Justine Joli is a well-known erotic model and porn star, and also the runner-up for 2008 Penthouse Pet of the Year. The lovely redheaded Joli, who took her stage name in part from De Sade’s famous character, participates in the BDSM scene in her personal life as well as in front of the camera – a relative rarity for models of her caliber.
Now she talks with ALT.com about kinky threesomes, fetish parties, her nerdy hobbies, her obsession with feet, and how she picks up girls.
ALT: You’re a submissive in your private life as well ‒ which is not always so common among fetish models?
JJ: Actually I’ve discovered I’m a switch, believe it or not. I started out as a submissive, but as time went on, I discovered that I top from the bottom. So I will submit to the right person, but it’s not very often that I will submit to the right man, or the right couple. There are about three people that I can say right now that I would submit to. One is a man, and the other is a couple. I don’t mind submitting to them at all, because we have rules, and they actually taught me how to be a submissive, and they taught me what it’s truly like to be free within those boundaries, and to truly love your inner slut.
ALT: It’s always good for people to hear that just because you’re a submissive doesn’t mean you have to submit to everybody. It’s OK to have boundaries and mutual expectations and limits.
JJ: It’s also good to sit down and discuss those limits and boundaries and expectations beforehand. That’s one of the things I’m all about. I’ve noticed that here in New York ‒ I dance at a nightclub here, and there are some times when people will want to hook up, but they’ve got a girlfriend, and they don’t want to tell their girlfriend, and it’s like, OK, that’s not what I’m down for. You must discuss boundaries so that no one gets hurt.
In the end, cheating will end up breaking someone’s heart, or just messing up the program more than you need to. It’s unwanted and unneeded drama. It’s one of the things that’s not my schtick. That’s why when I do play with people, when I do want to have a nice kinky threeway, I would like to discuss those boundaries beforehand. And that’s a good thing to do.
And at these play parties, too, they realize that I am the dominant, because I wear dominant clothing and walk around and grab boys by their leashes, or tell them to get on the floor and suck my toes, and I’m always really good and careful about it. Like, I make sure that I wash my feet before I come in, and I always baby-wipe them down before anybody starts sucking on them, because you never know where [feet in] New York City have been, I’ve got to be honest. I don’t want to do anything that’s not safe and sane.
ALT: Speaking of feet, I hear you had your feet cast for a toy in the Penthouse store.
JJ: I will be having my feet cast. And I didn’t know it was that popular, to be honest. I thought, oh, they’re going to mold my vagina or something. I’ve done that before ‒ it felt like I was fucking Gumby! Having my feet molded? I was like, this is going to be interesting; I hope it’s not cold. So, yes, I’m having my feet molded, and you’ll be able to shag my feet soon without me having to be there. Which means I need to go get a really good pedicure!
ALT: Do you like foot worship particularly? Or do you just have particularly attractive feet? Or both?
JJ: I think both. I did a lot of foot fetish, starting out my career. Mostly what I did, in fact, was foot worship and foot play. I do have a foot fetish. I’m not sure if my feet are particularly attractive; I think I’d have to ask a couple subs first before I give you a yes on that! But I would have to say that it’s one of my favorite things. As long as you don’t get too close in between my toes, because sometimes I’ll end up flinching. I don’t mean to, but man, I’m ticklish!
ALT: So how did you originally get involved in the scene? How did you get introduced to kink?
JJ: I got interested in kink because my ex-agent, John Stevens, looked at me one day and said, “you’re a sub.” I’m like, “what the hell is that?” And so he introduced me to this bondage company, Devonshire Productions, and that’s how I got started. I worked for them for quite a while. That’s also when I discovered that you can’t put me in a hood ‒ unless you want me to go to sleep. I’m narcoleptic in a hood. I don’t know what happens, I just feel really ‒ like when I’m completely bound, and that’s the other thing that they would do, they would completely bind me and then put me in a hood. No matter how much sleep I had, I would automatically go to sleep. It’s like putting a cover over a bird cage.
ALT: Well, that’s not so bad. You could panic. There are lots of people who just hate hoods.
JJ: No, I don’t panic at all. That’s not distressing to me. I find it very comforting. To me, it’s like a warm blanket.
So that’s how I got into kink ‒ my ex-agent introduced me to a company and we started working, and I discovered that I really liked it. And I also started delving ‒ I met the couple I was talking about. And after I met the couple, that’s when they taught me about boundaries and rules and things that they do versus things that other people do, and that was a really wonderful journey, and I am still on that journey. I still play with them to this day, and I started playing with them when I was 22, and that’ll be almost five years now.
ALT: I think that even people who have been in the scene a long time are still exploring things. So that makes perfect sense. I’m not really clear ‒ where are you based at this point, LA or New York?
