After Porn Ends (3 Stars)

This is a documentary about the lives of ex-porn stars. It discusses their attitude to their former careers, and how having been porn stars affects what they do today. The documentary features ten women and three men. Some have left the porn business recently, while others left more than 20 years ago.

Let me start with my criticisms of the documentary. The main fault is that there are interviews with too many people. 13 people is too much to take in. If it had been half the number, for instance three men and three women, we could have got to know them better.

Even though the documentary makes an attempt to appear neutral, as all good documentaries should be, it's heavily slanted against the porn industry. The three experts who appear as outsiders dealing with the porn industry are all against it. For instance, Luke Ford, an author who has written a book about the porn industry, says, "All the people in the porn industry are broken, twisted souls with no job skills". I assume he means all the actors, because the directors and film crews are highly talented, but even so he's wrong, blinded by his prejudices.

Some of the information is misleading. Nina Hartley appears several times during the documentary, and she seems to be one of the ex-porn stars. The makers of the film knew that she hasn't retired, because there's an interview in the DVD's extra features in which she talks about her current activities as a porn star. Why didn't they make it clearer in the documentary itself? They must have wanted to give the impression that everyone quits after a while.

In voice-over it was stated that Mary Carey has quit the porn business. That simply isn't true. She's just changed her direction. She used to make hard porn, now she's switched to soft porn. Okay, people who watch hard porn say that soft porn isn't real porn, but for most people porn is porn and they don't even know what the difference is.

Asia Carrera moved to Utah to get away from porn.

Now to the documentary itself. Certain patterns are apparent. There's a contrast between the men and the women. All three of the male porn stars have no regrets about their past career. For instance, Randy West says that he enjoyed having sex with 3000 women, but he felt it was time to move on. Richard Pacheco gave up due to pressure from his wife, but still looks back fondly on his porn days. As for the women, almost all of them regret what they have done. A notable exception is Asia Carrera, who gave up porn for the sake of her children, but has no bad feelings about her former career. It's interesting that she should have this standpoint, since she is the most intellectual of the women interviewed. She's a member of Mensa and could have followed many other careers, whatever Luke Ford says, but she made a conscious decision to be a porn star. While in the business she taught herself all the other jobs in the studio, such as directing and cinematography.

Most of the women left the porn business after only a few years. Some of them quit because they found religion. Others quit because they fell in love, and their boyfriends didn't approve. And then others quit because they became addicted to drugs, so they needed more money and changed their career. After all, prostitution pays better than being a porn star.

Most of the women tell stories of sordid film studios. That's probably what most people think of when they hear the word "porn". Most American studios and probably all British studios are like that. From the little I've seen, I hate those films. Fortunately there are better studios. Vivid is named as the classiest porn company. There's also Hustler, and a few other companies that look after their actresses, rather than treating them as objects.

Richard Pacheco and his daughter Rachel.

Ex-porn stars, especially women, have problems for the rest of their lives after leaving the industry. Some say that they were fired from their jobs because someone in their new companies recognised them. Women are often dumped by their boyfriends when they say they used to be porn stars. The boyfriends make excuses, but the real reason is that they feel insecure knowing that their girlfriend has slept with hundreds of men. They're afraid of being compared. And then there's the problem of telling their children what they used to do. Only two children are interviewed in the documentary, both of whom fully accept their parents' past lives. It would have been more balanced to hear from children who hate what their parents have done.

Nina Hartley, porn star for life.

Nina Hartley's interview in the extra features is very enlightening. It's good to hear from someone who has been a porn star for 30 years and still enjoys it. That should have been included in the documentary itself, as a contrast. She feels liberated by being able to do a job in which she's able to express herself. She frequently takes part in discussions with people who want to ban pornography, in particular Christians and feminists. Nina says that feminists are more narrow-minded than Christians, because they're unable to accept that women really can enjoy having sex with hundreds of men. She says that the girls who quit after only a few years are people who should never have been in the industry in the first place. You have to be a porn star because you feel it's your vocation, not just because you think it's an easy way to make money.

Mary Carey attempted to become the governor of California. Unsuccessfully. One of her policies was tightening gun control, which made her an unpopular candidate. When she's 35 she wants to run for the American presidency. I'd vote for her! Or would you rather have Barak Obama?