Esquire Examines Porn's Ongoing Taboo Relations Boom

CHATSWORTH, Calif.—The seemingly ever-growing demand for X-rated fare dealing with forbidden canoodling between members of the same family—usually through marriage but occasionally through blood—gets dissected in a story by Luke O'Neill posted today on men's lifestyle site Esquire.com. Writer/director Bree Mills and performers Riley Reid, Whitney Wright and Tasha Reign are among those who weigh in on the phenomenon, which as the piece points out is nothing new in porn (1980's Taboo remains one of the consistently top-selling adult movies of all time), but has undergone a renaissance of sorts in the past few years that only seems to be gaining steam ... making it apropos that Taboo's male lead, Mike Ranger, earned a spot this year in AVN's hallowed Hall of Fame. While the Esquire story makes a faux pas at its outset by crediting Mills for AVN's Best Taboo Relations Movie of this year, Dysfucktional: Blood Is Thicker Than Cum (the proper credit goes to Kelly Madison Media/Juicy Entertainment), it accurately assesses the genre's utter permeation of the marketplace, which contributed to Mills' actual wins for Best New Imprint, for her aptly named label Pure Taboo, and Movie of the Year, which went to that label's step-sibling sub-themed Half His Age: A Teenage Tragedy. As Wright tells O'Neill early in the piece, "You can ask any young female performer what bookings she has this month, and she'll tell you she's playing 17 step-daughters."  O'Neill consults a couple of academics on the topic as well, who concur that the genre's popularity is the logical result of consumers' drive to seek out ever more boudary-pushing material. Sums up clinical psychologist Lonnie Barbach, "Sex has always been about the forbidden, and here it's just about as forbidden as you can get." Read the full story here. Pictured: Jill Kassidy, Derrick Ferrari and Alexis Fawx in Pure Taboo scene "Keeping Mom Happy"