LOS ANGELES — The prestigious British Journal of Photography has published a revealing look at the home lives of “Porn Moms” — adult performers that seek to balance the demands of their career with the needs of motherhood.
Written by Laura Lee Huttenbach and accompanied by the exquisite photography of Mary Beth Koeth, the sensitive portrayals go far beyond the expected equation of “porn + mom = MILF” to capture the beauty and essence of being a mother and providing a welcome reminder that adult stars are people, too — mothers, daughters, sisters, wives.
Huttenbach explains that in 2017, Koeth began attending adult industry conventions, where she hoped to meet performers for her project. She ultimately embarked on a trip across the U.S. to Colorado Springs, Dallas, Phoenix and Las Vegas, where she earned the trust and recorded the insights of women who are normally secretive about their private lives.
“Her goal was to meet mothers working in the adult film industry, to try and answer some of the questions she had about their lives,” Huttenbach reveals. “How do they balance motherhood with their work? How are they treated at school gatherings?”
Tiffany Brookes, Makayla Cox, Cameron Canela, Emily Mena and Nickey Huntsman offered their insights into these questions and more, including some heartfelt and pragmatic advice.
“After having my son [I realized], ‘I’m a single mom and, oh shit, what can I do that’s going to bring in income now?’” Brookes says. “He is literally my everything. Everything I do is completely thought out around him... The minute the camera is off and I leave set, it’s back to being a mom.”
For her part, Cox is honest with her daughter about her career choice.
“She’s going to grow up knowing,” Cox notes. “It’s going to be common knowledge, [like] ‘Oh, OK, mommy does porn for a living.’”
Canela was more than a little surprised at how becoming a mom changed her outlook toward herself and to her work within the industry.
“Before, I definitely embraced who I was in the adult industry and didn’t really care what people thought about it. I was like, ‘This is who I am, this is what I like to do.’ Now I like having more of a conservative image,” Canela confides. “That has been the biggest transition for me, just realizing that there’s still a whole other side of me.”
Like other "Porn Moms," Mena’s world is wrapped around her children and a desire to protect them.
“Being in the adult industry kind of hurts you a little bit,” Mena says. “I don’t care what people say about me. I just don’t want it to affect my children. That’s all I care about.”
Likewise, Huntsman finds motherhood to be natural and desirable.
“When I had her, the mothering skills came automatically,” she observes. “Sometimes you just know that you’re made to do something.”
Beyond the beauty conveyed by Koeth’s evocative imagery, the most poignant aspect may be the normalcy portrayed by these scenes of motherhood — the scenes that may sharply contrast with the “wild party girl” misconception about performers' personal lives.
“Their lives are just as complicated as the rest of ours,” Koeth notes. “I’m grateful to these women for trusting me with a piece of their lives that, professionally, they prefer to keep secret.”
The full article is available here.
