Dennis Romero's profile last week of a porn star–turned-activist had readers talking — with zero consensus (“Shelley Lubben, Porn Reformer or Self-Promoter?”).

“The irony is that Lubben exploits porn performers more than the porn industry itself does,” Bobbybluetoyou writes. “She uses them to make money. That's what the porn biz does. The difference is the porn industry pays the women.“

“This is America. She is free to express her opinion,” Tbpropsfx argues. “The woman is not hurting anyone. If you don't like what she has to say, don't listen!”

Sean Tompkins disagrees. “To say she's not hurting anyone is crazy. Sure, she hasn't physically harmed anyone, but conning people out of their hard-earned cash could be harmful.”

Outshined95 says she was helped by Lubben's organization. “At the point in my recovery when I turned to Pink Cross, I was dealing with an immense amount of shame and depression, as well as an addiction to sex, which stemmed from being raped. Hard-core porn may be deemed a legal form of harmless artistic expression for now, yet I suspect that may change as society begins to bear the consequences of such aspects as children growing up with their sexuality defined by it.“

And Barbara MacMillan adds, “Shelley's story doesn't ring false. She is the only one who describes her demons, mental contradictions, rescue efforts and the porn industry's demons in black-and-white. It's her critics who present a 'please drink responsibly,' gray-area type language — not that crashing on the roads and dying 'responsibly' from drunk driving feels any less painful. Her critics don't disagree with her. They just sugarcoat their claims.”

LAPornBystander writes, “The bickering here is nauseating. The truth is, the L.A. porn industry is pretty scummy, but there are many companies and people who are caring and professional. There is always room for improvement in any industry, and porn is no different.”

Rage Against the Road

Readers were less conflicted about the “cheaters” David Futch blasted in his First Person piece about driving in L.A. (“Road Rage,” June 15).

“I have never been so inclined to write your Comments department until I read the excellent article by David Futch last week,” Mark J. Featherstone writes. “Be it the Westside, Torrance, Whittier, downtown or Pasadena, there are first-class nutjobs in our town who regularly try to finagle their vehicles in traffic via dastardly acts that even Dale Earnhardt Jr. would find appalling.

“My personal pet peeve is drivers cutting in front of me without signaling. I guess pushing the turn signal for two seconds is an agonizingly difficult task for some. To combat this, I merely speed up, but bypass the vehicle — then eventually cut in front of the offending driver's lane (without signaling, of course) and shout the word 'payback' to myself. This way I fulfill my retaliatory jones without confrontation. This may not mean much in the grand scheme of things, but it makes me feel much better amid the sea of mobile fools.”

Joe is even angrier. He writes, “While waiting at a red light on Glendale Boulevard, a man pulled up next to me in the left-turn lane and then cut me off to go straight when the light turned green. It wasn't a case of changing his mind, as he pulled several similar maneuvers again as I watched, not to mention driving 60+ mph on a busy street with pedestrians crossing. Those are the times I sincerely wish the penalty for discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle was somewhere around $1.” Yikes.

Reader KT is amused that Futch is basically daring people to hit his piece-of-junk car: “Hahaha! I'm the same way with my crappy car! You do not mess with a chick driving a jalopy.” But, she adds, “I don't think it's fair to paint every driver who is confused by that lane change by the 405 as a cheater. I very rarely take that route, and was the trouble maker one day myself, because I had no idea. There are a lot of people making an honest mistake.”

An emailer who signs his name only as “Anonymous, Naturally” adds this: “I am a Brit living in L.A., and constantly remark that Angelenos are some of the most polite and courteous people I have ever met, UNTIL YOU GET IN YOUR CARS.” He continues, “I am probably one of those people Futch accuses of taking the exit-only just to piss him off, when in actual fact I have just gotten stuck there. On occasion I have had to leave the freeway when I didn't want to, because countless drivers refused to let me into their lane or even sped up to close the gap.

“My Angeleno friends tell me you have to move before you indicate, but this seems dangerous and counterintuitive to me, so I will carry on driving safely and hope you all just get over yourselves.” To our polite British friend, we can only say this: Don't count on it.

Correction

A profile of Pilar Díaz in our May 18 People issue mischaracterized Díaz's role with the Mucho Wednesdays party series. The party's live music series was in part Díaz's idea, but she does not curate it. We regret the error.

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