THE PORN LIBRARY

THE PORN LIBRARY is a compendium of books, movies, television series, journalism, essays, podcasts, art, photography, and online works by authors, filmmakers, directors, journalists, podcasters, essayists, playwrights, artists, photographers, and other creatives about the past, present, and future of the adult movie industry. It was created by Susannah Breslin and launched in May 2024. Suggestions for THE PORN LIBRARY may be submitted here. The works are listed in no particular order. Anti-porn propaganda has been purposely omitted and will not be included.

BOOKS

NONFICTION

Blue Money by Carolyn See

Porn Work: Sex, Labor, and Late Capitalism by Heather Berg

Coming Attractions: The Making of an X-Rated Video by Robert Stoller

The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry by Legs McNeil

Porn Studies by Linda Williams

Pornocopia: Porn, Sex, Technology and Desire by Laurence O’Toole

Preachers vs. Porn: Exposing Christianity’s War on Sexxx by Mark Kernes

XXX: A Woman’s Right to Pornography by Wendy McElroy

The Pornography Industry: What Everyone Needs to Know by Shira Tarrant

The Feminist Porn Book: The Politics of Producing Pleasure by Tristan Taormino

Hard Core: Power, Pleasure, and the “Frenzy of the Visible” by Linda Williams

Coming Out Like a Porn Star: Essays on Pornography, Protection, and Privacy by Jiz Lee

Defending Pornography: Free Speech, Sex, and the Fight for Women's Rights by Nadine Strossen

The Big Book of Porn: A Penetrating Look at the World of Dirty Movies by Seth Grahame-Smith

Naked Ambition: Women Who Are Changing Pornography by Carly Milne

The People’s Porn: A History of Handmade Pornography in America by Lisa Z. Sigel

Porn Archives by Tim Dean

MEMOIRS, AUTOBIOGRAPHIES & BIOGRAPHIES

Girlvert: A Porno Memoir by Oriana Small

Candida Royalle and the Sexual Revolution: A History from Below by Jane Kamensky

My Father, the Pornographer: A Memoir by Chris Offutt

Traci Lords: Underneath It All by Traci Lords

Ron Jeremy: The Hardest (Working) Man in Showbiz by Ron Jeremy

Camgirl by Issa Mazzei

Rated X: How Porn Liberated Me from Hollywood by Maitland Ward

How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale by Jenna Jameson

Prisoner of X: 20 Years in the Hole at Hustler Magazine by Allan MacDonell

Thy Neighbor’s Wife by Gay Talese

From Princess to Porn Star: A Real-Life Cinderella Story by Tasha Reign

Annie Sprinkle: Post-Porn Modernist by Annie Sprinkle

We Did Porn: Memoir and Drawings by Zak Smith

Smutcutter: How I Survived Porn by Sonny Malone

FICTION

Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk

Porno by Irvine Welsh

Blue Movie by Terry Southern

Endstufe by Thor Kunkel

ART & PHOTOGRAPHY

XXX: 30 Porn-Star Portraits by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders

The Valley by Larry Sultan

Playboy’s Greatest Covers by Damon Brown

Porn Art by Dahmane

Dreamland by Jeff Burton

X-Rated: Adult Movie Posters of the 60s and 70s by Tony Nourmand

Pornoland by Stefano de Luigi

Thomas Ruff Nudes by Thomas Ruff

Sexytime: The Post-Porn Rise of the Pornoisseur by Jacques Boyreau

PLAYS

The Money Shot: A Play by Neil LaBute

The Performers by David West Read

MOVIES

DRAMA

Boogie Nights directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

Pleasure directed by Ninja Thyberg

Wonderland directed by James Cox

King Cobra directed by Justin Kelly

The People vs. Larry Flynt directed by Miloš Forman

Body Double directed by Brian De Palma

Lovelace directed by Rob Epstein

8mm directed by Joel Schumacher

Hardcore directed by Paul Schrader

Rated X directed by Emilio Estevez

COMEDY

Zack and Miri Make a Porno directed by Kevin Smith

The Nice Guys directed by Shane Black

Humpday directed by Lynn Shelton

Orgazmo directed by Trey Parker

Don Jon directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Inserts directed by John Byrum

Red Rocket directed by Sean Baker

Mope directed by Lucas Heyne

HORROR

Cam directed by Daniel Goldhaber

A Serbian Film directed by Srđan Spasojević

X directed by Ti West

DOCUMENTARY

9 to 5: Days in Porn directed by Jens Hoffman

Naked Ambition: An R Rated Look at an X Rated Industry directed by Michael Grecco

Twilight of the Porn Stars directed by Jason Massot

Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy directed by Scott J. Gill

The Girl Next Door directed by Christine Fugate

Rocco co-directed by Thierry Demaizière and Alban Teurlai

Sex: The Annabel Chong Story directed by Gough Lewis

After Porn Ends directed by Bryce Wagoner

Fallen Angels directed by Gregory Dark

TV

SCRIPTED

Pam & Tommy created by Robert Siegel

The Deuce created by George Pelecanos and David Simon

Supersex created by Francesca Manieri

Hard created by Cathy Verney

Skin created by Jim Leonard

Adult Material created by Lucy Kirkwood

UNSCRIPTED

Pornography: A Secret History of Civilisation produced by Channel 4

Family Business produced by Showtime

Pornucopia produced by HBO

Sex Before the Internet produced by VICE TV

Porno Valley produced by World of Wonder

ONLINE

JOURNALISM

They Shoot Porn Stars, Don’t They?” by Susannah Breslin

Scenes From My Life in Porn” by Evan Wright

Big Red Son” by David Foster Wallace

The Devil in Greg Dark” by Tom Junod

When the Clients Are Porn Stars” by Daniel Miller

The Teenager & the Porn Star” by Dave Gardetta

A Rough Trade” by Martin Amis

The Money Shot” by Susan Faludi

In the Playpen of the Damned” by George Plimpton

ESSAYS

Bodhisattvas Among Us: Compassionate Sex Workers” by Nina Hartley

For Kayden Kross, the Family Business Happens to Be Porn” by Kayden Kross

My Hard-Core Obsession” by Shalom Auslander

ART & PHOTOGRAPHY

San Fernando Valley Porn by Vera Hartmann

Into the Porn by Katia Repina

003.jpg et al. by Adam Connelly

Looking for Mr. Goodsex by Alexandra Rubinstein

FICTION

VCO by James Jacob Hatfield

PODCASTS

The Last Days of August by Jon Ronson

The Rialto Report by Ashley West and April Hall

Hot Money: Porn, Power and Profit by Patricia Nilsson and Alex Barker

VIDEOS

My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes” directed by Charlie Tyrell

Lost Masterpieces of Pornography” directed by David Mamet

The Actress” directed by Oz Rodriguez