Interview with American porn star Sinn Sage

Over the last decade I have interviewed all sorts of people involved in the commercial sex industry. That has included a number of porn performers and producers. The subject of today’s interview is Sinn Sage. She is both a porn star and a porn producer. Or “creator” as they say today.

Sinn Sage has a unique perspective as one of the longer lasting performers in American porn. She has been making adult videos for nearly two decades. That is quite a streak in an industry that often see people come and go from one day to the next. And she shows no signs of slowing down!

When Sinn first entered the adult video industry performing for big porn studios was the norm. Nowadays more performers and money are moving through amateur porn channels like Only Fans. Sinn Sage has done well with both.

Miss Sage’s experience and knowledge of the industry comes through in all of her answers to my questions. I hope that you will enjoy reading them.

How did you come up with the name Sinn Sage?

I really like things that are darker and more subversive, the concept of Sin for a porn star was clever and a bit funny to me. I added an extra ‘n’ for the uniqueness. Sage is several things: the road I grew up on, a bush that is prolific in the desert I grew up in, and it also means having profound wisdom. 

Where did you grow up? What was your early life like?

I grew up in a tiny desert town in southern California, about one-and-a-half hours northeast of LA. Early life was pretty great. I read a lot and was generally really spunky, outgoing, and happy until puberty kicked in and my hormones fucked me all up.

When did you see porn for the first time?
I think it was a friend’s dad’s collection of Easy Rider magazines — a softcore motorcycle magazine that featured mostly topless women with just huge hair.

What was your first sexual experience?

I basically convinced someone a few years older than me to do it with me so I could get the mystery of sex revealed to me. There was nothing erotic about it in any sense. It was extremely boring and I do not believe either of us left the situation feeling any sort of satisfaction whatsoever. I was mostly confused.

So how did you end up getting into porn?

I knew it was what I wanted to do for a long long time. At 18 I did a couple of photo shoots from ads I found in the back of city magazines. At 19 I started dancing in a strip club and met someone whose boyfriend was making her a website and getting her into porn.

I sort of hitched my wagon with them and ended up going to AVN in 2003, where I met a few producers who later called me to book me for scenes. My career really started taking off around 2007, from meeting and working with a lot of different directors and other porn stars who recommended me.

You became quite well known for your lesbian scenes. Why do you think you were so good in lesbian porn? Were you having sex with women before you got into porn?

Yes, I am a queer person and have known I’m attracted to women pretty much since puberty. I had a girlfriend I loved in high school. I had a few other sexual opportunities with women as well before I got into porn. I am just extremely passionate about women and I just enjoy them the way I like to in my scenes and it really resonates for other people too.

You do a lot of strap on scenes as well. What is the reason behind that? Is it something you enjoy? Or is it simply a matter of giving the fans what they want?

Strap on scenes are pretty much my favorite to do. I just really relate to my cock when it’s on. I use it in my personal life when I have sex with women too. I don’t really do anything just to “give fans what they want”. I do what I want, and luckily fans can relate to that authenticity and that is what they like to see.

You’ve also done some scenes with transgender performers like Venus Lux. How does that compare with lesbian strap on sex?
It’s the same. Trans women are women so it’s no different for me.

You have nearly twenty years experience in the industry. I think you have a unique perspective on all the changes that have occurred. From the golden age of commercial porn to the rise of the internet. You’ve seen the rise of tube sites which were supposedly going to spell the death of porn right on through to the emergence of Only Fans which has seemingly taken the world by storm. What impact has all of this had on you?

It’s been a wild ride. But it’s been interesting to me to notice how even when something seems like it’s going to be such a bad thing with such a negative impact, there is almost always a silver lining.

For example, when the tube sites got big the production companies weren’t producing as much or as often, and so my work went way down. I got myself a camera and a light and a friend to teach me how to edit, and started producing custom videos. Now because of that, I own my own production company and my own slew of content that I can sell, and it’s a much better living than just being paid to do a performance.

So it’s just another lesson for me that even if things seem bad, there is always an opportunity to learn and grow and become even better than before.

Many people get in and out of porn in a very short period of time. You have shown incredible staying power. And you’re still going strong! How did you last so long in the adult entertainment industry?

Ha ha I have no idea. I think it also has to do with that authenticity I was talking about. I haven’t done a lot of stuff I don’t want to do or don’t like doing, so I’ve remained passionate. I see this as my career, not just a job I came into to leave and do something else. So maybe that’s part of it too, but ultimately I couldn’t tell you.

You of course have an account on Only Fans. But you also have a Clips 4 Sale account. I first wrote about Clips 4 Sale several years ago when it was very popular. Nowadays the site looks a little dated. But I know that it has a committed fan base. Is Clips 4 Sale still a good outlet for adult content creators? How about Many Vids?

My three main income sources are OnlyFans, ManyVids, and Clips4Sale, and my C4S store often does better than my ManyVids store. The site may not have changed its look in some time but it is still very successful. ManyVids is great too but they keep changing the format of their site all the time and sometimes it can get confusing for users and creators.

Do you have any regrets?
Every thing I’ve ever done has been an opportunity to learn and grow. Even if something feels bad at the time, there is always a lesson to be learned from it.

What do you think about prostitution?
Oh, I have thoughts. First of all, we do not call it that word anymore. We call it full service sex work. All of us who work in the business of sex are sex workers. Ultimately, I believe that we should have a little thing called bodily autonomy which means I should be able to do whatever I want with and to my own body. That includes putting whatever substances I want to into my body, and that means if I want to sell my emotional and physical labor I should be able to no matter what. How can someone else tell me what I am allowed to do with my own fucking body?!

Criminalizing drugs and sex work leads to so much abuse by “authorities”, keeps the private prisons full so that corporations can profit off of human suffering and incarceration, when what we need is harm reduction! I do not have enough time to keep talking about this but for anyone whose mind is open enough to hear more, a good first step would be watching the recent Last Week Tonight with John Oliver episode on sex work.

Do you watch porn in your personal life? What do you think about Japanese porn?
I do not watch porn. I am just way too familiar with how it’s made and the people who are usually in it, I can’t stop criticizing it and it just doesn’t do anything for me haha. I don’t know anything about Japanese porn! Because I just don’t watch any porn at all.

What are your plans for the future?
I’m not sure. Always working on being more peaceful. 

Thank you very much for doing this interview. Where can readers find out more about you?
Start at Sinn-Sage.com, where I have information about buying customs, I sell my own studio’s feature films and vignettes, and there are links to tons of my podcasts and interviews and all my clip stores as well.