|
|
|
erotica  fictiongallerylifestyles fetishbdsmqueer/bi/transswingersfeatures news briefsarticlessexy spreadseros bits sound offtriviasexfessionsreviewsevents sf archiveslondon archiveslos angeles archivesnew york archiveslas vegas archivesinternational calendareros photo classified ads about eros ezine daily cartoon select different zine:
|
 "I sat down in the school cafeteria with the day's offering of mystery meat and Jell-O on my lunch tray. I tried to ignore the table of jocks snickering behind me when one of them approached with a nudie magazine in hand. SMACK! ... it landed on my table. On the cover was a young girl in a pleated skirt with her hands over her breasts. I choked on my food. Oh my God, it was me!"—Excerpt from Traci Lords' new autobiography, Underneath It All. Oh my God! How could such a thing happen to a wholesome Redondo Beach, Calif. schoolgirl? Well, I'd say the act of posing for said "nudie magazine" would be one way, wouldn't you?  Reading the advance copy on Underneath It All, you'd think you were perusing some Rockyesque against-all-odds inspirational tale, or maybe something akin to Eminem's recent semi-biopic 8 Mile.There's no doubt the young Nora Kuzma came from humble beginnings, and even suffered sexual abuse at the hands of her scumbag father. To that end, she is definitely a survivor. The problem with the tone of Underneath It All is that, in order to present herself in the most sympathetic light, Lords must make the adult industry in which she thrived as an underage performer appear unseemly, exploitive, and unsavory. Fair enough, maybe, but certainly no more than Lords herself. The spin used by the actress and HarperCollins, the book's publisher, is not only disingenuous in its frantic attempt to pass the buck and justify her deceptive tactics during this period, it almost reeks of the same compulsive lying adult industry stalwarts have accused the former porn starlet of. "How does a teenager go from high school sophomore to the most recognized porn star in the world overnight? And why?" publicists ask in the books promotional copy. Well, without bothering to offer the most logical reply to the first question (that is, by lying about her age and displaying such sexual dynamism that producers naturally bought the lie hook, line and sinker), they move straight into the "why?" "Twelve-year-old Nora Kuzma traveled with her mother and three sisters to southern California in search of a stable life," it states. "But years of sexual abuse and parental neglect drove her onto the streets of Hollywood and straight to the door of a nude modeling agency." Hmm. Onto the streets of Hollywood? Those horribly mean streets? More like the mean streets of Redondo Beach. And for those who didn't spend as much of their formative years in this seaside suburban community as I did, let me inform you… they're not so mean. In fact, Redondo is the kind of community that practically operates a perimeter around its borders designed to keep anything but attractive white people out. It's that way today, and was even more so when Lords lived on Catalina Ave. almost 20 years ago. And why the hell didn't Lords just do what every other desperate Redondo Union High School girl did and work a cash register at Pep Boys on Pacific Coast Highway, or dish out ice cream at the Thrifty's a couple of blocks away, or sell records at Licorice Pizza?  Here's a hint—young Nora knew very well she had considerable charms at the age of 16. If anything, she knew at least as much about manipulating men at that age as the nude modeling agency referred to above had in manipulating well-formed young women.And to hear it from industry professionals, her entry into adult modeling and performing wasn't just due to this knowledge of the power her figure and sexuality had over men. Industry bible Adult Video News, in anticipation of the inflammatory remarks in Lords' autobiography, has become a mouthpiece of sorts for the adult business, which isn't about to take such accusations lying down. In response, AVN "discovered" and has released an old taped interview with Lords, then 16, in which she represents herself as a nymphomaniac, and is caught contradicting herself in her ability to conceal the truth about her age and her life. "Her autobiography, says publisher HarperCollins, describes a world of 'pain and desperation,'" an AVN press release stated. "But the audio interview obtained by AVN reveals a teenager who apparently loved sex and the life she was leading." The magazine's own publisher has come out swinging against Lords and the autobiography. "Many people in the porn industry will be anxious to see what Traci Lords will choose to present about her past," according to Tim Connelly, editor and publisher of AVN. "Traci was known for being a nymphomaniacal woman-child who seemed wise beyond her years while simultaneously suffering from what some called the worst case of arrested development the world of porn had ever seen. She certainly gets tangled up in her own lies in this tape, particularly when it comes to discussing her age, her mother and her investments."  To understand why those in adult entertainment would respond to Lords' book in such a way, it's important to understand what kind of porn starlet Lords was. Since all but one of the films she made were produced when she was underage and are therefore illegal under federal law, it's not exactly easy to get your hands on them.But take it from someone who's seen their share of porn chicks; Lords was, well before her 18th birthday, the consummate adult film performer. She was undeniably cute, with a gorgeous body. And what was equally undeniable was her voracious appetite for sex. I've written extensively of how many mediocre porn stars there are in the industry (maybe even more now than when Lords was in it, due to its increased size), and how the main thing that separates the wheat from the chaff is enthusiasm and love of sex. Lords would only have needed her looks and a willingness to get in front of a camera to be a success in the adult industry in the 1980s, but she went well above and beyond her duty, displaying a knowledge, interest in and mastery of sexual acts that few at that time would have expected from a high school girl. Dominique Troyes, who co-starred with Lords in Traci I Love You, the only adult film Lords made as an adult (how's that for irony?), said that Lords was the only girl she'd ever done a scene with who had an unscripted, un-simulated, real orgasm on camera. In the same film, Lords performs deep throat fellatio while suspended upside down by her co-star. Not exactly de rigeur, and surely not the performance of some timid waif caught up by forces she could neither control nor understand. Lastly, the book fails to address the losses these forces of the adult industry suffered when the FBI discovered that the 80-plus adult films Lords made were made when she was underage. It cost producers and studios millions of dollars to recall and destroy all of those tapes—all due to the lies of a high school teenager. What did Lords lose? Little, due to cooperating with authorities. And one could argue that she gained much, considering HarperCollins isn't clamoring to publish, say, the autobiography of fellow B-movie actress Kari Wuhrer. It's no wonder the industry is so pissed off. Nope, Rocky this isn't. "Traci Lords: Underneath It All is the powerful, uncensored, and inspirational story of how one young girl made peace with her past and triumphed over impossible odds to become a successful actress, recording artist, and, most improbably of all, a happy and healthy woman." Successful? By what standard? With the exception of a role in John Waters' Cry Baby, Lords' career as a non-adult (!) actress has been mediocre at best. Recording artist? Female DJs worldwide put their head in their hands in shame when Lords tried to display her spinning talents, only to have a record run out (the ultimate DJ faux pax) when she started entertaining a New York audience by humping the stage. Happy? Maybe. Healthy? Well, the girl still looks delicious as sin. But honest? The jury's still out on that one.
|
|
|
 |
|