Performers Are Not Victims
It is insulting, as well as ignorant, to presume that people who appear in sexually explicit materials are somehow automatically or universally victimized or traumatized by the experience. It’s another example of projection by those in the anti-porn camp. They simply can’t imagine that other men and women might actually enjoy, or at least not be bothered by, performing sex on camera. They can’t imagine that the presence of the camera makes it exciting for many performers or that consenting adults could freely choose such activities as gainful employment. Either way, we do or do not accept the idea that adults are capable of making these decisions on their own. If we don’t the entire basis of popular democracy is essentially mistaken.
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I would argue that in America most adult performers, especially female ones are victims. Look at how the process works. A young girl is in bad need of some cash, her friends introduce her to some shady guy, the guy "interviews" her and complements her and says that you have potential in this industry or you could be a pornstar, she admits doing it, does it a few times, gets some limited cash out of it, and then she's forgotten in obscurity. The producers never call her back because they are chasing younger and hotter girls. A few months later, she realizes what a mistake she has done and she has destroyed many opportunities of having a romantic life, a career and a life with full dignity. This is a very typical scenario. 99% of adult performers never become pornstars and will do only a few movies. But the porn producers never tell these facts to them beforehand. I think there should be more public education about the consequences of acting in pornography.
Even in the types of cases you mentioned, the performers are not victims. They are adults who made a choice to get into an industry with a shady reputation, and if that backfires on them, it doesn't eliminate their personal responsibility. In order to be victimized, you have to have no choice in the matter. Someone who is murdered or raped is a victim. A failed porn star is, at worst, a victim of their own bad decisions, nothing more.