The Ex-Porn Stars Fighting Back Against Sex-Worker Harassment
Show business is ugly, the scars invisibly etched in places you’ll never see even though your eyes have roamed our naked bodies a thousand times over. We are performance experts, holding our angled mirrors to channel a fantasy so believable sometimes it fools us too. We joke about it when you call us whores, block your vile comments about our children, pretend it’s less impactful than it is—if only to strip power from a bully. We tell ourselves we are strong, not like the others who broke, shattered to death by cruel words from virtual strangers. No, we tell ourselves, you cannot break us. Not us. Because we are different. But are we? It’s been over a decade since I left the adult industry and yet the same hateful messages continue—merely reduced to several times a week instead of a daily occurrence.
Since they monetize sex in entertainment, porn performers are often the most visible, dehumanized, and therefore highly-sought-after targets, unwittingly fanning the rage of bullies too threatened and incensed to look away. Persecuted online, defense tactics rely heavily on blocking, muting and reporting, but the number of fake accounts an obsessed rageaholic can generate is limitless. Social media is a cornerstone to independent success and profitability within the adult industry and is quite literally how content creators promote and sell their products. Thus, dealing with bullies on these platforms has a clear business impact, but the emotional toll is less obvious.
Harassing a sex worker doesn’t tend to provoke much sympathy either. Like the hot girl wearing a short skirt groped at a frat party, there exists a sense of judgmental merit—like they deserved it. Don’t bother questioning whether it’s right or wrong. Embrace it as an occupational hazard, stop complaining and move on—because the behavior is so prevalent that acceptance is ingrained and expected. And that’s why it never changes.