On Montana Fishburne

By Sexual Correspondent Andrea (AJ) Plaid

I understand Montana Fishburne.  No, really I do.

I understand that I wanted to walk into the great halls of adulthood and thought having sex was the key to opening the door when I was about her age, especially since sexual activity is viewed in this society as the providence of grown-ups.  Sex, I thought, would lead to gravitas, to be taken seriously by the people I want to be, who were in the stage of life I thought I was.

So, I decided to lose my virginity at 21.  In my head, it was the first “adult” act, something I fully, consciously did without anyone’s permission but my own and my partner’s.  For someone who survived sexual violation at a very young age, this decision was monumental. (For the more curious: my virginity-losing was intimate (my partner and me); it was pagan; it was great. That’s all you need to know…)

In a spirit of mother-daughter sharing,–and thinking that I just walked through that hallowed door–I told my mom.  Wow, did I underestimate my mom’s openness:  she didn’t speak to me for a couple of weeks because, she admitted later, that’s not what young women do, “just lay up like that.”

Watching and listening to 19-year-old Montana, I get the distinct impression of someone who 1) also wants to be seen and taken seriously as an adult, 2) wants to have fun in life because her privilege should allow it, 3) really wants to be viewed as free-thinker and freer spirit, and 4) has a look of wondering if she’s in over her head with her long-lasting adult decision but is sticking with it to prove to everyone wrong.

In her own words:

“I think it was just wanting to explore sexuality,” she added. “Cause I know it’s such a big world I was just like, wow, well since I like sex … I wanted to see everything that I would like, every kind of fantasy I would like and porn is a way that I could explore that.”

And she didn’t want to follow her father’s path to success:

“I wasn’t really into mainstream acting,” she told Us. “People would ask me, ‘Do you want to get into acting? Do you want to be an actress?’ and I would say, straight up, ‘No.’…I knew I wanted to do adult [films].”

Filming herself having sex on camera for the first time at age 18, she told Us, “I liked it. I was like, ‘Wow, now I really want to do it. [I] just took it from there. I became really passionate after my first at-home video.”

And, as the cliché goes, the rest is history (probably in her eyes) and more than likely will be a footnote in the annals of pornography.

What is making a bit of a media mark is how her father, esteemed actor Laurence Fisburne, is reacting to her budding career.  Now that the video is out (it dropped August 18), Montana said her dad stated he won’t speak to her until “she turns her life around,” that she “embarrassed” him, and that “no one uses their real name in porn.”

One radio interviewer asked her why did she use her real name, why did she “drag her father into so much drama.” Montana responded:

“I don’t think I have to hide my name. It’s my name, too. It did help get the career started, but if I decided to do mainstream work later…I wanted to do porn work first. If I had used a fake name, it would’ve come out anyway and it would’ve been more of a scandal.  I’m not ashamed of my name; I don’t want to hide it. I’m proud of it.”

As for her father not talking to her, Montana told the interviewer that, though she “understands why he’s upset,” she thinks they won’t have the same relationship pre-video release until “he accepts” her career choice.

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