renting porn

I’ve rented porn sporadically for the past, oh, ten years or so. I’m not what you’d call a heavy consumer – I rent less than five movies a year, in general – but I do occasionally enjoy porn. More so since I found gay male porn, which is about a million times better than hetero porn, as I’ve said before.Why don’t I rent more? A few reasons. Money. Lack of quality porn. But the biggest reason is: discomfort with the entire renting process.
Generally, I’ve seen far more men renting porn, and also more men behind the counter willing to rent it to you. And this is uncomfortable for me, though I do it anyway. Because men are still, even in this day and age, creepy about a woman renting porn. Particularly if she’s renting alone. They leer. They raise their eyebrows. They are far more likely to read the titles aloud, comment on them, when you take the films to the counter. It makes me uncomfortable. It makes me feel a little less safe. Nothing specific I can put my finger on. Just less safe.
All of this came back to me this morning as I heard about this abduction in the local news. When a guy with a semi-automatic entered an adult video store, he decided he wasn’t just going to rob the place – he took the sole female customer and abducted her as well. She’s missing.
There. Now I can put my finger on it.
How crazy is it that in this new millenium I as a woman fear rape simply by renting a video? Yes I know that’s silly. Believe me. I know that this type of thing doesn’t happen all the time. I know that usually, men in a video store are no more likely to be prone to rape than any other man walking down the street, eating a sandwich in a restaurant, buying shampoo at a store. But still.
I would just like to feel safer when renting porn. Hmm. Since I like gay porn so well, perhaps I should check out gay video stores instead. No hetero men to give me the heebie jeebies.
What I really wish is that I could just make the heebie jeebies go away. I’ll work on it. And until then, I’ll follow this story in the news and keep you updated.