Annabel Chong
Grace Quek (郭盈恩 born on May 22 1972 in Singapore), better known by her stage name Annabel Chong, is a former pornographic actress now living in the United States. She became famous for engaging in 251 sex acts with around 70 men over a ten hour period in January 1995, setting a world record, with the resulting footage being packaged as The World's Biggest Gang Bang. She is also the subject of the documentary Sex: The Annabel Chong Story.
Biography
Chong was born and raised in Singapore. She attended CHIJ Opera Estate Primary School, Raffles Girls' School (Secondary) and Hwa Chong Junior College in Singapore, after which she studied law in London under a scholarship. During this time, she was gang raped in a rubbish store under an inner-city housing block. At the age of 21, she went on to graduate studies in photography, art and feminist studies at the University of Southern California (USC), where she excelled academically. She also began working in pornographic films. She went on to do her graduate work in gender studies at USC, and currently works as a successful web designer. She is also an artist who has exhibited at a group show in New York City.
She presented her work in pornography as an attempt to challenge the settled notions and assumptions of viewers about female sexuality. As a result, she was not a popular performer among reviewers seeking titillation.
For example, her conception of a gangbang was based on the example of Messalina, a wife of the emperor Claudius. Historically, Messalina has suffered a poor reputation, a fact that some attribute (at least partly) to gender bias. Chong sought to question the double standard that denies women the ability to exhibit the same sexuality as men, by modelling what a female "stud" would be. Skeptics suggest that, in reality, she merely brought art-school pretensions to a depiction of the culturally embedded "slut" stereotype. Other critics note that one can hold up historical gender biases for scrutiny without having sex with 70 men on camera.
For her performance, Chong earned a "dubious achievement award" in Esquire magazine.
Pornography career
Annabel started in porn by answering an advertisement in LA Weekly which led to photo shoots and then an interview with director John T. Bone. Bone, recognizing Chong's talent, embarked on producing a series of films starring her. She was the new hardcore princess in her early gangbangs such as Sgt. Pecker's Lonely Hearts Club Gangbang and I Can't Believe I Did the Whole Team. In Anal Queen and Depraved Fantasies #3 , Annabel took hardcore pornography to a new level when she pioneered on-camera triple penetration.
The production that propelled Annabel into the limelight was another John T. Bone's production The World's Biggest Gang Bang. Chong advertised on adult television for 300 participants for the event. Even though only seventy or so participants turned up, this still caused a sensation in the porn world. As well as being the largest single grouping of men ever (in a pornographic film), Annabel had started a new trend. There were to be even more big gangbangs, but none were as famous. Even though the movie is one of the highest grossing in the porn industry, Annabel was never paid the US$12,000 [1] she was promised, which was supposed to cover her USC expenses. After the event, Annabel made a host of media appearances, including The Jerry Springer Show.
In her March 2000 appearance on the radio program 'Loveline', Annabel admitted that there were slightly fewer than 70 men in her gangbang, and that there were water and lunch breaks during the 10 hour time span.
The sensation caught the interest of a university film student Gough Lewis. Gough met Annabel and embarked on producing a documentary about her. Sex: The Annabel Chong Story propelled Annabel further into the world media as the documentary became a hit at the 1999 Sundance film festival, where it was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize.
Annabel continued to work in the porn industry for a short while, directing and starring in movies as well as setting up a website. She has since retired from porn. According to the most recent archived version of her website, as of May 2003, she is a website designer and programmer. She has declined media interviews since leaving the porn industry.[2]
In 2007, Toy Factory Productions, a Singapore theater group, produced a play called 251, based on the life of Grace Quek and covering her journey from student to porn star to web designer.[2]
Quotation
- I did this interview where I just mentioned that I read Foucault. Who doesn't in university, right? I was in this strip club giving this guy a lap dance and all he wanted to do was to discuss Foucault with me. Well, I can stand naked and do my little dance, or I can discuss Foucault, but not at the same time; too much information.
- —1999 Interview with Mark Penny
External links
- Archive of her official site, May 2003
- Annabel Chong at IMDb
- Annabel Chong at the Adult Film Database
- 251: the Annabel Chong play
- Vice cops bust John T. Bone in Pattaya
References
- ^ Luke is Back Gangbangs
- ^ a b "Stage group to tell story of Annabel Chong, Singapore's most infamous porn star" by Gillian Wong, Associated Press, March 16, 2007.