Porn Valley- Who is Jason Sechrest, or as he is codenamed: Jason Curious? Quite simply, he is a man who defies many stereotypes, a highly recognized member of the porn community, both inside and out, without having ever done a nude scene; a man who dares to ruffle feathers and yet is adored by many; a deviant in the best sense of the word, whose flirtation with the spectrum of different media seems to constantly subvert the masses toward a freer and more decadent lifestyle than they have ever known – a boi who many would envy if he weren’t so inherently likeable. Did I mention he’s only 25?
Sechrest has seen a mercurial rise to prominence in the entertainment community few would think possible at such an early age. Born November 26, 1979, in the small town of Columbus, Indiana, Sechrest’s mother, Jennifer Hannan, remembers raising a boy whose vivacious personality surfaced very early. “Raising Jason was a joy and a challenge. Both of us are very verbal and dramatic, so whether we were having a great time or at each other throats, it was like book ends were involved.”
Hannan remembers the first time Sechrest took up the pen to build his fortune. “He was young, 15 going on 16 years old, and his voice had changed. So he started writing for a certain ‘scream queen’ magazine professionally and conducting the interviews in his new deep voice over the phone. Of course, everyone thought he was a man and he was thrilled to begin ‘being an adult’ and being paid for this.”
Communicative maturation wasn’t the only element young Master Sechrest began to foster in his relationships with others. In addition to becoming a staff writer for FemmeFatales, a magazine dedicated to the exploits and visages of B-movie T&A queens and others in the entertainment business, Sechrest, at an age when most people are only experiencing their first forays into sexual identity, was building a bridge toward a free-willed perspective on personal sensual expression.
By eighteen he had already begun assembling an impressive portfolio across the print spectrum from work in the pornographic Club International to the pages of one of the mainstream entertainment world’s bibles, Entertainment Weekly. One day, after reaching the legal plateau, the young bon vivant embarked on a journey to Los Angeles with little money and less-than-ideal prospects for room and board. Working for a few months just to get by, it wasn’t long before the handsome and witty young man, not unlike a hero from a Charles Dickens’ novel, had endeared himself to many on both sides of the professional entertainment community.
Soon enough, Danni Ashe, the Internet’s porn star and Webmaster par excellence, swept Sechrest under her wing as a web writer and then as her head talent coordinator.
According to Tina Tyler, director at the porn studio Mercenary Pictures, Sechrest was nearly an instant Hollywood hit.
“When I first met Jason, I remember thinking, ‘Here’s this sweet young thing with a head for business that I’d never seen on one so green, wrapped up in one adorable ball of pure energy.’ He was not much more than 19 or 20 at the time and I immediately felt maternal toward him,” Tyler recalled. “Since then, I’ve been the ever-proud, fake mom, watching him achieve success after success, always thinking outside the box.
“As a publicist, Jason is unparalleled. His energy and patience serve him well. I’ll never forget him on the set of a very large budget Bi [bisexual] movie I was directing. We shot six sex scenes and 60 pages of dialogue over three days. I was the very picture of insanity and doom, desperately trying to stay on schedule, even if it meant not eating. Every time I saw Jason, he fed me … not just with food, but with his ability to stay up and positive, even enthusiastic when all Rome was crumbling around him. To this day I feel I never could have gone through it without his shining spirit. Jason is one of the few people I’m proud to call my friend in this cold business.”
Tyler is not the only porn personality who has found a kindred spirit in the shoes of this bi-vacious wunderkind. Former crossover sex star Jason McCain also recognized that the young boi he first met on the streets and in the clubs of West Hollywood was soon to be a star. “I have had the pleasure of knowing Jason ‘Curious’ ever since he first got off the bus and was working for Danni’s Hard Drive almost six years ago. Back then we both were wet behind the ears, or “vanilla” as far as the XXX world was concerned, but as time went on, I have seen this man grow and grow in more ways than one! He was instrumental in my success in the straight business, and absolutely necessary in me being signed with David Forest, and being the only person to win awards for my performances in both straight and gay films in the same year.
“Although I have moved on from porn, I owe the most thanks to – first off, my cock – but then Jason Sechrest. After all this time they still look good together!”
