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Inside the Adult Film Industry:
A Lexington Steele interview

Tony Monchinski

America hasn’t been the same since Janet Jackson revealed her breast on the Super Bowl halftime show. Or, at least, so it would seem. Why does a significant segment of the American population publicly continue to view the human body as something dirty, while spending billions of dollars a year on pornography? In a world turned upside down, Michael Powell and other American Taliban in the FCC label “the F word” obscene, when thousands of Iraqi civilians and five hundred plus American sons and daughters are consigned to memory as a result of an unjust war.

The left has long had an uncomfortable relationship with the porn industry. Porn is violence to women; porn is exploitative. If that’s true, then why do so many progressives watch it or frequent the strip clubs, “massage parlors” and video emporiums surrounding the Graduate Center?

I thought I’d take some of my questions to an “icon” of the adult film industry. Lexington Steele told his mother, “I’m the guy who does the things people talk about in hushed tones.” Dubbed “The Porn Star for the New Millennium,” Lex defies the stereotypical image the public holds of actors in the heterosexual adult film industry.

Boogie Night’s Dirk Diggler pales in comparison to “Lex the Impaler.” Lex’s nickname bespeaks development of a below-the-waist sort. An all-American high school athlete who made the transition from stockbroker on Wall Street to #1 porn star, Lex contradicts most stereotypes of the male adult entertainer as lacking-endowment-between-the-ears. In the following interview, Lex speaks with candor and honesty about his profession and its accompanying pleasures, dangers and racism.

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Tony Machinski: Lex, how did you get started in the adult entertainment industry?

Lexington Steele: I went to Syracuse University. I graduated in 1993. From ’93 until ’98 I was a Wall Street stock broker. With one of the firms I worked for, my office was located on the 36th floor of the World Trade Center. If I hadn’t gotten into porn and stayed in high finance I would have been in those towers on September 11.

In 1997 I started doing some regular mainstream modeling. Some folks suggested I get involved with adult modeling so by March of 1998 I was in Los Angeles working in adult film. I completely gave up finance because I said to myself, “Damn, I’ve always wanted to do porno, and I can always fall back onto corporate America.” I went out to LA with enough money to sustain myself for three months and the plan that, if I made it, great. If not, I’d return to the Wall [Wall Street]. Things worked out!

TM: That’s one way of looking at it. Your many awards in the industry include two-time winner of the AVN [Adult Video News] Male Performer of the Year. What’s the best part about being an adult entertainer?

LS: I get to work with a huge number of beautiful women who are between the ages of 18 and 22.

TM: A lot of people—mostly men, I’d surmise—would say you’ve got it made.

LS: Oh, yeah! I get to travel: I’ve literally been on 5 of the 7 continents. I’ve made love to women from all over the world, from Brazil to Tokyo. You name it. When I do leave the industry, I’ll take the memories of the traveling with me. Those are the times I am able to bond and get comfortable with the people I work with. That’s important because when that cameraman or director is shooting you in a sex scene, you are at the utmost level of comfort and you can do what you have to do in front of them in front on the camera.

TM: Has it ever been uncomfortable having sex on camera?

LS: Yes. I got my feet wet in New York prior to coming to LA. The big difference between New York & LA for me was the volume of work. In New York I was shooting one or two scenes a month. To do one scene and to do it well, you think you’re the man. But once you move to the major leagues in Los Angeles, it’s every single day you have to prove your mettle.

In New York, we always shot at the Waldorf Astoria and I always knew the cameraman and the director: the only variable was the girl. In LA, every single day it’s a different girl, different director and location, different variables. These are things that can really throw some salt in your game.

TM: Sounds like a lot of pressure. What’s the worst part of being an adult entertainer?

LS: The worst part is the risk to your life. Let’s be frank. Everyone is PCR-DNA tested every thirty days. But you are still rolling the dice on a regular basis. How do I know that on any given day my test will come back a “license to thrill” or a death certificate?

But AIDS isn’t the only problem in the business. Most of the action is shot bareback [without condoms] and STDs are rampant. I’ve been in this business 4 years; if I don’t know what herpes looks like, I don’t know what the back of my hand looks like. I don’t have it, but, man, there have been several situations where I have looked at a girl, said, “I don’t know what THAT is,” and refused to do a scene. I was in Budapest, Hungary, doing a scene on a golf course. The director and producer have this girl, and her ass looks like it was on fire! I wasn’t going there for anything! I told them get another girl or put me on a plane back to the States. I keep a watchful eye over my body. Because of my job I have to consistently monitor my body.

