Cover photo by Irvin Rivera for BuzzFeed News. This selected portion of text is a direct repost from a Buzzfeed News piece by Ariane Lange. Click here to read the piece in its entirety.
Trigger warning: Trigger warning for descriptions of sexual abuse and pornographic scenarios.
In a culture where porn is largely celebrated and largely believed to be an exploitation-free and harmless habit, it’s important to give visibility to reports that showcase the exploitation, abuse, and coercion that are ingrained within the industry.
It’s especially important to give visibility to these reports when they show up in widely-read publications.
The excerpts below are a direct repost from a piece shared on May 25th by Buzzfeed News. It’s stories like these that illustrate why porn performers choose not to publicly speak out about the force, fraud, coercion, and exploitation they face during the production process. We fight because no one deserves to be sexually exploited or abused, no matter who they are or what their background is.
As some background for the following excerpt, in 2016, Adult Video News Hall of Fame inductee Nikki Benz spoke out saying she was assaulted by a director on set while shooting for one of the world’s most popular porn production companies.
The Canadian porn performer is considered to be the most popular performer who partners exclusively with the massive online porn production company, which made the news all the more shocking to those in the industry. She said that the director stomped on her head and choked her, even after she yelled “cut” during the filming of the scene.
She said the attack left her shocked and crying for the first time in her 13-year career.
“The director himself put his hands on me and was choking me,” she tweeted. “Never in a million years did I think [porn company] would allow it.”
In one text message she posted, she writes, “Did you see the part where I said cut, where I said I’m not OK with this? … I said no.”
She also tweeted, “I guess rape scenes are in now, huh?”
She filed a lawsuit this April against the porn production company Brazzers, its parent company MindGeek, and fellow actors Tony T. and Ramon Nomar for sexual battery, according to a Jezebel report (link trigger warning).
The suit, provided to Jezebel (link trigger warning) by Benz’s lawyer, alleges that she was non-consensually “struck on the face, head, and breasts hard enough to cause her to bleed” during the shoot two years ago. Benz says she was then pressured into saying that it was consensual in order to receive her paycheck.
___________________
For Porn Actors, It’s Risky To Say #MeToo. Just Ask Nikki Benz.
By Ariane Lange
…….
Because much of the day was caught on video, Benz thought her criminal case would be “a slam dunk.” But she said the deputy district attorney explained during their brief meeting that he would have to convince a jury that what they were seeing in the video was not consensual. “He said that he couldn’t differentiate what was acting and what wasn’t. I told him, did you see the blood? Did you see the choking? I didn’t agree to that.” When BuzzFeed News informed her that a DA spokesperson said her case was declined “due to insufficient evidence,” she said, “To me, that’s disgusting. There’s tape.”…
Watching unprecedented public support for people who’d faced sexual misconduct [during the start of the #MeToo movement last year], Benz wrote a pleading email to the detective on her case on Nov. 22, 2017. “I’m baffled as to why the mainstream actresses are getting the proper recognition/justice for speaking out against their abusers, yet I have spoken out about this almost a year ago and I have yet to hear back,” she said. “Why am I fighting this hard to prove that I was physically/sexually abused when it’s on film?”
The question gnaws at her. It also reveals how hard it is to prove a lack of consent—especially for [porn performers]. She told the DA her distress in the tape was real, but it wasn’t enough. In Benz’s message to the detective in November, she continued, “Writing this email is embarrassing to me. I’m devastated that I have to basically beg to be considered human.”
…….
Despite porn’s ubiquity, one actor told BuzzFeed News that the industry is small, comparing it to a gossipy high school. “I know plenty of people in the industry with #MeToo stories that they’re still too terrified to come out about,” said Jacky St. James, a porn director. If a performer complains after a scene, or sometimes even if she says “no” to something during a scene, she could be branded as a troublemaker or “a diva” and lose work, actor Gen Padova said. When Benz first made her allegations in 2016, actor Dana DeArmond said on Twitter, “Brazzers owns the porn industry. Women have no other choice than to accept the abuse or not feed their families.”
___________________
Click here to read this piece by Ariane Lange in its entirety. Trigger warning.
Our sharing of this piece does not imply endorsement of Buzzfeed News nor of every view expressed in this piece.
Your Support Matters Now More Than Ever
Most kids today are exposed to porn by the age of 12. By the time they’re teenagers, 75% of boys and 70% of girls have already viewed itRobb, M.B., & Mann, S. (2023). Teens and pornography. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense.Copy —often before they’ve had a single healthy conversation about it.
Even more concerning: over half of boys and nearly 40% of girls believe porn is a realistic depiction of sexMartellozzo, E., Monaghan, A., Adler, J. R., Davidson, J., Leyva, R., & Horvath, M. A. H. (2016). “I wasn’t sure it was normal to watch it”: A quantitative and qualitative examination of the impact of online pornography on the values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of children and young people. Middlesex University, NSPCC, & Office of the Children’s Commissioner.Copy . And among teens who have seen porn, more than 79% of teens use it to learn how to have sexRobb, M.B., & Mann, S. (2023). Teens and pornography. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense.Copy . That means millions of young people are getting sex ed from violent, degrading content, which becomes their baseline understanding of intimacy. Out of the most popular porn, 33%-88% of videos contain physical aggression and nonconsensual violence-related themesFritz, N., Malic, V., Paul, B., & Zhou, Y. (2020). A descriptive analysis of the types, targets, and relative frequency of aggression in mainstream pornography. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 49(8), 3041-3053. doi:10.1007/s10508-020-01773-0Copy Bridges et al., 2010, “Aggression and Sexual Behavior in Best-Selling Pornography Videos: A Content Analysis,” Violence Against Women.Copy .
From increasing rates of loneliness, depression, and self-doubt, to distorted views of sex, reduced relationship satisfaction, and riskier sexual behavior among teens, porn is impacting individuals, relationships, and society worldwideFight the New Drug. (2024, May). Get the Facts (Series of web articles). Fight the New Drug.Copy .
This is why Fight the New Drug exists—but we can’t do it without you.
Your donation directly fuels the creation of new educational resources, including our awareness-raising videos, podcasts, research-driven articles, engaging school presentations, and digital tools that reach youth where they are: online and in school. It equips individuals, parents, educators, and youth with trustworthy resources to start the conversation.
Will you join us? We’re grateful for whatever you can give—but a recurring donation makes the biggest difference. Every dollar directly supports our vital work, and every individual we reach decreases sexual exploitation. Let’s fight for real love: