After James Deen Ugliness, Stoya Trying to Fix Porn Industry

She opens up to 'New York' magazine
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 30, 2016 10:27 AM CDT
After James Deen Ugliness, Stoya Trying to Fix Porn Industry
Stoya is shown in a YouTube screenshot (WARNING: linked YouTube video is NSFW).   (YouTube)

Stoya, who was the first of 13 women to come forward accusing porn star James Deen of sexual abuse or threats, expands on her accusations in an extensive interview with New York magazine this week. She'd been dating Deen for about a year when he raped her, she says: "There had never in my life been a time where someone had held me down and penetrated me with their penis while I used all the words that you should be able to use to stop it." They kept dating for another year or so, a situation she explained in a blog post last year: "I felt as if I had no recourse. I didn’t know what to do. So I kept working with him, and we kept dating. I swallowed a lot of Xanax and washed it down with unsettlingly large amounts of alcohol." Now, she tells New York, she looks back and "I just feel so f---ing dumb."

They had been broken up for another year when Stoya made her accusations public, partially because fans still idolized Deen—he has a "Do a Scene" feature on his website that allows anyone to apply to have sex with him on camera—and she felt "complicit" in allowing people to think he's a good guy. Now, she's working to change the porn industry (where there's a widespread belief that female performers can't be raped) from the inside. In 2015, she had started TrenchcoatX with fellow adult film actress Kayden Kross, and the company aims to make porn that is more respectful to women and, well, people in general. For example, while you might see a derogatory category like "shemale" on a traditional porn site," TrenchcoatX uses terms like "pubic parts: mostly external" or "pubic parts: mostly internal." Stoya thought about walking away from the industry entirely, but didn't: "Right now the only things standing out about porn are the garbage," she says. "And I know you don’t fix something by walking away from it." The full article is worth a read. (More James Deen stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X