Garrett Jonsson: And so, I mean, even no matter really what your sexuality is, I think we’re kind of in a similar their boat in that way where we’re turning to porn, oftentimes because it’s like, where else do we turn to learn about sex? If no one wants to talk to us about it. 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.

Porn Stars Who Are Now Anti-Porn - Fight the New Drug 5 Ex-Porn Stars Who Are Now Anti-Porn - Fight the New Drug

It’s time we stop buying the porn industry’s lies, and refuse to consume the violent content they produce that’s harmful to performers, individuals, relationships, and our world as whole. Aaron Crowley: Yeah. Because you know, I, I didn’t know where to find a safe, safe space to talk about it and to process it. Um, cuz I, even my own self, I, I, wasn’t a safe space to, you know, process and talk about it because of the shame and stigma that’s already been put on me. I was coerced into doing unspeakable things that I never agreed to but, if I didn’t, my children would not have been fed, clothed, and sheltered. I almost took my own life.” Aaron Crowley Aaron Crowley: As I got older, like in my teenage years. Yeah. A little bit, but, um, as I got older from my teenage years, um, uh, no, like I totally got, I, you know, I understand what he grew up in and what he, you know, thought things were. Right. Um, so I, I have more compassion and empathy for him now. Um, and so my mind went to, “This is normal.” We are often portrayed, LGBTQ+ people are often portrayed as oversexualized and hypersexual. And that we’re just about hooking up. Right? We’re just about sex. And that’s not, I’m not saying that I’m saying that’s how we’re portrayed. And I, and I know many of us often own that portrayal as part of our identity. That’s how it was painted to me. That’s what was going through my mind when all this was happening and it became normal to the point that I didn’t even really actually understand at that time that it was rape. Uh, like that word didn’t cross my mind, but I knew in my gut, I was very uncomfortable. I was not okay with what happened. You know, I asked the guy to like take the pictures down. I was like, don’t share that. Like, you know, please delete all those pictures.The former porn performers say they are "re-traumatized with each view" of their porn performances. Garrett Jonsson: Thanks for speaking to those things. It makes a lot of sense. We’ve talked about some heavy things and we’ve talked about your low of lows and all of the, some of the traumas that you’ve experienced. I shouldn’t say all of the traumas, but some of the traumas you’ve experienced and man, it can be a heavy thing to talk about this, this stuff. I think it’s also important to talk about, you know, the hopeful side, I’m just kind of wondering what does your life look like now? Aaron Crowley: You know, I was not a safe, safe place to process what was happening. Or what had happened. Garrett Jonsson: Porn does normalized exploitation and, like that’s just straight facts. Um, as you were talking, I couldn’t help, but think about Terry Crews’ experience. I’m sure you’re familiar with it, but maybe you’re not with him being sexually assaulted? And it’s pretty interesting because, you know, he’s, I think he’s like, like 6’ 3” you know, 230 pounds of, you know, he’s probably like 8% body fat and played the NFL and all these things. And like, so I think there is that perception like that he can’t be sexually assaulted.

Porn Stars - Exodus Cry Shocking Confessions From 5 Ex-Porn Stars - Exodus Cry

With exaggerated body parts to match their exaggerated performances, porn consumers are made to believe the fantasy that these actors actually crave endless and extreme sex.And what he was doing there was basically seeing if I would be comfortable with exactly what was gonna happen to me in porn, you know, where I no longer was, is in control of my body. Garrett Jonsson: Yeah. Well, Aaron, these conversations mean so much to me and I’ve had a very enjoyable time talking with you. Alia grew up in Ventura, California, with a young mother. From a very young age, Alia experienced sexual abuse at the hands of her mother’s boyfriend. This traumatic experience and its effects pushed Jessica on a path that would lead her toward working in the porn industry.

porn stars demand minimum age increase to enter industry Ex-porn stars demand minimum age increase to enter industry

