Porny Thanksgiving Thankyous From Gram

Like approximately 63 percent of Fleshbot's readers, I came of age at a time when porn wasn't free. My thankyous reflect the simple joys of the right to get ass in the mail.

1. I am thankful for a generation of people that has taken bullets, served jail time, or otherwise paid dearly for my right to make or view pornography so blithely. Whether the porn is "good" or not isn't the point; In just one generation, a legitimate form of expression-however poorly executed at times-is now mostly legal to create and distribute. Most of us don't realize what a luxury it is to say "For Christ's sake keep your clothes on!"

(In the gallery, you will see the shocking interracial image from the pages of Hustler that got Larry Flynt shot.)

But sometimes we forget that people like Larry Flynt, John Stagliano, and Max Hardcore have paid a price for something that a lot of us take for granted.

2. I am thankful for performers like Belladonna and Nina Hartley, who have passed through a very public crucible to become real educators, artists, and athletes. They are trailblazers who, through the out loud nature of their own transformation, make everyday sexual expression more accepted.

3. I am thankful that I get boxes of free porn so I am never tempted to download it illegally. I know the temptation of downloading music, so I applaud people who resist the torrents.

4. I am thankful for the blowsy blondes (seriously, Kagney Linn Karter. Seriously), slutty brunettes, arch redheads, and those taut pieces of sex jerky who show up in one movie and are never seen again, save for their non-porn jobs. I'll keep your secret safe.

5. I am thankful for a job in which such a simple, almost mesmerizing backdrop-people doing things that we usually do, but with better lighting-is a springboard to write about the really important stuff, like Murray Head, Cthulhu, Cadbury Creme Eggs, and the words "zaftig" and "glabrous."

· Gram Ponante (gramponante.com)