Brains And Beauty: Our Favorite Smarty Pants Pornstars

Who says that pornstars are all boobs and no brains? Well, it certainly wasn't us—we happen to like our pornstars with a whole lot going on upstairs.

We usually use Fleshbot Requests to celebrate the superficial—but today we're going to go more than just skin deep, and celebrate some of our favorite pornstars who've got brains as well as beauty.

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Penny Flame
Despite dropping out of college to pursue more prurient interests, Penny Flame has proven to be one of the smartest, funniest, and most entertaining performers to hit the industry in the last decade. With her own How To sex series at Vivid, overseen by none other than the Queen Bee of the Clitorati (and reclusive literary genius Thomas Pynchon's niece) Tristan Taormino, a well read blog, and rumors of an impending novel, it appears this sultry all natural girl next door is as prolific as she is insatiable. An afternoon with Flame may take you into the heart of a compassionate political discussion, poetry recitation, yoga practice, meditation, and end with tantra—if you're lucky.

Kayden Kross
Setting aside for a moment the federal indictment against her for grand theft house, it's been a hell of a year for this rising star. Even being embroiled in a real life scandal with serious consequences couldn't dampen the blazing desire of Adam & Eve contract starlet, equestrian, animal lover, and raging Libratarian. When she's not fighting for her life in court, fucking on screen, feature dancing, reading poetry with celebrated authors, writing several blogs, or working on her economics degree, she's passionately canvassing for political causes that get her hot and bothered. This year she re-upped with Adam & Eve, starred in mainstream movies and television shows, and made Penthouse Pet. When we asked her why she should be included on this list, she said "because Ayn Rand is my hero."

Aiden Starr
This pint-sized East Coast transplant with perfect breasts has an equally perfect mind. Gifted with brains and beauty, she's given in to her overarching need for strong kink and we couldn't be happier to stand back and watch the amazing results. Equally at home having hard lengths of turgid manpipe crammed in her every orifice or arguing Nietzsche with well endowed strangers, we get the feeling you'd never know by the light of day what this astounding beauty is really capable of. 2008 was the year she convinced us that our love for her was indeed real. Now if only she would return our calls.

Justine Joli
Any list of smart pornstars would be incomplete without this luscious, nacre skinned goddess, whose extensive knowledge of GITS and BTVS is only rivaled by her ability to quote William Gibson and Aldous Huxley. A regular fixture at Comic Con, she's every nerd's dream come true: an honest-to-god geek in the form of a hot chick who loves Batman, Spiderman, and Superman with unmitigated zeal, has read every Harry Potter book in existence and loves Ronald Weasley and all things Griffyndor. It's almost too good to be true. We gotta wonder: where did she learn all that stuff again?

Joanna Angel
What's there to say? Our founding Fleshbot Commandress is an enigma of epic proportions. Smart, sexy, and Jewish, she's also covered in tattoos, loves anal sex, and has the dorkiest, and most adorable, sense of humor of any woman we have ever met. From the outset she's set the stage for her own success, owning and operating her own site crammed full of punk rock princesses just coming of age, as well as writing, producing, and starring in her own titles. Who'd have ever thought that the object of some of our most satisfyingly urgent sexual desires also possessed such uncanny business acumen?

Stoya
Stoya may be the single most beautiful woman ever to fuck on film—and that is a scientific fact. With a single flash of her sultry bedroom eyes or a playful bite of her lip she completely owns us in every way. Given the preternatural power she possess to enchant we'd never have suspected that underneath it lied a head full of art and literature. Trust us when we say it's all there. Stoya is the whole package. The last time we had the pleasure to spend an afternoon with our reigning Supreme Commandress, the Digital Playground contract star explained her doubts about the electoral process over a grueling twelve or so holes of miniature golf with such passion and clarity that we thought her publicist must have been feeding her answers via ear piece. She also makes her own clothing and loves museums and art shows. She has yet to respond to our several marriage proposals.

Sasha Grey
Being labeled "hot" by Rolling Stone magazine isn't the normal run of things for a pornstar, but then again, Sasha Grey isn't your normal pornstar. She's been recognized by rock stars and celebrities, prominently featured in music videos, interviewed in mainstream magazines, invited to lecture film school students, and cast as the female lead of a Stephen Soderbergh film. Thankfully, all this has done little to diminish her sex drive or her desire to keep fucking on film for the rest of us to enjoy. Those who spend any amount of time with her come away swearing to us that she's the real McCoy, and that hearing her freestyle on topics from Andy Warhol to film theory to the culture wars will leave you wondering how someone her age could possible be so erudite.

Kimberly Kane
Although she stole our hearts years ago, performer slash director Kimberly Kane continues to gently cradle it in her paint splattered hands. Countless hours have we spent discussing art and literature with the alt director, generally at gallery openings or on the way to some art film she's dragged us kicking and screaming to go see. It seems hard to reconcile the images we see of her on screen voraciously devouring men and women without prejudice against the reality of her quoting Kerouac to us. No list would be complete without her, even if she can't always spell.

Dana DeArmond
Self applying the label of "the internet's girlfriend" does not make you a smarty pants, exactly, but take our word for it when we tell you this girl is wicked smart. Oh, and she kinda scares us a little too so we had to include her—so she wouldn't beat us up. Her known accomplices include Aiden Starr and Kimberly Kane. That alone qualifies her for the list—her acerbic wit and lust for all things electronic merely cement her place here.

Nina Hartley
We end our short list with the one porn star we could very well have started with. Nina Hartley is more than just a porn legend, she's one of the pillars of third wave sex positive feminism, an author, the original sex educator, a spokesperson for polyamory, and a fixture of the BDSM community—which is no mean feat. Her personal blog has oft been the start of controversial discourse, and those who wish to argue against the benefits of free expression and sexuality have more than once aimed their scorn and derision at the lusty icon. Nina self assuredly shrugs off even the most intense criticism with a wry and knowing smile, using her own considerable mix of innate wisdom and intellectual prowess to aptly defend her beliefs, articulating her points with a grace that belies the calm of a Zen master, the compassion of Mother Theresa, and the carnality of, well, Nina Hartley. We can honestly say that we are grateful to be able to call her a friend.

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Previously: Fleshbot Requests Archive