Now, do not get me wrong, most of these men certainly have a star quality about them.  Perhaps it is their amazing physique, their endowment "below the belt," or that rare ability to get it up and stay up on set for hours on end (pardon the pun).  But, I am still left wondering how the term Porn Star was born?  Going back to the 1970's and the heyday of pornography, I am well aware that porn personalities like Linda Lovelace and John Holmes achieved a sort-of mainstream acceptance as stars.  This held true and still does for Ron Jeremy and he has even crossed over into mainstream films and television.  Now each of these stars falls into the "straight" genre of porn and yet they still became household names in both gay and straight audiences.  Is that what makes a person a porn star, their ability to become a household name?

I have often joked that you cannot call a person a porn star until they have been featured on the box cover of at least 5 videos.  In today's world of gay porn, there are 1,000's of guys going in front of the camera each year.  Yet, only a handful of them become household names.  But, for some reason, every time I meet someone that has done a porn film, they are referred to as a "porn star."  Do we just assume that they are a star because they have appeared naked on camera?  Are they really a star?  At what point can we truly refer to them as a porn star?

Certainly I have no trouble calling Matthew Rush (Falcon Lifetime Exclusive) a Porn Star, as he has become perhaps the most well known gay porn icon in the past 5 years.  If I utilize my criteria of being on at least 5 box covers before becoming known as a porn star (he has surpassed that by far), I am not sure if that is the only qualification.  Again, I think there needs to be some mainstream recognition of image and work before being labeled a true porn star.  After all, do we call everyone that appears on the big screen a "star" or "celebrity" just for being in a movie?  No, we do not...they have to earn that title through their body of work.  Perhaps that is what makes a porn star, their body of work (of course a great body helps).  Take Michael Brandon (Raging Stallion), for example; he does not have the most buff body in porn, but he is one of the most well endowed and is an amazing performer on camera and a true gentleman off.  He has appeared on tons of box covers, created his own porn brand "Monster Bang" and a line of toys featuring his named penis, "Monster."  His body of work is certainly worth the title of Porn Star as well, isn’t it?

So, I pose this question to all of you.  In your opinion, what constitutes a porn star?  And, who do you consider to be porn stars of today?  I would like to take the responses I receive and share the results in a future column on my site (you will remain anonymous of course).  I look forward to hearing your response.  You can Email your responses to Gio@jumponmarkslist.com  In keeping with privacy standards, I will not share your Email address with anyone for any reason.

Gio

www.BelowTheBeltWithGio.com