Sydney, Australia- PORN stars and organisers at Sexpo are looking back fondly on the days when they could really cause a stir.
US porn stars Belladonna and Bobbi Starr, [picured] in Sydney for the adult entertainment industry trade show, predicted the only thing likely to surprise their fans now would be a return to traditional values.
“Maybe the shocking thing will be more of like a retrograde back to something that’s less extreme and people will be like ‘Oh, I forgot this was hot.’ That could still be shocking,” Starr said.
Sexpo was first held in Sydney in 1996, a time when the internet and online pornography was in its infancy.
Eros Association chief executive Fiona Patten said the vast amount of sexual material now available online had probably made Sexpo seem tame by comparison.
The trade show opened today without any protesters – who would actually have been welcomed because they’re always good for publicity.
“We’ve been really disappointed by the lack of protest lately. We’ve been thinking of setting up our own protest,” Ms Patten said.
“I think we have hit that point where the vast majority of the population do not see anything all that scary about Sexpo, in fact it is really seen as quite mainstream.
“There are so many (television) programs that reflect that relaxed attitude to sex and when you look around and see that it is boyfriends and girlfriends, husbands and wives, that it is couples going around, or girlfriends travelling around that there is obviously this very broad appeal.”
But popularity and technology have introduced new problems for the pornography industry.
File-sharing sites and amateurs happy to produce and star in their own sex tapes for free have put some of its revenue at risk.
Belladonna, renowned as a queen of hardcore pornography, believes her celebrity and loyal fan base should shield her.
“I don’t feel threatened. I really don’t try and think about that stuff. I just try to focus on what I’m doing,” she said.
She has starred in more than 250 films and now also directs and produces content for a production company she runs with her husband.
“DVD sales have gone down a little bit but if people are going to like a certain style of sex they are going to follow that person around,” she said.
Starr said she had not yet reached the same popularity as Belladonna but she still had a high recognition factor.
“When I go out I get those ‘I know you, I know from somewhere but I’m not sure where but I know that I know you,'” she said.
She said she mostly gets recognised at the airport whereas Belladonna sometimes has problems with fans who want to discuss her body of work when she’s shopping for groceries.
“I don’t mind (meeting fans). The one thing that bothers me is if I am with my family, as I have a daughter,” she said.
“I don’t mind talking just to say ‘Hey’ but when you start going into detail and stuff like that, I’m like ‘C’mon, not in front of my family,'” she said.
Another sign of the adult entertainment industry’s shift to the mainstream are the businesses willing to get into bed with Sexpo.
Exhibitors include the predictable sex toy, lingerie and pornography sellers but there are also people promoting jacuzzis, sports cars, exercise equipment, remote-controlled helicopters and music merchandise.
Sexpo is on at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion until Sunday.