Are mainstream models like porn stars?

Mainstream modelling has an air of elitism and prestige, but there have been areas where mainstream modelling and softcore porn have crossed paths. There have also been mainstream models such as Skin Diamond who go on to become porn stars, or porn stars who cross over into mainstream modelling. But are mainstream models like porn stars?

Sex Sells. Everyone knows this, sex has been in advertisement for as long as anyone can remember. Sometimes people don’t care. Sometimes people care a lot and it becomes a scandal and creates wider publicity, which was probably the point. But no matter how much people disapprove of the overly sexual nature mainstream media takes, it keeps on coming.

So what’s the difference between mainstream models who pose in sexually suggestive, nude poses, and porn stars? Well the first thing you can say is that mainstream modelling doesn’t actually involve real sex. But there doesn’t need to be real sex for it to be counted as porn. In fact, the definition for softcore porn is commercial still photography or film which has a pornographic or erotic component.

Under that definition then quite a few advertisement in mainstream media would fall under the category of softcore pornography. Here are a few samples and you can decide if they contain pornographic or erotic components.

Then of course there is American Apparel who has created their own style of advertisement that is not dissimilar to 1970s voyeuristic pornography. Although they’ve had a lot of bad press over their advertisement campaigns, they’re still going ahead at full throttle.

American Apparel have also used actual porn actresses in their advertisements, which begs the question of how blurry are the lines between the two industries exactly? They have used Sasha Grey, Faye Reagan and  Charlotte Stokely to name a few.