Poll in a second.
Well, without the poll, I’m forced to say that the women, at least, are valued very highly socially, and I would be proud to have one on my arm at a corporate function (just as long as she wasn’t recognized of course). But I have to think that sexually, my night is ending better than yours.
I’m not too concerned about her mental health. Hell, she isn’t worrying about mine.
Giggity giggity goo!
There’s a genre of porn that sounds unfulfiling.
I see that I left out the option for men thinking that most female porn stars are as stable as anybody else. Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to imply anything there one way or another; I just missed it.
I think both male and female porn stars are generally from unstable backgrounds and lack much self esteem.
Yeah, I think it is a career choice that comes from being pretty messed up.
The ideal job is finding something you are good at and like doing and getting paid for it.
I only watch gay porn… so I was speaking about male gay porn actors, but I’d still vote the same way about straight ones. They are normal guys who like to have sex and do it for work. They probably suffer from the same social and mental problems that any vain, beautiful person does… IE, not that horrible.
Porn is good for society… I think there have been studies that it helps lower the risk of sexual crimes… but I’m not sure honestly.
I saw and interview with a porn starlet who seemed quite stable and healthy. She just really loves sex and it occurred to her one day that she could get paid for it. I don’t know how much of an outlier she is though.
I don’t think people who make their living in porn are totally average people. A career in porn isn’t even considered an option, to the vast majority of the population. But at the same time I don’t think most or even a lot of porn actors are unhappy, ‘damaged’, mentally ill, etc. Not do I think they need ‘intensive therapy’ or would benefit from it any more than other people (I think therapy is great and think almost everyone can benefit from it, with the right therapist).
Based on the porn actors and sex workers I’ve read about and heard from, they’re mostly thrill-seeking types of people who need a ton of stimulation and sought out all kinds of risky and fringe behaviors and subcultures well before they started acting in porn. If they can make a good living exploiting these natural tendencies by performing sex on camera, I’m honestly happy for them. People with this type of personality also often have problems with substance abuse and tumultous personal relationships; I’d assume those things cause them much more trouble than the fact that they’re in pornos.
I don’t doubt that many people in the porn industry, actresses in particular, have a history of sexual abuse. It’s just that there is already such an alarmingly high level of sexual abuse of children and in the general female population, that I don’t consider it particularly remarkable if, say, 2 out of 3 female porn actresses were victimized as children, as compared to 1 out of 3 women in the general population. Childhood sexual abuse is associated with all sorts of problems in adulthood; risky sexual behavior and substance abuse are among them. Makes perfect sense that women with these problems would be more likely to end up in porn, but it doesn’t make me more concerned for porn actresses than it does for the many millions of women who have the same traumas and are not in porn.
I’m a woman and I consider most porn neutral (not really good; but certainly not bad) for society. That’s the only poll option I felt comfortable choosing.
Counting every porn actor everywhere in the world, I’d say that the women are more likely to be psychologically messed up and strung out on drugs than your average profession. There’s lots of smalltime folks directing porn in their living room, and not caring about the physical or mental condition of the actresses involved. Lots of people are drawn to the industry because they need a lot of money for comparatively little time spent, and this indicates a high concentration of the junkie crowd. Especially for a lot of the niche stuff. For every 100 women you see eating poop or each other’s vomit or fucking animals, there’s probably less than 1 (statistically) that actually enjoys the activity.
But I’d say there are also a lot of women (probably a minority, but still a lot–most of the mainstream actresses and production companies) who are doing it because they like it, and get to call the shots on their own set. I think this kind of porn should be encouraged. I really wish that exploitative porn didn’t exist, but what can you do about that? Lots of industries have exploitative managers.
Sex work in general is inherently abnormal – yes, I know about those pro-NOW strippers who write crummy little books, but every stripper I’ve ever met has been screwed up, and I’d wager they all are. Ditto for whores and porn stars, both male and female. It’s a messed up thing to do for money, in general, but who knows if therapy would help. Maybe just stopping being a whore or a stripper would be good enough for most.
