Be honest, when you think of a nerd you think of a person that gets shoved in the lockers in high school, the kid who loved science and Star Wars, and who could never in a million years get the girl, the cheerleader, the movie starlet or the porn star. Right? Wrong! What if I told you in some strange sequence of events, some cosmic instance there was actually a sexy, popular, talented, intelligent, hot chick that not only dug nerds but was one herself, would you believe me?
Meet Bobbi Starr, born April 6, 1983 in Santa Clara, California. Starr is a graduate of San Jose State University, an adult film star, an ex-music teacher, a professional concert oboist, a former nationally ranked swimmer and one hot mutha effin nerd! Oh yes kids, it's on and it’s all about this girl and her obsession with the philosophical, organic, musical, literary, Sci-Fi, and adult film industry. She may be a contradiction in terms but what she lacks in the societal norm, she makes up for in the unique, beautiful, and fetishy way she appeals to people of every background. Now you might be wondering or saying to yourself, self, what else do I need to know about a woman in porn other than seeing her with her clothes off?
Think of Bobbi as an onion with many layers and as you begin to pull back those layers it reveals someone who isn't just what we know as a porn star, but she is completely revamping the way we look at porn and women. She is taking on an industry and changing the way men and women view the women they see in the movies. You may also be saying to yourself, self, why does Erin know so much about a porn star and do I really wanna know? I stumbled upon Bobbi purely on accident and I swear this much is true. The rest however was completely my doing.
I began following her on Twitter because she has a very girl next-door type of a look, like someone you'd take home to Mom -- and part of me was drawn to her in that way. Bobbi is natural looking, meaning she doesn't plaster herself with makeup, she doesn't look anorexic and she does both Jay and Jane. Who doesn't love a girl who goes both ways? After doing some, (cough) research on her movies, I found that she did a lot with women and they weren't just two chicks in high heels. They were actual movies lesbians would watch. They offered a narrative, for instance depicting Bobbi and her partner becoming engaged; they were romantic, sensual, not at all the type of movies you're used to seeing.
When I started following her on Twitter I wasn't expecting much, maybe a tweet here and there about her latest movie or something raunchy that would make me blush, but what I'd gotten in just a day of tweets was much different than what I was expecting. Bobbi was tweeting about everything from Star Wars to gluten free cooking, to construction on her apartment and to the latest book she was reading. Even a cynical nerd like me can honestly say I was shocked. I had a stereotypical view of what I thought a porn star would be like, all tits and ass of course and nothing upstairs -- horrible of me I know. Alas, I was pleasantly surprised
Bobbi began her career at the age of 23 in San Francisco, California and while it was a decision she took very seriously, it was one that she will tell you she has no regrets about. In her early career her movies were mostly bondage and submission scenes for small Internet based companies and she slowly graduated into more hard-core porn for production companies in Los Angeles. Her modeling has included been box covers for many movie companies such as Red Light District Video and Combat Zone. Bobbi has also blogs for Popporn.com and writes a column for Fox Magazine called, Adventures In Porny Land.
As a self-proclaimed pro-sex feminist Bobbi has said, “I don't feel degraded because it is my decision. I know that if I did ever feel degraded or feel uncomfortable, all I need to do is say no and it would stop. I don't think something where women have so much control in the situation can be considered degrading towards women.” With her pro-sex feminist attitude, her sexy natural looks and fun outgoing personality comes a very intelligent woman who wants to study pre-med to become, become a Gynecologist and work primarily in the porn industry, where she feels there is a serious lack of female gynecologists. This year Bobbi was cast in a mainstream indie movie adaptation of James Sallis's novel, Drive, which stars Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan and Christina Hendricks. CNBC named Bobbi one of the 12 most popular stars in porn and also noted that her breakout role in Drive would turn out to be her crossover into mainstream movies.
Realizing that Internet searches and other people's quotes of Bobbi's just weren't enough I reached out to her and had the pleasure of getting an interview with her. You can imagine how awesome that went!
SheWired: Given the extreme departure you took from teaching, music and swimming what brought you into the adult film industry?
