I’m a 30-year-old erotic performer who has done various types of sex work and sex-work activism, including pornography. Part of my personal brand is that the work I do is socially conscious, ethical both in the performance and the production, based in genuine chemistry and consensual, negotiated sex. I care deeply about working with companies that reflect a diverse, trans-inclusive, body-positive cast, which I am able to manifest because I live in the San Francisco area. Even so, I am not dependent on porn for my living, I am white and cisgendered* – so I have intersections of privilege there as well.
I fundamentally believe that ethical pornography is a possibility, simply because I do not believe the inherent act of filming a sex act is ethical or non-ethical. I believe that ethical porn is a spectrum of behaviour that treats performers as workers and as humans, both on set and within the marketing. I’ve personally created work that I would point to as examples of ethical porn, and am lucky to have worked with companies that hold themselves to that standard. I think that we’re seeing the results of how queer porn often joins politics to their pornography in the mainstream, with safer sex being depicted more often, racism being challenged and various big companies focusing on ‘real chemistry’ in their pairings – though we still have a long way to go before that’s the norm.