TM: There are some people who would say that all pornography is violence towards women. What’s your take on that?

LS: There are certain productions that do cater to that and aim to degrade and denigrate womanhood. There is a market for that and these people are supplying that market. But that’s not what I do. What I do is sex.

The videos I star in and direct are not about degrading women. We’re shooting the act of sexual intercourse; it’s not about brutalizing women. It is about having sex with that woman in ways that the common man cannot. A lot of guys watch me because they feel uncomfortable doing some of the stuff I do on camera to their wife or girlfriend. I satisfy a need these men have. I remember the Friday nights at home alone, without female companionship. Make no mistake: I make movies for men to masturbate to. I understand that.

TM: There are two types of porn: gonzo, which is wall-to-wall “raincoater” sex scenes, and features, which are touted as “couples friendly.”

LS: Granted, if couples like it—that’s great! I fully understand that, when I’m working, gentlemen out there are superimposing themselves upon me, into the scene, so that they can enjoy the scene. They live vicariously through me.

Some guys watch basketball. They can’t be Michael Jordan, but they can watch his games. You can’t be Lexington Steele, but you can watch my movies. On top of that, I have fans that look for me. I had my favorite male [porn] stars when I was younger. I wouldn’t rent a movie unless a particular male actor was in it. Today I am that guy for many men.

TM: I’ve read that the only ones who make a living from porn are the directors and the distributors, that the stars – both women and men—are exploited, used up, and cast aside by the industry.

LS: I’ve been earning over 6 figures for 3 out of the 5 years I’ve been in the business. But I’m lucky. There are maybe 4 or 5 guys who make similar money in the business.

There are guys who make decent money because in porn you’ve got guys who are established. They’re working 3 or 4 scenes a week at about $500 a scene. That’s good money compared to the general household income in the United States. All things considered though, it’s fast money. Fast money is easy-come, easy go. So these porn stars may not be living the sustained lives with strong foundations that people earning similar money in quote-unquote “legitimate” jobs are. I’ll be honest with you man: there is rampant drug use in this game!

TM: You mean recreational drug use?

LS: Like you wouldn’t believe. The tolerance for this is disgusting. It’s despicable how you can see a girl come into this business and 3 months later she’s lost weight, her tits are deflated, her ass is gone. I’ve seen guys in this business lose it all because of drugs. My take is this: if you know a certain drug is going to fuck up your livelihood, why do it?

TM: Right. Stay away from it.

LS: Exactly. But this is a business that attracts people who are weak minded. Take weak-minded people, fast money and the opportunity to abuse recreational drugs and you’ve got a terrible combination. People don’t remember that there is life after porno.

TM: Alex Rodriguez is making multi-millions from baseball. What’s the difference between you and he?

LS: I consider myself a pro athlete. I’m paid because of my body.

TM: Are you a religious man and if so, are there any contradictions between being a religious man and being a porn star?

LS: Yes, I am religious. I am Christian, Baptist. I grew up in as close to a Cosby-show lifestyle as you can get. Doing porno, on a repeated basis, I am committing adultery; I’m not married, so I’m fornicating for a living; I’m paid to have sex, which means what? I’m prostituting by definition. These are things I have to reckon with with my God on a daily basis. I knowingly do these things.

My decision to do porno has forced me to take my religion within: because of my job I am stronger in my relationship with God, because now I take God with me everywhere I go; if I don’t, I’ll fail. I didn’t know that god blessed me with an abnormally large penis that allows me to make porno. But I feel blessed. I believe I am blessed because I am meant to please one woman for the rest of our lives together. True, I haven’t met her yet.

TM: Does your family know what you do?

LS: Yes. My father passed in ’99. My mom knows what I do. For a long time I felt she didn’t really understand the magnitude of what I was doing. My first year or two, she thought I was doing HBO, Cinemax, risqué-type T&A porn. Emmanuelle type stuff! (Laughing)

I had to sit her down, it was at Thanksgiving, in 2000, and I had to explain to her that I’m not the guy you see at 11 o’clock on Cinemax. I’m the guy that people go into the bookstore where people are told not to go on the bad side of town. I’m that guy on that tape that the guy in the trench coat wants to rent.

