The First Day of Summers

“I don’t know that I’m comfortable with this,” Jasmine Summers said, confused as to why she needed to remove her shirt during an interview for a position as babysitter.  

“Don’t be nervous my dear,” Tanya Tate said, sounding like a perverse Mary Poppins. “It’s just a job.”  

“Whatever you say Miss Tate.”  

Summers’ character was interviewing for a position in “Tanya Tate’s Babysitting Academy”—a job that seemed mainly to consist of helping wealthy moms release their sexual tension. The scene paralleled reality. This was Summers’ first sex scene. In a way, she was trying out for a position in porn.  

“Just act nervous like you’re here for a real interview,” Tate said.  

Summers was genuinely anxious, though not for the reasons one might expect.  

“I’m not nervous to shoot porn,” Summers told me earlier. “I’m nervous to fuck Tanya. I’ve been waiting for this day for six months.”

*   *   *  

Summers arrived on set with a schoolbag filled with underwear. At 4’11 and 85 pounds, the fledgling performer stood in stark contrast to the seasoned star. Summers rocked a tattoos-and-piercings look while Tate possessed a more polished style. The British MILF walked about in a pink bath robe, looking more like she was at a high-end day-spa as opposed to a porn shoot.  

Tate laid out a stack of legal documents for Summers, explaining the significance of each. Summers powered through the paperwork as though signing the necessary release forms to skydive or swim with sharks. Her only hesitation came in wondering where to put her legal and stage name.  

The name “Jasmine” derived from her childhood obsession with the Disney princess. Tate’s love of all things Disney was one of the things that attracted Summers to the MILF performer.  

I asked Summers what else about Tate sparked her interest.  

“Girl-on-girl MILF porn is my thing, and I’m really into white chicks,” Summers said, studying Tate. “Her accent got me right away. She’s beautiful and not too aggressive. She’s gentle and seems to take care of her scene partners.”  

Tate slipped off her robe to lotion up her naked body. Summers’ signing hand stopped. She just stared.  

“Can I, uh, touch your butt?” Jasmine asked.  

Tate laughed, unaccustomed to such a formal request. She bent over. Summers dropped her pen and reached for Tate’s ass.

*   *   *  

Summers sat in the makeup chair by the pool, waiting to be transformed by Nicki Hunter—the hardcore performer turned makeup artist.  

I asked how exactly Summers ended up sitting in that chair, preparing for her first porn scene.  

“I was in a long distance relationship,” Summers began. “I watched a lot of porn when she was away because I’m very sexual and she wouldn’t let me be with other people. When I discovered Tanya, I instantly fell in love. I started following her online. On her website I saw an ad for women interested in doing a casting couch scene, so I applied.”  

Summers was Tate’s first female recruit. They started discussing shooting together over half a year ago, around the same time Summers migrated from Montana. After a weekend at Coachella, Summers found it impossible to remain in Montana.  

“If you don’t move away at a certain age,” Summers said. “You get stuck there. I had to get out.”  

Summers transferred to LA with her job and moved in with relatives. Through work she met her current girlfriend.  

“How does your girlfriend feel about you shooting porn?” I asked.  

“My girlfriend is more excited than I am. She wants to watch my scenes,” Summers said. “Before we got together she knew I wanted to do porn. She knew what she was getting into.”  

Summers prefers women but she doesn’t rule out the possibility of eventually shooting boy/girl content.  

“Girls are my thing,” Summers said. “I haven’t been with a guy in over two years.”  

“Would you ever share a cock?” Hunter asked, posing the question I wanted to ask.  

“We’ve thought about it. There may be a time when I’m like, I need a cock in my mouth,” Summers said. “We’ve talked about using a strap-on too. Usually during sex I’m more submissive but I can definitely be dominant. If we get a strap-on, I imagine we’ll switch off.”

“Does your family know where you are today?” I asked.  

“They think I’m at work,” Summers said. “I’m definitely going to tell my brother. He’s the most supportive dude in the world. When I came out, he was like, ‘That’s dope. We can check out chicks together and go on double dates.’ He knows that I’m a free spirit and that, no matter what I’m doing, I’ll do it the smart way.”  

“Do you have any fears about the industry?”  

“I know there are a lot of seedy things that can happen in porn, but I think I have a good sense of what’s right and wrong,” she said. “I’m not really worried about much beyond my parents finding out.”  

