Women in the porn industry are speaking out against men in the industry who they claim have sexually assaulted them, including adult male film stars like Ron Jeremy and James Deen.
Webcam model Ginger Banks, who is thinking of joining the ranks of female porn stars, is leading the charge for the women. She told former pornographic actress Aurora Snow, who quoted her in The Daily Beast:
I started posting on industry-only forums, and producers and industry people were telling me to get used to it. That’s just what happens in porn. When people are telling me I should expect to be sexually assaulted at my job that’s something I’m not going to stand for. The normalization of it is what disgusts me.
Banks collated tweets, articles and commentaries referencing Jeremy’s alleged abuse of women and created a ten-minute video presentation. She said of the industry’s lax attitude regarding sexual abuse, “We need to stop supporting people that don’t support us as performers, when you go to these shows people buy tickets based on whether or not you’ll be there.”
Banks cited a tweet from a popular cam model who goes by “Miss Lollipop,” who wrote last year, “Not my 1st, but at a my 1st adult con, posing for a photo w ron jeremy – he slips his finger under my panties and into my vagina. #notokay.” That tweet was echoed by other models, who wrote Jeremy had abused them as well.
Jeremy responded to Banks’ accusation by telling Snow, “So she admits she doesn’t know me but I’ve groped her friends? You’ve worked with me in the past and you didn’t have a problem with me, right?” Snow admitted that they had.
Jeremy continued:
I’m older, chunkier, hairier but there are women out there that still want to see me. A lot of women that come out to see me want me to sign a boob. If I ever grabbed a girl against her will I’d have a face like a panda bear. If I did something against someone’s will I’d have been punched in the face by now. … The girl who’s claiming I put my fingers up, I don’t buy that story. I don’t think that happened, maybe I was massaging. I’ve done that. Maybe a little tap, pinch, squeeze. I’ve done that but I always ask first.
Meanwhile, porn star Ashley Fires demands to know why James Deen, whom she claimed “almost raped me,” hasn’t been punished, tweeting, “In the wake of recent actions taken against Weinstein, Ailes, O’riley [sic], Jeremy. Why is James Deen still granted shade to abuse women?”
Porn stars Stoya and Joanna Angel have accused Deen of sexual assault, along with former porn star Tori Lux and porn star Amber Rayne. Rayne’s account was particularly horrifying, as she alleged Deen abused her from behind until she was bleeding “everywhere.”
Yet as The Daily Beast reports, Deen was still flying high:
In late 2016, just one year after the numerous sexual assault allegations against Deen surfaced, he received 33 XBIZ nominations between him and his company, and was allowed to grace the same ceremony as his first accuser Stoya, who was hosting the event.
Aurora Rose wrote:
With girlfriend Chanel Preston—head of porn’s de facto safety union—by his side, Deen walked the red carpets of the XBIZ and AVN Awards, smiling and posing as if it were business as usual. What’s worse, the XBIZ Awards were hosted by Stoya, Deen’s ex-girlfriend who was the first of several women to accuse him of sexual assault. Stoya was locked into an iron-clad contract to host the ceremony, and was forced to endure the indignity of facing down her alleged attacker in a public forum, surrounded by friends and colleagues.
Porn actress/director Tanya Tate told Rose, “I feel like it’s all been swept under the rug and it’s back to normal for James Deen. Although he didn’t go to trial and he’s not being charged, there were numerous allegations, it’s not just one person. There’s no smoke without fire.”
Deen has protested his innocence, telling The Daily Beast in December 2016:
I’m James Deen forever. That’s why I didn’t pursue any defamation charges. Every attorney I spoke to said it’s the sex workers curse. There’s no way to get a jury of your peers or people that will understand. I feel like the media didn’t do their due diligence and distorted the facts. How can I say [to a jury] these stories about rough crazy sex hurt my career? They’d just look at some of my scenes.