For all of his promotional skills and sexual bluster, the dichotomy of Sechrest is what truly casts him in a unique mold. His wacky yet personable style instantly makes him a stitch to listen to and watch. If there is an “it” factor to be found in the porn milieu, the young star pulses with it, all the while still giving those he works with a sense of easy grace so as not to become an intimidating social force. Michael Gennitti, one of Sechrest’s most intimate friends, relates some of his first experience with the radiating attraction Sechrest fosters.
“When I first met him he was nineteen and he had more energy than I could handle. As the years went by I learned to love his wacky personality. Everywhere we went he was jumping around getting into some kind of trouble, with all of this potential just bottled up and ready to burst out. When he told me he was starting a website to bridge the gay and straight communities I knew he would excel at it. I always found it amazing how he could sit on a straight guy’s lap and they felt totally comfortable. People really trust and respect this kid. I’ve been on straight and gay sets with him, to help him shoot footage, and when he interviews these performers he has this connection with them that you can feel even on film. I believe [through] the work he has done from his website, appearances and various interviews he has shown that you can be straight, gay, bisexual or even indifferent and that we all share this common humanity.”
Indeed, Jasoncurious.com is both a nexus and a launching pad for the public relations specialist who keeps enormously busy creating and connecting disparate elements of the porn business. At once one can read his intimate thoughts in his sassy but honest porn blog where he fearlessly dishes about the latest and most scandalous episodes in the ever-churning San Fernando porn hub while also practicing a policy of honest disclosure about his own thoughts and sexual identity.
The curious masses can also listen and watch him (via a link) engage fans and movers and shakers in the industry on his KSexRadio (ksexradio.com show “The Young and the Curious,” where he is a highlight of the Internet station’s programming. Relates Sechrest, “Sometimes it’s really funny and sometimes it’s very intense and personal and other times it’s just outrageously sexual. It’s really taught me a lot about going with the flow and trusting your instincts and it has done a lot to get me out there.” Indeed, Sechrest is often the first journalist on the scene of major porn industry shake-ups, such as the recent HIV scare, precisely because he enjoys a personal access most reporters can only dream of, being sourced and reported on by such publications as Rolling Stone and MTV.
Case in point, Arena magazine recently listed him as one of their “50 Most Powerful People in Porn,” along with the heavy-hitting dudes, the long-timers Larry Flint and Hugh Hefner.
Beyond journalism, Sechrest can also be found Thursdays on the stage of the West Hollywood club Micky’s running his open-ended real-time gay porn star interview show, Cocktails With the Stars. When he’s not slinging a microphone stand in search of latest in gash and gander, he can be also be found belting cabaret tunes and hip-hop anthems with a voice that might seem angelic if it weren’t connected to a gyrating boi bent on being his bawdy best. Sechrest has also recently made appearances in mainstream acting venues, such as the September 2003 Los Angeles stage production of Waiting for Godot, and the Roger Corman film The Legacy, rounding out another element of his personal regimen for entertainment glory.
That Sechrest is widely loved is an understatement of the facts. It’s perhaps to be expected of a someone born to ruffle feathers, stir the pot and generally be the life of the party. Still Sechrest recalls with pride how he once kicked rap megastar Snoop Dogg out of his hotel room, forcing the “Doggfather” to find another kennel to host his posse and train of Girls Gone Wild hos.
One of the film projects he was involved also dared to ruffle the feathers of the gargantuan American Idol franchise, impersonating the show’s host, who conveniently shares his last name with a slightly different “instrument” to talk into. The resulting injunction was understandably terse, but such is the domain of a man who seems to refuse convention or ride with the herd of so many sacred cows.
For all the glamour and mystery of Sechrest’s young life, few are more open to dish on themselves. “I just wouldn’t take no for an answer and I insist on doing things my way. You learn so much about yourself in the adult entertainment business. Believe it or not, it’ll do a lot of good if you let it. I don’t like to limit myself to just one business. I still have mainstream aspirations, but I don’t know if it’s my ultimate passion. I don’t like the people in that business. They all need to get laid and stop playing with themselves. They walk around with sticks up their asses and use arrogance as a mask for their own massive insecurities. I’ve been spoiled by porn stars.”
Indeed, it is in this milieu that Sechrest seems to have found a home for himself, in a strange inversion of many of the conceived notions that most hold regarding the entertainment industry.