TM: How is your mom dealing with it?

LS: She supports me. Her main concerns are that I don’t get anyone pregnant or get AIDS. She appreciates the fact that I am open with her. As I put it to her at the time, “I’m not a bad guy; I’m the guy who does the things that are spoken of in hushed tones.” My position as adult icon does not necessarily lend me mass public respect, but it is a position in which I know people enjoy what I do. Do you know how good it feels when a guy comes up to me and says, “My wife and I conceived our baby after watching one of your films”?

TM: It must make you feel great. You told your mom you weren’t the guy seen on cable and, indeed, you aren’t. Is there racism in the adult movie industry?

LS: Here’s the breakdown: porno on cable is the next big thing. There are areas in the country where you can’t do mail order porn, it’s a violation of state lines to mail it. Therefore the importance of porn’s access to cable networks in those areas is amplified exponentially. So, if you’re in a state where you can’t get porno at a video store, you can get it on cable.

Cable recognizes this and they also recognize that there are areas in the United States where people won’t subscribe to the cable or pay-per-view if it features a black man having sex with a white woman. The subscriber refuses to watch that on cable; the cable operator doesn’t purchase that movie from the distributor; the distributor tells the movie company, “We’re not going to buy that;” the producer and director say, “We’re not going to hire Lexington” because they can’t sell that film.

Yet I’m a Screen Actor’s Guild (SAG) actor and I have 75% of the spoken dialogue in the largest, most popular adult movie produced in the year 2000. The film is Westside and it is gaining fame internationally as a B-movie. The year before that I’m performer of the year and take home the “Best Anal Sex Scene” award. So, outta 15,000 releases, I’m deemed the best performer in the business and I haven’t done a dialogue feature production since Westside? Tony, if I was white I’d be on the cover of every box from VCA, Wicked, Vivid, Adam & Eve, Metro and Sin City [major big-budget porn companies]—but as it is, these companies are opting for a policy of segregation by not challenging the distributors.

TM: On your web site you say you’ve also received a lot of flack from fellow African-Americans who consider you “a sell-out, an Uncle Tom and a Clarence Thomas.” Why?

LS: There is a crabs in a barrel mentality that the people in this business operate by. I have been successful in this industry because of what is between my legs but also because of what is between my ears. My career has really accelerated in the last four years. There are people jealous of that. There are people jealous because I won’t work for peanuts. I won’t work for $300. That said, if I feel like I didn’t earn my $800-$1,000 per scene, I will discount my earnings. That’s why directors in the industry respect me.

I am a black man but my degree of intimidation isn’t very high. I end up doing a lot of interracial scenes. Is it my fault these companies are hiring me? No. You’ve got to see some of these guys showing up for an audition: forty in hand [alcoholic beverage], sandals, button-down plaid shirt looking like they’re about to whip out a 9mm. In this industry, my work isn’t based on black or white but green. If I’m going to make more money working with a girl who looks like Britney Spears versus one who looks like Janet Jackson, I’m going with the greener pasture. I opt for the larger dollars because each time I perform I roll the dice as far as my health is concerned.

TM: Imagine it’s one day in the future and you’re a father. Your son or daughter comes to you and says, “Dad, I want to be a pornographic movie star.” What would your reaction be?

LS: In no way would I recommend this job to my best friend, let alone my children. Every day in this business you must decide to risk your life. When I came into this business in ’98, five women were infected with HIV from one guy. It was a scary time. I would positively forbid my daughter from working in this industry. There is a measure of self-respect a sex performer gives away every single time he or she is on camera. I wouldn’t want anyone so close to me to give away anything so important and valuable. When I have kids I will instruct them that their bodies are temples, and I don’t want anyone walking up into and defiling their temples.

TM: Is being a porn star rough on your romantic relationships?

LS: Very much so. You know a lot of women who recognize me from my films want to be with me. But my thing is, “Hey, I do porno.” Why do these women who aren’t involved in the business want to have sex with me? Why do they want to knowingly risk their lives? I’m not attracted to those women.

TM: How much longer do you have left in the industry?

LS: Can’t say, but I will say this: when I retire I’m going out at the top of my game.

Tony Monchinski is a student in the Political Science program.