Keep It Clean

An Open Letter to Sydney Leathers: Please Don’t Do Porn

Anthony Weiner’s sexting partner says she’s open to filming a sex tape. Bad idea, writes porn star Aurora Snow.

Will porn be the next step for Sydney Leathers, the latest online paramour of Anthony Weiner?

She told Howard Stern on Tuesday that she’s considering it. And according to Steven Hirsch, founder and co-chairman of the porn studio Vivid Entertainment, there is a deal already on the table. “We have offered Sydney several options,” Hirsch says, “but as of now no agreement has been reached. We hope to get a deal done with her soon."

Leathers is far from being the next Farrah Abraham, but she’s a woman in the media experiencing her 15 minutes of fame, and porn has a way of extending those precious moments of media frenzy. Because Leathers doesn’t have a built-in following the way Abraham did from her Teen Mom days, the likelihood of scoring a similar porno paycheck is slim in my opinion.

So Sydney, some advice:

Think about where you might want to be five or 10 years from now. Selling yourself out for one sex tape hardly carries the hard-earned prestige of being a porn star. So unless you are ready to do your time—hundreds of hardcore scenes—all you might hope to gain from a sex tape is a fat check and a soiled reputation sans the porn-star perks. A sex tape will follow you forever. If you should one day decide to be a teacher, or seek a public office, this is a surefire way to block such endeavors.

Also: sexting and sending flirtatious photos isn’t the same as having sex on camera with a hired hand. Sure, in porn the people are generally very personable and nice. But imagine being in a studio, completely naked, in front of strangers, a cameraman sniffing distance from your girl bits so he can get a tight shot of your first porn-stud penetration. There's no looking back after that. Millions of people will have that same visual access—and the ones you wish you could hide it from will probably see it first. Any “normal” job you may attempt to have in the future will come with a gaggle of co-workers who have already watched your sexcapades. Any man you date will eventually know about (and probably watch) your solo contribution to the world of porn. Are you ready for that? Would the money (easily spent) from one sex tape be enough for the future backlash?

Most people have sent a sexy text or steamy photo, so they can empathize. Doing porn is a moral out-of-bounds for most of those same people, and that is where the line is drawn. You don't want to be another Brittney Jones. All but forgotten. She was Ashton Kutcher's alleged other woman a few years back. She took her 15 minutes of fame to Vivid, they distributed her sex tape, and that was the last bit of publicity she saw.

Unless you want a future in porn, which is not as easy as it looks, spin your 15 minutes into something bigger than a sex tape. Maybe aim for reality TV.

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