Luke Carey Ford (born 28 May 1966) is an Australian/American writer, blogger, and former pornography
gossip columnist.
Personal life
Ford moved to California in 1977. His father,
Desmond Ford, was a noted
Seventh-day Adventist
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and ...
theologian, and was the center of a
theological controversy in the late 1970s and '80s. His mother, Gwen Ford, published a book when he was two years old, but died of
bone cancer
A bone tumor is an abnormal growth of tissue in bone, traditionally classified as noncancerous (benign) or cancerous (malignant). Cancerous bone tumors usually originate from a cancer in another part of the body such as from lung, breast, thy ...
in March 1970, when Ford was three.
After leaving the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Ford explored
atheism. Ford states that he was converted to
Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...
through a Los Angeles
Beis Din
A beit din ( he, בית דין, Bet Din, house of judgment, , Ashkenazic: ''beis din'', plural: batei din) is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel. Today, it ...
. Ford says he observes the
Jewish Sabbath
Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...
, attends synagogue regularly, and keeps
kosher. He has been asked to leave at least two different congregations. Ford wrote about his religious ostracism in ''XXX-Communicated: A Rebel Without a Shul''.
Ford has been diagnosed with
narcissistic personality disorder and
histrionic personality disorder
Histrionic personality disorder (HPD) is defined by the American Psychiatric Association as a personality disorder characterized by a pattern of excessive attention-seeking behaviors, usually beginning in early childhood, including inappropriate ...
.
Professional
Ford studied economics at
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
but did not graduate. Instead, he worked as an
investigative journalist
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...
for southern California newspapers and at a radio station. In 1995, he became intrigued with the lack of journalistic coverage of the pornography industry, and started to write a book, which became ''A History of X''.
In January 1996, after researching porn for a year, Ford wrote, produced, directed and acted in ''What Women Want'', a pornographic video. It was not a success. Ford is credited as "Dick Dundee".
In 1997, Ford started his pornography gossip website, LukeFord.com. He said, "I'm not a businessman. I'm not a conventional journalist. I'm a story teller/entertainer/lunatic."
Ford was sued for
defamation multiple times by people in the porn industry, including by RJB Telecom, whom he (as well as the
Federal Trade Commission) accused of dishonesty;
Christi Lake
The XRCO Hall of Fame lists well-known adult entertainment works and workers. The list is managed by X-Rated Critics Organization and inducted annually during the XRCO Award
The XRCO Awards are given by the American X-Rated Critics Organiza ...
, whom he mislabeled in a
bestiality photo; and
Laurie Holmes (widow of
John Holmes), for accusations of prostitution on the set. Ford has said that he has been sued five times to date: one suit was dropped, another was thrown out, another was settled when his insurance company paid $100,000, and the last two were settled when he removed some of his statements without making a retraction. ''
Wired
''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San ...
'' called him "The Most Hated Man in Web Porn".
He was physically assaulted by Mike Albo, an editor for ''
Hustler
Hustler or hustlers may also refer to:
Professions
* Hustler, an American slang word, e.g., for a:
** Con man, a practitioner of confidence tricks
** Drug dealer, seller of illegal drugs
** Male prostitute
** Pimp
** Business man, more gener ...
''.
In August 2001, after urgings of his
rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
, Ford sold his main website, lukeford.com to Netvideogirls.com for $25,000, and created lukeford.net which avoided pornography, and focused more on Jewish issues. One year later, after nearly going broke, he returned to his pornographic roots by starting lukeisback.com with many of his old archives.
On October 23, 2007, Ford announced he had sold lukeisback.com and its contents for an undisclosed sum to an undisclosed party. "Any writing I do on the porn industry from now on will be for publications with no porn advertising," Ford said. Those owners (whose names have not been divulged) ran the site until June 2008 but walked away from the site saying that writing the site was too much work for the money earned. It was sold a second time, with the new owner being long-time industry observer Cindy Loftus.
''AVN'' Hall of Famer
Bill Margold
William Margold (October 2, 1943 – January 17, 2017) was an American pornographic film actor and porn film director.
Known as Bill Margold, he was a former director of the Free Speech Coalition and was a co-founder of X-Rated Critics Organiz ...
has said that "Luke Ford is exactly what we deserve... Luke's not really a blogger as much as is an internet journalist".
Ford was also in the 2012 documentary ''
After Porn Ends
''After Porn Ends'' is a 2012 American documentary film about the pornography industry. It features interviews with Asia Carrera, Nina Hartley, Mary Carey, Randy West, Richard Pacheco, John Leslie, Amber Lynn, Seka, Raylene, Bill Margold, Sh ...
'', which is about life after being a porn actor.
Bibliography
* ''A History of X: 100 Years of Sex in Film'', Prometheus Books, 1999.
References
External links
*
"Is Luke Ford good for the Jews?"*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Luke
1966 births
Living people
21st-century American non-fiction writers
American bloggers
American gossip columnists
American male bloggers
American male journalists
Australian emigrants to the United States
Australian Jews
Converts to Judaism
Former Seventh-day Adventists
Jewish bloggers
People from the Hunter Region
People with histrionic personality disorder
People with narcissistic personality disorder