The Personification of Allure

by Rich Moreland, February 2014

One performer’s dominating presence is felt within the pulse of the Adult Entertainment Expo. From the media room to the halls around the convention, Chanel Preston moves from one interview to another, corralled by PR reps, cameras, microphones, and journalists of every ilk. She’s stunningly gorgeous, an energized sex machine and a Spiegler girl, not to mention the co-host of this year’s Awards Show. The demand on her time and attention far outstrips any girl at this festival. But there is much more to the native Alaskan than a resume.

“Sexual Goddess,” a well-worn mythical title, is how Chanel is identified in a press release. I’ve been around porn girls for a few years now and no one has really impressed me as a goddess. That’s not a term to throw around casually.

But it fits Chanel Preston.

Goddesses’ have charisma, that special something that defines a woman who lights up a room with an emotional blaze that slays a million moths. Marilyn Monroe had charisma and so does Madonna. Chanel Preston, her looks, her personality and her professionalism, competes at the highest goddess level. She is the personification of an allure and magnetism that intimidates, hypnotizes, and arouses.

Crazy and Intense Adrenaline Things

After chatting in passing over a two-day period, Chanel and I finally sit down for a formal interview. Her energy drives our conversation. This 5’8” beauty thrives in an unforgiving industry that marches over the career carcasses of once star struck girls who figured anyone with a love for sex can’t miss in porn.

We talk about her film work in the BDSM genre. Chanel explains that it [BDSM] is not a part of her personal life but she does take what she learns in porn home with her and part of that is an affection for bondage play.

“I love power play, I like switches,” Chanel says, in describing the dynamics of BDSM. She talks about having chemistry with some play partners and if it is just right, “I’m more than willing to be tied up,” she admits through a devilish smile. Chanel has her fun, of course, but BDSM “as a performance” is what excites her.

“I get off on doing really crazy and intense adrenaline things” Chanel says. “So for me, that’s like getting gang banged, I love doing that.”

This health club devotee films frequently for Kink.com in roles that are divided between submission and dominance, but admits she’s more submissive in her personal life especially if the guy is emotionally important to her.

“I do like dominant men,” she says, but prefers a bit of flexibility in their demeanor.

“I like it when a guy knows when to step back and I kind of take over a little bit,” though taking over is entirely relative.

“That doesn’t mean I have to take control over him,” Chanel declares, “that’s where the power play comes in, that back and forth.” She adds, “It makes me feel like the guy is comfortable with me and he can let go and he’s comfortable with himself.”

Maybe the best sexual lesson Chanel Preston offers everyone is being at ease and secure with yourself and your partner. It’s quite possible, in her mind, that the BDSM film genre sends this message better than any other. In fact, a youthful Chanel reinforced her belief in gender equality when she joined the wrestling team in high school.

Being told that she couldn’t became a challenge that she could.

The End of “Fifty”

The word at this year’s convention is Fifty Shades of Grey is now old news. The BDSM phenomenon is over, at least from a money-making point of view, and the likelihood the industry will increasingly invest in bondage films is not high.

As a BDSM insider, Chanel Preston references a movie she and I both know, Smash Pictures’ Bound by Desire series. The film is a “Shades of Grey type of movie where the focus wasn’t specifically on the domination but was testing the viewer’s boundaries,” she says. The idea is to use the “storyline” as an introduction to BDSM for the casual viewer.

It’s “for women who haven’t done [bondage] before but are kind of curious about it. They like the idea of it, but they don’t necessarily want to see it hardcore,” this former stripper says.

I mention performers who shoot at San Francisco’s Kink.com where the BDSM landscape is true to the lifestyle and suggest that when shooting a bondage movie for anyone else it must seem pretty tame for a performer.

Chanel laughs, pointing out that “to us, it does feel really silly, but if I had no experience with it, maybe it wouldn’t,” a recognition that everyone’s tastes are different.

“But because I’ve had so much experience with it, it’s a little goofy.”  She laughs.

But isn’t sex supposed to be fun?

Porn as Art

As we move through our interview, I ask Chanel Preston about porn as art (it is, she says) and porn performers as artists (they are, is her response). She describes working with different director types, some of whom stick closely to the script and others who get more creative.

“You can tell when you work with [a director] to what degree they feel like they are an artist,” Chanel says. “For some it’s a true creation and they have an actual passion for it [and] for getting their vision to the viewer.”

Mentally sorting through some of the directors I know, I cannot disagree.

I’m left with one more thought.

My guess is that Chanel Preston is going to expand upon her own directing ideas in time and hopefully write a few scripts. Porn fans can rest assured that it will all be accomplished with merriment and lots of exhaustive sex to push every assortment of envelopes a little further.