JJ: I’m bicoastal. I live between New York and LA, mostly New York at the moment, and that’s how it’s easy for me to do Cat’o’Nine parties. That’s why I get to enjoy these parties, because I’m here in New York and it makes it easy. I was based in Los Angeles for a really long time, I actually lived in LA for eight years. And out of those eight years that I held residency there, I actually lived there for about three, because I traveled a lot too. And now, because of my contract with Penthouse, that brings me out here to New York more often than not, so I decided to rent a place here.
ALT: Speaking of your contract with Penthouse ‒ you were the runner-up for Penthouse Pet of the Year this year, 2008. What kind of duties do you have? What does that entail?
JJ: My duties for Penthouse include doing things like the Cat’o’Nine party, hosting parties, hosting major events, also doing signings, representing the company and the magazine in such a way that makes the magazine look really good, as well as myself. And also taking advantage of the promotional advantages, things like that. In fact, my title is what got me dancing at the nightclub that I currently dance at here in New York.
ALT: I imagine they also ask you to do a lot of shoots. Do you have anyone in particular you like to work with, or any particular type of shoot?
JJ: I do tons of shoots for my website, which is JustineJoli.com, and honestly, my favorite people to work with when I do stuff for my site are Ellen Stagg. Siege of Nerve.com ‒ I love working with Siege, he’s crazy, man. I work a lot with my webmaster, James Damien, I love working with him, he’s really easy and has his own artistic ideas. I also like working with Nathan Strauss, he’s an amazing videographer. Both of these men started out working with Andrew Blake, and that’s how I met both of them. They are amazing men, they do a great job. They’re not misogynistic, like most men tend to be in this business. They love women, they love exulting femininity and sexuality. So it makes me very comfortable to work with them.
ALT: Just to give a behind-the-scenes peek for people: I hear you’re a big closet nerd.
JJ: I no longer think it’s a closet thing, I think it’s more and more out in the open. Yes, I am a huge nerd. In fact, I was just going through William Gibson’s Neuromancer for a new quote for my voicemail. I currently have a quote from Ginsberg on there. I’m a huge nerd and I think that being able to have that type of escapism sometimes is nice. Not everybody can relax playing a Playstation; some people want to sit on a beach and have a drink. Well, representing Penthouse, I go to a lot of parties, and I get paid to party. And that’s not really my way of unwinding. I’d rather go home and read Laurell K. Hamilton, it’s like Buffy on crack! Or watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or play PSP. I’m now working for Complex magazine, reviewing videogames. I have a portable Playstation and Nintendo DS that I kick ass on, so I get a lot of work done in transit.
ALT: So when you’re not working, it sounds like you’re a little bit of a homebody.
JJ: I am! I’m a massive homebody. I’m also a Cancer, so Cancers love to make their home. I love to cook. It may not look like I love to eat, but trust me, I eat like nobody’s business. We’ll go out to dinner, and I’ll end up eating half the table. I love to stay at home, because I don’t get a chance to do that very often. So when I get to literally just sit in bed and play video games all day, and watch Ghost in the Shell, I am the happiest camper on the planet. And now, living in New York, my bodega delivers, so I literally only have to get out of bed just to answer the door for my food. Which I love. People keep asking me, “why do you love New York?” I’m like, “I have one word for you: bodega.” They deliver, dude!
ALT: If there’s anything else you particularly want to tell our readers, now’s the time.
JJ: You know what? If you’re a really hot girl, and I catch you out late at night, you might not be safe.
ALT:: Ha!
JJ: Boyfriends beware, your girls belong to me. I did that last night, by the way. I randomly picked up a waitress. Because the nightclub that I work at is also owned by a restaurant owner, and the girl who served us dinner was really hot. I mean really insanely hot. And it turned out she had watched me dance last night. So after the show I walked over and gave her a kiss on the cheek, and I was like, it’s great to see you and I hope to see you again sometime.
But as we were leaving, I walked up to her, put my hand on her arm, and said, “this is going to sound forward, but you are really pretty, and I was wondering ‒ can I have your phone number?”
And she was like, “Yes! You’re really pretty too, here’s my number.” And I said, “Great, here’s mine, let’s hook up sometime.”
So beware, if I’m feeling it that night, none of you are safe.
ALT: Girls who aren’t shy are like the Holy Grail!
JJ: I tend to be shy some days too, but when I want a pretty girl, I’m not going to worry that she’s not going to be interested. If she says no, she says no. My ego’s not broken, because quite frankly, there’s another girl around the corner who might be interested. Or say she’s got a girlfriend or whatever ‒ I always want to respect people’s boundaries. A lot of people are like, “I’m so afraid of the word no.” That’s not me. If you say no, you say no. That’s OK. There’s somebody else.
ALT: I’m sure our readers will like to know they’re not safe from you.
JJ: Yay! Thank you.
Tune in to Justine Joli's live webcast on Thursday, Sept. 3rd at 4pm Pacific Time (that's 9pm Eastern Time) to chat with her live -- join the Justine Joli Group for more info!
