Tag Archives: Cindy Starfall

AEE 2019: Cindy Starfall

by Rich Moreland, February 2019

Through Star Factory PR, I had the privilege of  interviewing Cindy Starfall a couple of years ago. Since that time, the Saigon native has received several adult entertainment award nominations and continues to wow her fans with her feature dancing.

Let’s see what’s on her mind this year.

Photos are credited to Kevin Sayers.

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I remember we talked about your feature dancing a couple of years ago. Are you still on the road?

“I do it more and I really loved it because I can really put on a show, on stage and actually get to meet my fans because they come [from] all over . . . different cities . . . for meet and greets.”

Cindy says feature dancing is her thing.

“I love it because it pulls a creative side out of me. I get to be my own boss and put on these big shows on stage every month [in] a different city.”

Cindy comments on her schedule and explains that she’s shooting as much as dancing.

“I dance Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Come back [home on] Sunday then shoot Monday Tuesday. I pack Wednesday and I go again.”

Wow, that’s a lot of traveling, but she seems to love it.

Still Swinging

She tells me that her hectic schedule has put a crimp in her free-flowing lifestyle. Cindy is one of the few porn girls I know who is an active swinger.

“I still have my swinger couples that I’m doing,” Cindy says. In fact, she’s headed over to Japan in April with some of her swinger friends.

We talk about how she handles these out-of-the-ordinary sexual encounters. Among her requirements is spouses have to be present.

“I prefer that because it’s just less drama that way. I’m not there to look for relationships. I just want to be in there and have fun.”

The couples are friendly and, for the most part, older than Cindy. But that is not to discount younger couples who are into the lifestyle. “They always give off this sexual, friendly vibe,” she says.

When she reflects back on her early days in swinging, Cindy recalls it helped her adjust to porn.

“I love sex and swinger [parties have] helped me [to be] more comfortable in front of the camera. Because I have people watching and I have people shooting photos. In a way it [has] shaped who I am.  It is a big part of my life.”

That Connection

We move on to camming. Cindy exclaims that “it’s taking over the [adult] business!”

Camming is a version of amateur porn, she asserts, because “you’re filming yourself at home.”

Cindy has discovered that many of her fans “enjoy that amateur side versus the professional looking, perfect lighting side . . . because it’s more like a private one-on-one, like a personal interaction with me.”

The petite performer indicates that her camming popularity comes from guys who are “lonely” and “looking for that relationship, looking for that connection that they will have with the girls.”

When she describes what she does, Cindy reflects the formula that many cammers use.

“When you cam with me, I will talk to you. I know you by name, I know what you like. You can actually direct your own porn with me. You get to pick what I’m wearing for a session.”

She sees that as powerful for both her and her fans.

Room for Everybody

Some cam girls are comfortable at home and don’t have a desire to become a porn star, Cindy says. “All they do is get online.”

“With porn, you actually got to show up on set, it’s a production. A typical porn set could be between six to eight hours or more if it’s a feature. So, it’s a totally different thing [from camming].

“I started off as a webcam girl. But it wasn’t for me because I got bored. I needed that interaction with that co-star. I love doing porn because I love being in different characters,” she explains.

Unlike other girls I’ve interviewed on this subject, Cindy is blunt with her assessment of what it means to be a porn girl who is committed to studio shooting.

“If you want to be a porn star, can you get naked in front of at least four, five [people and] three different cameras shooting you? Can you do that?”

On the other hand, she says, “With webcam, you’re in your own home comfortable, one camera, you and your boyfriend. Somebody you’re comfortable with.”

Sounds easy, but it’s not because porn girls don’t always want that live feel. “When they know that camera is live and there’s people watching them, they start freaking out. So, it’s totally different,” she asserts.

But Cindy insists that there is room for everybody. “In a way, I do feel like it’s fine to be divided [between camming and porn] because it’s two different audiences.” There enough fans with different tastes to go around.

Trends

On the question of cammers setting their own market trends, Cindy believes they follow rather than lead.

In the adult business, it’s all about the fans. This is the driving force for cammers.

“The audience [is] there and tipping and watching, [buying] tokens. I feel like they [cammers] are following the trend because that’s what the audience wants to see.”

On the other hand, “when it comes to fandoms or fan worship, these guys are following what the girl’s doing.” In that respect, she might be setting her own trend.

But the bottom line will always be the cammers will respond to what the fans want.

“The cam girl’s all about the audience. The audience is giving them their paychecks,” Cindy says.

As for a major production company like John Stagliano’s Evil Angel, Cindy understands he’s doing what he loves because he already has “such a big studio” and consequently sets his own trends.

Once again, we revert back to the power of being online when it comes to camming.

Cindy Starfall says, “In this day with social media, the people that are watching. They want to know you, the actress behind the camera, and that’s what the webcam gives them. They get to talk to me, personally.”

 

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AEE 2017: Cindy Starfall

by Rich Moreland, February 2017

This is the first post in a series of interviews with the clients of Star Factory recorded at the Adult Industry Expo in Las Vegas.

