When Gawker Media gives someone their Douche of Decade award, it's not like it is coming from a group of angry feminists or The Promise Keepers. Gawker's Fleshbot.com is one of the Internet's smarter and more revered portals to porn on the world wide web.
So it is of note that Gawker has presented their "Douche of the Decade" award to Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis.
Now here's my problem:
Granted, Mr. Francis is not exactly the Mother Theresa of Spring Break. I believe Gawker referred to him as an "oozing boil of a human being." And the 2006 LA Times article by Claire Hoffman about Francis that Gawker cites is well-written, compelling and disturbing.
But as someone whose analytic couch was no stranger to people in the entertainment industry (both TV and porn), I'm not so sure I'd rank Mr. Francis as any worse than the people who make products like Enzyte, or a number of the truly despicable producers and directors who have made some of the movies and shows that we love and cherish.
I guess I'm wondering what it is about Mr. Francis that makes him worse than a famous producer who drugged and had sex with a 13-year-old girl when he was 44-years of age? I'm wondering what's worse about Mr. Francis' taping 18-year-old girls raising their shirts or spreading their legs than hardcore porn producers taping 18-year-old girls doing double penetration and ass-to-mouth?
Maybe the issue is because the 18-year-old porn actresses are probably sober--probably--and walked onto the porn set with full knowledge and intent, while the 18-year-old girls in GGW are probably drunk and perhaps a bit more innocent. I'm not sure. Gawker doesn't say.
Is it because Mr. Francis has a penchant for threats and violence? Has anyone seen the mug shots of Charlie Sheen over the Christmas holiday? Is it because Mr. Francis pretends to be less of a scumbag than he actually might be? Heard of Tiger Woods?
Is it possible that Mr. Francis values his own special interests above those of everyone else? Anyone hear of Joe Lieberman?
So while I'm the last person on the planet to defend Joe Francis, I'm still left wondering what makes him more of a douche than a lot of other people in porn, the entertainment industry, or for that matter, the world in general.