Bobbi Starr: I had a boyfriend in college who did some scenes for Kink. When he told me, it got me interested in porn. I'd never thought of doing porn and back then I was very nerdy and bookish. I was the last person you'd expect to be a porn industry. I was curious about the industry and I did a few scenes myself and when I graduated, I decided to come to Los Angeles to make a go of it.
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What are the pros and cons of being an adult film star, in your estimation?
The pros are that I get to satisfy my curiosity when it comes to sexuality. There are a lot of people who live their lives wondering about having sex with another woman, or anal sex or group sex or even rough sex. They wonder what it's like to be with someone who can fuck for a whole hour without a break like Nacho Vidal or Rocco Sifreddi. Most people spend their lives wondering what if. In the porn industry, I find out what it's like. Being able to live without wondering and being able to just do it is a very powerful, very exhilarating thing.
As for the cons, it's dealing with the constant expectations that other people have of who you are. There are a lot of people who project what their beliefs are onto who you are as a porn star. To a feminist who is anti-porn, I'm a victim -- I'm someone who's exploited and I can't be doing this out of my own free will. To some fans, I'm someone who needs to be saved from pornography. And to others, I'm just some decadent, dirty, filthy slut that's everything that’s wrong with American society in the 21st century.
What's lost is who I am as a person. They don't want to think that I came into this business out of my own free will. They don't want to think that I'm happy where I am and that I like doing porn. They don't want to think that we don't live in the 1950s anymore, and even the 1950s weren't the ideal they want to believe it is.
When you're home alone just being Bobbi, not the famous porn star, what is the nerdiest thing you love doing?
I love to read. I have shelves that take up a whole wall of my apartment full of books. If you saw my apartment, which is on the small side, you'd understand what an undertaking it was to fit everything into it.
When did you know you loved both men and women and who do you enjoy doing movies with more?
I realized that I am a person who is more gay than straight and just likes to experiment with men. Porn didn't change me, it made me more of who I was to begin with. I think that's true of everyone else in this business.
I enjoy working with men who are very energetic in their scenes. A perfect example would be Rocco, who I worked with on his comeback movie, Rocco Ravishes L.A. He's always been a god in my mind, and when we finally worked together it met all my expectations. The whole scene was a blur to me, and I wound up with my head in the toilet. True story.
I know you have a boyfriend. Are you what society considers monogamous? Or do you have girlfriends as well? (Kimberly Kane? inquiring lesbians wanna know)
I’m not known to date in the performer pool, I date girls or guys who are either outside of the business or who aren't on camera. The arrangement I've always had was that I am monogamous except for when I'm on set and there is a camera set to record on me.
I know it's schizophrenic, but I don't believe that being a porn star gives me a pass to do whatever I want with whoever I want if I'm in a committed relationship. It wouldn't be fair to who I'm dating. I'm not into swinging or anything like that. When I'm home, it's just me and my partner.
How does your family feel about you being in this industry and has anyone in your family ever been confronted by someone who's seen you in a movie?
My family and I have a don't ask don't tell understanding. However, my mother and I talk about my career decisions in this industry, but when it comes to her health concerns, things get touchy. She wants to make sure the people I work with are protected and safe and that I do what I can to stay safe.
I don't know if anyone's confronted my family directly about what I do. We don't talk about it. However, someone once sent my sister a Facebook message, which was addressed to my brother, saying I'm a whore. It was written as if I had have sex with this person. It, understandably, creeped my sister out.
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How do you think social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have changed not only the porn industry, but the industry of media in general? Do you find there are pros and cons to this open society we are now living in?
I don't think there's ever been a time where you could get to know someone you've never met before as intimately as you can today through social media. In the past, any interaction the general public had with porn stars and the porn industry was very one-dimensional and only served to further the belief that everyone in the industry lived the life they did on camera.
The problem is that this view of someone's life is still a sliver of who they are and it's still a tiny portion of your life that you want to show other people. At the end of the day, people still only want to believe what they want to believe about you. To some people it doesn't matter what I write, I'll always be a victim, or I'll always be someone to save or I'll be a despicable creature. I sometimes wonder just how much change social media can affect when it comes against preconceived notions of who I am.
The term “nerd” isn’t the insult it once was. In fact, it is a source of empowerment for many. What does that title mean to you, how do you define a nerd and do you see yourself as the sexy nerd some of your fans do?
