Ginger Lynn was atop the leaderboard for many years and then got some mainstream attention due to her dalliance with Charlie Sheen. Beyond that she's made comebacks in two separate decades. Still, I'm sure there are those that have never heard of her. But fewer than any other porn stars.
You'd have to go to the Seventies for that, I think. Most people would recognize the names of Linda Lovelace, Marilyn Chambers and John Holmes--but beyond that, I don't believe so. Even with Seka having a poster that was sold at many mainstream outlets (I remember seeing them at Spencer's Gifts) you would be hard pressed to find someone outside of porn fandom that knows her face or her name. Traci Lords could be said to be well-known to people who have never seen a porn movie--but that's because she nearly brought the industry down to ruins. Most inside the porn business consider her persona non grata. (I remember an interview with Gregory Dark in which he was asked about her. He replied, "Who is Traci Lords? I've never heard of her." An "un-person" moment that could have come straight from Orwell's 1984.) Now you might be able to find some people who recognize Tera Partick--she was usually the "go-to" star for the mainstream media when Jenna wasn't avaliable. And Sasha Grey has been in Playboy at least once that I know of, and she did win that Jenna Jameson crossover award, for whatever that's worth. There are many, many people who should know who Annette Haven and Seka and Vanessa Del Rio are, who should know who Ginger Lynn and Christy Canyon and Kristara Barrington are, who should know who Asia Carrera and Stacy Valentine are, who should know who Angel Kelly, Ebony Ayes and Heather Hunter are. There should be more people who know who Peter North and Sean Michaels are, know that there are actually handsome men who work in porn. Perhaps if more women knew that, they'd be less hostile towards their boyfriends' collections, and maybe even want to be in porn themselves. (Hey--it could happen.) Hope that helps. _________________________________________________________
"There can never be too many beautiful women Hypnotized for our pleasure."
I would add Savanna Samson who has appeared on the Howard Stern Show, David Letterman and is a high profile Vivid girl. And you could make a case for Belladonna. She is a well known director at Evil Angel, has a large filmography, and was featured in a news magazine segment. I think one thing that must be considered is longevity in the adult business. sure there are many well known starlets performing today but will they be still known 5 or 10 years from now. Going by longevity one must consider Julia Ann.
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awall21 Deactivated User
20 Posts 2/10
Posted - Mar 3 2010 : 4:26PM
i would say mary carey maybe...she always gets mainstram attention some way. the political stuff she was doing got her a ton of attention and always seem to get stories on mainstream gossip sites.
Right now, you say pornstar, I think most people would say Jenna Jameson or Ron Jeremy, even though both are not only irrelevant, but poor examples of what porn has to offer. Find me a man whose not a fan of porn because of his preconceived ideas of what a pornstar looks like and I will show you a man who has yet to spend five minutes watching Tessa Taylor, or Andy San Dimas, or Katie St. Ives, or Tanner Mayes.
Longevity in the adult world puts Aurora snow closer to the top although she is not known as much as Sasha Grey or Ginger Lynn. Even though she stopped performing in her own films, Belladonna has more visibility than Aurora, so she's one of a kind. Are Constance Money, Sharon Mitchell, Amber Lynn, Tiffany Minx, Nina Hartley, Rocco and Annette Schwarz contenders to the title? - In the 70's, Constance Money was as popular as Annette Haven was, but she has vanished from the scene once her carreer was over. - Sharon is still involved one way or the other in the business. - Although she is a strong choice, Amber Lynn has suffered from being the best known pornstar after Ginger and Tracy in the 80's. - Tiffany Minx was highly popular around 1990. - She has been in porn a long time, but Annette Schwarz lives in Germany and has a brilliant web carreer now. She did not stay long enough in the US. My choices : - Nina Hartley remains a very good choice. She has performed in more than 800 films over three decades : 80's, 90's, 00's. She became a director, a writer. She's my choice among women. - Rocco, I would say yes for sure. He has been in the business for a very long time and has performed in 400 films and directed close to 180. He has performed too in mainstream movies (Romance, among others). He's my Number 1.
Currently, It has to be Sasha Grey and Belladonna. I agree that Savannah is pretty high profile. Rocco is like royalty in Europe. And what and by whom do you mean known? Not criticising, just wondering. Known amongst avid porn viewers, casual audiene, or people who have never watched any of the afformention in a scene? Are we talking about someone most people would recognize piddling around a mall? Just curious, interesting topic.
Currently, I vote for Sasha Grey. Several years ago before I became a fan or really had anything more than a passing interest in porn - I was most aware of Katie Morgan because of her multiple HBO appearances. Haven't seen anything from her in well over a year though.
Old timers: Christy Canyon or Tracy Lords for the women, or in Tracy's case "for the girls." John Holmes for the men. Today: Sasha Grey and Jenna Haze for the women. For the men I do not think that there is is one that I can pinpoint because, unless the men are lame, they are all pretty much interchangable.
Top 2 probably would be Tera Patrick & Savanna Samson. But also Belladonna, Stormy,and Sasha Grey. Not sure how many non porn watchers or only occasional watchers might know of Cytheria, Jenna Haze, Jessica Drake, Jesse Jane, Teagan Presley, Janine,or Chasey Lain. But some might have.
Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious - Brendan Gill 723 Posts 4/09
Posted - Mar 5 2010 : 12:48AM
Betty Page I know, I know. 'Betty page didn't do porn!' I beg to difer. When she was doing it, what she was doing was called pornography (I know. I was there). It's not her fault that, by today's standards, she'd hardly make it to an R rating, and the woman is a global icon of American erotica.
Everybody knows Jenna Haze and Rocco Siffredi. Also wanted to say that the 'non porn watchers' thing could maybe be used in the past, but not really anymore in the "Internet Era". Luis
The pornstars that I consider to have the biggest name recognition have it for their non-porn stuff. It might be a tie between Sasha Grey and Tracy Lords. Sasha was tagged for a bigger movie but Tracy has been at it for much longer. Both of these women have done some mainstream material so they would be known to a wider audience than most pornstars.
Yep. There's a high-ranking United Nations official named John Holmes. Whenever his name is mentioned in the news, I'm sure lots of listeners think of the pornstar, at least for a moment.
I like Katie, I wish she hadn't retired when she did. She is cute and I like that squeaky voice. As for Traci Lords, she can go to Hell! For those of you that aren't aware, Traci Lords faking an ID and entering porn at age 15 is why we have section 2257 today (and since Traci faked a driver license -- using it to get a valid passport, section 2257 wouldn't do squat for detecting it). She is also part of the reason Michigan has a credit-card type license now, which is scanable to verify legitimacy (and maybe other states as well) -- wasting tax dollars and raising the price of a license.
there are just more girls than work, it's hard to get your name known. on the other hand thank you for mentioning me and the other three lovely women. We all work really hard to make people like you happy.