Getting Your Money’s Worth

Nothing wrong with being a whore

It used to be that I cringed every time I heard the word whore. I have always seen whores as takers and I prided myself as being a giver. Even when I dated, I preferred to pay, not because I was looking for sex, but because I enjoy giving and sharing with others. I have helped friends out lending every skill imaginable, and among friends I neither charged for the help nor differentiated one service from another. Each service is only subjectively valuable, and the only truly tangible thing I am trading is my time and energy.

Where I was raised, most people have a limited disposable income, this is how things are done. Favors are traded like a bartering system and takers are shunned. But in America today things are very different. So many people are looking for a handout without giving in return. It’s all about having the right image and having the right label on a product is what counts. People still want their prestige and luxury, but these days those that can’t afford to pay for it are also unwilling to do something to earn it. It’s no surprise that when you give something away and it has no value, so making someone work for it turns its value into something tangible, and that value is significantly increased.

When I started making porn, rates were pretty standard and there were many production houses. I didn’t feel like a whore, because what I was giving would last more than the time it took to shoot and could ultimately bring many people pleasure. In my quest to make this world a little happier, I haven’t jeopardized my own happiness. But I value relationships and people more than money, thus I have never had a problem sharing myself with people I genuinely liked, or cutting a deal for “friends”, to help with their production costs. Trouble is the most personable people are capable of loving the almighty dollar more than, all too often, even themselves.

Business is business

To say that the business can be cut throat is an understatement, everyone is looking for profit, but very few care to actually work for it What differentiates quality from quantity is foresight and planning. Looking at the video industry, we often see that you get what you pay for in regards to the final product, as production costs including makeup, good sets and lighting can turn a performance from something akin to a webcam show to something that has a dollar value. The producers who find ways to avoid the Internet con artists, freeloaders and mouchers are seeing the larger picture. The cheats want it here and now. Those who pay honestly for something rarely feel cheated and those who cheat to get something rarely see its value. It is a little thing called cognitive dissidence. Even if something isn’t all that great, if enough is invested into it, the mind protects the ego by convincing it that it has gotten something of value, and vice versa, given the size of the egos in the adult industry, it is no wonder that this prevails.

This phenomenon is most prevalent in the classification of talent. With a multitude of performers to choose from, those that adhere to their rates are selected predominantly over those who lower rates based on need. So rare is a break on these premium rates, that a hundred off on a multiple scene booking is toted as a deal. More often than not, a manager intercedes on the performer’s behalf to negotiate, at least until the powers that be have decided that they have invested too much into the talent, for the performer to be anything but first rate. Ultimately what makes talent popular is their marketability, what makes them sell is their promotion, what promotes them is someone who has invested heavily to have them as part of a project; all in the quest to be getting their money’s worth.

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