…and sent them to Warren Ellis. He then posted them on his website. Not that I’m a squealing fan-girl or anything, but EEEEE! 

You should consider clicking the link and reading them.

Thanks,

Stoya

The last time I was in Miami for Exxxotica I was with Jesse Jane and Riley Steele. They wanted to go to the beach. I am highly sensitive to the sun. 

Without an easy place to acquire good sunscreen at a reasonable price but still wanting to participate, I went along with the group to the beach but dressed a little bit… differently. 

They were all Southern California style beach bunny with their big rounded breasts and suntans in their brightly colored bikinis. Jesse oozes sex appeal. You can’t be in the same space as Jesse and avoid being swept up in her zest for life and playful energy. It leaks over, pulls me out of introspection. Riley is just plain gorgeous to look at. I’ve seen her without makeup and she’s just as beautiful that way as she is in her photographs. Sometimes I catch myself staring at her when we’re waiting around at an airport or on a set - wondering how it’s possible to be that perfect and kind of wanting to go up and poke her to verify that she actually exists.

I was wearing a short black dress, black tights, knee high boots and a hooded black sweatshirt. The hood was up, pulled as far as possible over my face to shade me from the sun as I ran down the boardwalk to meet up with them. Our manager and chaperone at the time, Adella, asked how I was going to go in the ocean dressed like I was. Clutching my book and cell phone, I walked straight in. The salty tide went in and out, pooling around my shoes and leaving white streaks on the leather. Pieces of seaweed wrapped themselves around my four inch heels.

This time, I’ll be carrying my parasol and 100 spf, although I will be spending most of my time on the convention floor where I am indoors and safe from the sunshine.

I think I’m ruminating on how specific and unique compromise can be, and what happens when vastly different people meet on some level. Life can be wacky.

The point of this was actually to remind you, the people who browse the internet and may be interested in coming to see me, that I will be at Miami Exxxotica on the 20th, 21st and 22nd of this month (May 2011). I usually have fun at these things, but I have more fun when you guys and ladies come out to see me. Also, there’s the whole part where I pay my rent by selling polaroids and signed DVDs/Fleshlights, so, you know… please consider taking home a souvenir.

-Stoya

Signing Hours:

Friday, May 20th from 6pm to 10pm 

Saturday, May 21st from 3pm to 7pm (with Jesse Jane)

Sunday, May 22nd from 2pm to 6pm (with Jesse Jane)

A few weeks ago I emailed Tumblr with a request to be listed in their directory under the Sexuality category. Here is the full text of my email (with links added for your convenience):

My tumblr account is: http://stoya.tumblr.com/

My posts fall into one of three categories…
1) Photographs, blogs, and responses to questions that document or are
informed by my experiences in the adult industry as a successful
contract performer and sexual intellectual.
2) Re-blogs or posts that talk about and link to people (mostly women)
that explore sexuality (ie. Amanda Palmer’s Map of Tazmania video).
3) The occasional post about sewing/fashion (in my opinion pure
fashion has much to do with sensuality and the pursuit of appearing
more sexually attractive - not to mention the more blatant connections
between push up bras, fur, high heels and sexual response) and the
occasional book review (usually books such as “Wetlands,” “The Mating
Mind,” “Fast Feminism” and other texts which are of mostly sex theory
or gender role commentary).

… and that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I believe I should be
included in the Sexuality directory on your wonderful website.

Thank you for your time,

Stoya

I didn’t hear back, aside from the automatic “We have received your email” email, so I asked my followers on Twitter to campaign for Tumblr (which has a twitter account) to list me.

You guys were absolutely great. I was flattered by your arguments and very appreciative of how many of you were willing to do something that requires a bit of effort when I asked you to. You’re awesome.

I’m still not listed, and here’s why:

A couple of days later Tumblr let all of their users know that they were getting rid of the directory. They cite the diversity of most users’ blogs as the main reason.

Bastards.

(joking)

I’m counting this as a win, because while I didn’t get what I wanted, you all helped effect a change. Which is pretty freakin’ cool.

Thanks for the support,
Stoya

This is something I’ve gotten a lot of questions about and which I feel is under-discussed in both porn and more mainstream entertainment. In case you missed it over at popporn.com:

‘A Vagina By Any Other Name Would Still Smell Like a Vagina’

Some people seem to think that knowledge of a public persona’s real name is some kind of power to wield, like an old pulp fantasy novel in which a demon can be summoned by the proper pronunciation of its twelve syllable long name.

It’s not.

When someone says “Hey, I know your real name!” they aren’t getting my attention in a good way. What they’re telling me is they have no respect for boundaries and are probably stalker material. It makes me less likely to reply, and reminds me of the fact that for every few thousand wonderful (and usually quite interesting) people that follow my work, read my babble (on twitter, tumblr, xcritic, popporn, and other places), and watch my dirty movies there’s one who kind of wants to skin me and stuff me with dryer lint to make their own personal Stoya doll. (<- creepy)

So here’s a small Q & A on this matter:

Q: Why do you use a pseudonym?
A: I use a pseudonym for a couple of reasons.
1) Google real estate. See, if I put the name on my birth certificate into Google, almost two million pages come up. Even if I put my middle name in as well, it’s still one and a half million. Almost all of these are other people. Not very good for marketing and branding in a digital world.
2) I have young cousins. I will probably have nieces or nephews soon. On the very off chance one might be doing a family tree or something, I don’t want them to stumble into a world of thick hard cocks, gaping assholes, and fetish/BDSM before they or their parents are ready to discuss the birds, bees, and mating habits of humans with them.

Q: How did you come up with the name ‘Stoya’?
A: My grandmother’s last name is Serbian and very long. The shortened version would be ‘Stoja’ but people from English speaking countries tend to pronounce that with a hard ‘j’ sound as opposed to the proper ‘y’ sound so I americanized the spelling. It was briefly discussed as a possibility for a name (along with Jimmy) when I was about to be born, but someone who wasn’t full of pregnancy hormones convinced my mother to go with something a bit more standard.

Q: So what *is* the name on your birth certificate?
A: That’s really cute. If by ‘cute’ you mean ‘nice try but not happening.’

Q: Aww, c’mon, pleeeeeease?
A: Nope. Now you’re being invasive AND pushy. Usually I block people at this point.

Q: Do you only go by Stoya?
A: Of course not… my parents, close friends, co-workers at the restaurant I work at in my down time and others all call me by the first name on my birth certificate, a diminutive of it, or use a combination of those two and Stoya.

Q: Why would your close friends ever call you by your stage name?
A: Remember that more standard name I was talking about a couple of questions ago? Yeah, I know about a hundred other girls with the same name. My best friend for years and years had the same first name. It got really confusing, especially since we both had long dark hair (and frequently wore it in pigtails) when we met and then started dying it crazy colors at the same time, made a lot of our clothing ourselves, had very similar interests, and lived together. Nicknames had to happen to make everyone’s life easier, so I was already being called Stoya before I started getting naked on the internet and needed a nom de keyboard.

Meanwhile, addressing an adult performer with respect and courtesy does have power. The power to make us pay attention and read what you’re saying. The power to elicit an occasional response. The power to make you into one of those people that make the job of an adult performer so much fun.