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James Wolcott Analyzes Porn Star Memoirs

He writes in the August issue of Vanity Fair (starting on page 240) about Raw Talent (by Jerry Butler), Traci Lords, Lights, Camera, Sex! (by Christy Canyon), How To Make Love Like A Porn Star (by Jenna Jameson), and The Other Hollywood (by Legs McNeil, Jennifer Osborn):

I have discovered the contours of a new genre of nonfiction, one that has yet to receive its cultural due and perhaps never will: the tawdry porn-star memoir.

Christy Canyon...is more forthright when she tags hostility as the driving force behind her decision to oil up for a soft-core magazine layout. "This was the ultimate 'f--- you' to the parents who cast me aside.... Daddy's little girl buck naked for the world to jack off to."

Wolcott notes that spelling and punctuation are not strengths of Canyon's book.

Three years as a porn thespian and you're a regular Gielgud, full of lore.

Female performers harbor their own existential dread: the revolting prospect of working with (worse, under) Ron Jeremy.

Reading these memoirs and teh collective testimonies in The Other Hollywood, I'm amazed that the casualty toll from drugs and AIDS isn't sky-higher, given the reckless and wanton ingestion on the part of nearly everyone testifying. Alcohol, cocaine, heroin, crack, and crystal meth blaze through porn workers' bodies, burning through nearly every dollar they make.

The reason the casualty toll isn't higher is that most porn stars do not have a drug or alcohol problem. What occupies the attention of mainstream reports about porn (including the book The Other Hollywood) is what is most sensational, not what is most typical.

Christy Canyon, whose career disgusted her parents, finally makes peace with dear old horny dad, reaching out to him as he lies in a medicated haze in a hospital bed. In returns, he asks if she knows porn star Nina Hartley. Yes, she's nice, Canyon says. "She has the nicest hind quarters I've ever seen," muses Dad before dropping off again into snoring dreamland. Father-daughter chats are different in porn.

Jerry Butler confessed in a revised edition of Raw Talent that he had returned to porn:

You see underpaid, overworked girls who are doing anal, and a lot of them are being coerced into it - nobody's actually being pistolwhipped -- people pistolwhip themselves -- they are victims of their own carelessness, and self-aggression, and excuses.

Wolcott writes:

Couple [Viagra] with anal sex's no longer being a specialty (as it was during the 70s) but the marauding norm, and the wear and tear on the body amounts to consensual rape. Porn actresses are getting more routinely roughed up than ever on-camera. Even oral sex has become invasive. One of the stronger trends in porn is the choking-gagging-throat-jamming of the actresses by these Viagra sluggers, and "money shots" culminating in semen swallowing, sometimes from multiple donors. The porn actress as sink drain. Or spitton.

Move over, Dostoevsky! Here Come Porn Memoirs

Jenna Jameson's book is the best of its kind. I found it an absorbing read, though I wish she had been more detailed about her life in porn and named more names. Co-author Neil Strauss did a terrific job. Even though it is his writing, the book is pure Jenna. "Jameson's best-seller is as high-strutting as its star's show-horse personna," writes James Wolcott.

Chi Chi LaRue's memoir is excellent. The rest of the porn memoirs are mediocre at best (the worst include ones by Linda Lovelace, Traci Lords, Christy Canyon, John Holmes (Porn King)).

Christy did all her own writing (and Traci did most of her's, but was more heavily edited than Canyon).

I've selected some of Amazon.com reviews I found most interesting or amusing (they tend to be negative) of various porn memoirs.

Jenna Jameson:

Lloyd writes: "It's not clear what the point of this book is - to make money, to warn others about the lifestyle, to brag about all the big names Jenna has "been with" - perhaps all the above."

Jaewoo writes: "If you like National Enquirer, you will love this book. If you loved Jerry Spinger, then this book will continue where he left off. If you like porn and want to become a porn star, Jenna gives some excellent advice and insights into the porn industry."

Xina143 writes:

Most of the 'stories' in this book have the ring ot some truth in them, but I can't help but think that the details have been exagerrated. Come on...her father sat around and did drugs with them, only to then say that the best drug is crank? Her father single-handedly shot over 60 Viet Cong? She was kidnapped by the local mafia while her father was a cop? I enjoyed the book...but I suggest you take it with a LARGE grain of salt.