I am Facebook Friends with the very prolific male porn star, director and producer Brandon Iron and I have had many very interesting conversations and interactions with him online. He is an extremely good guy, exceptionally intellectual and very personally “together.” He could have been a success at any career he chose; as it happens, he chose porn, and he is widely considered one of the best.
Another guy I have communicated with - Jack Lawrence. Great guy and a very talented and hilarious actor. He had a successful career as an enlisted Army soldier and a police officer before entering porn and has also been a sponsored racing cyclist and race car driver. He has a replica of James Dean’s “Little Bastard” Porsche and drives it for public demonstrations. Also an expert on R/C Helicopters. If there is something wrong with him I sure as hell don’t know it.
The male side of the heterosexual porn world always fascinated me. But I know less about the women. Well, in a way. I sure pay more attention to the women, but I’m more interested in the career paths of the guys. Any hot chick can walk up to a porn studio and be hired; the guys have to bring a lot more to the table.
All those options and still I couldn’t find the right one. Look, I think the vast majority of porn stars suffer from low self esteem and probably daddy issues. That doesn’t mean they need “intensive therapy” as most of the options seem to point to. Yeah, they’re fucked up. So are all of us in our own unique snowflakes of ways. They want to bare themselves to the world, that’s their choice. Personally, the only time it bothers me is when they’re so fucked up with whatever they took before the shoot, their eyes can’t even keep focus.
I agree it’s somewhat an interesting career path for men – I get so sick of looking at ass and balls and their little faces peeking up over the woman’s body I’ve gone all the way girl-on-girl.
Is it not true that the only way, really, for men to get started in hetero porn is to start with gay porn? I heard it on the radio once, so it might be true. If so, that seems odd – I’d have a hard (heh) time doing some guys ass unless I was getting paid a shitload (heh) of money, but maybe they have greater respect for the dollar to switch to vaginal penetration. Whole scene seems odd to me, but maybe I just don’t understand it or know anybody involved in the industry.
Not surprised there are some nice folks in the industry, though – it’s a “people-person” job by definition, innit?
There’s no way in hell this is true. The porn industry is scared to death of HIV/AIDS and they know that the risk is greater among the gay porn actors; they’re very hesitant to accept any “crossover” actor, or guy who went from gay porn to straight porn. There are a few. But they are not the norm. The typical male straight porn star started out as the boyfriend of a female porn star, initially doing scenes with her, and then branching out to working with other girls if the director is happy with his ability to stay hard and deliver a good scene.
The whole “they all started out doing gay porn” is so much jealousy talking. It’s a way for guys to look down on the men who act in porn, even while these men are delivering the scenes that get them off.
Makes sense. Thanks for the good reply. I’m a pretty good fucker, but I don’t think I could deal with the pressure without a bunch a coke in my nose and on my dick. BTW, I wasn’t trying for a homophobic thing – just curious about how it all went down, so to speak.
Statistically speaking, “most” of any profession of people aren’t going to all fall in the “as mentally healthy or more so”. Only 50% of them would. Your questions are all wrong.
I think those who subject themselves to crudity, indignity, and abuse, need therapy, or to get out of the business before it kills them.
I think those who are in control of themselves, take charge of part of the Industry in their own right, such as become Producers or Managers, or otherwise demonstrate acumen of a certain calibre, are no different to anyone in any line of business and I have no problem with them.
I just wish the Porn Industry wasn’t riddled with drugs, or associated with the criminal underworld, and gained some self respect to prove itself a viable career path.
Criminal underworld? I doubt it. This may have been the case in the 70s and maybe the 80s, but I don’t think there’s any Mob presence in porn anymore. And as for drugs - Ron Jeremy himself, who has had many cameos in “regular” movies, wrote in his autobiography that he saw far more drugs on mainstream Hollywood movie sets than he ever did in the porno industry.