Imagine Porn Performers Unite

Have you ever thought about the reality behind porn, in every day porn movie set? If you don’t care at all about it, and don’t want to think about it, I hope at least you spend some money for it. At least you’re doing something good for the industry. Statistics say you probably don’t.

But if you care about porn industry working conditions, performers mental and physical health, economic and social wellbeing, we should talk about what are the main problems and what’s the best way to face it. The industry doesn’t need necessarily the solidarity or the support of their fans. External solidarity and support will come when we will put the spotlight on it. Like Jessy Dubai said to XBIZ magazine: “A plant or a tree grows from a seed. But it grows from the inside out. We cannot ask the general public to come and help us, especially because they don’t know what we’re dealing with. It has to start from the industry, within the community. Stop judging each other, stop trashing each other, stop shaming each other. Listen to each other!”

Publicly acknowledge that physical, mental, economic and social problems are real

The first step to improve the industry situation is a public acknowledge among the workers, especially from the more popular and visible porn stars. Their influence on the young performers can make a big difference on the choices they will made for themselves.

Something is already happened with the publication of the massive reportage about mental health on XBIZ magazine, where some important porn stars and directors talk about the problem. We at ThePornMap decided to talk about it thanks to that article. The problem found a big space to meditate on, and some stars took some exposure for it. This is exactly what we need. Exposure. Big stars can, young performers not always. So this article is something, but obviously it’s far from being enough to create a real change.

We should find a way for young performers to get the information they need to protect themselves from the industry dangers. The instrument to do it are already out there, and are basically free and available. It’s the internet. Twitter is already there and it potentially connects the biggest part of porn performers. So it’s time for porn workers to take back from the internet what internet destroyed with free online porn, starting with sharing information, freely and peacefully, creating an informal community of mutual support.

Share support informations

What Lena Paul said to XBIZ is exactly the kind of statement we should start from: “Mental health is not an abstract thing: we often see young girls with tremendous potential come into the industry and be booked twenty-plus days a month of extremely taxing labor – with advanced scenes like hard anal and not enough recovery time – by unscrupulous agents who only care about their bottom line, who then turn around and complain when these young girls start cancelling shoots, because they’re physically sick and overwhelmed by their first real job. We see them encouraged to accept the advances of studio heads and directors at the behest of some of these agents, or simply because they feel they can’t risk incurring that powerful person’s ire and loose out on booking. We watch them later as they crash and burn on a social media blow up, then shake our heads and have the audacity to call the girl ‘crazy’ for finally cracking under immense pressure for teenagers or barely twenty-something.”

Young performers have to know what is acceptable and what is not, experienced performers have the responsibility to share those information. What is also very important is the role of support associations like Pinapple Support, , the Cupcake Girls, the Adult Performers Actors Guild (APAG), the Adult Performers Advocacy Committee (APAC), or The Free Speech Coalition (FSC) in the USA. Alana Evans, from APAG, said performers often don’t even know what they do. But the role of those association can make a big difference on the life of thousands performers around the globe. Porn stars should promote them, for free.

Pornstars words matter

Lotus Lain created INSPIRE, supported by the Free Speech Coalition, where industry workers can find discounts for legal assistance, agency negotiation, and general support, feedback, and organise anonymous surveys to know where the problems are. This kind of work is necessary.

Missy Martinez call for the institution of comprehensive support groups for mental health, and ask for an independent institution to do it. This is not an easy target at all, but is something porn industry workers should ask, unite. It’s the only way to get something that can radically change. Other things could help performers conditions, says Martinez, like sending the script before the shoot to the actors, to be ready for what will happen on the set, preventing shocks and mental issues. Another prevention that Martinez and other stars advice is having a private life outside the porn community: “After being in the industry for a decade, the biggest relief for me has come from having a life outside the xx world. I’m only Missy in front of the camera and on my social media; all other time I’m just a regular civilian.’ It’s easy to loose one’s authentic sense of self: ‘Missy has no problems. She is happy, horny and laughing, 24/7, which is unrealistic for anyone to attain. For a brief while, when I first started becoming successful, I lost sight of who I truly was to the detriment of my happiness and mental wellbeing. Keeping that strict, hard line separating my persona from my actual identity has done wonders.” Listening to this kind of suggestions can make the difference in the path of a 18 years old performers.

Lena Paul find necessary, for her, and very helpful, content creation: “Content creation is the biggest key to my mental health, honestly. By ensuring that the bulk of my income comes from streams that I own and manage, and this was true even before a was a ‘name’ in porn… When you feel forced into a corner economically speaking, you cause yourself trauma by violating your own boundaries and it’s to be reflective before you take shoots that aren’t your typical fare”. Boundaries and economic blackmailing are often influencing each other a lot. Another fundamental thing for Lena Paul is finding a sex-work-friendly therapist. If you plan a career in the industry, that’s vital. And also, it’s vital planning a life after porn. Those are all things young performers need to know, and find time and places to talk about. Twitter is there, and can make a difference. Obviously is not enough. But it already potentially connect the vast majority of porn performers. Next step is make the difference.