Late last week, I got an email from TLO editor emeritus Clark Matthews containing a 4,318-word essay about Pornhub blocking all Oklahoma web traffic in protest of our state’s draconian porn website age verification laws.
The gist of Clark’s piece was Oklahoma’s law, although written under the guise of protecting children from pornography, was nothing more than a puritanical attempt by overzealous theocrats to, once again, shove their alleged morals and values down our throats like a…
Well, I won’t share his analogy.
Either way, Clark was not happy. In addition to harping on and on about our porn-loving lawmakers’ moral crusade, he also touched on the financial repercussions of the Pornhub ban.
He outlined just how much our state’s residents – and, specifically, lawmakers – will now have to spend on otherwise useless VPN services to satisfy their kinks, fantasies, and fetishes.
He also outlined how the ban will discourage future “up-and-coming” Oklahoma porn starlets like Ashlynn Brooke, Stacy Valentine, Jesse Jane (RIP), Bibi Jones, Kylie Page, and apparently many, many others from entering the field, and in the process, making all Oklahomans proud.
After reading Clark’s draft, I let him know that although Pornhub is banned in Oklahoma, Louis Fowler had told me that many other shady and “less credible” porn sites still don’t require age verification.
I suggested to Clark that he incorporate that tidbit into his essay to show just how dumb and fruitless the Oklahoma law is, and explain that the only thing it will really accomplish is to push teens, adults, and lawmakers to even less reputable, malware-infected websites with weird top-level domains like .xyz, .tech, and .ru.
Since then, I haven’t heard anything back from Clark. It’s like he ghosted me, and I’m still not sure why.
Anyway, Clark Matthews isn’t the only long-winded Oklahoma writer beating himself up over the Pornhub ban.
It’s also apparently affecting The Oklahoman’s Steve Lackmeyer.
Earlier this week, Steve – obviously disgruntled by the Pornhub ban – put on his local historian beret and recounted the good old days when a VPN wasn’t required to view and watch both professional and amateur pornography, and all you had to do was just venture on down to the neighborhood family smut bookstore.
Specifically, Steve focused on a chain of adult bookstores owned by a guy named Manuel North – no relation to Peter. He apparently owned a chain of adult-themed bookstores in the metro in the 1970s and 1980s, and routinely trolled the police and ruling class to the point that he was imprisoned for distributing obscene materials. In 1994, he then escaped from prison, took some people hostage, and killed himself.
Steve recounted it all in an article printed in The Oklahoman’s special “After Hours” edition:
From the moment Manuel North fought to open his adult bookstore across the street from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation headquarters in 1984, the self-described “family-type smut dealer” engaged in a war with police, city leaders, and neighbors that would end in a violent standoff a decade later…
North first grabbed headlines on Oct. 29, 1984, when he sought to open an adult bookstore at 3408 S Meridian Ave. The OSBI, the state’s top law enforcement agency, argued that its director, Ted Limke, looking out of his office window, did not want to see a store catering to shoppers looking for pornography.
Wow. That’s awesome! Say what you want about Oklahoma’s Pornhub ban and its effect on everyone’s mental health, but at least it’s helping inspire Steve Lackmeyer to share sultry tidbits about Oklahoma City history!
Seriously, I'm a bonafide OKC historian and have covered everything from sex toy spills to high-end Edmond brothels, and even I didn’t even know Manuel North existed!
I have to say, hostage situations aside, he seems like a badass.
When I’m done writing this draft, I’m going to hit up my friends and Patricia’s to see when, if, or how we can get a new location opened across the street from OBN headquarters. If that won’t work, we should at least try a dispensary!
Here’s more from Steve’s after-hours history:
Dozens of neighbors and the area’s city councilman, Jack Cornett, also opposed North, who ultimately succeeded in opening family-operated stores at 1939 Linwood, 427 NW 23, and 5901 NW 10.
The city responded with a new ordinance that prohibited an adult bookstore within 1,000 feet of another adult entertainment center or within 500 feet of a church, school, park, or any residentially zoned property.
North fought back, telling The Daily Oklahoman in a Feb. 24, 1986, story, “We’re neighborhood porno people. We’re just family-type smut peddlers.”
Wow. Family-type smut peddlers? I wonder how many grandmas and grandpas blushed while reading that line? If The Oklahoman isn’t careful, Oklahoma lawmakers may soon file a bill requiring people to prove their age before reading the newspaper!
I wish I could have been in The Oklahoman staff meeting when this idea was pitched:
Ray Rivera: Okay, I need someone to cover the Pornhub ban in Oklahoma. Any ideas?
Nolan Clay: I’ll do it! I have contacts in the Oklahoma County Grand Jury who have inside info on how to get around it!
Jenni Carlson: Wait a second. I may have had some wine, but I want to interview a local softball player with one leg who’s overcome obstacles to build a following on OnlyFans and Chaturbate, and then share their rags-to-riches story and how the ban affects them.
Richard Mize: Oh, heavenly Father. I pray you forgive me for allowing Satan to put such sinful images in my mind. For I do not know how they entered. I am a sinner and…
Ray Rivera: Not now, Richard. Not now. Think about football. It will be okay. Steve? Do you have any ideas?
Steve: So... way back in 1984, when I was just a little kid living in Bricktown, there was this bookstore down the street from my house that I’d visit every Tuesday afternoon. It was owned by this strange character name Manuel North... no relation to Peter... and he...
Okay, I doubt it went down exactly like that, but my Oklahoman Fan Fiction is usually pretty accurate.
Anyway, regardless of how the idea got pitched, as both an Oklahoma historian—and a fan of Patricia's —I’d like to thank Steve and The Oklahoman for providing this fascinating look at our city’s puritanical past.
If you’re bored, you can read the whole thing here. Or, better yet, go to a different website. One that may require a VPN.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We'll keep you advised.
