Mia Khalifa: Hustling in a Woke World

A Jezebel is defined as an “impudent, shameless, or morally unrestrained woman" in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. By that standard, many female Millennials might qualify for that distinction and most people would not hold it against them these days. In fact, it’s probably a prerequisite if a woman wants to be an Instagram model or any other type of celebrity these days.

Former pornstar Mia Khalifa recently increased her profile and fame (infamy) by posting a photograph of herself drinking from a bottle of Vichy France circa wine and exclaiming: “My wine is older than your apartheid state.” One might forgive a person whose career involves having sex on camera with strangers for being a bit insensitive. It was quickly pointed out by conservative commentators that mocking the Jewish state while drinking wine made under the control of the Nazis might not go over well.

Khalifa doesn’t look like your typical pornstar. She’s short, a bit on the soft and squishy side, darker skinned than a typical pornstar and eyebrows that remind one of Groucho Marx. She rose to fame by doing hard core group sex scenes in a hijab. This understandably upset traditional Muslims and really irritated various terrorist organizations who allegedly, threatened to kill her. She remainded alive and became one of Pornhub’s more popular performers with over 13 million views.

Currently, while not attacking Zionism, Khalifa performs on Onlyfans for $15 a month per patron. Apparently, there is no salacious content on her site, not that I would know. I’m not opposed to porn really. I just don’t want to pay for it. What is curious is that Khalifa is neither a Palestinian nor a Muslim. Born Sarah Joe Chamoun, according to some sources, she is Lebanese and was brought up in a strict Catholic home. She grew up in the US. She is currently on her second marriage. Her first husband is listed as undisclosed on Wikipedia.

I have known many people in the adult entertainment business from my days living in LA so I am always skeptical about women in the industry’s stated background stories. They seem to be insecure about their intelligence and many claim higher educational credentials than they have in reality. One told me she passed on medical school to do porn. Yeah, right. They tend to be mysterious about their past. That is probably because they tend to be psychologically damaged in some way. Most have become chameleons. They are able to become exactly what they think people want them to be. There is also a very practical reason for being enigmatic. Many women do porn for only a few years. In fact, the average porn career for a female performer was once estimated to be only six months. They will usually move on with their lives, go back to using their real names or adopt a new ones, changing their appearance by changing their hair color and style, and moving out of LA. Some settle down and become wives and mothers, some become high end escorts and mistresses and sadly, all to many end up dead in a sleazy hotel with a needle in their arm.

What makes Khalifa unique and interesting is that despite stating that she regretted doing porn, she never changed her name and remains on social media. Frankly, her biggest gripe against the adult industry seems to be that she didn’t get paid enough. Female talent in the industry usually get paid $800 to $1,200 a scene by legitimate studios. That’s a good living if you’re doing four scenes a week and work thirty to forty weeks a year. They tend to forget that their careers don’t last and end up in financial trouble. Of course, most girls make money off their fan sites and the dirty,not so secret, truth is many girls make money as high end call girls making from $1,500 to $2,500 an hour or even more while they retain some name recognition and less when the public forgets about them and there looks fade due to age and hard living. I have known girls who claimed they could go to Dubai for a week and come back with $40,000. Is that true? I wouldn’t know and I always was skeptical.

Recently, Riley Reid, a prominent pornstar and Onlyfans model bought a house for $4.8 million in cash from the proceeds her online services. I do think there is more to this story and have my doubts.

Khalifa has done the usual after-porn interviews potraying herself as a victim. Frankly, all the women who left porn and regret it seem to read from the same script when detailing their posts. They were brought up in strict home and weren’t molested (but every other girl in the industry was.) They were bullied in school. Khalifa went to school in the US and claims she was bullied for looking Middle-Eastern and was bullied and mistreated after 9-11 by schoolmates who were mostly Jewish according to her. That might explain her animus towards Israel. Weirdly, in one interview she talked about 9-11 in almost trivial terms, as if the kids who were mean to her were overreacting. It reminded me of Ilhan Omar referring to 9–11 as “when some people did something” and chuckling inappropriately. It seems like many in the adult business, she may have elements of narcissism, sociopathy and/or borderline personality disorder. She also got involved with bad men and was presurred into porn. You here that a lot. It was always some guys fault. When you ask the guy about it, he usually sees himself as the exploited one who made her and got ditched when her career took off. The relationship between sex worker and suitcase pimps, as they are called in the industry, is complicated. The story is almost always the same. My take was that hard luck story was usually true in the 1970’s and 1980’s but hasn’t been the case for a generation. Truth is, these women love the easy money, fame, drugs and lifestyle. They date actors, professional athletes, and billionaires albeit on the down low.

It has been pointed out to Khalifa that the relative newness of Israel is hardly a reason for its annihilation. Many nations are less than one hundred years old and her birthplace, Lebanon, was under Ottoman rule until after World War I and was only declared independent in 1943. Also, she would be severely punished in Palestine for fornication, Gay sex and consuming alcohol. Frankly, one cannot expect a young pornstar to understand world history. It actually does not matter. Khalifa really doesn’t care in my view. It’s all about increasing the profile of her brand. And in her circles, it’s much easier and socially acceptable to be woke. If you want to eventually be the mistress of a tech lord or NBA forward, it’s easier to be a committed radical leftist than a MAGA type.

One has to respect the sheer audacity of Mia Khalifa’s hustle but make no mistake about it, the woman is a shrewed and calculating hustler. Most of the women in that industry are. They have to be to survive and thrive. As I said, I met and befriended people in the adult industry. Quite honestly, I liked them. Most of the men were stand up guys and the women were cool once they accepted you and were sure you wouldn’t screw them over. No it wasn’t the best lifestyle choice but sometimes you don’t get to choose your life. Your life chooses you.

So frankly, I would not give her a hard time. She’s doing the best she can with the cards she’s been dealt. Just don’t make the mistake of thinking she’s a serious person or believe half the stuff that comes out of her mouth. Besides if you’re letting someone who blows strangers for a living influence your politics you’re a sucker.