Wikipedia:Peer review/Linda Lovelace/archive1

Linda Lovelace

I've listed this article for peer review because the subject is personally intriguing and I want it nominated for GA status; Lovelace was one of the controversial figures of the 70s for her involvement in the pornographic industry, especially in that porno flick Deep Throat. I need to know if this article needs more improvement before I submit it for nomination.

Regards, Jebbiex talk 13:28, 6 September 2016 (UTC)

Comments by llywrch

Despite the subject -- or perhaps, because of the subject, I think this is a deserving candidate to bring to GA status. I remember that during the 1970s Linda Lovelace was widely considered as a non-standard celebrity for helping to mainstream pornography; when her story of abuse & exploitation emerged, it was quite the shock.

• First step would be to double-check all of the facts & references in this article. No matter what this article states, it will be controversial so you want the facts correct.
• I notice that her autobiography Ordeal is barely cited. Yes, using this work might introduce some COI issues, but it is the primary source about her life -- especially her allegations about Chuck Traynor. I'd study that book carefully, then compare what the other sources say against what she wrote. Even if you don't make much further use of the work, it will help you understand her: while there are several sections that seem to be untrue, they read more like fantasies a trauma survivor would create to indirectly talk about what happened to her than outright lies. This emphasizes that the facts about Lovelace are often more complex than they might appear -- in some ways it is hard to accept her as a victim, because some of the things she says about herself seem to be lies. However, she was an under-educated girl from a working-class background who clearly suffered from some kind of trauma living with Traynor, so sometimes she is her own worst advocate.
• As a further comment about her career, Harry Reems wrote either an autobiography or a memoir about his career in the porn business where he discusses working with Linda Lovelace. IIRC, he confirms some of what she claims about Traynor, while also claiming that she liked sex at the time.
• Some solid facts about her marriage to Traynor would be helpful: A person on the Talk page notes that Lovelace discovered that she was never legally married to Traynor. This may be the truth, or it may be a lie she was compelled to tell herself to distance herself from her abuser. By now someone must have done the research to determine if that marriage actually happened.
• FWIW, I like the head shot of Lovelace in the Infobox. It is a good picture of her.
• A last point: another person on the talk page notes that in the first section there is a sentence with an unclear referent: "At age 20, she gave birth to her first child, which her mother gave up for adoption" -- as the commenter notes, it is unclear whether the baby was Linda's or her mother's.

This will doubtlessly prove a complex story to cover in a Wikipedia article. Do it right, & you will have something to truly be proud of. Good luck -- llywrch (talk) 21:03, 12 October 2016 (UTC)