Living Up To Their Name

If the Max Hardcore trial saga got you going, you'll love the Extreme Associates!

A new trial date has been set for March 2009 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where United States v. Extreme Associates originally went to trial in 2005. Ultimately, the 10 federal obscenity charges against Robert Zicari, aka Rob Black, and Janet Romano, aka Lizzy Borden, were dismissed. But in February of that year (former) US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' first public opinion on a legal matter was that he would be seeking to have the charges against Extreme reinstated; in December 2005 that's exactly what happened.

This time around, the pornography at hand includes "Cocktails 2," "Extreme Teen 24," and "Forced Entry -- Director's Cut," which was directed by Borden and the primary theme of which is "rape." In a 2001 interview, Borden said of the work for which one imagines she will be best known in perpetuity: "I'm doing this movie, 'Forced Entry,' that you will just rip apart. It's six scenes of pure rape. No pleasure at all. It's based on Richard Ramirez. The guys rape and kill the girls. We're actually trying to get in touch with him actually. There is a scene with Luciano fucking a girl, as he kills her, he looks at the camera and says 'that's for you Richard, you're my idol.'"

In an interview with "Frontline," Borden stated of her extreme oeuvre:

You do tough stuff?

It's pretty controversial.

Why is it controversial?

Because society -- Republicans and society, and the Democrats -- don't like this type of thing. They like everybody to be nice and lovey and dovey and flower-power. And that's not the real world. This is real.

So what is this scene going to have in it that's controversial? (In conjunction with this interview, a FRONTLINE film crew was allowed on the set as Borden filmed and directed scenes for a new Extreme Associates production.)

A girl being kidnapped, being forced to have sex against her will, being degraded. Being called "a cunt, a whore, a slut, a piece of shit." Then being butchered at the end, and spit on. She's being degraded.

And whose idea is this?

Mine.

And where does this come from inside of you?

When I was a child, my step-father was an alcoholic. So I think I had deep issues, and this is kind of therapeutic for me, to take my aggression out on other people. So in a way, I'm exploiting people, taking all my inner demons and aggression on them. But it's good for me. So I guess that's all that matters.

Pron people aren't damaged. They're just working out their issues in a creative format.