It seems:

1) She liked being nude, and she often walked around the house naked.
2) She was a devout and somewhat conservative Christian, but she thought Adam and Eve were naked and sexual in the garden, so there was nothing wrong with either.
3) When she was young, she enjoyed being in front of the camera, but as she lost her looks, she decided to leave modeling and didn't even want to be photographed for the documentary so people who remember her beauty.
4) She's not into S&M, but she understood that it's a form of sexual play. She understood her job as a model to be a form of play-acting.
5) She made a lot of her own outfits. Her fashion vision lives on in today's kink-wear, lingerie, and swimsuits, so we take a lot of it for granted. Still, this vision originated in her mind and was revealed on her body.

Now, look at her pictures. Does any of this (except perhaps the conservative Christianity) surprise you?

Notice the pointy bras in both the Bikini and S&M shoot. Madonna's fashion designer exaggerated the pointy bra for shock value. Bettie Page did it to be sexy.

She also invented the Leopard Print bikini. It was originally a cheetah print that she used for a shoot with two cheetahs.

She thought it worked, and used the fabric again and again.

Lastly, in this shoot, she was drunk. Her only regret from her modeling years is spreading her legs this one time.

I think she exemplifies something that is true for all performers- even in that one shoot where she was doing something she didn't really want to do. It not only misses the mark, the photos seem depressing to me.

It's not just good looks or 'performance ability'. I think Porn greatness reflects something about the performer's unique personality.

I hope others will respond by saying what they think makes certain performers great.

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