Kitten takes me to GlamourCon

Kitten at GlamourCon

This past weekend, I had the wonderful opportunity to attend GlamourCon in Long Beach.  Kitten invited me to tag along with her in an effort to spend our time together.  And as usual, Kitten showed me a wonderful time and introduced me to a lot of new and interesting people.  GlamourCon is largely Playboy playmates, and otherwise young, thin women who work in the sex industry in some fashion (I use the term sex industry more loosely than others might, but I consider anything particularly sexy or appearance based to be sex work.)  This demographic makes Kitten especially interesting because she is far different from these Playboy cut outs in so many ways.  Again, she defies our culture’s idea of what is sexy and who is allowed to be sexy.

Glossy 8x10 Kitten will gladly sign for adoring fans

Kitten arrives with boxes of nude or suggestive 8x10’s of herself at various ages (some quite recent), DVD’s of porn she did, and a plaster mold of her vagina to sell.  I might add she rather successfully sold a number of every item, including the vagina bust.  She also has a very different attitude than most of the younger girls vending at the convention.  She is nice to her fans.  She has such a great relationship with some of them that they got us water, bought us dinner and kept us company throughout the day.  If you ask any stripper they will tell you that most of the guys really just want someone to talk to.  It seems like that is what Kitten’s fans are like.  Nice, normal, middle aged guys who really admire her and want to be around her.  The fact that she is personable and gets to know them makes her appeal that much more.  Kitten operates from a balanced social exchange, giving her attention and care in exchange for money, gifts and favors.  Unfortunately, most of the younger girls I observed had a severely unbalanced social exchange.  They were expecting men to give them money in 

Me at GlamourCon

attention, but offered nothing in return.   I had countless conversations with men and women at the convention who were saying how unfortunate all of the new Playmates are personality wise and how they don’t have the tact and personality it takes to make the social exchange worth while.  What the men want is attention and acknowledgement.  The girls also want these things, in addition to money.   Most of the younger girls are missing the part of the exchange where they give the men what they are seeking.  Kitten understands this concept beautifully.  In fact she is so successful at it that she has fans   

The cover of the Russ Meyer film Ultra Vixens

I also see Kitten’s use of the selective optimization with compensation theory.  Although Kitten isn’t in the young, thin bombshell she once was, she has found new ways to fit into her world. She doesn’t shoot porn currently, she is comfortable with selling what she shot before.  She hasn’t completely given up her former role as the famous Kitten Natividad, but she has modified in a way that better suits her physicality and abilities.

She uses these conventions as opportunities to sell her products, but also as a means of life review.  She essentially has her life cataloged by glossy 8x10 prints and movies that she encounters on a regular basis.  I imagine she is able to organize and process her life much more easily because of this rare life she has led, mainly in front of the camera.  Like Lottie she is unashamed of her aging and changing body.  Kitten is a good example of body transcendence.  She is able to accept what she used to look like is different than what she looks like now, but she is just as sexy and confident as ever.

Another film Kitten stars in

 Certainly there is a bit of disengagement happening, but not in a bad way.  She doesn’t perform as much anymore and she isn’t quite as active now as she was 20 or 30 years ago, but she is still out there.  Kitten is certainly making room for the new generation of girls to come up around her, but that doesn’t mean she needs to step away.  She was so sweet about introducing me to contacts she has and people that could help my image and career.  It isn’t a place of competition, but a place of love.  I can’t be certain if she is this way now because of her age, or if she has always been this sweet.  Either way, she is a pillar of self-confidence and charm and I absolutely adore her.