Pornstars and Education in the USA

Are pornstars less educated than average Americans ?

The online controversy around Belle Knox, a math major at prestigious Duke Univeristy who also happened to be a pornstar (mainly to pay for her tuition), has somehow opened people's eyes about the topic and shown to many that you can both be a pornstar and a succesfull student, something that seemed unbelievable, if not disturbing to many people. This article will try to break that down, and by looking at porn statistics, provide some relevant information about the topic.

Even though porn scenes rarely permit the actresses to express the full expand of their education, to say the least, the general impression you get from watching porn is that these girls can't be that educated. Also, you could reasonably argue that going into the porn business does not require any diplomas, and is therefore more open to uneducated young women. Wikipedia, for instance, mentions « willingness to perform sexual acts » and « libido » as the only requirements to become a pornstar.

And yes, the statistics show indeed that there is a disproportionate amount of high-school drop-outs and girls who never even went to high school amongst pornstars. While 11,7% of the general population does not hold a high school degree, this figure rises to 34,4% among female pornstars. This can partly be explained by the « naturals », girls who knew from a young age that they wanted to be pornstars and therefore didn't care to finish high school or even attend one. The latter being statistically the most prevalent. Of the pornstars who did not get a high school diploma, only 10,3% actually dropped out of high-school, the remaining simply never went to high school. These « naturals » typically started their careers as soon as they turned 18. According to the statistics, they represent roughly 15% of all pornstars. But even with this characteristic particular to the porn industry taken into account, the drop-out rate for pornstars remains 8 percentage points above the general population.

However, once passed the age of going to high school, the gap between the two population groups progressively gets narrower. While 58,6% of the general population has « some college » experience, 45,9% of pornstars do too, thus narrowing the difference from 22,7 percentage points (in high school diplomas) to only 12,5 percentage points in this category. Put differently, pornstars, once their high school diploma secured, are more prone to actually go to college than the rest of the population. 66,4% of the general population holding a high-school degree went to college. This figure rises to 70% among pornstars.

And this trend continues further and intensifies. 31,9% of the general US population holds a Bachelor degree, meaning that only 55,6% of those who went to college actually finished their education there. In comparison, among pornstars, 30,6% holds a Bachelor degree, thus almost totally catching up with the general population, and 67,7% of the pornstars who went to college finished by getting their degree.

At the Master + level, however, the pornstars are less numerous, only 2,9% of pornstars hold a Master or a PhD, compared to 7,6% of the general population, thus widening the gap again. Only 1% of them hold a doctoral degree, compared to 1,7% of the general population Hower, it should be said that this could be skewed by the young age of most pornstars, as most PhD-holders obtain their degree around the age of 30, sometimes even later . Yet again, once engaged in a cycle, pornstars are more prone to actually finish their studies.

There could be various explanations for this. First of all, the cost of education in the USA and its direct consequences on students. While many students have to work long hours to pay for living expenses and tuition, pornstars have less time-consuming and better paid jobs, as pornstars. This allow them to balance work and studies better, the #1 reason why students drop out of college. For the most succesful of the pornstars, savings from their career could also pay their tuition without even having to work. This was notably the case for Belle Knox at Duke. It is also possible that having had to work from a young age, pornstars are more mature and generally more hard-working. It's also a possibility that for some of them, a college education was their way out of a life-style they do not wish to pursue further, thus granting them with a stronger incentive to succeed. A more optimistic hypothesis would be that «regular» students have an easier way finding contacts and jobs during their studies, and therefore put an end to them to start their careers before completion.

These results are confirmed by statistics on a holistic level as well. Comparing US States, we found a -0,17 (0,03 Pearson) correlation between high school completion and the pornstar ratio, meaning that the more people drop out of high school in a given State, the higher the relative number of pornstars in that State will be. At the same time, we also found a positive 0,16 (0,02 Pearson) correlation between Bachelor completion and pornstar ratio.

So the general perception of pornstars levels of education, or even intelligence, can be considered skewed due to the high number of pornstars who didn't go through high school. They do represent a big third of all pornstars, and some of the most famous pornstars, like Gianna Michaels or Jenna Jameson are part of them. However, pornstars show a strong tendency to actually complete the education cycles they engage in and do so more than the general population. It seems that paradoxically, having a job so far from abstract reasoning and academic rigour as porn, can actually be a powerful faciliator in the challenge of obtaining degrees. So parents, yes your daughter will be more at risk of becoming a pornstar if she does not attend high school, but if she doesn't, most likely it will be because she's a « natural » and would have picked the porn career path anyway, at some point. However, if you want your daughter to autonomously go through college and actually obtain a degree, her being a pornstar is by no means an obstacle, rather an advantage.

Results obtained from a surveyed group of 196 American pornstars born between 1970 and 1991.