Ex-porn stars demand minimum age increase to enter industry, say naive teens are exploited
Nearly two dozen former porn stars have signed a letter urging the pornography industry to stop exploiting vulnerable teens by requiring adults to be at least 21 years old before appearing in sexually explicit content.
In a letter addressed to the "porn industry," 20 former adult entertainers urged the leaders of the pornographic film business to increase the minimum age of entry into the industry from 18 to 21.
Led by Brittni De La Mora, who has often shared publicly about her conversion to Christianity and embrace of sexual purity, the former porn stars insisted that the industry's leaders must "stop recruiting impressionable teens into porn."
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"The implications of appearing in a pornographic film are significant, with potential lifelong consequences," they wrote. "For many, it has destroyed their lives."
"Before we began shooting porn scenes, we had no understanding of the extreme physical, emotional, or psychological trauma that awaited us," the letter continues. "Some of us weren't even old enough to drink alcohol, and, as brain science reveals, the decision-making part of our brains wasn't fully developed."
Other signatories include porn star-turned pastor Joshua Broome; Diana Grandmaison, formerly known as Desi Foxx; Jan Villarubia, formerly known as Elizabeth Rollings; Maggie Smith; Jersey Jaxin; Aaron Crowley; Danielle Williams-McCord; Evelyn Taylor and Flick Shagwell.
The letter listed several experiences the former porn performers faced "at the hands of agents, producers and directors," including "being made to appear as a minor," "made to enact sadistic pedophilic fantasies" and being "rushed into signing consent forms with no idea what we just said 'yes' to."
Additionally, they claim they were "coerced in high pressure situations to do sex acts we've clearly said we will not do." They also feel as though they are "victims of violent sexual assaults," have sustained "physical injury, psychological trauma" and were put "at risk of sexually transmitted infections."
The letter included an excerpt of testimony from a former porn star identified as Maggie, who starred in about 130 pornographic films between 18 and 20.
"At times the violent sex made us bleed, at which point the cameras would stop rolling, while it was cleaned up," she said.
"Once it was cleaned we would just resume filming again. I was so naive as an 18-year-old. I desperately wanted to believe I was in control of this very scary situation. Now when I look at myself in these movies, I see myself being raped over and over again."
Citing Maggie's story as an example of situations faced by "so many young performers whose youth is being exploited and abused for someone else's pleasure and gain," the signatories maintain that trauma in the porn industry leads to a "crisis of suicides, widespread drug and alcohol abuse, and an early mortality rate."
They stated that in 2017 and 2018, four porn stars who entered the industry under 21 all died within months of each other.
"[T]he fact that this trauma is immortalized in images and videos only multiples the damage," the letter states.
The former porn performers say they are "re-traumatized with each view" of their porn performances.
"We are grateful to still be alive because far too many of our fellow young performers have died by suicide or drug overdose," the signatories concluded. "They may be gone, but their tragic passing lights a fire in us to be all the more vocal about this critical message."
The letter stated that some of the porn industry leaders the signatories had hoped to gain the attention of already sympathized with the effort to raise the minimum age for appearing in adult films.
The document included a quote from porn producer and Adult Video Network Hall of Famer Axel Braun, who asserted that he had "come to strongly believe that an 18-year-old fresh out of high school has a completely different perspective on life than he or she will have three years later." That's why he became uncomfortable working with porn stars under age 21.
The letter raised concerns about the role pornography plays in satiating the pedophilic desires of sexual predators, referring to how pornography centered on teens has become a lucrative business.
A petition calling for an increase to the minimum age of entry into the porn industry has accumulated 1,859 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon.
Major businesses have moved to sever their ties with pornography.
Earlier this year, the credit card companies Visa and Mastercard said that they would prevent the use of their credit cards to make payments to MindGeek, the parent company of the pornography website Pornhub and other major porn sites.
Last year, the streaming service Roku vowed to remove Pornhub and all other adult entertainment channels from its lineup.
The website OnlyFans briefly sought to ban all pornographic material from its platform, only to backtrack upon receiving backlash.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: [email protected]