Hunter chimed in, reminding Summers that porn has a way of following you back to your normal life.  

“You can never really leave porn behind,” Hunter said, fishing beauty supplies out of a metal toolbox. “You only transition.”

*   *   *  

“I don’t know where to put my hands,” Summers said as she posed on the couch that would support her sex scene. “I’m not really sure what I’m doing.”  

“Well you look great doing it,” said Alan, the lead cameraman. He furiously snapped photos as though worried that her youthful beauty would wither before his lens.

For this shoot Summers was playing an innocent teen. This was only the second time she’d had her makeup professional done, and the first time she’d been professionally photographed. She smiled wide, as though grinning for Instagram.  

“I love your smile. It’s so innocent and effortless,” Alan said. “You won’t be smiling like that for long.”  

With each layer of clothes Summers shed, with each of Alan’s complements, she relaxed more into herself, as though her clothes had been strangling her. She stretched out on the couch naked, covered only by a Dia de los Muertos tattoo on her thigh: the interior made external, the obscene rendered beautiful.  

When Alan showed Summers the photos, she was transfixed. She saw herself in a new light, from new angles—she saw how easily she could become a sex star.  

“I don’t even look like myself,” she said, touching her face.  

“Do you feel different,” I asked. “Like a model?”  

“I feel like I’m pretending to be a model.”  

“Was it strange posing nude for the first time?”  

“Not strange. Just different. I love being naked,” she said. “It’s just weird having people tell me that I look good.”  

“How are you feeling about your future in porn now?” I asked.  

“I’m probably going to get into the industry for sure,” she said. “I feel like I’ve been able to be myself. Everyone is so nice and fun and they’ve all made me feel so comfortable. I feel like I’ve finally found my people.”  

*   *   *  

“You’ve probably watched enough porn to know where this is going,” Tate said as she fleshed out the impending scene. “I’ll ask something like, ‘What are your hobbies?’”  

“Pole dancing,” Summers answered instinctively.  

She was learning pole tricks to dance at a premiere club.  

“That's too porny,” Tate said. “Just say dancing.”  

“Okay,” Summers giggled.  

“Don’t be nervous,” Tate said. “I’ll train you up.”  

Was Tate rehearsing the scene or just giving advice?  

“I personally train all my girls,” Tate said. “I’m very hands on.”  

Tate began to help the novice performer off with her clothes as Alan snapped photos for the box cover. Tate reminded Summers not to be too eager. Summers had to pretend like she hadn’t been fantasizing about this moment for months.  

Alan demonstrated the type of open-mouthed O-face that played best on camera.  

“But also just be yourself,” Alan said. “Don’t feel like you have to over pornophy it.”  

“I won’t,” Summers said, “but I am a screamer.”  

Tate directed Summers to grab Tate's chest. Suddenly Summers no longer had any trouble figuring out what to do with her hands.  

“Are you going to do what I tell you?” Tate asked. “Are you going to do whatever these moms ask you to do?”  

“Yes Miss Tate.” Summers said, hypnotized into submission.  

Dialogue dissolved into heavy breaths. Tate pulled Summers in for their first kiss. Summers’ fantasies materializing into reality. It was like a fucked-up fairytale: Sleeping Beauty awoken to a whole new world with a kiss from a notorious porn queen.  

*   *   *  

Forty-five minutes later the performers lay on the couch, their naked bodies glowing beneath the stage lights with a haole of sweat, saliva, and body fluid.  

“I think you’ll fit in just right at Tanya Tate’s Babysitting Academy,” Tate said.  

Her first porn scene wrapped, Summers was in no rush to get dressed or return to her life. Nor did she want to wash off her stage makeup or Tate’s scent. She wanted to take part of the shoot, of Tate, home. She was transformed. Summers could never fully return to the life she had known. Even if she could, she wouldn’t be the same person. Her porn star persona would forever be logged in the Internet’s memory. Part of her would eternally be, Jasmine Summers.    

*   *   *

See Jasmine Summers’ first scene at fillyfilms.com.

Follow Summers on Twitter, @JustJasminexxx or Instagram @just_jasminexo.

See Tanya Tate’s body of work at tanyatate.com.  

Read more by Shawn Alff or email him directly through shawnalff.com