Beauty, sex and models are a heady, but perhaps inevitable mix. Models, being social paragons of health, form and beauty, serve a mass market with an appetite for sexual icons and imagery. Aloof – perhaps; inaccessible and tantalising - ideally, but models serve as sexual icons nonetheless. Society is a pyramid, one in which socially dominant males and females inevitably compete for the most sexually attractive partners, a category into which most models would fall. If in an affluent society sex is seen as the ultimate currency, then models are its diamonds and pearls. So perhaps we should not be surprised when the rich and powerful become stuck in the messy mire of sexual transgression, even if we are intrigued by insights into their otherwise inaccessible lifestyles. Just as one becomes accustomed to stories of dalliances with interns, PA’s and students, a new torrent of scandal and intrigue surfaces to shock and astound us, and this year has provided no exception to the laws of human frailty.
With the recent explosive growth of the Internet, there has been a further blurring of that gray line which separates modeling, erotica, and soft pornography. Adult actresses have become celebrities in their own right for sexual acts performed in front of the camera, and women who pose provocatively in the nude have now risen to the social accolade of “glamour model”. Even today’s mainstream actresses are routinely called upon to do both, and Hollywood superstars such as Halle Berry and Jennifer Lopez have made many publicised nude scenes and centrefold appearances. Celebrity magazines such as Penthouse and Mayfair, which once teased an eager public with only the merest glimpses of wordly beauty, have become ever more explicit in their imagery in their attempts to satisfy demand. The growth of this “new age of pornography” has been accompanied by more tolerant social attitudes. Paradoxically, whilst freedom of individual sexual self-expression and the pursuit of personal pleasure have if anything been increased, litigation against those ‘actively’ using their wealth and influence to pursue their sexual drives is also increasing. Following the recent repeal of the statute of limitations in California, the modeling industry is now braced for a string of “sex suits”, some of which may date back over thirty years.
A major issue in the growing problem of sexual misconduct is the continued trend towards earlier sexual development in young girls, with many young ladies reaching full sexual development and drive before they turn thirteen. If the legal age of consent is eighteen, then only temptation can occupy the intervening years. Nothing is more attractive to the darker side of the modeling industry than a young maiden radiating beauty, sexuality and innocence in full sexual bloom.
This dangerous cocktail of youth, sex and beauty has again hit the headlines as John Casablanca, founder of Elite and owner of a franchise of modeling schools, has been named in a sexual-abuse lawsuit filed under the new law by a former model. The woman, now in her early thirties, claims that Casablanca impregnated at the tender age of fifteen in the late 80’s, and subsequently arranged for her to have an abortion. In 1970 Mr. Casablanca founded Elite Model Management in New York, until recently one of the world's leading model agencies, representing such supermodels as Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, and Cindy Crawford. The Casablanca lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that Casablanca began sexually abusing the girl in 1988 when she was in Elite's "Look of the Year" competition, a prestigious pageant for fresh faces. Whilst Mr. Casablanca’s attorney, Robert Wolf, maintains that the case is both without merit and moreover doe not come under the jurisdiction of Californian law, his argument however does not extend to the mandarins of Hollywood.
As a result of this lawsuit Robert Wolf foresees an avalanche of lawsuits, given that litigants have only one year in which to file their claims. Legal experts say that the deciding factor in all such cases will be admissible facts. As many such accusations that carry the burden of proof will involve alleged acts over a decade old, many will crash upon the rocks of hard evidence. However advances in DNA technology mean that tissue samples taken from rapes and abortions, often preserved from unresolved reports of sex crimes which occurred many years ago, may be the undoing of many given the durability of DNA. Regardless of the burden of proof, none are immune from the court of public opinion which has hung many an acquitted individual.
Raymond Boucher, lawyer for the firm Kiesel, Boucher and Larson, which is representing the plaintiff against John Casablanca says that his firm rejects one in two cases that it receives for lack of evidence. "Many times we evaluate a possible case where we know the abuse happened, but we also know we can't prove it," says Jeff Anderson, a lawyer based in St. Paul, Minn., who has filed cases against the Catholic church over three decades. Scant consolation for the victims, but scandal is a voracious demon whose appetite for those in high office is not blunted by legal propriety. Many lawyers and civil libertarians worry that it could lead to a frenzied witch-hunt of sensationalism, greed, and personal revenge. They argue that whilst there may well be legitimate cases of sex abuse within the entertainment industry, there is great potential for abuse of the new law by damaging public reputations through mere allegation and here say.
