I think I should start with a disclaimer: no one under 21 should read this. An alternate title for this diary might be: "How to star in a porno film and still keep your clothes on."

About 6 months ago, I wrote a diary about a trip back to New York City, in which I mentioned meeting some porn stars who appeared in a friend’s book and HBO video called XXX ("Triple X").

Whitley was pleased when he was asked to write an essay for the book, since he was among a group of celebrated authors, which included Gore Vidal and Nancy Friday. Our friend, the photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, who took the pictures for the book, also made an HBO feature in which he interviewed some of these writers, including Whitley. By the time he did this, the photographs for the book had all been taken, so we didn’t get to see anyone with their clothes off, and Whitley kept his on while he was being interviewed.

One thing I did learn, from talking to Timothy, was that while a nice body is necessary to become a female porn star, many of them seem to be average beauties with, perhaps, a little surgical augmentation here and there. But male porn stars are born, not made, because no one has yet invented the surgery that would give a man the "tool" he needs to star in one of these films. As one famous male porn star said, "I’m 4 inches?from the ground."

I think this is the kind of thing that interests male viewers more than women. From the time they are little boys, males seem to always be doing "comparisons," while all a woman can think of in that situation is?ouch!

The Triple X HBO film is run on a regular basis, but we haven’t watched it yet. However, we regularly meet people who have. A few months ago, when we were in Los Angeles, we went to our favorite coffee shop, where we know the proprietor. She sat down at our table and said to Whitley, "I saw you on HBO last night." This being LA, you could FEEL ears prick up all over the room, as people wondered, "Am I in the presence of a movie star?"

Then she said, "My boyfriend and I were surfing through the TV channels, when suddenly we saw this man with an enormous penis, and then you began to talk."

I whispered to Whitley, "Every woman in this place is looking at you," and it was TRUE.

I’ve never been into porn films, although I don’t have anything against them. I have had my feminist moments of feeling that women are exploited by pornography, but they haven’t lasted long. Sex is fun?at least, it ought to be. Whitley and I have owned only one pornographic video because we never needed to buy another one: this one had it all?mixed couples, male couples, female couples, fat people, thin people and even nuns.

The only thing it didn’t have was the ordinary magic that makes up what most of us do in our bedrooms at home.

NOTE: This Diary entry, previously published on our old site, will have any links removed.