August 17, 2013

"I’ve wanted to be in porn since middle school, when I understood that performers made each other and audiences feel good for money."

"It seemed like an honest use of time; plus, all the popular kids thought it was cool."
When I was old enough to do it, I waited for over a decade, thinking about my reasons for wanting to participate before I actually decided I was ready.

All the women in porn I know have similar stories. More representative than Lovelace are contemporary and prolific performers like Sovereign Syre. “Every step of the way was a conscious transition,” she told me. Her “erotic journey” began when, after leaving grad school to write a novel, she started appearing on an online modeling site and progressed to porn slowly and thoughtfully from there.
From an article in Slate titled "Linda Lovelace Is Not a Porn Star/The real world of porn has nothing to do with her experience in Deep Throat."

23 comments:

Clyde said...

Just for the record, it should be noted that Conner Habib is a male porn actor, for what it's worth. Although I read a similar article by Aurora Snow a few weeks back, so in most cases, the feeling of exploitation or lack of same among porn actors is likely to cross gender lines.

pbird said...

I guess it doesn't matter what a meatpuppet does with its little meatpuppet bits and pieces.

Shouting Thomas said...

Feminists sanctioning "sex positive" porn is hilarious bullshit. Porn is about much deeper human drives and memories than shitty ideology.

The "Deep Throat" controversy is equally bullshit.

Deep throating does produce the most powerful orgasm in women. In combination with double penetration, it is the ultimate sexual thrill for women. Gay men are well aware of these dynamics, and they are enthusiastic participants in the deep throating and double penetration.

Whores quite frequently lapse into acute guilt over their whoring and seek to scapegoat their pimps. A story as old as the Bible.

bleh said...

Very interesting and well-written. But I was surprised to learn that Conner Habib is a man. Somehow that makes his thoughts on women in porn less compelling.

Paco Wové said...

Bored. So bored of Porn!. So bored of Porn Stars!. So bored of looking like Porn Stars!. So bored of Porn! being shoved down my throat by what passes for a modern vehicle of culture. Fuck you, Slate, and fuck your writers, editors, and factotums, and fuck your collaborators and competitors, and fuck every vile turd vomited forth by the bilge pump media.

somefeller said...

Unless this writer went to the sort of high school where the students have really grim future prospects, I suspect the real concept being conveyed by the popular kids was: "plus, all the popular kids thought it was cool...for other people to do it, namely me."

FullMoon said...

Why is every porn actor a "star"?



Chase said...

Of course we have misjudged all of you intelligent talented women who have been doing porn. I blame it on the hundreds of porn actresses over the years horrible and sad stories of exploitation and cruelty. Stupid former porn actresses. Why didn't you just be quiet and let us believe there is never any exploitation, so that we can satisfy our primal urges guilt free!

Freeman Hunt said...

Written by a man.

William said...

Is it possible that many porn performers are drawn to porn because it's porn? Some variant of exhibitionism. The most attractive part of the act isn't the sex or the money, but the camera. It seems a more ethical and socially productive form of behavior than that engaged in by Anthony Weiner.

madAsHell said...

Written by a man

...and he only does gay porn.

You can listen to female porn star interviews on YouTube. No sex, just interviews. The girls seem to all agree that they are over-compensating for something missing in their lives.

Michael K said...

The poor misunderstood porn "star." I, too, have never heard of a female porn actress who wasn't a star. What is putting a lot of stress on these folks' industry is the amateur porn actress. Lots of them. Maybe they were the other middle school girls.

Anonymous said...

Paco: Fuck you, Slate, and fuck your writers, editors, and factotums, and fuck your collaborators and competitors, and fuck every vile turd vomited forth by the bilge pump media.

Ah, Paco, ya cranky old prig. You probably just want some deep throating and double penetration.

Sublime metaphor mix, though - fuck every vile turd vomited forth.... I suppose one can fuck a turd, but vomit one?

At any rate, my sentiments exactly.

Anonymous said...

So now we are to believe that no exploitation happens in the porn industry? This article may be well written, but is still icky deeeeeep down.

Titus said...

I find professional porn stars incredibly boring. I don't like the staging/acting and if they are famous and have a "name" I am not interested.

If I truly believe they are amateurs I like it. Also, I only want to see them once in a video because they needed cash. If they pop up on another video it's over....for me.

RecChief said...

Interesting. The last lecture I remember hearing on the subject of porn was delivered by a self avowed feminist. At that time, I was told that all female sex workers: porn actresses, prostitutes, the girls on the 900 number lines, etc., were victims of men and that they were trapped in that kind of work. So which is it?

Freeman Hunt said...

"It has not been my experience that rape and misogyny are real problems in this world. They've not been a problem for me or most people I know."

Imagine a man writing that in an article not about pornography. I believe he would be greeted with howls of mocking laughter. It is also doubtful that his article would ever be published on Slate.

tim maguire said...

I'm not anti-porn, I favor legalizing prostitution, and so on, but some elements in most porn films are frankly gross and it's difficult to imagine an emotionally healthy woman making a rational choice to participate.

Bob Ellison said...

I'd really like to see a few graphs of the following:

1) The consumption of porn by male and female individuals, correlated to statements of approval by those individuals of porn.

2) The change in attitudes toward porn in individuals, correlated timewise by the release and distribution of Deep Throat.

3) The commitment of rape, correlated to the consumption of porn.

John henry said...

First I wonder how many people have actually seen Deep Throat? Is it available on DVD? I saw it back in 73 or so in a seedy theater the way it is meant to be seen.

I thought it pretty funny.

For all time hotness, it is hard to beat a book "The Story of O"

Andrea Dworkin has something to say about it. http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/margins-to-centre/2005-January/000105.html

John Henry

Paco Wové said...

"You probably just want some deep throating and double penetration."

Undoubtedly. I knew I just had to go find some gay porn stars! to find out what would really make me happy.

vomit [a turd]?

Ummm... yeah, of course, you illiterate fembot. I was clearly making Dantesque allusions to the punishments of the deeper pits of Hell. Yeah, that's it! Or I could just admit I got carried away with the hyperbole there, but what's the fun in that?

SteveR said...

Amateur stuff is generally better although not as well produced.

AlanKH said...

I just don't want the porn industry to parody "Sharknado."