Some argue that, whilst the moguls of Hollywood may not hold the same position of public trust as priests, they are however no less vulnerable to the letter of the law. Michael Gross, author of "Model: The ugly business of beautiful women", however begs to differ, “The industry is well-known as an exploiter of youth for physical beauty. The bar is way different here," he says, "Modeling agents are not priests, but no one in the world thinks they are either."
Michael Gross claims that the male mandarins are not alone culpable for Hollywood's dalliance culture, "The problem with the entertainment business is that there are just as many 14-year-olds going on 40 who set out to get exactly what they want and know how to get it," he says. "It's also human nature not to feel a lot of sympathy for someone [beautiful] who won the genetic lottery." However this blame sharing philosophy is not accepted by civil rights advocates, who claim that it was silent acquiescence which underlay the epidemic of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. They further suggest that it is silent complicity and public ignorance which allows it to persist elsewhere. Activists believe that a concerted effort to expose the worst cases is needed as a deterrent to others. Lisa Pion-Berlin, CEO of Parents Anonymous, a child-abuse prevention group, claims that, "We as a society have to shape the agenda of correction without going overboard. This is a watershed time for the issue of sexual abuse in which Americans can stand up and say it is no longer OK for a work culture to exist that sexually exploits the most vulnerable amongst us."
Just as the growth and collapse of John Casablanca’s Elite Model Management Agency has charted the fortunes of New York’s modeling industry, so the rise and fall of Penthouse magazine provides an interesting timeline for changes in sexual fashions within the glamour modeling industry during the past forty years. Despite the explosive growth of the Internet, the glossy magazine still remains the public shop window for the glamour modeling industry, as magazines and posters represent a powerful ambient media which are universally displayed on high street kiosks, magazine racks and bill boards.
Perhaps motivated by the rapid growth and success of Hustler, Guccione steered the course towards increasingly explicit content, attracting high profile models and artists to increase sales of his product. Probably the most infamous issue of Penthouse was its September 1984 issue, the largest selling issue of any magazine in history. The September issue featured photos of Vanessa Williams, a model and singer who began her career as the first black woman to win the prestigious Miss America contest. However Miss Williams was forced to resign early in her ‘reign’ on July 23rd 1984, when it was discovered that she had posed nude for a series of black and white photos in Penthouse with another female model, engaging in simulated lesbian acts. Despite the scandal, she managed to recover to become a well known singer and actress. This September issue went on to become even more controversial with time because of its centerfold, Tracy Lords, an American born actress and model. Miss Lords posed nude for this issue of Penthouse at the beginning of her career as an adult film star, although it wasn’t until much later that it was revealed that she had been under the legal age of consent throughout her career in pornography, and was only fifteen years old at the time she had posed naked for Penthouse. The September issue also featured a pictorial on Hypatia Lee, one of the top adult film stars of her day, cementing the magazine’s new public association with the adult film industry.
Never shy to court controversy, Guccione, presumably driven by the widespread fascination with pornography on the Internet and by the loss of his market share to the growing popularity of other less explicit men’s magazines" like Maxim, gambled on changing the magazine’s format in 1998 to feature hard-core pornography. This new format however ended up in no man’s land, and Guccione lost both subscriptions and circulation on the news stands. On August 12th 2003, General Media, the parent company of the magazine, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Guccione resigned, and Penthouse magazine was put up for sale. However the rise and fall in the fortunes of Penthouse magazine clearly charts the influence of the adult industry upon the world of glamour magazine modeling, and illustrates the slow drift in sexual tastes and fashions within the industry towards more adult themes and content.
Nothing is as perhaps more attractive to the adult modeling industry than beauty combined with youth and fresh innocence. No one story epitomises the risks and attractions of underage sex more than the infamous Tracy Lords story. Tracy Lords became an icon of success in Hollywood’s adult industry, becoming a centrefold and adult starlet before she was even sixteen. Miss Lords’ later success has further blurred the distinction between the adult and mainstream Hollywood industries, as she has enjoyed a successful transition to a mainstream acting career after managing to shock even the resilient adult film industry. Principally this story delves incisively into the question as to whether the adult film industry preys upon innocent victims, or whether the adult industry is itself vulnerable to precocious talent.
