Jolene Broome

I re-read (& re-pinned a fresher YouTube video within) this very popular JMSS post:  Jackson Mississippi Samson Society: How Lockdowns Combined With The Internet Made You So Sex(uality) Crazed, & Perhaps For The Better. Be Wary of Secondhand Internet from February 2022.

Since the re-pinned video wasn't the original one, I took the time to screen its more recently created (Christian softball) replacement.  And it got me to thinking.

What if Joshua Broome had been a Jolene Broome?  Would her story replicate despite the gender change?

Let's be more specific.  

Jolene, being as bright and "girl next door" physically attractive as her "fraternal twin", Josh, would have had the exact experience - from start to finish - related to become one of the most prolific / well compensated porn stars prior to returning home to her mother - +/-5 years later - in the Carolinas / quietly morphing into a respected personal trainer / being lassoed in by the gospel of Jesus Christ / getting married to a virgin, Christian man (who's NEVER consumed porn) and then becoming the next Kay Arthur / Beth Moore.  

Absolutely not would her story replicate Josh's.  

There'd be no chance she'd be seen as anything other than refuse / a liability, no matter her spiritual testimony.  I suppose certain folks might pity her and her story, but no one would buy into her being "sucked" unassumingly into the porn industry as Josh so doey-eyed, unassumingly capitulates.

For women can most certainly model their sensuality (Victoria's Secret), but they absolutely cannot participate in the creation of pornography sans being labeled a slut - for life.

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Therefore, let's turn our attention back to Josh, porn star turned preacher / Ward Cleaver - father of four boys whose past has never truly seemed to catch up with / stuck to him.

The elephant in the room, of course, is the digital archive.  Thousands upon thousands of hours of straight and gay porn that'll be archived forever online.  Titillating, influencing, explicitly narrating extremely intimate sex acts performed by none other than he himself.  Over and over and over again with hundreds, if not thousands of strangers.  And all of this is simply one click of the mouse away... 

How do you reconcile that in relation to your children / grandchildren having access therein to this part of your past?  And the bigger question is the following:  When Josh's family (church / bio) begins to inquire (demand?) an explanation pertaining to him truly explaining his past life, what's he going to say?  In particular, the sheer quantity of sex partners, thousands of hours of smut highlighting his ability to fuck consenting adults animalistically whilst being filmed / photographed.

But, considering his present pastoral role, how would you, as his parishioner, reconcile that within your own mind?  For I believe much of it, for him personally, comes down to his pseudonym / porn star moniker that he chose to uphold throughout that season of his life.  It must serve as a dividing line of sorts.  Plus, we're all familiar with the theatrics behind the notion of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde - two separate personas neither of which can exist simultaneously.  Perhaps his parishioners would take the same approach.

Here's a thought.

I suppose, if his porn career archive only existed within the analog, perhaps there could be some reconciliation therein, but of course, that's most certainly not the case.  Most everything, particularly within the porn space has been digitized.  And, there's no doubt, his onscreen "work" continues to gain traction in light of his newfound vocation / willingness to narrate his story. 

The bigger question though is to what degree and exactly why his charmingly good looks and seemingly unashamed approach captivate audiences.  If you've screened ex-female porn stars' testimonies (converted to Christianity or otherwise), particularly those who were as entrenched as Josh was within the industry, the primary differentiator comes down to trauma.  Deep seated trauma.

Most female porn stars are victims, from their childhoods onward, of sexual abuse / trafficking.  This sets them up perfectly for the roles they'll play within porn, and even well into their retirement from the industry itself due to the inevitable lifelong shunning / ostracization that'll be handed to them - on a silver platter. 

To look at this clinically, Jolene would be, no doubt, easily recognized as traumatized so long as she's mentally / emotionally sound.

Now then, here's the fact that no one's discussing here.

Josh exacted / inflicted that trauma as the Alpha male.  The stud.  The stallion.  This no doubt eventually resulted in amassing a tremendous amount of shame for this young man, but that could never be compared to being traumatized via sexual assault / coercion under the hot lights of the porn industry.  

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Poor Jolene.  Poor, poor Jolene.  No wonder so many women with her story simply choose to become lesbians after the fact.  

It's no doubt a man's world.  The story of Josh Broome proves it.