Aaron Crowley: Uh, sexually violating a gay man. It’s still the same thing that, you know, porn is saying to women in straight porn where it’s saying, you know, men are aggressors against you and this is normal. Aaron Crowley: Um, a little bit of all of that. So it was definitely, you know, trying to relate to my brother and his friends, you know, cuz they were older. So I looked up to them. Right? Ultimately, Alia’s experience in the porn industry was dramatically different from the glamorous and empowered life that was initially promised to her. Aaron Crowley: Um, uh, exhausting. I like that. I like that word for it. Growing up in that environment and hearing it used in a homophobic way and like realizing that’s a part of yourself it’s very mentally consuming because it’s like this war immediately starts within you where you’re like, you know, “I had the crush on this guy, so that means I might be this, but this is bad. So it’s something I need to absolutely not talk about. It’s something I need to absolutely, you know, uh, suppress within myself.” And, um, you know, what, I, I think exhausting is a good way to describe that because it’s mentally exhausting. It’s mentally, um, you know, trying to not be yourself, trying to be something you’re not, it’s very exhausting. Garrett Jonsson: My name is Garrett Jonsson, and you’re listening to Consider Before Consuming, a podcast by Fight the New Drug.Aaron Crowley: Um, you know, going in the prayer and meditation, it was that alone time in my prayer and meditation time. That really was very healing and therapeutic for me. And then also as I dug in and researched and learned more like whenever I, uh, first got into this type of research on the porn industry and sexual trauma and all that, that was, it really shed a light on me and kind of opened my eyes to understand things from a psychological point of view. Whenever I went to the national center, sexual exploitations, um, summit, like I think it was their first summit that I went to all the information that I got from you guys from other individuals that was very healing to me to kind of learn all those facts and stuff. Cuz I was able to understand it through the, through the lens of my experience and kind of be like, oh, this is like that experience. And this is like that experience and it kind of brought it all together. Um yeah. Um, you know, like I guess I probably shouldn’t tell you specifics, but, um, it was very violent and, um, aggressive. So that be began to solidify in me what it meant to be gay. Like I learned you asked, you know, did I learn sex education through porn? I learned what it means to be gay and what gay sex is, what gay intimacy is through porn. And so whenever I was in college, whenever I went to college, um, you know, I was freshly new. I just came out and um, because I’m new to college, it was like my first week in college, I got on the internet to look for other gay men who were freshmen at my school to like, see, you know, Hey, is, are there any meetups or is what are people doing? I need to make friends. Right? Joshua Broome grew up in a small town in South Carolina where he started his modeling career. He moved to Los Angeles, California, to pursue a career in acting and modeling. Eventually, he found his way into the porn industry. Aaron Crowley: I can’t even remember what your question was, but I was like, you know what, I’m gonna talk about these two.

I Was Raped In My Most Popular Scene as a Porn Performer

Garrett Jonsson: We appreciate the fact that you’re willing to be genuine and engage in some, you know, self-disclosure and openness, because it helps us to consider before consuming. 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." This is kind of like in a abrupt transition, but it kind of has to be because you’re a person who has experienced drug-facilitated sexual assault or rape. And that’s a big part of your experience. I’m just wondering if your porn consumption early on normalized that sexual objectification of how you saw sex and how you saw yourself.Aaron Crowley: Um, but there was a period in my teenage years as I was, you know, coming out to myself and figuring things out and realizing things. Um, there was a bit of resentment and he, and I had a lot of falling outs and a lot of issues. Um,… How many years? I guess I shouldn’t say years cuz I’m not sure if it was even a year, but how much time did you spend in the porn industry? 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." 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." Aaron Crowley: I honestly, I’m glad you’re asking this question because honestly, I can’t think of a single individual. There’s two individuals that come to my mind as, um, good examples. One’s an example of why they’re there. The other one’s about how we cope with being there. Um, one individual on my first scene, he, he wasn’t new to the industry, but I was, and there was another person there who was also new to the industry. So he, this, this person who wasn’t new.