Laura writes:

I always thought Jenna was a skank, a mindless, weird noise-making life support system for a you know what. This book changed my mind, she is a BUSINESS WOMAN, who so happens to do her business in different positions. I loved her frank candor, her honesty her descriptions and her resiliance to make a living at her craft and come out...ehem..on top. GO JENNA!

Jenna gets slammed repeatedly on Amazon.com for not doing interracial. GG writes:

It's funny that Jenna or, for that matter, the mainstream media that has been fawning over her all these years, never brings up the subject of how much she is hated by black porn buyers. Jenna Jameson, has never done interracial hardcore on video. Her company, Club Jenna, doesn't have any black male or female talent. Jenna Jameson is notorious in the adult film world as being known as queen of the "dodgers" (a porn term for women who refuse to do sex scenes with black men). Her excuses for "dodging" have varied over the years: From saying her father wouldn't like it, to blaming Vivid, the company she formerly was contrated with (in truth, Vivid is also notorious for not being interracial friendly), to moaning that it would hurt her career. Jenna should just flat out admit she is a bigot or otherwise has issues with black men. She needs to come clean on this matter.

Way Meister writes:

Possibly the worst thing a person can do is lie to themselves. Tricking others is bad, but tricking yourself is 100 times worse. Ms. Jameson is deceived and a deceiver.

Ms. Jameson was a neglected child who has never yet distanced herself from libertine, idiotic narcissism enough to reckon with the overall impact of porn on America. 600 pages but not a shred of objective wisdom, just Jenna Jenna Jenna.

Without her looks, she absolutely would not be taken seriously by anyone. Sadly, her lunatic push to take more porn (and herself) mainstream show an iresponsibility she may never overcome. American porn is full of deceptive images that can lead to severe errors in expectations and judgement about sex, espcially for developing young minds. "Love Line" is a sex commentary show (Dr. Drew and Adam) which repeatedly warns people how they must not believe a lot of what they may have seen in porn films, particularly regarding anal sex and multiple partner sex (gang bangs).

I actually favor legalizing prostitution, letting it be what it would be-a needed release for frustrated guys. But I wouldn't call it making love. And I hope to God that noone picks up Ms. Jameson's self-obsessive dark autobiography expecting to learn anything about making love. It's subtitled "a cautionary tale," but I would caution you not to waste your money.

Jameson is a whore, which I actually think she has a right to be. She just needs to own up to it.

Mathew writes:

True love is a beautiful spiritual energy shared by two beings. What porn stars do is make lust. Not love. They perform sexual acts, with someone who isnt their Husband/Wife, or Boyfriend/Girlfriend, etc, and they perform the sexual acts for money, much like a prostitute.

I'm sorry that Jenna Jameson was raped. But she has the choice to stay away from that slime-filled world of sex, lust, and disease.

Christy Canyon

Earl writes:

Please Ms. Canyon, Please.If she said it once in the book she said it 100 times. Oh poor me, mommy and daddy actually had other things going on in their lives and that is wrong, because you have to devote all your love and focus all your attention on me. I am reminded of a Border Collie who never stops begging for attention until the owner can't stand it any longer and gently banishes the dog to the back yard, if just for peace and quiet. Many people have had less than perfect parents, but very few use the fact as a crutch,or a reason for choices made.

John writes:

Wanting to sound like an authentic dumb porno girl, Ms. Canyon has cleverly placed misspellings and hilarious punctuation blunders throughout the book. Very effective!

Traci Lords:

Maggy writes on Amazon.com:

It seems so funny that everything bad in her life was always somebody else's fault. She takes responsibility for nothing she's done. There are alot of us out there who were molested and raped as children and didn't turn into pornstars at 15. I have a hard time seeing her as the victim she's so desperately trying to play. Don't bother reading this book unless you want to read 281 pages of "Poor Me". She should read Jenna Jamesons book to see how one takes responsibility for ones actions without blaming everyone but the woman in the mirror.