The Pornies: 2017 AVN Award Weekend

The annual AVN Adult Entertainment Expo and Award Show brings together fans, porn stars, and industry professionals for a 4-day celebration of sexual pageantry. If you have never seen a gorgeous woman cry genuine tears of happiness after receiving an award for “Best Blow Job of the Year,” then you truly haven’t lived.

The annual X-rated event kicked off with a 4-day adult entertainment expo held at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas and culminated with the AVN Award Show on Saturday night. Hundreds of performers and thousands of fans traveled from all across the globe in order to pay homage to the best in the fucking business.  

Since finding a permanent home at the Hard Rock Hotel, the AVN Expo and Award Show has been able to conveniently centralize a variety of events that were previously spread out across downtown Las Vegas.  Everything from parties to panel discussions can now be enjoyed without ever having to leave the comfort of the hotel.  

The AVN Expo has gotten so large that it now occupies several massive halls with well over two hundred booths and vendors. The venue was packed to the max with people, products, and x-rated swag, all promoting various aspects of the adult industry.  The products and sex toys ranged from the very simple to the shockingly extreme, with something for just about everyone.   Whether you were searching for a dildo the size of an eggplant or looking to find an adorable teddy bear with an incredibly stimulating tongue, the AVN Expo had something for everyone.  

All of the big names companies and studios were well-represented at the AVN Expo.  Evil Angel, Kink, Vivid Entertainment, Bang Bros, Brazzers, Wicked Pictures, Reality Kings, Burning Angel, and many more brought out their hottest performers and most eager "up and cummers," in order to give the fans a once-in-a-lifetime experience. 

The bondage experts at Kink.com had their own impressively swanky stage set up along the entire length of the wall. The raised black velvet platform was well-accessorized with plush couches, decadent cotton candy, and scads of kinky props.  The sexy girls up on the stage were quite busy tending to their admirers, but there was an incredibly heartwarming moment when one of the Kink Girls jump down off of the stage in order to hug and welcome a handicapped fan in a wheelchair. The young woman's genuine sincerity was clear to everyone around her and it was a pleasure to witness such a moment of authenticity. 

In the world of online adult experiences, the current trend is live cam girls. These young women interact live over the internet with their fans, creating a intimate connection between the fanbase and the performers. While it may initially appear as though cam work would be something that only the newbies do, the fact of the matter is that this simply isn't true.  While large companies such as Flirt4Free, Chaturbate, and MyFreeCams  allow anyone to sign up and start their own webcam career on their sites, the big name performers have also discovered just how lucrative camming can be out on their own.

The beautiful Holly Randall, daughter of porn-trailblazer, Suze Randall, and a star in her own right, took a few moments out of her busy schedule to share her views on the benefits of web camming.

Holly Randall explained that this new social outlet provides women in the adult industry with much more freedom and independence in their professional lives.  She noted that over the past few decades, the women in the industry have been able to exert more control over their careers, choosing the films that they believe to be good fit. Rather than accepting roles where they are obligated to fulfill the vision of a male director, today's performers have more flexibility in choosing the course of their own careers. In an industry where the vast majority of films are written, produced, and filmed by men, the emergence of home-based webcamming puts women directly in charge of their of their work schedule and financial livelihood with very limited outside interference. 

Adult superstar, Joanna Angel, is a great example of a woman who took command of her own career. The owner and creator of the website and production company Burning Angel, Joanna Angel has forayed her own personal turn-ons into a very successful empire. The films and roles of the Punk Rock Porno Princess darkly deviate from the tradition of creating movies based solely around what men desire.

At the Expo, Joanna Angel (wo)manned her own booth, graciously talking with all of her fans, posing for photographs, and answering questions. Angel's films are known for their pierced, tattooed women who aren't afraid to be themselves and Joanna is definitely a boss lady who leads by sexy example.

The bad-ass ladies of Burning Angel exude confidence, making it a pleasure to walk by their booth and see them interacting with their fans. These rowdy women are given the freedom to do what feels good in the heat of the moment without any concern over the fact that they aren't the Pam Anderson-esque blond bombshells or the sweetly innocent girls-next-door who have dominated the pornographic scene for decades. This culture of self-confidence gives Joanna Angel's movies a raw and authentic quality that transcends the traditional scripted and staged films of the adult industry. As an avid fan of Burning Angel Productions, it was exciting to be able to discuss her unique vision in person (and maybe secretly do a little fangirling:).

The most intriguing aspect of the Expo was exploring how many different styles and genres of adult entertainment actually exist. From traditional and predictable to gonzo and taboo, The AVN Adult Entertainment Expo is an incredibly unconventional convention that shouldn't be missed.

Stay tuned for the next installment of "The Pornies: AVN Adult Entertainment Awards Weekend," where we will go deep into the pre-award show festivities and investigate whether the red carpet actually matches the drapes. XXXOOO Daisy Jane