A nerd is someone who pursues intellectual pleasures and is not ashamed of it. Dungeons & Dragons, high order math, computers, these are all hobbies that exist as more abstract concepts than things you can touch or feel.
I think being a nerd is more mainstream because we live in a world that is increasingly becoming abstracted and re-contextualized through the internet. Who is anyone anymore? Are you your Twitter feed? You gamer handle? Your search history? The truth is you are at once all of that and none of that.
So yes, I am a sexy nerd. My pursuits are intellectual and I take joy in learning new things. But like all things nowadays, that's just part of who I am.
You've been quoted as saying you are a pro-sex feminist, can you elaborate on what this means to you and how it affects your movie career?
There's a very vocal portion of the feminist community who believes that the only sort of women who get into porn are victims who are further victimized by the porn industry, because it's a patriarchy.
It's a very simplistic view of things. Women hold executive positions in many of the companies I work for. I'm not saying that every performer is a model of emotional and mental stability, but in truth how many people do you know who are? Not everyone, I'm sure, but there are some.
I believe that women should be the equal of men. But I also shouldn't feel that anytime I have sex, it's really rape because I've been brainwashed into thinking I like sex. I also shouldn't feel like because I'm subservient sometimes, that's equal to me being a victim. Sometimes I like being on the bottom. But I also like being on top.
Sex is fun. Those anti-porn feminists should try it and relax sometimes.
You've also been quoted as saying you would like to become a Gynecologist and have a practice within the porn industry. Can you elaborate on why that is important to you?
There's some back-story to that quote. What I said was that there's a lack of medical assistance in the porn industry and the girls in the industry need a gynecologist they can talk to because of the unique aspects of their work. I jokingly said — thought that didn't seem to get across — that I'd do the 10 years of medical school to make that happen.
That being said, I want to talk about the new testing facility that just opened, that is now available to talent and is set to take the place of AIM — see www.healingwaveMD.com. It's amazing and a definite step in the right direction. The draw station is also a medical facility so you don't feel like the person that's taking the sample won't know the answers to any questions you have, and if they don't have it they can find someone who can answer your question. I also like what they've done with their database — it maintains the confidentiality of the performers by just stating if they can or can't work — see www.APHSS.org.
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What's the difference between a female-run porn production company that shoots girl-on-girl scenes as opposed to one run by males producing girl-on-girl scenes?
I don't think it matters who runs these companies anymore. It makes it seem like there's only one gender in a company and they only hire on the basis of the orientation of their genitalia. There's women at the top of companies like Evil Angel, Vivid and Wicked — and in the case of Girlfriends Films, the owner is a man.
Now, there's some companies that shoot lesbian scenes that are more lipstick and some that are more hardcore. The funny thing is that the really raunchy girl/girl (and boy/girl stuff, for that matter) stuff usually comes from female directors like Belladonna, Mason and now myself.
I enjoy working in all of the scenes I do. I don't take work if I don't think I'll enjoy it. Sexuality is a spectrum and for what I do, it's not just one thing, done this way, with these people.
You did the mainstream movie Drive in 2011, an adaptation of James Sallis’ novel. How did you land the role and do you see yourself going after more mainstream movie roles in the future?
It was a great experience. I didn't feel like any less of a cast member and I can't wait to see the movie.
I'd like to do more mainstream movies, but I'm not too keen on being the stripper in the background or the hooker who gets killed by the serial killer. There was depth to the character I played in Drive and it wasn't one of those roles they usually pigeon hole for porn stars who are in mainstream (again, hookers and strippers).
I'm not going to kid myself, though — that's probably going to be most of the sort of mainstream roles most porn stars are going to see for a long time.
What projects do you have in the works?
Well, I've just launched my the pay section to my website, BobbiStarr.com. I've been putting up new scenes for the last month and that includes my first attempts at directing.
I've also just joined Evil Angel as one of its prestigious directors. I've had some ideas running around in my head and I'll be happy to finally be able to put them on camera. There isn't much you can do to reinvent sex — it's older than the wheel, after all — but it doesn't mean that there isn't room for creativity and storytelling.
You can check Bobbi Starr's website out and follow her on Twitter @bobbistarr!
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