Because if this is the end of the magazine era and of the DVD era — both fairly well-regulated businesses in terms of performer conditions — and, as Bob Guccione himself notes, the traditional media outlets are having difficulty figuring out how to compete with the Internet (no one said that an old guy can't catch up with the times eventually, it's just many of them die trying), is unregulated amateur the real future of porn? How can that be monetized in order to compensate performers — or can it be? Are women still exploited if they're doing in in exploration of their kinks (like, say, exhibitionism) and not for the financial profit of anyone at all? If there are no business records or even businesses, it'll get more and more difficult to track down those in "charge" of making the pornography or the women (or men) appearing in it to make sure that STI testing is done or that the performers are of age.

Lots has been written — some of it by former performers like Linda Lovelace and Tracy Lords— about the days of porn before which is was a semi-legitimate business enterprise. Say what you will about pornography, objectification and exploitation, the growing legitimization of the pornography industry — which led to much more government- and self-regulation — also led to a significant decrease in the kind of exploitation described by those performers as well as increased opportunities for women to participate in the higher-earning aspects of the production. If the era of professional production is leaving us and the performers, it's fair to ask what we can do to make sure the porn we choose to watch is made with the consent and pleasure of the participants.

Rise And Fall Of The Pornography Barons [Financial Times]
The Future of Media: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying That the Internet Will Consume Print [Huffington Post]

Kenny goes on to document the post-porn careers of women such as Linda Lovelace, Marilyn Chambers, and maybe most well-known, Traci Lords. It's interesting that she found success by bad-mouthing the porn industry (which she got into when she was underaged) and by appearing in "mainstream" flicks — helmed by decidedly left-of-center director John Waters. (Lords also appeared in workout videos that were highly sexualized.)

But why is it so hard for porn stars to become "mainstream" movie stars? It's not like a singer trying to be an actor or a actor attempting to have a music career. Is it because we assume the acting is bad? So are the performances on tons of soap operas. Yet soap stars break out into flicks all the time. Is it the (shh!) ess-ee-ex? Do we lose respect for a woman who's been paid to fake (or have!) an orgasm on film? Why her and not Meg Ryan? We don't expect our actresses to be virginal Doris Day clones. Angelina Jolie, Helen Mirren and Judi Dench have been topless on film. But do we have some sort of ingrained puritanical values in our collective psyche that prevents us from respecting porn stars? That keeps us from accepting them as hard-working actors?

From Porn To Mainstream: Can Jenna Pull It Off? [Premiere]
Related: YOUTUBULAR: Traci Lords' Shameful Post-Porn Career [Best Week Ever]

Earlier: New Movie Zombie Strippers Has A Formula For Awesome

Ellen Page To 'Whip It!' For Barrymore [Variety]
More Sign On To 'Make A Porno' [Hollywood Reporter]