Porn, Reality TV And Stepping Stones

Today, Calico takes up the subject of the next ‘teen mom’ turned porn star — and ponders whether porn is now further down the path of stepping stones toward lasting fame than is reality TV.

Read on…

by Calico Rudasill, Sssh.com Porn For Women

For many years, there has been a (largely untrue) cliché concerning porn’s place in the entertainment world: the notion young, struggling actors often do porn as part of breaking into show business.

The foundation of this idea is the existence of things like “The Party at Kitty and Stud’s,” a softcore porn flick later rebranded as “Italian Stallion” to take advantage of the ascent of its central ‘stud’, Sylvester Stallone.

Contrary to what people commonly believe about this movie, it does not include hardcore sex scenes featuring Stallone. In fact, as any number of reviews has pointed out, the movie is dreadfully dull and drab as erotic entertainment goes, even by the standards of late-60s/early-70s softcore porn.

While the reality doesn’t fit the cliché, the idea of once-obscure hardcore porn performers later achieving major mainstream fame is a persistent one – and on the bright side, it did once provide David Cross wonderful fodder for his trademark brutal mockery (jump to the 46-minute mark for the bit to which I’m referring).

Recent trends and headlines have me wondering, though; has porn become the middle, as opposed to the first, career stepping stone from entertainment obscurity to Hollywood stardom?

Step One: Reality TV. Step Two: Porn?

Think about some of the people reality TV has made into (relative) household names, like Mike Sorrentino (AKA “The Situation”), Omarosa Manigault and Spencer Pratt, to name a few; if not for reality television, do you think any of these people would have cracked through into our consciousness? Other than a strong desire for attention and a willingness to behave like an utter jackass to get it, what talent do they have?

In the case of one of reality TV’s single biggest stars, Kim Kardashian, porn did indeed serve as something of a launching pad to fame (that and her father’s association with a certain ex-football player who beat a double-murder rap only to wind up getting pinched for participating in the dumbest robbery scheme in modern history). The same can be said of Kim’s famous frenemy, Paris Hilton.

More recently, though, the path from porn to reality TV seems to have reversed itself, at least where “teen moms” are concerned.

First, there was Farrah Abraham (shown at top of page) and her “leaked” sex tape, which of course turned out to be an orchestrated sex scene shot by a professional crew, not a homemade video made with a boyfriend who just happened to be one of the most famous male performers in modern porn.

Now, following in Farrah’s footsteps, comes Amber Portwood, another “Teen Mom” alum eyeing porn as means of staying in the public eye.

But if porn is now Step Two in the roadmap of fame for people without much discernable talent, what is Step Three?

Step Three: Reality TV, Again

If Farrah’s post-sex-tape career is any indication, reality stars who do porn as step two in their career path never quite take the next step into film or television stardom. Instead, it appears they wind up as spare tires on reality shows ostensibly centered on couples.

Maybe things will work out better for Amber, though. Maybe porn (if she does it, which she hasn’t yet, it should be noted), will turn out to be the launching pad toward…. Well, whatever it is she has in mind.

One thing is clear, though; her predecessor on the teen-mom-to-porn-star path is skeptical of Portwood’s prospects, to say the least.

“It’s sad how hard Amber tries to be me,” Farrah said after hearing of Portwood’s meeting with Vivid Entertainment. “Matt the conman who doesn’t even like her and is trying to pimp her out to get money for himself. This is all sad. Amber is a washed up felon.”

Harsh words, to be sure – but to me, there’s more than a hint of projection going on here, especially when it comes to one of Farrah’s other comments from the same interview.

“As Amber has enough mental issues and body issues, I doubt doing a sex tape at 26 is in the right direction…. Good luck to Vivid and Matt and Amber, as I see all their drama and fake set up press is really not entertaining and cries to wish they were famous.”

Pot, meet kettle; she says you’re black.