Autopornography: A Memoir of Life in the Lust Lane (Haworth Gay & Lesbian Studies) (Haworth Gay & Lesbian Studies) | 
| Author: John Hay Library
Publisher: Routledge
Category: Book
List Price: $39.95
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Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 1247435
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 210
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 6 x 0.6
ISBN: 1560238984
Dewey Decimal Number: 363.47
EAN: 9781560238980
ASIN: 1560238984
Publication Date: April 16, 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: SOFTCOVER, HAS SOME EDGEWEAR TO COVER, OVERALL GOOD CONDITION, PAGES CLEAN with NO HI-LIGHTING/ UNDERLINING/MARKS, BINDING TIGHT, NO MAJOR FLAWS
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
Scott O'Hara has already garnered his share of fame. As a star in more than 25 porn movies, seasoned stage performer (a.k.a. exotic dancer), AIDS activist, and publisher of the classy sex quarterly Steam, O'Hara has been ... well ... highly visible. O'Hara bares all and then some in his new memoir Autopornography. This witty collection of essays and poems is no scurrilous kiss-and-tell, but a well argued--and graphic--declaration of sexual independence proclaiming the importance of sexuality in our lives and imaginations. O'Hara is a seductive writer who, through intelligence and wit, shocks and persuades us to view the world through his sexy, lavender colored glasses.
Product Description
In this provocative book, retired porn star Scott O?Hara (known as “Spunk” by many of his fans from an early punk photospread) gives a backstage look at the world of pornography, revealing why he loved it, what he got out of it, and why he left it. In an autobiographical style, he considers and poses answers to some fascinating questions: What is sex? What makes a porn star? And why does pornography really upset people? You?ll really get to know this noted gay porn star as you get a firsthand look at his life experiences and sexual journeys from his boyhood days of locker room fantasies and sexual experimentation to his years as a porn star and then to his experiences as an individual facing the realities of being HIV-positive. As O?Hara puts it in his Introduction: “This book was written as a last-ditch effort: a way to open up all my closets, let you in on all the dark corners of my life, and give you a better picture of what goes into the making of a porn star.Because if there?s one profession that arouses people?s curiosity, it?s that one.” As you read through the pages of Autopornography, you?ll see how O?Hara?s personality reflects his sexuality, that is, how they have melded into one. His vivid descriptions of personal relationships (with family, friends, lovers, and casual acquaintances) and his many sexual encounters as he traveled the world reveal his love of sex and his desire to live without inhibitions, secrets, or sexual constraints. Reading Autopornography may cause you to reexamine your own sexual boundaries, realize new sexual potential, and discover sexual desires not previously aroused.Listed #14 on Books Bought Mainly by Men 1997 Top 100 Bestsellers as rated by A Different Light Bookstore!
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 Hedonistic and Narcissistic Scott November 17, 2008
So. Calif book reader (Los Angeles, CA USA)
Honestly, how else can I summarize Scott's book but that of a hedonist and a narcissist when reading about a guy who lived his life so free and open, had no thought for tomorrow, an "eat, drink and merry for tomorrow we die" attitude? He seemed to have no morals except those he created, he was brought up on religion and rejected it. In fact, one person said "his attitude sacrilegious, his comments blasphemous and his behavior completely immoral", and you get the impression he was complimented by it. Sex seemed to be his life and "he who lives by the sword, dies by the sword".
I was astounded by the book but as I continued to read more of it I really felt how much I was enjoying it and what a good writer he was and towards the last few chapters I decided I would have to keep this book on my shelves instead of give it away to the library because it really was good and worth another read someday. Like the reviewer Dave said--'Scott had balls' and that is the truth. Agreed,he couldn't have been as shy as he makes us to believe if he was having all the sex he was having and there was that period where he said he had approximately 3 dozen partners in 6 weeks I think it was. And then to be unremorseful about having unprotected sex when he knew he was HIV+ is just beyond comprehension for me. I put my sex life to rest when AIDS came around and while everyone else I know is dead I am still alive. Porno does it for me now. Not the same but I HAD to control myself or die I realized and I am grateful for my self discipline.
I liked reading the book very much, but I just don't think I would have been Scott's type of person. I am too rigid, fundamentally Christian, and respectful of others to have the unprotected, anonymous, and fleeting episodes he had. He did not believe in long term relationships either and that is sad. True, it's not the be-all & end-all but it is the ideal in society I believe. Well, he is rather typical of gay males and that is why we are hated and despised because of our uncontrolled and random sexual habits.
He seemed to enjoy his life, as short as it was. I do wonder if he had any regrets---but I bet not. Another one who did it 'his way'. I did like that he really did seem to know and understand himself and his body and that is a really good thing because SO many people are oblivious to themselves and the world and I think end up not getting much out of life or what they were hoping for. I think Scott got everything he wanted, except a long life and there's nothing in the book that says he wanted that.
