XXX Sexuality
We featured an article about the book XXX: 30 Porn-Star Portraits by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders. It turns out that they made a documentary, called "XXX Sexuality" (or something like that), on the making of the book. The documentary aired on HBO (where else?) and I got a chance to see it. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a huge fan of HBO and their many sex series: Real Sex, Shock Video, and the recent Pornucopia, which I believe was a Real Sex production.
In addition to being a statistics fanatic, I like being taken behind the scenes of the porn industry. The more insight I gain into the industry, the more I get to see the business aspect of it, and the more professional respect I gain for the performers. I also realize that starlets aren’t all cute, bimbo, f!@#$%^ machines; they also have feelings and their own lives. This documentary brings home these points in spades.
The Pornucopia series, for the most part, took you behind the scenes of the industry. This documentary, largely, takes you into the stars’ lives. For example, Savannah Samson said her family practically disowned her when they found out what she did for a living. I know she’s a beautiful woman making good money, but I kind of felt for her. To me, family means a lot.
Also, Tera Patrick mentioned that there was an incident with a male performer that almost made her quit the industry. Although, she didn’t (thank heaven), you get the feeling that she’s a little disillusioned with the industry. As it is, when she’s not performing in front of the camera, she doesn’t like to be around porn; she takes a very vanilla approach to making love with her husband.
Sunrise Adams told about her former insecurities with her chest size, before she got her breast augmentation surgery. I’d always thought that most starlets who elected to have that surgery either did so to increase their revenue, or on the advice of an associate (co-worker, agent, or otherwise). Maybe, as in Ms. Adams case, being surrounded by contemporaries who are much better endowed elicits old insecurities. That’s a pity because Ms. Adams was such a pretty girl to begin with, even before her “boob job”.
The documentary humanizes the performers, I think, in other ways. If you don’t know about the book, basically what it does is show two different photos of each porn star , one with the star in street clothes and the other with him/her in the buff, in the exact same pose. Maybe they were trying to convey the idea that but for the fact that they perform naked, porn stars look just like you and me (the good-looking portion of the population, anyway) with their clothes on. At least that is what I take the juxtaposition of the photographs to mean.
For several of the female stars, their nude shot featured them in their typical, on-camera makeup. In their clothed pictures, contrastingly enough, they assume a more dressed down, little-to-no-makeup appearance. Personally, I’ve never been a fan of heavy make-up, so the dressed down look is appealing. The women still look sensational: Tera (one of our favorites around here), Jenna Jameson (another one of our favorites), Brianna Banks, all of them.
Like I said before, the show takes you into the personal lives of several of the stars‘ , many of whom are married (Tera, Jenna, Sampson, Gina Lynn). The garage/dungeon that Nina Hartley and her husband own has to be seen to be believed (rubber floors? Wow!) And kudos to the producers of the book for going old school (middle school? Junior high?) and including some of the seasoned performers like Sean Michaels, Hartley, Christy Canyon, Peter North, and Ron Jeremy.
The show reinforces two points I’d heard before. One, gay male performers make much more than their straight counterparts (somewhere between the ratios of 5 to 1 and 10 to 1 for the average gay star). Ms Hartley, whose know-how I respect a lot, also reinforced the technical aspect of the typical straight porn scene. E.g, the male performer has to be hard within a certain amount of time (quickly, needless to say); the oral portion takes so many minutes; the hardcore portion involves so many positions with so many snapshots, etc.
For a long time now, I’ve felt that female porn stars are some of the most down-to-earth people you will find. They know exactly what they do for a living, and the stigma attached to it. If they’re able to navigate the pitfalls of a life, which some people consider easy money, that could chew them up and spit them out before they hit the fourth decade of their lives; then more power to them. If this show did nothing else, it reminded me that I’m rooting (in keeping with the theme of this entry) for these performers, as a whole. I’m on their side.
In addition to being a statistics fanatic, I like being taken behind the scenes of the porn industry. The more insight I gain into the industry, the more I get to see the business aspect of it, and the more professional respect I gain for the performers. I also realize that starlets aren’t all cute, bimbo, f!@#$%^ machines; they also have feelings and their own lives. This documentary brings home these points in spades.
The Pornucopia series, for the most part, took you behind the scenes of the industry. This documentary, largely, takes you into the stars’ lives. For example, Savannah Samson said her family practically disowned her when they found out what she did for a living. I know she’s a beautiful woman making good money, but I kind of felt for her. To me, family means a lot.
Also, Tera Patrick mentioned that there was an incident with a male performer that almost made her quit the industry. Although, she didn’t (thank heaven), you get the feeling that she’s a little disillusioned with the industry. As it is, when she’s not performing in front of the camera, she doesn’t like to be around porn; she takes a very vanilla approach to making love with her husband.
Sunrise Adams told about her former insecurities with her chest size, before she got her breast augmentation surgery. I’d always thought that most starlets who elected to have that surgery either did so to increase their revenue, or on the advice of an associate (co-worker, agent, or otherwise). Maybe, as in Ms. Adams case, being surrounded by contemporaries who are much better endowed elicits old insecurities. That’s a pity because Ms. Adams was such a pretty girl to begin with, even before her “boob job”.
The documentary humanizes the performers, I think, in other ways. If you don’t know about the book, basically what it does is show two different photos of each porn star , one with the star in street clothes and the other with him/her in the buff, in the exact same pose. Maybe they were trying to convey the idea that but for the fact that they perform naked, porn stars look just like you and me (the good-looking portion of the population, anyway) with their clothes on. At least that is what I take the juxtaposition of the photographs to mean.
For several of the female stars, their nude shot featured them in their typical, on-camera makeup. In their clothed pictures, contrastingly enough, they assume a more dressed down, little-to-no-makeup appearance. Personally, I’ve never been a fan of heavy make-up, so the dressed down look is appealing. The women still look sensational: Tera (one of our favorites around here), Jenna Jameson (another one of our favorites), Brianna Banks, all of them.
Like I said before, the show takes you into the personal lives of several of the stars‘ , many of whom are married (Tera, Jenna, Sampson, Gina Lynn). The garage/dungeon that Nina Hartley and her husband own has to be seen to be believed (rubber floors? Wow!) And kudos to the producers of the book for going old school (middle school? Junior high?) and including some of the seasoned performers like Sean Michaels, Hartley, Christy Canyon, Peter North, and Ron Jeremy.
The show reinforces two points I’d heard before. One, gay male performers make much more than their straight counterparts (somewhere between the ratios of 5 to 1 and 10 to 1 for the average gay star). Ms Hartley, whose know-how I respect a lot, also reinforced the technical aspect of the typical straight porn scene. E.g, the male performer has to be hard within a certain amount of time (quickly, needless to say); the oral portion takes so many minutes; the hardcore portion involves so many positions with so many snapshots, etc.
For a long time now, I’ve felt that female porn stars are some of the most down-to-earth people you will find. They know exactly what they do for a living, and the stigma attached to it. If they’re able to navigate the pitfalls of a life, which some people consider easy money, that could chew them up and spit them out before they hit the fourth decade of their lives; then more power to them. If this show did nothing else, it reminded me that I’m rooting (in keeping with the theme of this entry) for these performers, as a whole. I’m on their side.
posted by Don_One at 10:03 PM
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