I had a chance to discuss many things with a number of women in Vegas at the AEE last week, business women working in the gaming industry, porn stars and strippers. There is a lot of stress in those occupations and I found myself asking all of them "How do you do what you do?" It seems like a ridiculously broad, pointless question...but apparently, there is a "Zone" that many women are able to enter, whereby in their mind they are able to put themselves on another level of performance, or another state of awareness, and thus better able to deal with the actual reality of their situation at hand to achieve a desired result.

Consider a stripper performing at Vegas' Club Paradise. She is on stage with several hundred (mostly) men looking on, and the woman is required to undress and dance suggestively to excite the audience sexually and induce them to part with dollar bills. It is an intimidating scenario to deal with several times a week for hours at a time, and several of the strippers I commiserated with said to me they get themselves in this "zone" and tune out the audience and all the eyes, or in contrast they get in a "zone" where they focus UPON the eyes of the audience...the point is they are in this "zone".

Consider also a young physically slight but attractive porn starlet, who must perform a variety of sex acts with 5 male co-stars, running through the gamut of penetration combinations culminating in the 5 males ejaculating upon her face (or perhaps in her mouth), all the while she must convincingly portray sincere desire and pleasure during the carnal exercise. I had several young ladies describe to me the same phenomenon of a "zone" they get in to allow themselves to ignore the anxieties of the situation and achieve the desired goal, a hot, stimulating performance...in the case of porn one would assume the zone encompasses some type of sexual bliss or pleasure.

The recent Kara Bare/Mynor story, where the young girl attempted suicide after running out of Xanax, has made me, all at once, a little more insightful regarding the nature of this nebulous "Zone" people refer to and are able to find. I myself have used Xanax, perhaps not as much as Kara, but still enough to speak intelligently about it and what it does....Xanax is the "Zone" in pill form. It shuts up the big mouth that is your conscience, and squelches the anxiety that springs from the natural concern about what others think of you. What I found compelling, and interesting, is that nearly all my women friends and associates, casino managers/execs, strippers and porn stars used Xanax to some degree. One of my friends who oversee's Marketing for a large Vegas Strip Hotel tells me she takes a .5 Xanax before each Board Meeting on Wednesday....The most extreme case was my friend whom I spent Thursday Night 'socializing' with at Club Paradise, when she literally dozed off in my arms during "Moneytalks" by AC/DC.

I myself recall back in 1998, when a business disaster forced me to have to decide to lay off 2 brilliant, hardworking people from a department of 7...I procrastinated and dreaded the event like it was capital punishment, not thinking I'd be able to do it when the time came, that I would falter and make the individuals feel even worse. Just before calling them into my office, I popped a couple Xanax....20 minutes later I said "I'm sorry but we are going to have to let you go..." and I felt no pain, no rush of blood to my face, my voice didn't falter and I didnt cry. I felt no anxiety...I knew I should be feeling those things, but I wasn't...I was in a "Zone". I have been in Zones before, but typically is not because of Xanax...I have other zones I visit.

Now it makes complete sense to me, how young, fairly attractive and even BRIGHT girls (like perhaps, Kara) can pursue the monetary rewards of pornography without exhibiting the compunction or shame or guilt that is inherent (whether we admit it or not) in the sexual actions and depictions on film in today's porn. True, once a person becomes "used to" doing it (or tolerant), the relevance of the "Xanax induced Zone" is lessened. But it is clear from all the anecdotal evidence I have been reading on boards like XPT, and hearing from a number of people I trust and believe and consider very good friends, and from sharing my own personal experiences, that Xanax is an integral part of the Gaming, Gentlemen's Club, and Pornographic Film Industries. Xanax is the "Business Zone"... and as I recall, Roxy utilized its commerce facilitatiing qualities as well....

Nice dissemination.

Xanax causes decreased sex drive so I'm guessing for most performers it takes any joy out of the situations they are in to even a larger extent. Thus exasperating their inimical circumstances.

From what I gather in your post, you're talking about the toll stress in these occupations has on women. I don't know about the Gaming industry. But I do know about Stripping, and Porn. I'd add Escorting, because that's about the highest stress of all.

I don't know about a "zone". I did in hockey. It was when the game slowed way down for me, and my body and brain were just perfectly in sync. I've never felt that in sex work. Chefs talk about this during "the rush", as the call it. So I'm guessing you'd find many occupations with a zone-type experience.

