Yes, some educated women really do enjoy sex work. Duke University student Belle Knox and former Wall Street intern Veronica Vain have been making headlines for choosing to do porn. These women defy their socially defined roles as intelligent, professional women working in an office making a respectable living. But they aren’t the first, nor are they the trendsetters headlines make them out to be.
“People have a vision of the porn star as somebody who has no other options. People think of porn as a desperate thing you do,” says Belle Knox. “So the concept of somebody that has other options choosing porn just blows people’s minds.”
Plus, anything that sets one porn star apart from the sea of others can be a valuable marketing strategy and the first step in creating a brand. In years past Jenna Jameson was the epitome of a porn star among mainstream consumers—a tiny girl with big boobs and bleached blond hair. Few remarked upon her intellect.