot cocoa and watch some flash videos about puppies and kitties and sparkly unicorns.
February 12th, 2011 at 11:45 pm
I am a fairly normal porn ‘watcher’ and I had no clue who this man was. I googled him and reading some of the things I found… I do not like this. There is something obviously wrong with this man.
I even googled a video and I only found one actual clip from ‘meat holes’. The woman in the clip titled ‘cameron james’ obviously is not enjoying her self, even for a possible degradation porn.
What scares me is that with the amount of girls that go missing every year in the beginning of their careers and no one really thinks of what happens to them… I wonder about the possibility of this man commiting a murder or rape. I have no doubt through what I’ve read that he is a criminal.
I am slightly concerned that I can’t find real recent news about him…
I wonder on the possibility whether he may be directing/producing under another name?
I hope to hell not, but the thought is there…
February 13th, 2011 at 1:35 am
@Kael: Considering how well he kept his identity a secret as “Khan Tusion,” it is entirely possible. And very disturbing to think about.
February 13th, 2011 at 10:00 pm
Khan Tusion’s brand of “porn” is really just institutionalized rape. Degradation is fun and can be taken to the extreme, but the key differentiator is the presence of mutual respect and understanding of one another’s boundaries.
It makes me sick to think that people who try to speak out against his work would be told that they’re being closed-minded or disrepectful of others’ sexual preferences. More people need to understand the difference between healthy and unhealthy degradation, because until they do, a lot of women are getting hurt in the process.
March 15th, 2011 at 7:01 pm
Thank you for suffering through this for us. A boycott won’t be hard since these movies sound disturbing. I wish there were some other way to get this guy out of business. For instance: jail. It seems at minimum he is guilty of assault and rape.
March 26th, 2011 at 8:03 pm
Khan Tusion = Mark W. Handel, CEO of MWH Development. He and his business partner, Scott Adler, were arrested for soliciting sex back in the mid-90s. Some things never change.
His brother has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, believe it or not. Mark is a very good business man but a terrible human being.
Quick quote:
“RP: Some other charges that have been thrown at you, that you hate women for example. True or false?
KT: Probably true.
RP: Why?
KT: Rejection. I got roughed up emotionally. I was a recovering addict. I have been sober for twenty years. People become addicted to substances because there happens to be some defect in their life and I obviously have it.”
He appeared (minus his face) in the UK documentary “Hardcore”(2001). He seems to be retired from porn, but helped produce some crappy straight to video action/drama movies a few years back.
All in all, it’s nice to see some people shine a light on this guy. I know way more about him than I should, but it’s all for a project I’m working on (professionally, not academically).
July 21st, 2011 at 4:51 am
How is he not in jail? I mean…fuck. She’s describing a rape and beating so horrible it makes me sick to my stomach. He raped someone on camera… Rape. On. Camera. Seriously, isn’t rape still illegal?
Porn shoot or not she obviously did not consent to that (no informed consent – shrews actually left uninformed) and during it made it very clear that she was actively revoking consent. I can’t help but be shaken up and I could not even force myself to look for anything related to this guy. Because I think I’d be in tears. The only “okay” place for filmed abuse is in an evidence locker.
Thanks for posting about this. It was incredibly difficult to read about so I can’t even imagine how it felt researching and writing it.
October 18th, 2011 at 10:49 pm
Came across your site and think it is fab! Love the fondness for quality porn and the positive feelings towards self pleasure. It bugs me how so many women still feel ashamed about masturbation and enjoying their bodies confidently and happily. Hopefully a site like this will change that.
October 18th, 2011 at 11:00 pm
Oh, and also, Khan Tusion is a mean spirited and spiteful little prick who is a revolting human being. I am not even sure if he is human. He seems to be more like excrement with skin.
April 29th, 2012 at 2:48 pm
What strikes me most is the fact that the first girl to talk about this bastard described a criminal action quite clearly. It isn’t even a question of aesthetic values or the political implications of what appears on film. The man assaulted her.
And it sounds very much as though he did this regularly.
So, the questions arise, how is it that he was not prosecuted? How is it that he was able to continue working? Are there intimidation forces at work? Are there support networks to help steer women coming into the business clear of scum like that? Are they sufficiently well known?