Let’s face it: porn stars aren’t generally regarded as the sharpest knives in the drawer. Even more so than mainstream celebrities, many people see them as vapid Barbie dolls whose fake bodies, endlessly modified with silicon, collagen and peroxide, are meant to distract from the fact that there’s supposedly little going on between the ears.
Having interviewed and met a number of porn stars through the course of researching my book, I can generally say that this view is not necessarily fair. The porn stars I’ve talked to each came from different backgrounds, had interesting upbringings and had intriguing views on a variety of topics, from technology and sexuality to economics and politics. (I was most impressed with industry newcomer Stoya, who’s very sharp.) As the cliche goes, we’re all intelligent in own ways, and porn stars are no different.
It’s a shame, then, that so many are perpetrating the stereotype on Twitter, the social media du jour. There’s a bunch of ‘em on there, including Sasha Grey, Jessica Drake, Jenna Haze, Belladonna, Joanna Angel (who stood me up for an interview in Las Vegas, by the way) and a whole bunch more. I’ve been following a number of them for several months now in the hopes of gleaning something interesting that I can include in my book, but so far that’s been a bust (no pun intended). Without revealing the culprits, here are a few examples of recent porn star Tweets:
“About to go walk off this 7 layer chocolate cake”
“Answering emails and getting some work done….had an awesome steak dinner last night!!”
“Packing my suitcase for work”
“Flip flops and sand don’t mix, especially when your legs are wet. Funny to watch though.”
Don’t get me wrong - everyone who uses Twitter is bound to put out the occasional boring or uninteresting message. Lord knows I’ve used it as an outlet to vent my frustrations with the continuing lapses in logic on 24. But when it comes to putting out useless information, which is the primary criticism of Twitter, porn stars take the cake. All most of them ever seem to talk about is what they’re eating, what they’re doing or where they’re going.
There’s no right or wrong way to use Twitter, but porn stars are missing out on a golden opportunity. Much has been made about how Twitter is a chance for celebrities to “cut out the middle man” and interact directly with fans. But in order for there to be any value for those fans, the celebrity has to provide them with something worthwhile. Porn stars could be using Twitter to let fans get to know them, their personalities, their beliefs and opinions, rather than what they had for lunch. Perhaps more of them could put out the occasional link to a news story they found interesting, or follow somebody besides each other (Sasha Grey is particularly bad, following only eight people), or respond to fans’ messages (some, like Stoya, actually do). In an era when their business is so much under threat from all the free porn out there, they could be using Twitter to build some “brand loyalty” by showing off their off-camera personalities online, thus perhaps persuading some fans to continue to pay to see their work. They’re not going to do that by telling us about the ham sandwich they had for lunch.
