[Ads-l] Porn star (slight antedating)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Nice work, Bonnie. The meaning of "porn star" varied in early uses.
Here is the OED definition.

[Begin OED excerpt]
porn star NOUN
A person who is famous for performing in pornographic films.
[End excerpt]

In 1969 an article in a feminist journal used the phrase "porn stars"
to refer to authors such as Henry Miller and Norman Mailer whose
writings were deemed pornographic by some critics. This sense differed
from the one specified in the OED.

Date: November 1969
Periodical: No More Fun & Games: A Journal of Female Liberation
Issue 3
Article: "Sexual Liberation": More of the Same Thing
Author: Roxanne Dunbar
Date on Article: October 1969
Start Page 49, Quote Page 52
Database: Internet Archive

[Begin excerpt]
Another aspect of the myth is that people are disgusted by pornography
because they are "hung-up" about sex. After all the female body is a
beautiful sight--nothing to be ashamed of. Do those who have made a
cult of Lenny Bruce think that pornography is good and liberating? Do
they really think people are "repressed" for not "appreciating" Henry
Miller and Norman Mailer as well as lesser porn-stars? It might be
that people are reacting against what is behind pornography, and are
not just hung-up.
[End excerpt]

In 1971 Playboy magazine used "porn stars" in a way that matched the OED sense.

Date: October 1971
Periodical: Playboy
Volume 18, Number 10
Article: The Porno Girls
Start Page 138, Quote Page 148, Column 1
Publisher: Playboy, Chicago, Illinois
Database: Internet Archive

[Begin excerpt]
Although some observers feel that the new generation of porn stars is
motivated partly by a desire to scandalize its elders, many young
performers express serious concern that their parents might discover,
and be hurt by, their activities.
[End excerpt]

On Fri, May 31, 2024 at 9:49 AM Bonnie Taylor-Blake
<b.taylorblake at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> OED has a 29 June 1973 usage for its earliest example.
>
> Here are some slightly earlier ones. (I've tacked on an example of "porno
> star," which seems to have preceded "porn star," but it's obviously "porn
> star" that stuck.)
>
> -- Bonnie
>
> Porn Star's 'Mom' Photo Goes Defunct [Headline, The Napa Valley Register, 3
> May 1973, p. 1-D,
> https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-napa-valley-register-porn-star-53/147517938/
> ]
>
> Ivory Won't Scrub Its Porn Star [Headline, New York Post, 11 May 1873, p.
> 18, via GenealogyBank.com.]
>
> Porn Star Loves Newfound Fame [Headline, The News and Courier (Charleston,
> South Carolina), 5 June 1973, p. 4-A, via GeneaologyBank.com.]
>
> --------------
>
> Porno Star 'Likes Work' [Headline, Victoria (British Columbia) Daily Times,
> 14 June 1971, p. 23, via newspapers.com.]
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org