PHOENIX — If you thought Betty Grable was the only girl with “million dollar legs,” you were mistaken. You are also probably pushing 80.
In adult, that girl — now woman — is Golden Age porn star Porsche Lynn, who pinned the epithet to her freshly published memoir, “The Girl with the Million Dollar Legs: My Life in Burlesque, Porn and Kink.”
Published through habitual friend of classic XXX, Bear Manor Media, “The Girl With the Million Legs” purports to take readers on a journey from the VHS days of 1983, when Lynn entered the biz to the wireless present, where she now presides over Phoenix-based dungeon, Den of Indomitus.
As one might imagine, there’s a lot of in-between action that takes one from Lynn’s then to now, or toe to thigh, as it were: Lynn began her career as a dancer in Michigan, traveling around the country and gracing the pages of gentlemen’s magazines like Cheri, High Society and Chic, before making her first adult film in 1985.
She went on to star in more than 250 hardcore films, including “Nighttrips,” “Miami Spice,” “Arabian Nights,” “Buttwoman,” “Pussyman” and “HardRockin Babes,” and has been inducted into several adult halls of fame, including Legends of Erotica and Hustler Hall of Fame and received a Free Speech Award.
But beyond the documentation of facts and (hopefully) lurid details, Lynn suggests that there is also a sex-positive message to be gleaned from her long stint in purveying pleasure.
“This book will show you that not all porn stars are victims of their life’s circumstances,” Lynn writes. “Some of them, like myself, actually face life’s challenges by diving deeply into their own self/sexual growth. Burlesque, porn and kink are not what you may have been taught to believe, or even what you believe today.”
Along for the ride was co-writer Brian Whitney, who said he was initially interested in Lynn’s dominatrix work, and explained in who-can-blame-him terms that while he can ghostwrite anything, “sex is by far my favorite subject.”
XBIZ caught up with Lynn to discuss the memoir in more depth.
What topics does “The Girl with the Million Dollar Legs” cover?
“The Girl With The Million Dollar Legs: My Life in Burlesque, Porn and Kink” will take you on a wild ride through my life in three of the most mysterious arenas of adult entertainment. You are given a personal, intimate and historical account of my journey in the Golden Age of XXX from 1982 to present day. Share in my life’s exploration of my own personal sexual evolution and my part in the sexual revolution. It’s informative, entertaining, sexy, funny, pragmatic and occasionally raunchy.
Will fans learn anything new about you?
I hope they learn about who I am as a person — that maybe the person they see onscreen is not so different from the person offscreen. They will see my journey from beginning to end. They will learn that I have an innate sense of self-responsibility, humor, natural ease/acceptance of sexuality since always, and a damn unique story to tell.
What motivated you to write your memoir now?
Honestly? Old age and death. I have had so many wonderful friends cross over and make the journey back to the great round, that it made me stop and think of my own mortality and such. I had always thought that I would write a book, but it was always somewhere down the road. That somewhere down the road finally came to me in 2013. I sat down to write the powerful, poignant memories of my wonderful life. I wanted to document my journeys and share them.
How did you get into the biz?
I got into the biz, mostly by exposure. I grew up in Michigan, where we would watch adult movies at a drive-in movie theater. I was approached by a very nice man, who asked me if I would like to enter the wet T-shirt contest. He then explained if this were too much, he would hire me to dance in one of his clubs. I walked into the Cinema X in Lansing, Michigan and procured a job, as a peep-booth girl. I worked there for about two years, moving to California in 1985. I shot my first XXX video in December 1985 and the rest is history, so to speak.
The book description suggests that you hope to refute ideas that porn always degrades or exploits women. Can you tell me how you found empowerment through porn?
I never once felt exploited by anyone in the XXX business. I was always very certain [about] what was going on. I was negotiating an on-camera sex scene for a wage: no if, ands or buts. Yes, at times it was glamorous and at times it was trashy, dirty. I was never confused as to ‘what’ I was doing. I never had the pretense that producers, directors, agents were using me for their own gain. Did they gain from my performances? Yes. But so did I. I always saw it as an equal exchange.
Nor would I ever allow myself to be exploited. Anytime I would sniff out an individual that lacked integrity, I would simply not work with them. I have never found porn for the most part to be degrading to women. I sincerely enjoy sex, sexual exhibition, nudity and sexual expression.
I wouldn’t say that I necessarily hope to refute the ideas of porn being degrading or exploitative, because this may be the truth for certain men or women. They may actually have the belief system that says, ‘Porn degrades women and exploits.’ My mission is not to change their belief systems. What I can say for myself is, after 30 years of being in the adult business, I have never felt degraded or exploited, nor would I allow myself to be. Someone else cannot possibly make me feel a certain agenda.
I found empowerment through porn first, by allowing it to be my own personal sexual exploration playground and healing camp. I was 24 when I started making XXX movies. I had basically just started orgasming a few years before, but other than that I didn’t know a lot about sex; I didn’t know what my sexual preference was, I didn’t know what it was like to have sex with more than one person at a time, I really didn’t know that I was pretty. Porn gave me the space, to safely try out all of the kinkiest sexual fantasies, I had ever dreamed.
It was completely sexually empowering. It was the self-growth boost that I needed to step into autonomy, free will and individuality of the woman that I am. Therefore there was never a question about my bottom line. I was strong enough to hold it.
How do you think that porn today compares with the “Golden Age”?
This is when I would ask you what is your definition of the Golden Age? Technically, it was 1972, when porn was legal and being shown in mainstream theaters. People often refer to my era as the Golden Age because, between 1983-1996 porn ‘grew up,’ it made the transition from the theaters to everyone’s house. Porn literally invaded, in a good way, American households as well as households all over the world.
Regardless of the intent behind the question, I will say the porn is always changing; it changes with technology, collective dreaming, sexual evolution, rules and laws, etc. Porn, in general, seems more mechanical, and no, I am not talking about the actors. I am talking about the delivery system. It seems that porn is most often watched in computer, iPhone, Skype chat, virtual sex slave, podcasts, etc. And of course, most importantly, you can get your porn anywhere, from almost any source. It certainly is different, better or worse, is just anyone’s opinion, but most certainly different.
Below is an excerpt from the memoir, provided by Lynn.
Chapter 11, page 125
There is another questions that cracks me up and I get it all the time. 'Did you ever have an orgasm on camera?' Yes, yes and yes. I was usually able to orgasm easily, on- or off-camera. I can’t say that I did every single time, but when I couldn’t get off it was usually due to extreme set conditions. For instance, making porn in the California desert with temperatures in the 100’s, with sand blowing into every orifice, eating a cup of sand while you give a blowjob.
Those are conditions that make it not so easy to get off. Sometimes it was just an uncomfortable position, like having sex in the kitchen sink or hanging from a pole. Sometimes it was just the end of a long day, call time 7 a.m. and finally doing your double penetration scene at 2 a.m.; fuck, you have got to be kidding me! All I can say is, thank God I didn’t have to get my cock hard.
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"The Girl with the Million Dollar Legs" is now in-stock and available through Bear Manor Media. For more info or to order a copy, click here.
