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Retire

As females are the focus of porn, they receive more attention and hence become tiring more quickly. As the males are but appendages, "meat puppets," they are less noticed, and hence can last longer. While females need no special skills beyond some beauty, males must be able to gain erections and ejaculations on cue. This is a difficult task that only a few can attain.

Antaeus Feldspar writes on RAME: "Unfortunately, what ex-film actress and current film producer Candida Royalle said about the porno industry seems to be true: You'd better go in knowing at all times what you want to get out of it and what you're prepared to give.

"Let me clarify my position: You are NOT reading a message by someone who thinks that all porno movies are by definition bad, all porn producers by definition scumbags, all porn actresses by definition head-f---ed whores....

"However, I do believe it's a simple truth that a lot of actresses who go into the business aren't really prepared for what they find. It takes a lot in today's society to be a woman who makes a living from having sex on camera; not everyone who does it is doing it from a position of emotional strength. Hell, look at what Hollywood does to its stars who can't handle the pressure, and unless you're Murphy Brown, you're not denounced by tele-evangelists or politicians just for being a movie actor.

"My surprise is that you do have male actors who seem to endure in the business for years on end."

In his fun book MAKING IT BIG, Chi Chi LaRue writes that most porn careers don't last long. "When they're older a lot of these guys don't look back fondly… And while they're doing it, rarely do they stick around for very long. They get jaded and burned-out quickly, and a lot of them just get too jealous to function. Their looks are their biggest asset, and there's always a newer, younger, cuter guy coming down the pike to take their place. They constantly feel a lot of pressure.

"It would be nice if everyone could take porn for what it is, enjoy it while they're doing it, and then get out with no regrets, but that doesn't seem to happen. A lot of them end up wishing they'd never done it."