A memoir of growing up with ‘Deep Throat.’ –Lynn Norusis
All families come with baggage; it’s just the level of degree that makes one family’s story more book-worthy over another’s. McLean-resident Kristin Battista-Frazee’s story is a trifecta: a father on trial for his work with “Deep Throat,” his continuing business in the adult industry and a mother who tries to keep it all together only to attempt a suicide. Her story hasn’t just captured readers; actor and producer David Koechner (“Anchorman” and “The Office”) has optioned the rights to make it into a TV show. In her debut novel,
“The Pornographer’s Daughter,” Battista-Frazee takes us back to the early 1970s when pornography was going mainstream. It’s a memoir about the fascination of pornography, the ongoing battle of morality laws and the coming of age of a woman trying to figure out who she is based on her family’s involvement in the adult industry.
Throughout your life, you kept your father’s job a secret, not because you were ashamed but because others might take a different connotation of your life. Why put it out to the world now?
I’m 44, and I got to a point in my life where you think about who you are, and how you got to where you are. That is such a part of who I was, and addressed a lot of things I did in my life. It started as a way to document family history. I realized my dad is a part of something that was really a part of pop culture, history and such a famous case.
The timing is great. Netflix released “Lovelace” and Showtime has “Masters of Sex.”
The fascination our culture has had with Linda Lovelace has really endured for 40-plus years now, and our culture’s dissection of how we feel about sex and how our culture has handled that is still so present today. I’m the next generation after the ‘70s where pornography really grew as this industry.
People have these stereotypes about people in the adult industry, and what they should be like, and what their kids will turn out to be. Most often, when I tell people about what my dad does for a living, they look at me very skeptically, and say, ‘Really? You don’t look like the type.’ I said, what type am I supposed to be? Maybe lacking morals, not being able to be in a steady relationship, having a problem with drugs or alcohol, or maybe that I should been a stripper.
The book was set up as your father’s job being the family secret, but it seemed that the secret was how your mom ended up reacting to your father’s career.
There are two stories there. The sensationalized story of my dad being associated with “Deep Throat,” but there is also this story about my mom struggling with depression, her suicide attempt. In the 1970s people were afraid to deal with that head on. They thought people like that were crazy and it was a weakness of theirs.
You learned out about your father at a young age.
When I was very young it wasn’t talked about. I would ask, “Dad where do you work? What do you do?” He would tell me it’s for adults only.
As you get older you can figure out what that is. You ask more questions, and you become more vigilant about your world and who your parents are. It’s that age where you begin to question and combat against your parents. You’re trying to become your own individual. That was all a part of me trying to figure it out. And they were very honest.
Have you taken the same tactic with your 12-year-old daughter?
I’ve told her she can’t read the book until she’s much older, at least 16. I’ve told her it’s for adults and Pepop does things that are just for adults. I’ve told her point blank that pornography is people having sex on film and that isn’t for kids. And she said, ‘Ew, gross.’
(December 2014)
