American porn actors have been under strain due to a standstill in the production of pornographic content in US studios due to the coronavirus lockdown. Many performers and behind-the-scenes crews have been left without job, Global News reported.
“It’s been a complete upheaval in my life and in the lives of everyone I know in the industry,” American porn star and sex educator Jessica Drake told the outlet.
According to 45-year-old Drake, her whole year of work projects has now been cancelled, including studio scenes, workshops and gigs, as the adult film star actress is now self-isolating at her home in California.
“On any given day, my emotions range from anxious, to panicky, to resolute and focused and occasionally even optimistic,” she revealed.
In mid-March, the Free Speech Coalition (FSC), a US trade association for the industry of adult entertainment, asked pornography sets to “voluntarily” halt all the productions across North America “until further notice”, noting that “no one should be shooting or creating content with partners who are not a part of their household”.
This allegedly led many industry workers to start looking for some new ways to make money. Thus, PornHub reported that the website has seen a 30% rise in uploading of home content from performers, while the digital traffic in general has also skyrocketed.
That said, many sex workers who lost their income during the pandemic will be excluded from Donald Trump’s $2 trillion relief package that was set to mitigate the economic impact of the health crisis due to “prurient” nature of their job.