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{{Infobox Occupation
{{Infobox Occupation
| name= Pornographic actor
| name= Pornographic actor
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| image=XRCO 2009.jpg
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| caption=Cast and crew of the feature ''Not Bewitched'' on stage during the 2009 XRCO Awards. From left to right: Nina Hartley, Eva Angelina, Will Ryder (director), Flower Tucci, Sunny Lane (back to camera, in yellow dress), Jenna Haze, Teagan Presley, Scott David (producer).
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| official_names= Pornographic actor/actress, porn star
| official_names= Pornographic actor/actress, porn star
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Revision as of 10:13, 8 August 2012

"Porn star" redirects here. For other uses, see Porn star (disambiguation).

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Pornographic actor
Cast and crew of the feature Not Bewitched on stage during the 2009 XRCO Awards. From left to right: Nina Hartley, Eva Angelina, Will Ryder (director), Flower Tucci, Sunny Lane (back to camera, in yellow dress), Jenna Haze, Teagan Presley, Scott David (producer).
Occupation
NamesPornographic actor/actress, porn star
Activity sectors
Entertainment/Sex industry
Description
CompetenciesWillingness to have sex in front of a camera
Fields of
employment
Film
Related jobs
Actor

A pornographic actor/actress or a porn star is a person who appears in a pornographic film. Pornographic films tend to be made in a number of distinct pornographic sub-genres and most actors specialise in certain genres and achieve most of their recognition in a specific niche market such as lesbian sex, bondage, strap-on sex, anal sex, double penetration, semen swallowing, teenage women, interracial or MILFs. Irrespective of the genre, most actors are required to appear nude in pornographic films.

The primary focus of heterosexual sex films are the women in them, who are mostly selected for their on-screen appearance. Most male performers in heterosexual pornography are generally selected less for their looks than for their sexual prowess, namely their ability to do three things: achieve an erection while on a busy film set, maintain that erection while performing on camera, and then ejaculate on cue.[1]

Exceptional performance of pornographic actors and actresses is recognised in the AVN Awards and the XRCO Awards. The AVN Awards are movie awards sponsored and presented by the American adult video industry trade magazine AVN (Adult Video News). They are called the "Oscars of porn".[2][3][4] The AVN Awards are divided into nearly 100 categories, some of which are analogous to industry awards offered in other film and video genres, and others that are specific to pornographic/erotic film and video.[5] The XRCO Awards are given by the X-Rated Critics Organization annually.[6]

Some legal jurisdictions argued that commercial pornography is a form of prostitution, though most commercial sex film performers do not regard themselves as prostitutes for various reasons, but rather as actors or models.[citation needed] Most notably these performers are not paid directly by their sexual partners for the sex, but both are paid through a studio or Talent Management Agency.

History

Porn star Jenna Jameson

Performers have appeared in sex films since the era of photography began. Films that featured nudity were popular in "penny arcades" of the early 1900s which had hand-cranked films and rotoscope (Holmes-style Stereoscope) glasses. These penny arcade attractions featured topless women, full frontal nudity, and even sexual coupling. Performers in these early photograph and film recordings usually used pseudonyms or remained uncredited to avoid legal sanction and social approbation.

Production of erotic or pornographic films commenced almost immediately after the invention of the motion picture. The first erotic film was the 7-minute 1899 film Le Coucher de la Marie directed by Frenchman Albert Kirchner (under the name "Léar") which had Louise Willy performing a bathroom striptease.[7][8] Other French filmmakers also started making this type of risqué films, showing women disrobing.[9][10]

In Austria, Johann Schwarzer between 1906 and 1911 produced 52 erotic productions, each of which contained young local women fully nude. Before Schwarzer's productions, erotic films were provided by the Pathé brothers from French produced sources.[11]

Porn star Tera Patrick

Linda Lovelace, an American pornographic actress of the early 1970s, is often seen as the first modern porn star with appreciable name recognition outside her genre. Lovelace starred in the 1972 feature Deep Throat. It was Casey Donovan who starred in the very first mainstream pornographic hit, Boys in the Sand,[12] in 1971, nearly a year before Deep Throat. The success of Deep Throat, which grossed millions of dollars worldwide, that encouraged the ascension of more such stars and the production of more such films. Examples include Marilyn Chambers (Behind the Green Door), Gloria Leonard (The Opening of Misty Beethoven), Georgina Spelvin (The Devil in Miss Jones), and Bambi Woods (Debbie Does Dallas).

