For Your Viewing Pleasure: The Reality of Exploitation in the Porn Industry

By Deputy Current Affairs Editor Kate O Hanlon

The porn industry, it seems, is entirely invulnerable to criticism. Cancel culture has seeped into nearly every form of media and we have seen multiple industry giants become ostracised due to racial caricatures or sexual abuse scandals. And yet the porn industry, which is not only guilty of these moral crimes but practically founded on them, flourishes amid movements such as #MeToo and 4B. So how does this industry thrive? Are we too afraid to criticise due to fears of being perceived as puritans? Or does the reality of this inherently exploitative industry interfere with our own pleasure? If it is a matter of blissful ignorance, a plethora of former pornstars have come forward in recent years to share their experiences with us and change that.

It should be shocking to us that an industry such as porn is so mainstream, especially since many who have worked in it have spoken out against the abuse and sex trafficking that is so common during shoots. Shelley Lubben, a porn star from the 90’s, says that the industry traumatised her and has only gotten worse in recent years. Sex trafficking by definition is a form of human trafficking that involves the use of force, coercion or deceit to have a victim engage in commercial sex, and according to Lubben it's an all too common practice in the porn industry. Porn shoots are often held in places like hotel rooms or on private property so there is no “government access”, so while they may not be directly breaking laws there is no one on these sets to aid actors in advocating for their own civil rights. Lubben says that because porn sets are usually populated by older men that the actors have never met before, so “of course we’re intimidated into doing scenes we don’t wanna do.” Because these actors' agents don't usually go to shoots with them they have to represent themselves, and since people can begin acting in porn as young as 18 this can be extremely difficult to do, especially at the beginning of your career when you don't know normal set behaviour from coercion. In an interview Lubben said “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve showed up and they said, ‘You need to do this scene,’ [and] I said, ‘No, that’s not what my agent said,’ or ‘That’s not what I was told to do,’ and they’re like, ‘Well, you’re gonna do it or we’re not gonna pay you, we’re going to sue you.’ And now with the Internet they tell the girls, ‘If you don’t do this scene, we’re going to send your porn to your family members, we’re gonna ruin your reputation, you’re never gonna work again, we’re gonna take away your finances, we’re gonna physically hurt you,’ or they threaten to sue them.”

Obviously you cannot tell from sight alone if something is consensual and these are professional actors whose work likely wouldn't be posted if it wasn't marketable. Another ex pornstar named Monique Calderon-Remenda, who is also a care manager at Treasures.LA, has stated that actors suffer “horrific abuse” on porn shoots. Things might be out of frame or just not look the way it’s supposed to and so actors will endure extreme pain for hours on end trying to get “the shot”. Many porn stars have come forward saying that during some of their most notorious scenes they had blacked out, were in physical pain or considered what was happening to them to be rape. However many actors continue to work because they may be lured in with exorbitant amounts of money and they know they will not only not get paid if they leave the shoot half way through, but they also will have endured the abuse for nothing. Porn actors may also feel trapped as due to having previously worked in the sex industry they may find it difficult to become employed in more ‘conventional’ jobs.

Governments have attempted to regulate the porn industry for years now but any kind of censorship comes with backlash. For example in India all pornographic videos were completely banned in 2015 but there was severe backlash with people like the novelist Chetan Bhagat writing that the porn ban was “anti freedom, impractical, not enforceable… let's not manage people’s private lives”. The ban was partially lifted later in the same year,but went back into effect in 2018. However pornography is still widely accessible to people in India as VPNs are relatively cheap and there are no real legal repercussions for using one. A similar issue is being faced by the US government as they too have attempted to block porn sites. Both Pornhub and XHamster are now banned in 17 US states, with the most recent bans happening in Florida, Tennessee and South Carolina on the 1st of January 2025. The US government has said that these bans are in effect to prevent minors from being able to access pornographic content,54% of Americans claim to have been exposed to pornographic material even before the age of 13, but citizens have complained about this being “privacy invasion” and “anti free-speech”. Project 2025 aims to implement a “nationwide ban on all pornography” but again VPNs are cheap and easy to access.

Actors have also tried to protect and represent themselves by unionising and forming guilds such as the Adult Performance Artists Guild (APAG). However guilds such as this one have not amassed the amount of members that you would hope. APAG only has just over 1400 members as of 2022.The APAG not only represents pornstars but also strippers and prostitutes. Being a part of a group that is supposed to protect workers may actually get actors blacklisted from the porn industry, allegedly due to directors fearing that they may be ‘difficult’ to work with, which would be a crime if proven in most countries.

While some may call for the total eradication of pornography, that is difficult to achieve, especially in the digital age. It is difficult to ban porn altogether or discourage people from watching it, so many activists who have experienced the horrors of the industry firsthand are focusing their efforts on shifting the general public away from pornographic conglomerates and trying to promote more ethical porn consumption. For those who may not want to stop consuming pornographic content, there are sites such as Bellessa or Aorta films which prioritize safe working conditions and appropriate pay for their actors.