Lorelei Lee

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I’m not sure how I first stumbled upon Lorelei’s myspace page, but I was glad I found it. I read one or two of her posts and was hooked. When I linked it on drunkcyclist that same night, I said “read this today”.

And I meant it.

If you haven’t read her stuff, you owe it to yourself. You can see it here: blog.myspace/lick_lorelei.

We exchanged a few emails. I asked if I could interview her for drunkcyclist. She agreed. The rest is history.

Hotter than July.

What is your name?
Lorelei Lee.

What do you like to be called?
Lorelei works just fine.

Ever ride a bicycle?
When I was a kid, I got a secondhand bike that I was embarrassed about because it was a boys’ bike – I wanted tassels and a little wicker basket on the handle-bars – it was red and black and I rode it around the Arizona desert and popped all the tires on cactus stickers. I haven’t had a bicycle in years, but last month my agent took a couple of us girls to Toys R Us and bought us bicycles. We were laughing and riding them around the aisles like kids. I got a pink one. I’m pretty excited about it. I don’t have a driver’s license so my agent thought I should have a way to get to the grocery store without him having to drive me.

How did you first hear about drunkcyclist?
You wrote to me on myspace. Then I myspace stalked you a little bit. Then I read your blog. Then I wrote back to you.

How does it feel to be interviewed on drunkcyclist?
I think it’s a little funny considering that I don’t actually know that much about bicycling.

Do you read drunkcyclist?
Yes, I agree with a lot of your politics, and I love reading about Arizona, but I have to admit I lose interest when you start talking about sports. I liked what you wrote about all the things your friends and family have given you. I think lists can be really evocative.

Where do you work?
I think it’s funny when people who interview you ask you questions they already know the answers to. I work in Los Angeles and San Francisco, mostly. Last month I worked in Las Vegas. I work in hotels, rented houses, and studios. Sometimes I work outside. A few months ago I worked on a beach in Cabo San Lucas. Oh, but I guess what you want me to say here is that I make porn for a living.

How did you get involved in porn?
In bits and pieces. I did my first shoot when I was nineteen. A friend of my boyfriend’s was shooting video for a “college girls” site. I wasn’t in college, but they gave me a UCSB sweatshirt and photographed me on a surfboard. That was six years ago. When I was twenty-one I quit my coffee shop job and started performing in BDSM and fetish videos, eventually moving into boy-girl scenes. For the last seven (eight?) months I’ve been working in the mainstream industry.

Do you like being in porn?
I like working in porn more than I’ve liked any other job I’ve had – but I guess that’s not saying much. I actually really love my job. It’s dynamic and challenging. I’m constantly learning. It pushes my creativity. At the end of a work day, I feel both spent and accomplished, which might be my favorite combination of feelings. Also, I get enough time off to write and go to museums and draw and sit in my room singing along with the radio.

Also, I believe that porn is good for people. When people think of pornography they often think only of airbrushed women and breast implants, but there are so many different kinds of porn – you can find porn with almost any kind of person in it. Porn is maybe the only form of media where it’s possible to find diverse forms of sexuality represented in a positive way – rather than the whitewashed, male-dominant, youth-obsessed sexuality that we generally see in the movies and on television. I think sexuality is an integral part of human identity. The porn industry is far from perfect (like every other industry in a hierarchical capitalist economy), but there are people in porn who are expanding the public concept of what’s sexy. I think that’s important.

Do you like watching porn?
I don’t actually watch porn very often – when I do, I’m usually watching my friends in scenes they’re proud of. Occasionally I watch one of my own scenes – I end up critiquing myself.

Who is your favorite porn star?
Princess Donna, Belladonna, Annette Schwarz, Nina Hartley, Gia Paloma, Adrianna Nicole. It’s a long list, actually.

Where were you born?
Upstate New York

Are you Conservative or Liberal?
Pretty liberal, although I’m not big on party politics – I mostly vote democrat, but I don’t actually feel like “liberals” are on my side all the time. I’m an unapologetic sex worker. I’m not a victim and I don’t need to be saved. Liberals mostly seem to pity me or condescend to me – conservatives pretty much hate me.