The 1970s have been called The Golden Age of Porn, a time when pornographic films were shown in public theaters and accepted (or at least tolerated) for public consumption.[13] This "golden age" lasted from the 1970s through the late-70s or early 1980s. Sex films of this era had specific storylines, plots, and promotional budgets. Performers became celebrities. Such performers include Peter Berlin, John Holmes, Ginger Lynn Allen, Porsche Lynn, Desireé Cousteau, Juliet Anderson ("Aunt Peg"), Lisa De Leeuw, Veronica Hart, Nina Hartley, Harry Reems, Seka, and Amber Lynn.

Once people could watch adult movies in the privacy of their own homes, a new adult market developed that far exceeded the scope of its theater-centric predecessor. More recently, the Internet has served as catalyst for creating a still-larger market for porn, a market that is even less traditionally theatrical.

There are hundreds of adult film companies today, releasing tens of thousands of productions, recorded directly on video, with minimal sets. Of late, web-cams and web-cam recordings are again expanding the market. Thousands of pornographic actors work in front of the camera to satisfy pornography consumers' demand.

Pornography as prostitution

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File:Bobby&Flex2.jpg
Bobby Blake and his ex-partner Flex-Deon Blake.

Attempts were made in the 1970s in the United States to close down the pornography industry by prosecuting those in the industry on prostitution charges. The prosecution started in the courts in California in the case of People v. Freeman. The California Supreme Court acquitted Freeman and distinguished between someone who takes part in a sexual relationship for money (prostitution) versus someone whose role is merely portraying a sexual relationship on-screen as part of their acting performance. The State did not appeal to the United States Supreme Court making the decision binding in California, where most pornographic films are made today.[14]

Female performers

According to actor-turned-director Jonathan Morgan, "The girls could be graded like A, B and C. The A is the chick on the boxcover. She has the power. So she'll show up late or not at all. 99.9% of them do that."[15] Less successful actresses are more likely to perform more extreme acts such as 'double-anal'.[15] If an actress is willing to perform more extreme acts she will receive more offers of work.[15] Older or less attractive actresses are more likely to perform such acts in order to get work.[15] According to Morgan, "Some girls are used up in nine months or a year. An 18-year-old, sweet young thing, signs with an agency, makes five films in her first week. Five directors, five actors, five times five: she gets phone calls. A hundred movies in four months. She's not a fresh face any more. Her price slips and she stops getting phone calls. Then it's, 'Okay, will you do anal? Will you do gangbangs?' Then they're used up. They can't even get a phone call. The market forces of this industry use them up."[15] Some film studios encourage their actresses to have breast implants, and offer to pay for the procedure.[15]

Conversely, some performers are not unhappy with their job, while still noting that "a performer's pleasure is not of primary importance" and that "porn sex is not the same as private sex".[16] Furthermore, there is evidence to say that porn production is not necessarily unethical or degrading. According to Lynn Comella, a women's studies professor at UNLV, presenting demeaning practices as representative of the entire porn industry is "akin to talking about Hollywood while only referencing spaghetti Westerns".[17]

Due to the substantial amount of evidence both for and against the idea that women are degraded in pornography, it is likely that individual experiences vary depending on the director, the performer, and the type of porn being produced. As with other social phenomena, gross generalizations may be problematic. [17]

Male performers

Ron Jeremy was ranked by AVN at number one in their "100 Top Porn Stars of All Time" list,[18] and is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for "Most Appearances in Adult Films".[19]
Pornstars: Marcus London, Evan Stone, and Tommy Gunn

While the primary focus of heterosexual sex films are the women in them, who are mostly selected for their on-screen appearance, there is a definite focus on the male performers who are able to fulfill the desires of the male watching audience as their on-screen proxies. Most male performers in heterosexual pornography are generally selected less for their looks than for their sexual prowess, namely their ability to do three things: achieve an erection while on a busy film set, maintain that erection while performing on camera, and then ejaculate on cue.[20] In the past an actors' inability to maintain an erection could make the difference between a film turning a profit or a loss.[15] However this problem has been solved by the use of Viagra.[15] If an actor loses his erection, filming is forced to stop for about 45 minutes whilst the drug takes effect.[15] Using Viagra can make the actor's face noticeably flushed, give him a headache, and make it difficult to ejaculate.[15] According to director John Stagliano, using Viagra means "You also lose a dimension." "The guy's fucking without being aroused."[15]

Ron Jeremy, John Holmes, Peter North, and Rocco Siffredi are considered by AVN as the top male performers of all time. Adding to his fame, Ron Jeremy has been a staple in the industry since the 1970s and has become something of a cultural icon.[18]

Pay rates

Most male performers in heterosexual porn are paid less than their female counterparts. Ron Jeremy has commented on the pay scale of women and men in the sex film industry: in 2003 "Girls can easily make 100K-250K per year, plus stuff on the side like strip shows and appearances. The average male makes $40,000 a year."[21] and in 2008, "The average guy gets $300 to $400 a scene, or $100 to $200 if he's new. A woman makes $100,000 to $250,000 at the end of the year."[22]