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Cindy Starfall is an atypical porn star.

Born in Saigon long after the end of the Vietnam War, Cindy was raised by a nanny. At fifteen, she emigrated to the States and finished her education at an all-girl Catholic school.

Her strict upbringing nurtured the desire for everything taboo. Entering porn in 2011 as a cam girl, Cindy shot her first hardcore scene in March 2012.

This petite honey loves everything from IR to gangbangs, has an online store, and feature dances, all pretty standard for a porn girl. So what part of her is not typical?

Cindy is a swinger and loves to talk about it.

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A Strange Topic

How did she get into swinging?

“It was way before porn,” Cindy begins. In college, she was doing web cam shows and a friend approached her about swinging.

“He was introducing me to the lifestyle,” she says. He asked Cindy about watching others have sex, especially in “wife swapping” situations.2017-01-19-04-59-29

Uncertain at first, her answer was no “because it was a very strange topic for me,” she remembers.

“But I went to a swinger club and it was awesome. People were so nice and I like the environment when it’s just purely sex with nothing involved.”

Cindy is still in the scene today and has expanded her swinger friendships.

Just Sex

Do people in the swinger clubs ever make her uncomfortable?

“Sometimes,” Cindy replies and mentions online swinger sites where her profile can be accessed by people in the community.

“They like to stalk me, but in a swinger club there is security everywhere to prevent that from happening.”

2017-01-19-04-59-37Cindy sets her parameters to prevent emotional overreach.

“I tell every couple that I play with that this is just sex, no relationships. In the swing community it is very important that you set that rule because of all the drama that is going on.”

What’s more, there are practicalities everyone observes.

“You tend to show up as couples. You sign up for memberships on a site and you get invited privately so it’s not open for the public. You don’t know where it [the club] is exactly and yes, couples get in for free.”

Singles are not excluded, however.

“Single guy is no problem. Single girls, we call them unicorns. I was a unicorn.”

The atmosphere is congenial.

“It’s definitely a club. People are not afraid to sit down and say, ‘Hi this is my wife, this is my husband,'” Cindy says. If couples like each other, “you can take it to another level. You can go upstairs [to the] playroom.”

2017-01-19-05-00-35Couples may already be there having sex, Cindy explains, but it’s not necessary to get involved with them.

“You can just play with whoever you come with.”

On other occasions, she has a different agenda.

“Sometimes I don’t play at the club. The club is where I meet people. If I like them then I go forward to setting up a date, I call it a date, but it’s not.”

In other words, not like we think of dating, Cindy clarifies.

“It’s just sex. I don’t go to dinner, to a movie. I don’t do that,” she insists, because Cindy wants the couples she plays with to stay together.

Limits

What about sexual limits like those on a porn set?

Limits can be set, Cindy says. Every couple is different. Some may not like kissing, others may want their spouses in separate rooms or insist they be in the same room, and some people have rules about no pictures.

Her personal rule?

“I’ll only do it with your wife there. I don’t want to break up that marriage.’

In fact, Cindy prefers a threesome where possible.

Photo courtesy of Cindy Starfall

Photo courtesy of Cindy Starfall

The Turn On of Being Watched

Has swinging had a positive effect on her porn performances?

“Yes. Being a swinger and moving into porn [was] not a scary thing for me,” Cindy says.

“It’s actually improved my porn performances because when I started swinging I realized I like the turn-on of being watched. I love being in front of people.”

So, does Cindy get nervous on porn set?

No, she says. When there’s group sex in the clubs with people watching and photos being snapped (Cindy has no objections to cameras being present), it’s “essentially is the same thing” as porn except with adult film she becomes an actress.

Photo courtesy of Cindy Starfall

Photo courtesy of Cindy Starfall

“People watch me through the camera and I feel very comfortable doing what I’m doing on camera.”

“I was not a confident girl until I started the swinger lifestyle. I was very shy. You read my profile. I grew up in a strict household,”  she says.

Cindy’ s parents never encouraged her to be accepting of her sexual self, she adds.

But things are different today.

“I’m more comfortable with my body now. I’m a way more confident girl than I was, let’s say, years before porn.”

Porn is Very Safe

For the most part, an adult film set promotes a protective environment. Does swinging do the same?

Cindy with Star Factory's Tanya Tate. Photo courtesy of Star Factory

Cindy with Star Factory’s Tanya Tate.
Photo courtesy of Star Factory

“Yes, [but] you have to take care of yourself, to watch out for yourself,” just like in porn, Cindy says.

“Porn is very safe on set,” she asserts, nothing like the “misconceptions” people have about partying and drugs.

“It’s very business-like. You come in, do your work, and you get paid. Everybody is very professional. Everybody always looks out for your interests. But the one who cares most about your interests is yourself. It’s common sense, you got to take care of yourself first.”

Cindy offers what is most important about porn.

“You have to be very comfortable with your own body. You can’t be insecure, you have to know how your body works.”

This leads Cindy Starfall to reveal a personal secret as we close out our talk.

