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What if you were New York's newest 'It' Girl, but you weren't alive anymore to enjoy it?

A moment of silence please for Linda Lovelace, who should've been everywhere this week promoting Inside Deep Throat, but died in 2002 after a car accident.

Since they gotta promote the shit out of this thing, the film's producers (Brian "I put a photo of myself on Castro's mantle" Grazer, et. al.) put together a panel discussion with such luminaries as professional arguer Alan M. Dershowitz, the reclusive and demure publisher Judith Regan, and anti-porn feminist law professor Catharine MacKinnon to discuss Deep Throat's impact on the culture.

As Charles McGrath reports in today's Times, MacKinnon predictably rained on the festivities (which might explain the raincoats worn by Deep Throat's original fans):

Ms. Regan proved a surprising ally, moreover, to Ms. MacKinnon, who for years represented Linda Lovelace, the other star of "Deep Throat," after Ms. Lovelace claimed she had been coerced into appearing in the film and sought to have it suppressed. The new documentary, she said, told only part of the truth.

[...]
The other big issue of the evening was whether watching porn is bad for you. Absolutely not, said Mr. Dershowitz, who cited evidence showing that as pornographic films become more and more available, the incidence of rapes is actually declining. Ms. MacKinnon had some studies of her own, and also some meta-studies - that is, studies of studies - showing that consumption of pornography "does increase acts and attitudes of violence against women."


Fun! With a premiere this lighthearted, the movie sounds like a total blast.

A Notorious X-Rated Phenomenon Revisited, and Debated [NYT]
The Complete Linda Lovelace [some, NSFW]
Inside Deep Throat [official site]
[May 1973 Esquire cover via Esquire]