According to the lawsuit, Girls Do Porn owners Michael Pratt and Matthew Wolfe, as well as actor and recruiter Andre Garcia, convinced the women—all ages 18 to 22—to agree to be filmed having sex on camera without them realizing that the videos would be distributed online, NBC 7 in San Diego reported.
The lawsuits described how Girls Do Porn posted ads to Craigslist that appeared to be for modelling gigs, but when the women responded with interest, the company revealed that the job was actually to shoot porn. The women were assured that their videos will only be sold on DVDs to “private collectors” in Australia and New Zealand. However, not only did Girls Do Porn post the videos to its website, the videos were ripped off and spread on free clip sites like Pornhub and YouPorn. The videos overall gained a million views over the eight years the channel has been up.
“[Girls Do Porn] told me multiple times, 'What are the odds someone you know is going to walk into that one DVD store in Australia and choose that one DVD that you're on,'” one woman told NBC 7.
Some of the women NBC 7 spoke to told the news outlet that they experienced thoughts of suicide, humiliation, and isolation as a result of being lied to and then outed.
“I felt like I was lied to. I felt like I was definitely taken advantage of. I felt stupid even though I know it wasn't my fault for falling for something that was so well put together,” another woman said.
According to Vice, many legitimate adult businesses have consent rules and enforce professional behaviour on set, as well as guidelines around labour rights and care for the performers and crew.
"Porn is a legitimate industry, but as a vice industry, it can attract people who just want to be part of the fantasy lifestyle of partying and sex," Courtney Trouble, a performer and artist, and founder of the indie adult film studio Trouble Films, told Motherboard.
Alison Boden, CEO of Kink and board member of the nonprofit adult industry rights group Free Speech Coalition, also spoke to Motherboard, noting that performers in the porn industry should never feel pressured on-set, and producers who coerce performers should be held accountable.
"Performers need to know what to expect on set, they need to know their rights, and they need to be able to compare what they're told by a producer to a common standard. Without it, performers—especially new performers—are going to remain vulnerable to scams and exploitation."