Each "job", if you want to call it that, comes with its own stressors, and anxiety inducers. Stripping hasn't been to awful for me. I started when I was 21 back in a small club in Indiana. I made a fortune there, and it wasn't hard on me. In LA, and Vegas the story's different. The clubs are massive, and the competition among girls is stiffer. But what causes the anxiety in stripping, for me anyway, is the attitudes of the guys who judge the girls. The Spearmint Rhino in City of Industry is the worst. The expectation of girls fucking the guys is out of control in both places. In Indiana, the guys paid up but never demanded I put out.

The only anxiety I get in porn is whether or not I'm going to get work. I get nervous before a shoot. But my husband usually calms me down. He grew up in the performing arts, and he has unusual ways of helping me with the butterflies. Onset, I'm fine. I don't care if I'm fucking one guy, or ten. I just go with the flow, and enjoy it. Porn's liberating to me.

Escorting is another story entirely. This nearly made me join a convent. The constant phone calls, the "ratings" and reviews on various websites, and the annoying guys jerking off on the phone while talking to me on the phone got to me after a while. For this, I needed more than Xanax. I needed a stiff Martini.

What I find is that many girls lack the balance needed to remain sane in any of these industries. There's also a fair amount of self-medication with cocaine or, more commonly, Meth. Both drugs are going to amplify anxiety. Xanax can't really help you with that. It also can't help you with any underlying demons. The demons have to come out in therapy. And I've gone through enough therapy to understand what triggers my anxiety. I've never self-medicated, and I don't drink all that much. That helps.

What I do is Yoga every morning, ballet class during the week, and also belly dancing. I do a lot of things that keep my in balance, and remind myself that I'm a whole lot more than a sperm depository. That means reading, playing with my cats, taking classes at UNLV, ice skating, or whatever. I don't need Xanax. A psychiatrist put me on an anti-anxiety med four years ago, but it didn't do a damned thing to exorcise the demons or give me balance. So I just found new ways to deal with those things.

This is rather personal, I know. But it's the only way I know how to respond to this post. I'm lucky to have an anchor at home, someone who cares about me a lot, and someone who makes sure I keep things in perspective. It's easy to lose that perspective in sex work. I think anyone coming into it at any level has to have that perspective, and that balance. The consequences can be harsh. It fucks with your head.

Kara Nox
http://www.karanox.com

PS. The people in the Gaming industry get benefits packages, and are treated fairly. Those benefits reduce quite a lot of the anxiety. They also aren't stigmatized by a puritanical society.

MUDDAFUGGIN DB AND KARA KNOX IN A TYPE OFF!

My moneys on DB Nigga!

Bros before dirty ass worthless hoes!

An Anonymous User was looking at this excellent but strangely stillborn thread. I thank them.

I generally read even the longer missives. I read quickly, I guess it doesn't bother me and the occasional opiate-fueled grand unifying theory generally beats more questions about courtney simpson.

one request. no more use of the word "HOTTT". it's gay.

oh go ahead and keep using it. it just seems out of place situated in the middle of otherwise quality writing.

that post didn't have a picture of your breasts. may i ask what's wrong with you?

BEHOLD! MY MIGHTY PENIS!!

today's history lesson

okay, sm**r--i mean james, fair is fair! here are my fly titties...

GiGi, have you been making porridge in those?

Gigi, I could so deep throat the tit on the right. Not sure if I've ever said 'hott.' I think Dane has. I do say 'yessssss' on IM a lot.

i am much less attractive than smartt.

So basically, GiGi, what we can read into this little episode is that you had Sergio round helping you cook?

gigi, i'm supposed to make a wildly self-deprecating comment about my appearance then you're supposed to say how handsome i am because it would seem arrogant if i just said "i'm really, really good looking"

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i am much less attractive than smartt.

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that's okay; you more than make up for it with that ivy league intelligence of yours. not to mention your wife's dexedrine sr. btw, i got the dumbest injury today. i was putting my pizza cutter up on a high shelf in the kitchen (so the pups can't get it), dropped it on my FACE and cut my lip open, which i had to get glued shut. it bounced off my lip and landed on my hand, and cut that, too. so gia, i'd like to see you deep throat that titty. it might make me feel better!

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Yo, gigi. Put neosporin on your cuts and bandage them. Ironically, bandaging helps speed the healing- plus, you need to keep cuts dry so scabs don't come off early and scar. Twds the end of the healing, apply some Maderma ($16 at drug stores)...weeks if you have to. Just lookin' out for ya and I'm the skin expert.

For your lip, get blistex. No need to look like you left the crackpipe in too long or went down on paris hilton.