If You Care About Consent, Don’t Watch 'Pam & Tommy'

In Pamela Anderson’s memoir, “Love, Pamela: A Memoir of Prose, Poetry, and Truth,” she calls herself “an exceptionally easy target.”

With the release of “Pam & Tommy” (2022), a miniseries about the short-lived but eventful relationship between Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee, Anderson’s story is once again told by people other than herself. The “dark-comedy” focuses on the theft and release of Anderson and Lee’s sex tape. The experience was life changing and traumatic for Anderson and the creation of the show actually has an eerie parallel to the illegal distribution of their sex tape: Anderson didn’t consent to its release.

The show claims to shine a light on the unfair treatment of Anderson in Hollywood, even before the tape’s release, but the creators of the show are mimicking the behaviors of the predators they’re trying to depict.

In an interview with Deadline, the show’s executive producer, Craig Gillespie said he hoped to bring people’s attention to “what our culture was like back then, and how women were treated, and see the normalcy on talk shows and interviews that as a society, everybody was OK with bizarrely.”

While Pamela and other women were treated horribly throughout the ’80s and ’90s, it is naive to act as if society has evolved to the point where we can consider their treatment a thing of the past — the show being made without Pamela’s permission proves that.

It’s ironic that the one thing the show got right was how disrespected Pamela Anderson has been throughout most of her career, considering they added to the dogpile. Before the tape was released, Anderson was a successful playboy model and globally known actress thanks to her role as CJ Parker on Baywatch. Her rise to icon status mirrored Marilyn Monroe. Like Monroe, people were unable to separate Anderson — the person— from her character — the blonde bombshell known for her iconic slow motion run. She was objectified in interviews with (formerly) respected men like Matt Lauer and Larry King who had no shame asking her whether or not her breasts were real.

“Pam & Tommy” feeds into an unnatural curiosity, providing viewers the opportunity to peer into the private lives of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee as voyeurs. Throughout Pamela’s career, people have felt particularly entitled to her intimate information, and this show invades her privacy just like the people they’re attempting to critique. There’s no shortage of sex scenes between the show’s main characters, but the exposure of Anderson’s body above Lee’s feels egregious. The first time she is seen by herself, Anderson is nearly naked with only a loose tank top. The fact that she did not consent to this show being produced makes these scenes feel particularly disturbing.

The release of the original sex tape didn’t just tarnish her image — it became synonymous with her image, stripping away any public perception of her humanity, which explains why the creators felt entitled to tell her story. But now, with two recently released projects including her memoir, “Love, Pamela: A Memoir of Prose, Poetry, and Truth,” and documentary, “Pamela, A Love Story,” she is finally poised to control her own narrative.

“Pamela, A Love Story” is an inside look into the life of Pamela Anderson. She was encouraged by her sons to “tell [her] story,” and her oldest son Brandon is one of the movie’s producers.

The film begins back on Vancouver Island, where Pamela speaks about her upbringing in Canada, being a tomboy, and growing up doing gymnastics. This autobiographical space also gives Anderson the platform to talk about the sexual assault she experienced during her childhood and teen years, which she considers her first “exposure” to sex. These events impacted her tremendously, contributing to her underlying insecurities and shyness.

Anderson called her shyness a “prison,” one she was locked in due to the cruelty of people around her, but the first photo shoot she did with Playboy gave her confidence. She says in her documentary, “that was the first time I felt like I’d broken free of something.” Her belief that nudity is empowering followed, as it felt like she was reclaiming her own body. Unfortunately, Anderson’s playboy modeling was used against her when she was fighting for her right to privacy in court and essentially, the lawyers told her that since she was in Playboy, she has no right to privacy — as if there is no difference between consensual and non consensual nudity.

In the eyes of the law and now, in the eyes of the creators of “Pam & Tommy,” Anderson’s treatment in Hollywood is a microcosm of the misogyny prevalent in the entertainment industry. She called herself an “exceptionally easy target,” but she is “proud of that,” not having the desire to be “hard, heard, or taken seriously.” And while she should absolutely be proud of her strength and ability to withstand such harsh public scrutiny, it is time for the public to hear her story from her own voice — the only true story.