Pornstar June Liu shares her pornstar’s life and experience.
By Vivian Cao in Yunnan
Some people criticise June Liu for corrupting the image of Chinese women, but the 22-year-old Chinese pornstar still enjoys her career. Her stage name is Spicygum in Pornhub, one of the largest pornographic video sites in the world.
Liu has about three hundred thousand followers on Pornhub and nearly four hundred thousand followers on Twitter. Starting from the end of April last year to now, Liu has owned up to 200 porn videos with copyright protection.
Facing Bad Comments
“Misunderstandings are unavoidable, especially for porn industry which is controversial and uncommon,” Liu says.
Information asymmetry is the main reason for misunderstandings.
Many people who live in China know little about Liu because of the Great Firewall – a complex, multi-layered system censors and controls the internet, blocking access to Twitter, Facebook, and other foreign websites.
“They know me through other people’s eyes and mouths. The hostility of netizens is quite serious nowadays,” she says.
Liu says she has to face hostility, criticism, and misunderstanding every day. When reading the many bad comments, she even thought of giving up.
But she gathers herself when seeing messages left by her fans on her Pornhub page or Twitter chatbox. She cites a message from a fan: “Your videos give me warmth when I feel lonely.”
“I cannot give up just because someone hates me, there are many people still like me,” Liu adds that many fans are looking forward to watching her videos.
“I cannot give up just because someone hates me, there are many people still like me.”
The Pornstar’s Life
Liu reveals there is no specific reason leading her to become a pornstar. She just wants to try. “Like you never ate durian before and one day you give it a try,” she says.
Taking videos when she has sex is her daily routine. “Before I become a pornstar I took videos by myself when I had sex. Those early-stage videos are actually part of my life,” Liu says.
She thinks sharing her sex videos is not only a way to share her daily life but also a way to express herself. She does not feel insecure when her body is exposed in front of the camera because she likes her body.
Since she started uploading videos on Pornhub, Liu insists on running her Pornhub page by herself without hiring by companies.
Other than making her videos of her own, Liu now also helps some newbies who want to enter the industry managing their Pornhub pages and editing videos.
She thinks she is a considerate helper for them. With the experience of being a newbie, she knows it is not easy to be famous.
“I give the newbies autonomy and room for improvement,” Liu says.
Liu is busy every day as she is also a final year university student studying in London. In her view, studying is more tiring than working.
“My major is too theoretical which cannot usually be used in daily life,” Liu says.
She declines to reveal the name of her school and what she is studying, however.
“If this kind of personal information is published, many people would ask for a personal meeting with me. It is troublesome for me,” Liu explains.
First Sex Lesson
By reading books, watching movies and porn videos, Liu learned things about sex when she was a teenager. Before becoming a pornstar, she thought she knew everything about sex.
“But I was wrong. The audience has many peculiar fantacies about sex and many are unknown to me,” Liu says.
Liu thinks making porn videos is a learning process and it is a way to help people turn their sexual fantasies into reality.
She needs to study before preparing a customised video which includes special demands.
Liu explains: “Everyone’s orgasm is different. For example, some people may ask me to wear a stocking inside a pant which is very strange to me.”
“Where is this sex fetish comes from? Why is it attractive? How should I express it through my performance? I must figure these out or my videos have no soul,” Liu adds.
Being a Professional Amateur
Liu believes being real and passionate are the highlights of her videos.
Her videos are very popular in Pornhub. Liu’s Pronhub page has 36 million views and her public videos were watched by more than a million people, some of them even own more than five million views.
“A standard style and tag may bring a burst of popularity to me for a short while. But it will trap my creativity and performance.”
“Amateur style can give me more freedom to shoot and edit which can make my videos more realistic,” Liu says.
The amateur style also helps Liu to keep the passion alive. “When one thing becomes a job, you may get tired. I do not want to hate sex,” she adds.
She avoids confining herself, so she can adjust performance according to a plot.
“A standard style and tag may bring a burst of popularity to me for a short while. But it will trap my creativity and performance,” Liu says.
In her videos, she breaks the stereotype that women should be passive in sex. She shows an aggressive role in most of her videos.
Liu explains: “It is my personality. Acting passively one or two times is acceptable. If I always go against my nature, my passion will burn out.”
Edited by Lasley Lui & Regina Chen
