From the Archives: Labor Day at Gamelink — The Hardest Working Women in Porn
Editor’s note: this post was originally published in September 2015.
Labor Day at Gamelink: The Hardest Working Women in Porn
By: Gram Ponante
This Labor Day, think about your hard-working porn stars. Porn is one industry where the gender wage gap goes the other way: women make more than men, on average. And yet men are tasked with getting it up, finding the right light and angles for their prettier co-stars, and controlling the appearance of those ropey volleys that signal success and true intimacy. Not only that, but they have to be careful where they aim it.
But whereas men can get away (and often do) with not looking their best, that is simply not an option for female porn talent. The marketplace demands porny perfection, even if many of our bestselling female porn stars simply lie there once they are naked and out of the makeup chair, these Pillow Queens (a term I learned from Tera Patrick, who called herself one) are still doing the job we ask of them.
So here is a list (that is by no means complete or even bulletproof) of ten performers who give more, work harder, and leave it all out there on the sheet or granite tabletop.
1. Bonnie Rotten
Starting her career as a barely-inked car model in the scorching state fairground hellscapes of the Midwest, Bonnie Rotten somehow managed to both work her ass off and also to keep it firmly in place. She has way more tattoos (and much larger boobs) than those early days, but the efficient, amiable, and very talented Rotten remains a crowd-pleaser at conventions, has racked up (ahem) an impressive body of spirited performances, and is also an accomplished director.
View More from Bonnie Rotten
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2. Jessy Dubai
Transsexual superstar Jessy Dubai might not produce her own movies yet (like hustling cohorts Bailey Jay and Venus Lux), but the hardworking and motivated performer did give us a great snapshot of the working life of a transsexual performer in our interview earlier this year.
GRAM: That reminds me of Caitlyn Jenner. She’s on the cover of Vanity Fair and very quickly is the face of Transgender America. As much as there is a Transgender community, how is it reacting?
JESSY: I have a lot of mixed feelings about that. First of all I’m very proud of her. It takes guts to leave the safe place. But she is not a hero or a role model for me. She’s a rich person who didn’t suffer like many people do. She wrote a check and then Boom. She didn’t have to dance or escort. I just hope that after her transition she doesn’t act like she was never a man.
GRAM: Why is that?
JESSY: Because it’s part of the process, that change she made. It’s part of who she is.
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3. Dana DeArmond
Dana DeArmond has been in porn for more than a decade and, like her adult industry generation-mates like Joanna Angel (who also works wicked hard for the money) and Charlotte Stokely, has survived MySpace, altporn, and the DVD implosion. In fact, former Disney World castmember DeArmond is one of porn’s social networking pioneers and has used it to propel a brand that is notable for its staying power. She has transitioned from a kind of emo alt-princess to a take-no-prisoners performer, commanding a room with skill born of a massive resume that surprises even her.
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4. Dana Vespoli
Dana Vespoli, the former Mills College coxswain, landed in porn in her early 30s and, aside from a hiatus during the toddlerhood of her children with ex-husband Manuel Ferrara, has not let up. An intense performer who draws inspired performances from her co-stars, Vespoli continues to deliver graphic, fearless scenes both as a performer and a director. Her work with several diverse companies shows her range, and her collaborations (like with Sovereign Syre) make for some of the most exciting work in porn today.
View More from Dana Vespoli
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5. Gianna Michaels
Lush and present, Gianna Michaels demands to be reckoned with. You will not see a Gianna Michaels performance that is not immediate and intense, and her body is one that might fill less confident partners with fear and more confident partners with a sense of challenge and opportunity. A favorite of Naked Truth’s PWeasels, Michaels, he says, “always seemed to make all her costars work to keep up with her.”
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6. Kelly Wells
Like Gianna Michaels, “Kelly Wells never seemed to give less than 100 percent in a scene” (Gamelink’s own PWeasels again). But where Michaels’ measurements marked her as a porn star (or at least someone who should be) everywhere she went, Kelly “Motherfuckin'” Wells, a petite Illinoisian, was just so goddamn sexy and dirty all the time that she had no choice. I’ve no doubt, personally, that she has or will cause cardiac arrest in a partner with her animal exuberance in the sack, on the countertop, by the pool, in the car, or orbiting the earth in a space station powered entirely by jizz.
View More from Kelly Wells
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7. Courtney Trouble
A pioneer in the queerporn revolution originating (of course) from the Bay Area, Courtney Trouble is a savvy entrepreneur, activist, and teambuilder who hips the world to her talented friends. Trouble occasionally follows her own curves to Porn Valley where she appears in fare that looks nothing like what she produces up north. This gives her c.v. a kind of diversity within diversity that makes Trouble that much more intriguing.
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8. Nikki Benz
Nikki Benz is always working, and always working it. Even though she is Canadian, Benz is the very essence of the millennial American porn star, probably more so than anyone on this list. She is tight, fit, yet in possession of all the outsize attributes we so quickly associate with porn stars: the tits, the ass, the hair, the meticulously-arranged pussy, and the ability to connect with fans both personally and through the various electronic means available to her. Benz is big on the personal appearance, maintaining a rigorous dancing schedule (in general, a fan can rely on a feature dancer who is also a porn star to be a very hard worker) and an attention to the maintenance of her instrument that makes other people look lazy. I’ll mention a recent feud with retired porn star Lisa Ann only insofar as they are both Type A porn stars whom younger performers admire, and whose careers they aspire to. please don’t fight.
View More from Nikki Benz
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9. Nina Hartley
It is difficult to measure Nina Hartley’s impact on the porn world. 56 in 2015, Hartley has been performing since 1984, a true sensual hedonist and a tireless educator about the role of sex in and out of relationships, sexual health, and living life exuberantly: the Nina Hartley Way. Her recent performance in “Marriage 2.0” captures not only her fearlessness as a performer but also her natural inclination toward mentorship and her enduring beauty in middle age.
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10. Stoya
There have been several “Thinking Man’s Porn Stars” over the years (Tina Tyler and Sasha Grey come to my thinking man’s mind), but there is something extra special about Stoya, whose intelligence never seems or self-conscious and whose performances are exuberant. It is fun to watch her work; she always seems delighted and taken by surprise. What makes someone with such a long career but with comparatively few movies to show for it (Stoya started in 2007 and has made about 60 movies; Bonnie Rotten got into porn in 2012 and has three times that number) eligible for our hard worker list? Well, Stoya travels back and forth from Porn Valley and the east coast art, literary, and fashion world almost effortlessly, an ambassadorship that recasts porn in a more friendly light but also gives performers who might be less aware of the larger world something to think about.
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About Gram Ponante
Porn Valley Observed | Email | Twitter |
The editor of Naked Truth, Gram Ponante has been writing about pornography since 2002, though he never expected to get more than three months of material out of it. Since then, he has edited and/or contributed to adult industry trade magazines AVN and XBiz, Hustler, Fleshbot.com, and dozens more classy publications. He has written for the great Gamelink since 2006. Gram regularly speaks about issues facing the adult industry ? both entertaining and grim ? at colleges and conferences, and has published several popular eBooks about his time as America’s Beloved Porn Journalist.
