The Girl Next Door (Documentary)

by Brian

It's a question many people ask themselves while watching adult performers having sex onscreen: Why do they do it? How can they do it? Why would anyone choose porn as a career? In the documentary Girl Next Door, porn starlet Stacy Valentine answers this with a simple admission: "I love sex. I’m good at it."

Though most of us enjoy watching our favorite performers get down and dirty on film, we seldom wonder about the person behind the sex star image. Rarely do we get to know these people as human beings. It could be argued that this dehumanization and distance is a key component of porn's power to captivate the viewing audience. If we "got to know them", maybe the fantasy wouldn't be as effective.

Director Christine Fugate interviews Stacy's parents, her friends, and we see that she is an otherwise normal girl. No boogeyman in the closet or Deep Dark Secrets have led her down this path. There are no stories of drug abuse, childhood molestation, or any of the other cliches that surround the porn industry. We see an ordinary woman who only wanted to be a good Midwestern wife, thrust into the adult industry by a husband who submitted her picture to a magazine contest. Soon she is riding the fast track to porn stardom, making movies, meeting fans, and on her way to becoming an American sex goddess. She wants to be exactly where she is and knows exactly where she wants to go.

The film is quite compelling as we watch Stacy struggle with industry recognition, her relationship with fellow performer Julian, and her own fragile self-image as she submits to several sessions of plastic surgery to shape, mold, and carve her body into an elusive "ideal".

Her story is not all glamour and glory, though. In one of the more disturbing segments (aside from the graphic surgical footage), Stacy agrees to sleep with a wealthy man in France in exchange for payment. The wholesome 'girl next door' from Oklahoma disappears completely as she sits on the bed, tossing money into the air after the deed has been done, and you can't help but notice how the line has blurred between paid sexual performer and common prostitute. On the one hand you see her as a willing victim of male exploitation; on the other, you wonder if she is merely displaying a keen business sense. She knows she has a desirable commodity and is willing to sell it for the right price.

Porn's most marketable asset is fantasy. Beautiful, sex-starved women who only live to drain men's balls and just can't get enough. The hair, the makeup, the airbrushed box cover photos, the fake boobs and liposuctioned thighs, all are carefully crafted illusions of perfection, and all can be yours for the cost of a $5 rental. But one can't help wonder what the cost of success will be for Stacy and other starlets in a crash 'n burn industry known for chewing people up and spitting them out once they have lost their taste. There is always someone younger, someone prettier, and someone willing to do the things you won't.

We highly recommend this film for anyone interested in seeing a backstage glimpse of the adult industry. It is an endearing, while somewhat tragic, depiction of a porn star's career. And if you've enjoyed watching Stacy perform (as we often have), it is a revealing look at the real person behind the glossy image.