“I’m a sexual person, but I always held it in. I never say it out loud and I was never okay with my body. I always compared myself with other girls, but now I know who I am and I own it. When I see gorgeous girls, I compliment them versus trying to compare myself to them.”

This leads to her final thought.

“Before I got in the business, I make a promise to myself that I’m not going to change who I am because of the industry. I’m still the same person. My swinger friends who have been with me before porn see that.  I’m still the same girl. Yes, I am way busier now but I’m still the same, so it doesn’t change me.”

Now that’s healthy indeed!

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Prop 60, Part Two: Unity

by Rich Moreland, February 2017

In doing this two part series on Prop 60, a special thanks is extended to Star Factory PR for arranging interviews with Cindy Starfall, Derrick Pierce, Briana Banks, and Ela Darling.

Photos included in this post are courtesy of AVN and @IndustryByRick.

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Roaring Chorus

Was Prop 60 a game changer for the industry and APAC?

57c610b493674-cindystarfall-onbedfacingout-1600Performer Cindy Starfall thinks so. “The industry definitely united. We did the whole campaign . . . we came together.”

She affirms that adult performers are “not a health risk” to society and agrees with others in the industry that the whole legal exercise was pointless. By the way, Cindy does not personally mind using condoms so she could have adjusted to the law had it passed.

Casey Calvert believes Prop 60’s defeat was pivotal.

“One hundred percent,” she declares, “Huge, massive industry wide, business wide, game changer.”58998d41c76c8-imgl6451

“It’s something everybody’s still talking about months later. Our history [has been] we all fight within each other. We’re all respectful but we don’t actually have anybody’s back.”

Best of all, the battle has resulted in a degree of unification not seen before.

Should an issue like Prop 60 pop up another time, Casey is “confident that the same people that stepped up for Prop 60 would step up [again].”

Ela Darling agrees.

“There is strength in unity, there is strength in community, especially when you are a marginalized community, in some cases marginalized on a variety of aspects whether we are sex workers or women or people of color or queer people. All of those things just stack up and nobody is going to have our backs if we don’t have our backs.

“It’s very easy to dismiss a few voices, but it’s much harder to dismiss a roaring chorus of people aligning together especially when you establish the value of that population. We are just not just weird sex people. We are the laborers. We are taxpayers. We’re so much more than people would like to describe us. When we all stand together, that becomes apparent.”

Caution

John Stagliano is cautiously optimistic, perhaps because of his battles in the past with government overreach into porn. In his view, cultural influences have altered attitudes and how people communicate.

“I think the game changer was the fact that the people have changed and the internet has changed people and we were able to effectively reach them. Eric Paul Leue arguably did a great job [and] the results are stunning with regard to the fact that we won. They seemed to have turned the tide.”

With his stark realism, Derrick Pierce is not so sure because of porn’s place in our culture.

“I wouldn’t say a game changer, maybe a shift in tides. We’ll all be long gone in the business before APAC has a game changer moment because I think mainstream would have to take this business seriously [first].”

As for APAC, Derrick is straight forward.58998d60a3303-imgl6569 As a support group it works, but a union, if that is its intent, requires the commitment of time and money.

“To be one hundred percent honest, there is never going to be a union in porn. It’s great in theory but seventy percent of the business is female” and most girls, the under twenty-one crowd, are just passing through, he says.

“Why [would]  they spend any money on this because all they’re looking for is to buy a car, pay for some school–the good ones—buy a purse, buy some shoes, or move out. Whatever their short term goal is for that.”

The attitude is simple, Derrick has seen it all along. This is a stopover and most girls think, “I’m just going to knock out a couple of scenes, blow a couple of dudes, and I’m outta here,” he says.

Refreshing and Empowering

On the other hand, Derrick believes the story is different for the other thirty percent.

“The jessica drakes and the Asa Akiras and the Phoenix Maries, all those girls who have made a career out of this. Yes, they would be the ones who would benefit the most and also a lot of the guys that stick around.”

Derricks words bring to mind an argument I’ve heard before from adult legend Nina Hartley . . . organizing porn talent is like herding cats. But, could times be changing?

58998d2190b02-imgl6284At any rate, the industry can revel in its victory today and hope for a profitable future.

We give Ela Darling the final word by repeating and reinforcing what she said earlier.

“I’ve never seen the industry aligned so strongly on anything like they did on Prop 60. It was refreshing, it was empowering and amazing.”

Perhaps we have a new political force in the making.

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In response to a comment that is reproduced below, I’m not certain what in this story is misleading. There is, of course, a union in adult entertainment that is duly registered, as this comment states.

“Your story is missleading and contains false untrue statements. There is a Union for the adult industry The International Entertainment Adult Union The IEAU. We are registered and certified as the “Union” for the adult entertainment industry by the Dept. Of Labor since Dec. 15th 2015 Union Number 000-404. Please either correct your story or we will send your site a C & D order. If you would like information pertaining to the Union, please fill free to contact us. Thank you”

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