In 2011, the manager of Capri Anderson said, "A contract girl will only shoot for one company, she won’t shoot for anyone else. Most actresses in the adult industry are free agents – they’ll shoot for anyone. Most contract girls make $60,000 a year. In one year, a contract girl will shoot, on average, four movies and each movie takes about two or three weeks to shoot."[23]

The Los Angeles Times reported that the pay rates for a female actress performing male and female scenes were $700 to $1,000.[24]

Some state that gay male porn generally pays men much more than heterosexual porn.[citation needed] Men who identify themselves as heterosexual but perform in gay pornography are said to do gay-for-pay (notably Wolf Hudson). This means they perform in gay movies only for the paycheck, not because of any personal attraction to men.

According to producer Seymore Butts, who runs his own sex-film recruitment agency, as well as producing sex films; "depending on draw, female performers who perform in both straight and lesbian porn earn more than those who do [just heterosexual scenes] usually make about US$200–800 while those who only do oral sex (blow job) usually only make about US$100–300 for the scene".[25] It was also noted in an interview conducted by Local10 news of Florida that individuals were offered $700 for sexual intercourse while shooting a scene of the popular series Bang Bus in 2004.[26] According to Videobox, a porn website, actresses make these rates: Blowjobs: $200–$400; Straight sex: $400–$1,200; Anal sex: $900–$1,500; Double Penetration: $1,200–$1,600; Double anal: $2,000. For more unusual fetishes, women generally get 15% extra.[27]

In 2001, actress Chloe said of pay-rates; "In Gonzo, you're paid not by the picture, but by the scene. So it's girl-girl: $700, plus $100 for an anal toy. Boy-girl: $900. Anal: $1,100. Solo: $500. DP: $1,500."[15]

Additionally, besides appearing in films, porn stars often make money from endorsements and appearance fees. For instance, in 2010, some night clubs were paying female porn stars and Playboy Playmates to appear there to act as draws for the general public; Jesse Jane was reported to have been paid between $5,000 to $10,000 for one appearance by a Chicago club.[28]

Pornographic actors and STDs

Main article: AIDS in the pornographic film industry

Because of the nature of their work, usually involving sex without condoms, pornographic actors were traditionally vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases. In a paper written by the LA Board of Public Health, officials claimed that among 825 performers screened in 2000–2001, 7.7% of females and 5.5% of males had chlamydia, and 2% overall had gonorrhea. These rates are much higher than in patients visiting family planning clinics, where chlamydia and gonorrhea rates were 4.0% and 0.7%, respectively. Between January 2003 and March 2005, approximately 976 performers were reported with 1,153 positive STD test results. Of the 1,153 positive test results, 722 (62.6 %) were chlamydia, 355 (30.8%) were gonorrhea, and 126 (10.9%) were coinfections with chlamydia and gonorrhea. Less is known about the prevalence and risk of transmission of other STDs such as syphilis, herpes simplex virus, human papillomavirus, hepatitis B or C, trichomonal infection, or diseases transmitted through the fecal–oral route.[29] The data collection of LA public health was criticized by adult industry sources on the grounds that most of those testing positive had never made an adult film-and were in fact being excluded from adult film acting until they had treated their STDs. Non-treatable STDs like HSV represent a difficult case: according to actress Chloe, "After you've been in this business for a while, you have herpes. Everyone has herpes."[15]

The high rate of STDs in the adult film industry started to change in 1998 when major adult film producers started implementing a regular periodic testing program for adult film actors. In the 1980s, there was an outbreak of AIDS in the pornographic film industry and a number of deaths of erotic actors and actresses, including John Holmes, Wade Nichols, Marc Stevens and Al Parker. This led to the creation of the Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation (AIM), which helped set up a voluntary standard[30] in the U.S. adult film industry where erotic actors are tested for HIV, chlamydia and gonorrhea every 30 days, and hepatitis, syphilis and HSV twice a year.[31] AIM claims that this program has reduced the rate of STDs among adult film actors to 20% that of the general population.[32] These claims have been criticized by various public health authorities-but there have been no controlled studies that support the claims of public health authorities that AIM's testing approach is not working.