 It's a quick read, but my time could've been better spent. August 23, 2000
David R Hurles (Hollywood, CA USA)
9 out of 14 found this review helpful
Initially worth noting is that the "Editorial Review" remarks at the top of this page do not accurately describe this book. My disclosure which follows, however, could well suggest that my own comments are somehow biased. I was acquainted with Scott on an occasional basis for the fifteen years preceeding his death. I knew an intelligent, self-assured man, who seemed at once intimate and familiar, but at the same time, presented himself as essentially shy. He seemed to almost selfishly withhold even trivial information about himself, the sort of things that once might have turned a quickie with a stranger into an enduring friendship. He simply lacked, or carefully guarded, his personal dimension. The appearance of shyness, however, was starkly at odds with his unconcealed flirtatiouness. Possibly he had his reasons, but you won't find them in his autobiography. An autobiography certainly ought to include at least two things: the whole truth (however painful it might be) must be revealed, and the author should permit the reader to know him well enough to sympathize with, or at least identify with, the author's point of view. From what well was drawn the author's own sense of what he is telling us? I bought the book when published, out of a familiar curiousity, certain also that I would find in it names of other people we knew in common. In that respect it was a gratifying read, tripping over a tasty tidbit here, stumbling across a succulent treat there. My own name briefly surfaced on page 109 (of the paperback edition), and I was delighted to read about the afternoon we met, as seen through his eyes. What will you see given the chance to gaze at the reflection of your own memory? While his recollection of the enccounter (as written) is constructively similar to my own, his sense of the time we spent working together sounded quite different to me from my own gauzy recollection. Although standing together at the same crossroad of time and space, our individual perception, or recall, of the experience was substantially dissimilar. Honestly, I was flattered by his version, regardless of its variance from my own, and so I willingly regard both of our retrospections as faithfully honest and true. Well then, a person might be wondering, what's my real problem with this book? Just this: After two hundred pages of good, though not inspired, prose, I felt like I had slogged through a very long synopsis for what might have been, with a wee bit more honesty and openness, a truly satisfying and informing tale of a man who certainly was in the mix of an interesting milieu, during a culturally remarkable period of time. Chapter after chapter hint that more will soon be revealed, baiting and tantalizing the reader along. But when I reached the end of the book, I had only questions, not answers. His words sometimes radiate a vexatious sense of noblesse oblige (well, felt like it to me, anyway), which in the end keeps Scott, as seen by Scott, at an awkward distance from the reader. Thus, it would be hard for anyone who did not know him, to care much about him from reading his book. Possibly the manuscript was hastened by his declining health, and my thoughts here should not at all be read as ad hominem faultfinding. I admired Scott. He had balls. He left many, many devoted friends and admirers. The book, however, is simply unfinished, and it should have had a strong editor. It nevertheless garnered many favorable reviews, leaving me to wonder if some of the reviewers had actually read the same book as I.
 The Lost Boy July 19, 1999
13 out of 21 found this review helpful
I met Scott O'Hara, and a friend, now long dead, had a brief affair with him. In the flesh he was much more handsome than in his movies - a real voluptuous Germanic beauty. I asked my friend what he thought of him. What he said summed up my thoughts exactly: "He's a lost boy." What I also sensed was a deep suppressed anger. Which was surprising. Because he was immensely charming and sunny. I didn't know at this time he was HIV positive, and I believe this was the root of it. What he doesn't speak of in his autobiography is the emotional devastation his diagnosis must have caused - his statements about the validity of unprotected sex don't just read as glib or high idiocy: to me they read as dishonest. Especially after he casually relates the months of agony he'd been through with various symptoms. But to admit as much would have been 'Failure' to him. He was not only charming and handsome and well hung, which was more than enough to provide him with a easy ride in life, but he was also rich.Not surprisingly he had immense self-confidence. He had star quality. It was easy to be dazzled. But at the end of the day, , although he would never have wished to admit it, his life, and his book, is a melancholy tale.
Mostly disappointing April 10, 1999
9 out of 14 found this review helpful
I think the other reviewers must be groupies or simply amazed that a porn star can write in a half-way literate manner. The early history is interesting, but the rest is repetitive and boring. The personal philosophy seems self-serving and, frankly, superficial. The videography will be helpful to die hard fans and porn collectors. The poetry is, at best, sophomoric.
An excellent account of an authentic human being. November 12, 1998
Joseph Gomez (tallguy33@earthlink.net) (Bakersfield, California)
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
Scott's book is remarkably well-written and a pleasure to read. It's very refreshing to read about someone who survived the eighties without being infected by all the New Age psychobabble and relationship doctoring going on. Scott did not like his family, especially his mother, and he was not worried about trying to fix it. That's just how it was. He had his own philosophy and enjoyed living up to his own standards. I'm saddened to find that he passed away in February 1998 but I am truly inspired by the life he led. He spent most of his time doing only what he loved most. There are not many people who can honestly say that. This is really a fun book to read and the cover ain't bad to look at either!
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