Mother fuck George Bush, or thank god he’s our President?
Motherfuck him.

Iraq War: Good idea or fucking huge mistake?
Fucking huge mistake.

Coffee or tea?
Both. Coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon.

Do you drink alcohol?
Yes.

Do drugs?
No.

Ever had a problem with either?
I did some drugs in high school. It was fun until it wasn’t.

Atheist or true believer?
Somewhere in the middle I guess.

What religion were you raised?
My mother was raised Catholic. She lived in a convent when I was born – a home for wayward girls. I was baptized Catholic, but I only ever went to church for weddings and funerals. But Catholicism was on the edges of my life. I romanticized religion. During crises, my mother would say ‘our father’s and ‘hail mary’s under her breath.

Career highlight?
Working with Belladonna, topping Princess Donna, anything with Annette Schwarz. Also – when I met John Stagliano and he told me he was “a fan” of my work.

Career lowlight?
I don’t think I should say – I wouldn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.

Do you have a significant other?
I have a few significant others in my life. The most significant other of my adult life is a gay man who has been my “better half” for a long time now. I believe in finding or creating relationships that fit your life – rather than changing your life to fit your relationships. I have had a few wonderful dating relationships, but for the most part I think the mythological ideology of romance-as-a-basis-for-stability can be debilitating.

Any siblings?
Yes. I’m the oldest of five.

Do you get along with your parents?
I do my best.

What was your childhood like?
That’s an endless essay question not suitable for internet interviews.

Did you fucking hate high school?
Mostly. I hated high school, but I liked some of the things I did during those years of my life. I spent a lot of time reading and writing and going to poetry readings. There were a lot of poetry readings in the city where I lived. I was lucky. I also did a lot of drugs, but the poetry helped me know that there was a larger world out there.

Did you go to your high school reunion?
I don’t think they’ve had one yet. But I think I’ll probably go. I’m curious.

Who pisses you off, and why?
Indiscriminate consumers, people who don’t pay attention, and people who aren’t able to see or conceptualize the world beyond the bounds of their own experience.

Who do you want to meet?
Is this like a top five thing?

Marilyn Monroe
Rosa Parks
Lee Krasner
William Faulkner
Bell hooks

What music do you listen to?
Lately – Josh Ritter , Birdman and Little Wayne, Karen Dalton, Nelly, Michael Foucalt, Jay-Z, Bruce Springsteen, John Prine, Tom Waits, Gillian Welch, Johnny Cash, Nick Cave, Drive-By Truckers, Missy Elliot, Tribe Called Quest, Sarah Bareilles, PJ Harvey, Billy Holiday

What do you read? Books? Magazines? Newspapers?
Yes.

What movies do you like?
Too many. The Misfits, Don’t Bother to Knock, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Little Miss Sunshine, All the Real Girls, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, This Property is Condemned, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Muppet Movie, Butterfield Eight.

Do you watch television?
No.

What shows to you like?
I don’t have TV at my house, but in hotel rooms and on airplanes I like to watch the food channel. I like cooking shows.

Do you watch sports?
I occasionally get to watch my little sisters’ softball games.

Which teams?
The blue team.

Do you drive?
No. I never learned how. I actually take my first driving lesson next week.

What do you drive and why?
Um, not applicable.

Where do you want to be in five years?
I’d like to have my BA. I’d like to have written some more. I’d like to have strengthened my relationships, read some books, done some volunteer work, made some dirty movies. I’d like to be a generous, thoughtful, ethical human being.

How ’bout in ten years?
Pretty much the same as above, but twice as much.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I’d be less self-conscious.

And why?
Self-consciousness is like the twin to narcissism – it prevents you from seeing outside of yourself, keeps you from paying attention to the people around you.

Any final thoughts or words?
Everyone asks this at the end of an interview. It makes me crazy. Like I’m supposed to have some succinct closing witticism. Too much pressure. Okay: don’t do drugs. Stay in school. Talk to your friendly neighborhood sex worker. Hug your children. Hug your teddy bear. Listen. Look. Pay attention.

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