“I’m an entertainer at heart and that comes out of me in so many different forms, personally and professionally. I have this deep inner need to be the center of attention, but not just to satiate ego. I know that I am affecting someone by being in that spotlight, even if just making them laugh and taking them away from their troubles for a few minutes. The name Jason biblically means ‘the healing one,’ and I’ve always tried to live up to my name. In terms of the porn world, I’ve always kind of thought of myself as the porn star who never got naked. I’ve been offered the chance quite a few times, but it’s really not something I’m interested in. Honestly, I think we all want what we can’t have when it comes to sex. I’ll go on a porn set, and if someone is just getting into the business, they’ll assume I’m the person they’re doing their scene with, and then when they find out I’m NOT a porn star, it makes them want me more. So as a journalist, they open up to me more … so to speak.
“In terms of gossip, I think it’s fun and I take it just as much as I dish it! It’s natural to the business and it feeds this inner industry illusion that we are just like the mainstream entertainment industry. I know stars who, when I have written something negative about them, literally act like it is just the end of the world. I have to remind them that it’s JasonCurious.com, not People magazine.”
Sechrest certainly recognizes that much of his charm is found in his paradoxically sweet personality, fueled equally by honesty and unapologetic sexuality. “Well, those qualities certainly have unhinged a few doors, but mostly it’s always made for doors being slammed in my face. People don’t like to hear the truth, but those are also the people you don’t want to associate with. It’s impossible to do all of the time, obviously, but I feel like if you try your best to stick to those two rules, you’ll go very far in all areas of life. It’s sure done wonders for me!”
But Sechrest is also open about some of the less glamorous elements of his career and life. “I don’t consider myself very sociable at all, I think that’s probably the biggest misconception about me. I don’t go out and party and I don’t hang out with porn stars day in and day out. When I am paid to be social, I am the master at it, but when I’m not being paid to be out and about, I am curled up on the couch watching old musicals on Turner Classic Movies and sitcoms on TV Land. God, I’m not even hip! Also, I think it’s important to understand that porn journalism is not the most exciting job in the world. I mean, you’d think that being on a porn set is just a blast, but it’s very choreographed and it’s long hours and the scenes are really hit and miss, just like what you see in the videos.”
Sechrest does see room for reporters in the porn business. “I don’t think anyone is doing what I’m doing with it. I’ve sort of taken a psychological approach to it by exposing who these people are behind the camera. If you have a favorite porn star, you can come to JasonCurious.com and find out who they really are as opposed to just what they look like. It’s been a fascinating study in human nature for me and then, of course, it changes me as a person so people can read my diary entries on the site all the way back to 2001 and see what working in this business really does to a person, for better and for worse. I’ve been compiling the best of my diary entries lately and I’m window-shopping for a book deal.
“It would be my own story as well as theirs, with some of the most revealing transcribed interviews in-between the chapters. There’s some hot exclusives there. I was the first person Caesar opened up to about his child, Skye Blue about her rape, so there’s some very personal and touching stuff there.”
Sechrest submits that porn is a more complicated animal than many would like to admit. “I think the great thing about our business is that at the end of the day if something’s bothering you, you can always just shake it off and go, ‘It’s just porn, okay? It’s just porn.'”
Ultimately, Sechrest says he’s just thankful and awestruck to be where he is today with an adoring public that supports his lifestyle and allows him to live their fantasies. “I don’t think I get anymore than two negative emails a year. I have a lot of fans, and I’m very thankful for them. They put a lot more than food on my table. I’ve also done my best to give back to the family that supports me. I didn’t just create a site with photos and videos for people to jack off too, I did my best to also try to humanize the people in the business.
“I’m starting my own gay porn production company this fall, DV8 Entertainment, shooting our first three movies back-to-back in October and every performer is receiving a percentage of the net profits. It’s way past time porn stars were given residuals for their work. It’s time to put some of that power and that money into the hands of the people who put their reputations and in some cases their lives on the line when they step in front of that camera. I won’t walk away from this community until I know I’ve done all I can to better it.”
Perhaps that’s what will ultimately cast Sechrest in the mold of a legend, the strange jacket of a responsible and responsive journalist who dared to chronicle the world’s oldest subject.