Traci Lords continued to maintain to her fellow professionals that she had turned 18 in June of 1984, and had started in the business in September that same year. As one leading adult film star of the era Christy Canyon recalls, she had worked with her in some thirty movies. “I remember that on one set she would say that she was a virgin until she was 18 - we didn't even know that she wasn't 18 - and then on another set she said when she was in high school she ‘did’ the whole team. Lots of little weird things like that. We all thought she talked like that because she wanted attention. Certainly no one ever thought she was duping everyone on her age."
Adult film consumers around the world adored Miss Lords. She was mobbed in Tokyo and Paris, and she also enjoyed a strong domestic fan base. After reportedly earning more than a million dollars from her early adult career, Miss Lords raised her own financing to produce her own films, and went on to write her own scripts and star in her own projects, marketing the finished product. She formed a Company ‘Traci Lords Productions’ with her "manager" and much older boyfriend, she was paid some $10,000 a month in cash with an apartment and a Mercedes thrown in for her services. However, one Saturday afternoon in May 1986, shortly after she returned to California, federal agents arrested Lords for being under 18, the legal age of consent, when she had made over seventy adult films. Within hours of the news being broken, video stores had taken all her films off the shelves in panic, and distributors had destroyed millions of dollars worth of her material. Tracy Lords now maintains that her memory of her adult film career is hazy due to her heavy drug use at the time, but she is sure that she made only a handful of films from which producers took clips with which to furnish the seventy seven separate titles. Miss Lords claims that she made less than $50,000 from the industry, and had spent most of it on drugs. Whilst she maintains that she was a victim of drugs, unhappiness, and most of all, pornographers, others in the industry such as male star Ron Jeremy view her as premeditated and manipulative.
Former Los Angeles County District Attorney Ira Reiner said, "She may well be a hard professional now, but she was 15...when the pornographic film industry got a hold of her. The thrust of our investigation is directed towards the industry that exploited her." Traci Lords was never charged with a crime, whilst several pornographers including Jim South and Rubin Gottesman spent over a million dollars on their legal defence from charges of sexually exploiting a minor. They were not alone as in 1986 the FBI knocked on the door of then adult film star Ginger Lynn, asking her politely “to testify on behalf of an actress who was allegedly underage, and against producers in the adult film industry”. She refused to co-operate and subsequently faced six years in prison for 'willfully subscribing to file a false tax return' to the tune of $2,078.00. She lost not only the case, but her home as well, and spent and four-and-a-half months of her life in prison. Miss Lynn claims to have spent almost $400,000 defending herself from charges arising from Traci Lords’ under-age status and spent "17 days in federal prison, 30 days in drug rehab[iliation], and three months in a halfway house all directly related to the Traci Lords case." Whilst Federal law makes it illegal to hire someone under age for pornography, even if the producer is unaware that the individual is under age, Californian Law was lenient. Jim South avoided a custodial sentence, whilst Rubin Gottesman received only one year. Miss Lords alleges that she spent thousands of dollars on legal fees, even though she was never actually charged with an offence. However, even whilst condemning the adult film industry and claiming "victim" status after her arrest, she sold “Traci I Love You” to a distributor for $100,000, the only adult title legally available in America featuring Traci Lords.
Still only in her 20’s, Traci Lords resumed business as a calendar girl and landed many more acting jobs, including a part in the hit 1993 television mini-series "The Tommy Knockers". A physical fitness devotee, she has twice appeared on the cover of Muscle & Fitness magazine under her real name, and made an exercise video in 1992. After making a successful entry into the mainstream film industry, Miss Lords played a tough-talking sex kitten in John Water's 1990 film “Cry Baby”, opposite Johnny Depp, and a vampire in the 1998 box office hit 'Blade.'
Miss Lords is by no means alone in her underaged entry into the adult film world. In November 1991, distributors destroyed 60 titles featuring Canadian actress Alexandra Quinn, born Dianne Stewart, who was also under 18 when she started performing. Miss Quinn began stripping aged 15 to draw attention and money from men, and followed her icon Erica Boyer into adult film making. Using falsified documentation to once again dupe the seemingly all too fallible Jim South she immediately started to work for Video Exclusives in a scene with two men and two women. Miss Quinn made some sixty adult videos before turning eighteen, and was eventually caught one day on when she used her real ID by accident. After several years in Limbo she eventually returned to a willing adult industry. Lydia Chanel, who started in France, admitted making fifteen adult films before she turned 18, and a string of other known under-aged adult performers have included Tabatha Cash, Rene Summers, Kristara Barrington, Ali Moore, Nikki Charm and Christiana.
