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Ex-Porn Performer Details Why He Used Erectile Dysfunction Drugs to Shoot Sex Scenes

This former porn performer opened up about his experience with the downfall of the adult industry, and why he had to choose between his health or continuing his career in the adult industry.

By August 10, 2022No Comments

Behind the millions of views and billions of dollars in revenue is a porn industry that’s working to keep up with demand.

Porn isn’t something that many people in our society think of as a healthy business to work in, and we’re seeing just how real that is as more performers reveal what goes on behind the scenes.

Regardless of all the overwhelming research and countless personal accounts exposing the exploitative reality of the porn industry, many consumers still buy into the glamorous fantasy that the porn industry works to maintain. The fact is, many performers—though not all of them—do porn because of desperate financial circumstances or coercive situations.

Related: “She Was Locked Up in a Room With Cameras”: 11 Horrifying Porn Industry Stories

Not only that, but performers also often have to rely on drugs or medications to endure shooting scenes for hours on end—but with editing, these videos look seamless and like the perfectly tailored sexual fantasies consumers crave.

All this goes on, along with the difficult conditions and minimal pay that performers endure, all at the mercy of the growing demand for more extreme porn that they’re often pressured to do in order to continue their careers.

These are just some of the situations performers endure that many consumers don’t realize, and one by one, former performers are shedding light on what goes into maintaining one of the most powerful industries on the planet.

Chris: One male performer’s story

In interviews published by Forbes, Newsweek, and Independent, one performer gave the world a look behind the porn industry’s sexy facade.

Popular former porn performer “Chris” opened up about his prescription drug abuse on set as well as his experience with the overall downfall of the adult industry. And while many his views of the industry don’t align with our mission to educate on porn’s harmful effects, we think his perspective gives much-needed visibility to the harsh realities of doing porn.

His beginning started out like many other performers—Chris got into the adult industry shortly after starting college. He was looking for a way to put himself through school and pay bills, and fell into the adult industry as an easy way to make money. He first found pornographic photoshoot jobs from Craigslist, and then transitioned to more hardcore, extreme porn for a well-known bondage website.

Related: Joshua’s Story: Why I Left the Porn Industry After Winning Awards and Performing in Over 1,000 Films

Chris says he phased out of the industry after doctors told him the damage to his body could be long-term, and he realized it wasn’t worth it to continue. He continued to live in Los Angeles, and is now working on other projects in the entertainment and advertising worlds.

But that’s the brief version of a longer, more painful story.

Relying on ED drugs to continue performing

After eight years of performing in hardcore porn videos, Chris ended his adult film career overnight because of the damage that porn had done to his body.

Speaking to interviewers, he detailed his dependence on erectile dysfunction drugs to keep his performance consistent. Like so many male performers, Chris had become reliant on male performance-enhancing prescription medication to continue his career.

“In porn, we take Viagra, Cialis, Levitra, injections. It’s very common,” he said. “As a result of taking those types of medications, I ended up in the hospital.”

Related: 5 Male Ex-Performers Share What It’s Really Like to Do Porn

He was treated numerous times for painful, prolonged erections, and doctors warned him about long-term damage if he kept abusing the drugs.

“So I quit. The job wasn’t worth putting my health at risk. And I wasn’t the type of person who could perform in mainstream porn without pharmacological assistance. Not with such consistency,” he said.

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The changing industry and rise of abuse porn

Among many surprising things Chris witnessed during his career, he experienced first-hand the deterioration of the industry because of free tube sites and piracy.

“I saw the crews shrink, the number of shoots drop, and work dry up for a lot of people,” Chris said. “It had plenty to do with the rise of piracy and with free tube sites. The business model completely changed, and aside from one company—MindGeek—porn has yet to really catch up.”

This breakdown of the profitable porn empire is responsible for lower pay for more extreme sex acts, as detailed by former performer Lisa Ann in a different interview with The Guardian.

In an industry where pay rates have continuously declined for performers, extreme acts pay more, with the most radical commanding up to thousands per scene. Chris was willing to work in niche markets of porn, but it’s not worth it for many performers who aren’t willing to put themselves through extreme abuse for long periods of time.

Related: 10 Ex-Porn Performers Reveal the Brutal Truth Behind Their Most Popular Scenes

Detailing more of the deterioration of the industry, Rashida Jones, producer of Hot Girls Wanted, sat down for an exclusive interview with VICE to address the harmful porn culture that has been created in our society. She described the cycle young women face when they start making amateur porn that she says encourages them to participate in more extreme scenes:

“Generally if you’re 18 and go to Miami, you’re done in a year, because there’s not enough amateur jobs for you. You can get some other jobs, but the niche stuff pays more, and the niche stuff is harder on your body,” she said. “The pay can be $800, $1,000 a shoot, but they still have to pay for hair and nails and make-up and travel and clothes—plus, they’re trying to live in a lavish way, so it ends up not being cost-effective. It’s not worth it… Then you have to make further negotiations with yourself, like, ‘Will I do torture porn? Will I do fetish porn? Will I do […] forced blowjobs?’ and things that you never expected to do.”

The high demand for more extreme, violent sex acts and fewer performers who are willing to do them means relying on amateur performers or fresh, young recruits. And on top of that, piracy and free tube sites make working conditions often unsafe, putting the content before safety or health of the performer.

“The focus is on quantity over quality. Day rates are often much lower than in mainstream film and television,” Chris said. “The reality that performing is no longer a way—for most people—to make a lot of money. I see very little upward mobility.”

Phasing into real life after porn

Like many other former performers, Chris experienced difficulty with transitioning completely out of the porn industry and adult entertainment.

“Sex is not a skill that translates very well into other professional environments. Certainly, it’s not something that I can put on my resume if I want to work another job,” he said. “It takes a lot of effort and rejection to break into another field. So, yes, I’d say it’s challenging to walk away from the sex business.”

Related: What Causes People to Choose to Go Into the Porn Industry?

His experiences shed light on why porn can be a difficult, unhealthy career path for young college-aged performers. And when it’s all said and done, for many performers, working in porn can mean limited post-industry career options.

In the end, was it truly worth it? Many performers would say it is, but many others would say a resounding “no.” Just watch another male former performer, Joshua, tell his story below:

As long as there’s a demand for porn in society, there will be a demand for the sexual exploitation of real human beings.

The harms of porn aren’t just confined to the ones in front of the camera or behind the screen. There is a growing body of research that shows how consumers, relationships, and society are all harmed by porn.

This isn’t a moral argument, it’s simply something to consider, given the facts. Click here to read more about the harmful effects of porn, and make a decision for yourself.

Consider before consuming, and fight for real love.

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