The Deuce Creator Says the Porn Drama Isn't Trafficking in Misogyny

This September, HBO is back in business with The Wire's David Simon for The Deuce, a gritty new drama about the rise of the porn industry and porn culture in New York in the early 1970s and '80s. However, Simon says that despite the show's subject matter, it should not be lumped in with fellow HBO dramas Game of Thrones and Westworld, which have both come under fire for their depictions of sexual violence against women.

"I think it would be a mistake to look at [The Deuce] and think that we were in any way trafficking in misogynistic imagery ... as one of the currencies that was driving the show," Simon told reporters Wednesday during the Television Critics Association summer press tour.

"In making [porn] into a billion dollar industry, there's something really telling in who gets paid, who gets left out... who achieves greatness and who doesn't. We're not using misogyny as a currency to get you interested; if we've made something that is purely titillating then damn us," said Simon. "I'm interested in it being the actual product and how it became such a fundamental product that it came to a point where Times Square's no longer there... It was obviously bigger than its moment. This is the point of origin and it's way bigger than that."

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For star Maggie Gyllenhaal, who plays a self-employed prostitute named Candy who refuses to work with any number of the pimps who make their money on the streets of New York, the series is a filter through which to look at women and their relationship to sex, power, cash and art, especially in the current climate of the United States.

"I think it's become clear, in a way that maybe it wasn't totally clear a year ago, that there is a huge amount of misogyny in the world. I think we thought we were in a better place than we were," she said. "[In this show] we have this opportunity to pick it up and lay it on the table and to do it in a way that's thoughtful and smart and also real. So that includes having to see some things that look violent and uncomfortable. But I think if you don't put that on a table and take a really good clear look at it, nothing will change, nothing will shift."

The Deuce premieres Sunday, Sept. 10 at 9/8c on HBO.