Whilst some stars such as Pamela Anderson may have cleverly marketed tapes of their private sexual antics under the guise of a leaked ‘home video’, thereby avoiding claims that the material was ever in any way intended as an “adult film” or “commercial production”, others are not so fortunate. It is perhaps inevitable, given the naivety and innocence of youth, that sexual indiscretions may be recorded and kept ‘on tape’ for later profit or blackmail. Many would-be starlets are enticed into having sex or into recording adult footage which causes them distress further on in their careers. This is perhaps the oldest trick in the book, but remains a very effective marketing ploy, as even a poorly recorded film involving a top actress or model commands a high price in a star-hungry market. This year has provided another rash of high profile celebrities whose pasts have recently returned to haunt their newly found public fame.
Cameron Diaz requested an injunction to stop a former photographer John Rutter from selling rights to an enticing film exposing her wilder sexual nature as a young model of 19. However Scandal-Inc.com has released the now infamous film of Cameron Diaz, filmed by Rutter in June of 2003. The photos and footage were taken when Cameron Diaz, now 31, had not yet gained fame or maturity as an actress. "To the best of my understanding, Rutter had sold the licensing rights to the film and photos years ago and Scandal-Inc.com picked it up sometime early last year”, according to one industry Public Relations figure who specializes in the promotion of such celebrity films. A spokesman for Scandal-Inc.com, never slow to offer a sales pitch, remarked that , “Ms. Diaz fetish styling looks very sensual… and at the peak of her figure's beauty is a major plus for us…it’s not everyday people get to see the biggest female movie star in Hollywood, in this type of an exciting passionate role…See her like you have never seen her before or will ever see her again…It’s real, a documentary of her one day when she was wild, young and free”.
The latest big name to follow Pamela Anderson into the ‘home erotica’ market is Paris Hilton, heiress to the Hilton hotel fortune. The sex video, filmed at a Hilton Hotel features Paris having sex with a former boyfriend, Rick Salomon. The recording was some three years ago whilst Salomon and Paris Hilton, then 19, were dating, and whilst both parties were willing participants in the recording, Miss Hilton’s representatives claim that the leaking the video has left her very angry. “As it was for themselves," said her spokeswoman, Siri Garber, "Not everybody indulges in that, but couples do it sometimes and it’s just for themselves, for fun. She never intended for it to be seen by anybody other than the two of them." The story was later changed in a another Garber press release when Paris was described as a "sweet-natured" girl who comes across on tape as an incapacitated "victim" who "can't even get up" over the course of the now famous, darkly lit encounter. Hilton family representatives have said they were trying to determine whether Salomon, 33, a video entrepreneur was involved in releasing the sex tape, which he denied, claiming that Martin Singer, a friend of Mr.Saloman’s had stolen the sex videotape. Mr. Salomon claimed in a lawsuit which was later dropped, that Paris Hilton was an "active participant" in making the video tape and that he was portrayed “as a rapist" in order to protect her image, contending in a lawsuit that the Hiltons "implied to the press" that she was incapacitated and was therefore sexually assaulted during the 27-minute video. Mr.Salomon stated that, in denial of allegations that she was incapacitated, Paris Hilton "posed and preened" during the video, said "hi" to the camera and stops to answer her cell phone. Clearly those who inherit wealth and beauty evoke extreme emotions in the court of public opinion, and the Hilton family’s predicament has been made all the more embarrassing as her sexual antics were performed in a Hilton Hotel.
Another celebrity, 23-year-old German actress Sibel Kekilli, is now embroiled in a sex scandal revolving around her very recent past within the adult film industry. The German tabloid Bild recently published details about her adult film career, before her recent triumph as an award-winning straight actress. However as she is only 23, and some of the films were made as recently as the Fall of 2002, her claims that her past should be forgotten have been condemned by her family and the media. Under constant siege from the German press, members of her film production crew have reluctantly admitted that they knew about her past. The German media have suggested that under stringent American film industry standards Miss Kekilli would have been recognized and ‘pulled’ from the picture. Perhaps Miss Lords might disagree.