Autobiographies

See also

References

  1. ^ Jameson, Jenna (2004). How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-053909-7. (Y)ou have to be able to get it up at will. You have to keep an erection, go a long time without coming, and then come on command. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ "The Oscars of porn". Sydney Morning Herald. January 9, 2006. Retrieved July 25, 2007.
  3. ^ Brent Hopkins (June 3, 2007). "Porn: The Valley's secret industry". Los Angeles Daily News. Retrieved July 25, 2007. ...earned seven Adult Video News awards, referred to as the Oscars of porn.
  4. ^ David Schmader (March 9, 2000). "Porn's Big Night". The Stranger. Retrieved July 25, 2007. ...the most prestigious event in the world of adult film: the Adult Video News Awards, hereby known as the Avis, popularly known as the porno Oscars.
  5. ^ "AVN Awards Part Three: A Category for Everything and a Nomination for Every Body". Los Angeles Times. January 8, 2006. Retrieved July 20, 2010.
  6. ^ "Yearly Winners & Noms". X-Rated Critics Organization. Retrieved October 17, 2008.
  7. ^ Richard Abel, Encyclopedia of early cinema, Taylor & Francis, 2005, ISBN 978-0-415-23440-5, p.518
  8. ^ When the French Started Making Dirty Movies, 1996
  9. ^ Bottomore, Stephen (1996). "Léar (Albert Kirchner)". Who's Who of Victorian Cinema. British Film Institute. Retrieved October 15, 2006. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ Bottomore, Stephen (1996). "Eugène Pirou". Who's Who of Victorian Cinema. British Film Institute. Retrieved October 15, 2006. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ Michael Achenbach, Paolo Caneppele, Ernst Kieninger: Projektionen der Sehnsucht: Saturn, die erotischen Anfänge der österreichischen Kinematografie. Filmarchiv Austria, Wien 2000, ISBN 3-901932-04-6.
  12. ^ "40 Years of Gay History: the Early Seventies". Advocate.com. Retrieved November 5, 2007.
  13. ^ Second wave: Feminism and porns golden age. Radical Society Oct 2002 by Loren Glass
  14. ^ CBSNews.com Porn in the U.S.A.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Martin Amis (March 17, 2001). "A rough trade". London: guardian.co.uk. Retrieved April 10, 2009.
  16. ^ Blue, Violet (June 28, 2011). "Sex for money, not love / Violet Blue asks rising adult superstar [[Lorelei Lee (pornographic actress)|Lorelei Lee]] about the differences between sex work and sex not-for-work". The San Francisco Chronicle. {{cite news}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  17. ^ a b Lynn Comella is a Women’s Studies professor at UNLV. "Feminists Gone Wild! A response to porn critic Gail Dines". Las Vegas Weekly. Retrieved September 14, 2011.
  18. ^ a b "AVN: The 10 Top Porn Stars of All Time". Adult Video News. Action-DVD.com. 2002. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved December 24, 2006. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help) Cite error: The named reference "AVN Top 50" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  19. ^ "Product Description". Being Ron Jeremy. Amazon.com, Inc. Retrieved December 25, 2006.
  20. ^ Jameson, Jenna (2004). How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-053909-7. (Y)ou have to be able to get it up at will. You have to keep an erection, go a long time without coming, and then come on command. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  21. ^ "Jeremy spoke in class today: An exclusive interview with porn movie legend, Ron Jeremy". www.retrocrush.com. 2003. Retrieved March 13, 2011.
  22. ^ "Ron Jeremy Hyatt – AskMen". ca.askmen.com. 2008. Retrieved March 13, 2011.
  23. ^ Meaghan Murphy (March 10, 2011). "Charlie Sheen Gives Porn Industry 'Shot in the Arm'". www.foxnews.com. Retrieved March 13, 2011.
  24. ^ Fritz, Ben (August 10, 2009). "Tough times in the porn industry". Los Angeles Times.
  25. ^ "How to become a porn star and get in the Porn business". hush-hush.co.uk. Retrieved April 14, 2007. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  26. ^ "Porn Bus Shoots Sex On The Move". WPLG. November 17, 2004. Retrieved June 29, 2008.
  27. ^ "The VideoBox Blog » Blog Archive » How Much Do Porn Stars Make?". Blog.videobox.com. February 22, 2008. Retrieved September 14, 2011.
  28. ^ Charlie Amter (August 27, 2010). "Some L.A. nightclubs attract crowds with racy models". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 29, 2010.
  29. ^ Grudzen, Corita R. (June 19, 2007). "The Adult Film Industry: Time to Regulate?". PLoS Medicine. Public Library of Science, U.S. National Library of Medicine. Archived from the original on August 6, 2007. Retrieved October 1, 2007. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  30. ^ "Porn stars at L.A. convention defend HIV tests". Los Angeles Times. June 13, 2009. Retrieved June 13, 2009. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  31. ^ Basten, Fred (1998). Porn King: The John Holmes Story. John Holmes Inc. ISBN 1-880047-69-1. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  32. ^ "Aim Myspace Page". AIM. April 4, 2011. Retrieved April 4, 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Porn stars.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Porn stars.
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