Tripp and Other Tales
Photo credit: Susannah Breslin
“In maybe 2016, I got this idea to write a short story about a male actor in the adult movie business.” Read it.
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Filtering by Tag: PORN
The Other Uncanny Valley
“‘It’s a phantom-limb penis syndrome,’ said a tall, British man who goes by the name Adam Sutra. Adam is the CEO of CamasutraVR, a company that makes, among other products, virtual-reality pornography. He was trying to explain to me what it’s like when you’re a man, you’re immersed in virtual reality, and you look down at yourself.” — from “Porn’s Uncanny Valley,” The Atlantic, 2018
Beatniks!
How Do I Become a Male Porn Star?
“It is unclear if they know who I am. One addressed his email to ‘Sir.’ For the record, I am a woman. I am a journalist. I download their emails in a home office with a desk, a filing cabinet and a garbage can for recycling. I am not who they think I am. I do not have a magic wand that can turn them into male porn stars. I don’t know what to tell them. Truth be told, it is very difficult for men to break into the porn business (unless one rides on the coattails of a female who wants to be a porn star, a scenario with its own set of complications); many of the men who work in porn do not make a lot of money ($150 to $300 for a scene is not uncommon); and what it takes to be a male porn star (to wit: get up, get in, get off) is, for lack of a better word, hard.” — an excerpt from my 2013 Salon personal essay: “How Do I Become a Male Porn Star?”
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Books I Read: Hard Core
Linda Williams’ Hard Core: Power, Pleasure, and the “Frenzy of the Visible” is a rigorously academic work that seeks to trace the history of pornographic movies and explore what their content reveals about their viewers. Dense and filled with academese, the book tackles adult content with all the sexiness of a spatula. While not strictly feminist, Williams’ work privileges feminist porn over not-feminist porn while failing to identify if there is an actual difference between the two beyond an ultimately failed marketing ploy. This book is a buzzkill.
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Mirror Stage
Adult actress Houston, Las Vegas, Nev., 2013 | Photo credit: Susannah Breslin
Adult actress Houston in the mirror, Las Vegas, Nevada, 2013. For more of my photos, follow me on Instagram.
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What We See When We Look
Barbara Kruger, Los Angeles, 2022 | Photo credit: Susannah Breslin
“In my case, a covert narcissist mother and an emotionally unavailable father shaped the story of my life, one in which I ended up going to Porn Valley.” Subscribe and get my newsletter delivered weekly to your inbox.
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An Interview With Me About Writing Fiction
On Substack’s Lit Mag Lounge, there’s a new interview with me on my fiction writing process, “Publishing Diaries: Susannah Breslin”: “I committed myself to an experiment: Could I write about this provocative subject matter—the adult movie business—and what someone who works in the adult movie business would describe as a ‘civilian’s’ encounter with it in a style that could be published in The New Yorker?”
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Tangerine Dream
Adult actress, Las Vegas, Nev., 2013 | Photo credit: Susannah Breslin
An adult actress at the AVN Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada, 2013. For more of my photos, follow me on Instagram.
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The Real Scene
An excerpt from my 2009 investigation of the Great Recession’s impact on the adult movie industry, “They Shoot Porn Stars, Don’t They?”, a longform piece praised by Longform as “unflinching and devastating.”
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Square Show
A reminder that an adult movie set photograph of mine is part of the “Don’t Be a Square” group show in NYC.
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Hardcore Pleasure
Adult actresses, Los Angeles, Calif., 2024 | Photo credit: Susannah Breslin
Two adult actresses get ready before their sex scene. For more of my photographs, follow me on Instagram.
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What Tripp Towers Wanted
Me and John Holmes, West Hollywood, Calif., 2023 | Photo credit: Susannah Breslin
“In July of 2023, I found myself standing in John Holmes’ footprints.” Read my latest newsletter and subscribe.
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Four Minute Mile
I got myself a copy of Jim Camp’s latest limited edition photozine: Four Minute Mile. I love it. Get yours here.
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Don't Be a Square
"I took this photo of an adult movie actress." Read my newsletter and subscribe to get it in your inbox weekly.
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How Short Stories Are Made
Palm trees, Burbank, Calif., 2024 | Photo credit: Susannah Breslin
I wrote a short story about a sexagenarian who discovers an adult movie is being filmed in the house behind his. More recently, I was interviewed about it. When that interview gets published online, I’ll share the link.
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Flowers in Brooklyn
Flowers (Adult Movie Set) framed and on its way to the Don’t Be a Square group art show at Shag in Brooklyn.
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WWYD?
Estate sale, Toluca Lake, Calif., 2023 | Photo credit: Susannah Breslin
“What would you do if you discovered an adult movie was being filmed in the house behind yours?” Read it.
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I Get Email
Illustration by Susannah Breslin
Name:
[redacted]
Email:
[redacted]
Subject:
The porn industry, escorting industry and patronage
Message:
HI Susannah,
English is not my first language, some words might be off. I was asked by an old friend in his early 80s to research "what has become of" and if I could find her. He knew her back in the late 90s under her real name. Well, I found her. She worked as a porn actress and escort. She quit the business, went for a short while in a real job. However, nowadays she lives under the patronage, possibly of one of her former clients a possible UHNW individual. For such a self-determined and really independent woman to go down that route, it feels a bit irritating to see her in such a relationship. During my research, I was more shocked honestly not of what became of her, but about the hobbyist networks. The escorts circle back to porn to show that they are available, expand their clientele or show what is on the menu with them. That porn and the adult industry is basically a loss leader for them and just advertisement.
If you are interested in her individual story or my insight in the hobbyist networks, please contact me. Her story is really fasicinating and bold. It is not a story about my neighbour steals cable. It spans two continents, failed business endeavours, entrepreneur spirit and resilence but also hard truths. I will meet the old man that has asked me to find her soon and I still don't know what I will tell him. By the way, he is a Dutch liberal who has his experience with sex workers, I just hope it won't make him sad.
I don't want journalistic credit or financial compensation. Just someone to share my research with.
Kind Regards
[redacted]
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Topical Matters
I’m happy to share that a new short story I wrote, “Topical Matters,” has been published on failbetter. This story was inspired by a visit I paid to an adult movie set last year. The story line involves a sexagenarian in the San Fernando Valley who discovers that an adult movie is being filmed in the house behind his house.
Here’s how it begins:
“Stuart should have known something would happen on that day when he opened the door in the morning to retrieve the newspaper and noticed a religious tract had been left on the porch. He bent over, winced from the pain in his back, and scooped up the pamphlet. What is the Mark of the BEAST, read the cover. All the words were white except for the last word that was an alarming red. From the stormy sky behind the message, a bolt of lightning reached down to strike a building that was half the Vatican and half the U.S. Capitol.”
Read the rest here.
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