Currently up there with Ebola and AI-induced human extinction as a matter of deep global concern, people sitting at home and masturbating too much has given rise to a brand new subcultural tribe. The subject of tabloid outrage, social media derision, and award-winning journalistic investigations into chronic loneliness, the gooner has been painted as everything from an ironic jester to a horseman of the apocalypse. Which is closest to the truth?
Writer, internet porn historian, and former porn scriptwriter Noelle Perdue cuts through the noise in her documentary debut for VICE, The Wild Goon Chase. Heading to AVN—the world’s largest sex expo—for its first event since gooning exploded into the mainstream, she speaks to self-professed gooners and members of the adult industry to get to grips with the reality of the subculture, and to understand how the gooner became “a folk devil for the internet age.”
Watch The Wild Goon Chase in the player below:
Here, Noelle tells VICE about her experience of making the film, and where she thinks gooning is going next.
VICE: What would you say are the biggest misconceptions about gooning?
Noelle Perdue: That gooning is a straight guy thing. Obviously even in the most heterosexual contexts there’s an element of homoeroticism, but any way you look at it, gooning started with trans women and gay guys. There are a lot of different theories as to why—some say it was a response to the AIDS epidemic and fear of transmission, others say it started later and was tied to 4chan. But even cis straight women have more of a claim to gooning that straight dudes—a lot of the classic “goon faces” are mimicking (or paying homage to) women performing exaggerated pleasure in porn films.
In the doc, Mistress Veronica Vixen says she thinks there’s more of a community around gooning compared to other fetishes. What’s your take on that?
I agree that gooning has a really strong community around it, but it’s hard to pit fetish groups against each other. So many fetishes have created elaborate, extensive social communities around them (leather, for example, has the entire Folsom festival).
As a former lurker of r/GoonCaves (RIP), one of the things I liked most about it was how earnest and excited people seemed to be when sharing their set-ups. It would’ve been borderline wholesome, if it weren’t for the content on the very many screens. Given the subreddit’s demise, what do you think about the censorship of these kinds of dedicated digital spaces?
I am, generally speaking, very anti-censorship, and it irritates me when Reddit specifically tries to remove the weirdos and perverts off the site as if it wasn’t built off of them. Like come on, first Craigslist and now Reddit? Where are the R. Crumbs of the world (myself included) supposed to go?
Do you think the censorship of gooning in that regard has exacerbated it as a “trend”?
Absolutely, I think there’s a huge element of the Streisand effect where the censorship of something brings more attention, excitement, and interest to it.
One thing you note in the film is how everyone has a different take on what gooning actually is. For some people it’s a playful, exaggerated response to the taboos around discussing masturbation in general, others solemnly describe it as an addiction. What do you think all the different people you spoke to have in common?
They’re all jerking it, that we can agree on.
The gooner as a cultural figure provokes an intense reaction one way or another. It’s a bit like the response to Bonnie Blue—people are either in on the bit, or they think she represents the death of civilization. Why do you think people respond so negatively to the concept of gooning?
I think the media representations of gooning have been created in part as a response to people’s fears around loneliness and isolation. Journalists, ultimately, are scared of the same things everyone else is, and that tends to bleed into what they write about. Gooners—particularly the Reddit crowd immortalized in most of the thinkpieces surrounding it—are kind of a perfect combination of hypersexuality and isolation, both hot fear topics right now.
“They’re all jerking it, that we can agree on”
What was the most fun or unexpected moment for you while making the film?
I don’t know if this counts, but I got VICE to put me up at the medieval revivalist castle (“Excalibur” hotel) in Vegas while we were filming. I was informed that it was cheaper and shittier than the other options I had available, but I wanted in on the dirty castle. It was just as nasty and tacky and beautiful as I hoped it would be.
Did your own ideas about gooning change during the process?
Definitely! I came into it thinking that I knew everything about gooning because I had been in the porn scene for like ten years. I was totally wrong.
So what’s next for gooning? Do you think it’ll become more niche when the mainstream moves on, or continue to grow and expand as a subculture regardless?
I think it’ll die down for sure, but it’ll continue for the OGs and those that still want it. I think most of the bandwagoners will peter out in a few months, with the exception of a few who have been sexually awakened and/or grip strengthened.
Watch The Wild Goon Chase on YouTube now
Follow Noelle Perdue on Instagram @all_day_breakfast_
The post Inside the Gooniverse With Noelle Perdue appeared first on VICE.
