Porn Stars
Pornographic actor/actress or a porn star is somebody who appears in pornographic films or photographs, live sex shows or peep shows. Many actors and actresses may appear nude in films (usually filmed in explicit sexual genres). Most genres have specialists who achieve most of their recognition in a specific niche market such as bondage or strap-on sex. Other better examples are gaping, general anal sex, double penetration, or teenage girls.
Some legal jurisdictions consider commercial pornography as a form of prostitution, though most commercial sex film performers do not regard themselves as prostitutes for various reasons. Most notably these performers are usually not paid directly by their sexual partners for the sex, but through a studio. Some sex film performers do not receive money at all for their inclusion in such films. In this instance, they do so for promotion of their other works such as artistry paintings and sculptures, or have no sex in the films such as repeat performers in the famous Girls Gone Wild film series.
Pay rates
According to some sources, most male performers in straight porn are paid less than their female counterparts. Ron Jeremy has commented on several times regarding the pay scale against the women and the men of the sex film industry: "The average guy gets $300 to $400 a scene, or $100 to $200 if he's new. A woman makes $100,000 to $250,000 at the end of the year." and "Girls can easily make 100K-250K per year, plus stuff on the side like strip shows and appearances. The average guy makes $40,000 a year."
Some state that gay male porn generally pays men much more than heterosexual porn, a number of male performers, including North, who has appeared in both heterosexual and gay pornography. However North strenuously denies that he has ever actively performed in homosexual acts other than his earliest times. Ostensibly, men who perform in gay pornography but identify themselves as heterosexual are said to do gay-for-pay; that is, perform in gay movies only for the paycheck, not because of any personal attraction they have to other men.
According to notable producer Seymour Butts who runs his own sex film recruitment agency as well as produces sex film "depending on draw, female performers who perform in both straight and lesbian porn earn more than those who do normal sex (Boy/Girl) usually make about US$200-800 while those who only do oral sex (blow job) usually only make about US$100-300 for the scene.
While some pornographic actors perform in a wide range of genres, most genres have specialists who achieve most of their recognition in a specific niche market such as bondage or strap-on sex. With over several thousand usually one hour long sex films produced each year from several countries, the most accessible usually made and released from within the United States, many performers will complete a film every one or two weeks. However, many of the highly regarded and thus highly paid performers, such as Jenna Jameson, only star in actual sex films a few times a year, due to the substantial pay rate they charge for their inclusion in film releases.
Pornographic actors and STDs
Because of the nature of their work, usually involving sex without condoms, pornographic actors are particularly vulnerable to HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
In the 1980s, an outbreak of HIV led to a number of deaths of erotic actors and actresses, including John Holmes. This led to the creation of the Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation, which helped set up a system in the U.S. adult film industry where erotic actors are tested for HIV every 30 days. All sexual contact is logged, and positive test results lead to all sexual contacts for the last three to six months being contacted and re-tested. The use of condoms became standard in films featuring homosexual anal sex.
In 2004, a male performer, Darren James, tested positive for HIV; it is believed that he contracted it during a film he made in Brazil. One fellow porn star, Lara Roxx, was identified and tested positive for HIV. While it was announced that the viral load tests showed that James was "Patient Zero",, others in the industry have stated they feel that Lara Roxx is truly the source of the outbreak as she was previously working as a street prostitute in her native Montreal before coming to LA.Following the release of this information the heterosexual porn industry voluntarily reduced their workload for the next 30 days, as various contacts with both individuals, as well as others within the industry, re-evaluated and expanded upon their original programs dealing with this possibility.
Accurate information about the extent of infection among those in the adult industry is unknown because no organization has ever done rigorous studies. The existing data suggest that pornographic actors have a much higher rate of STDs than the general American population.
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