Adult film star Jessica Drake on Trump, consent and the porn industry

    Jessica Drake, an American adult film star and director, recently spoke out about being sexually assaulted by Donald Trump ten years ago. Drake has been in the adult film industry for over ten years and has made over 200 films. She visited SA for Sexpo, SA’s health, sexuality and lifestyle expo, and spoke to The Daily Vox about Trump, pornography and consent.

    The reason that I decided to speak on my experience [with Donald Trump] is because I saw and heard the tapes that were released. Where he said he could just grab women by the pussy and just walk up and kiss them without asking them, because he’s a star he can do whatever he wants. For me, hearing that just goes against everything that I believe in and it was a trigger for me.

    I’ve actually done a lot of work on consent. Back in the States, many years ago we had an incident in Steubenville Ohio, where it involved underage people who were drinking and partying and there was a girl who was sexually assaulted without consent. It made me reconsider the type of education we were giving our kids.

    In all of this inundation with sex that we see from the media, from porn – and don’t get me wrong, I still make porn. I think porn is amazing when used in the right context. There is no clearly defined consent negotiation that the viewer sees when we shoot a movie. When I do a movie it’s with an agreed-upon partner. I agree upon the sex acts that we’re going to do and there is a negotiation, but viewers don’t see that. They don’t see that in the finished product because what we make in porn is a fantasy.

    It’s severely lacking, consent education is really lacking. I speak at a lot universities. I just emphasise how consent is ongoing, it’s not blanket consent. Each time it’s not just because you’re in a relationship with a person, it’s a process. There are three pillars of consent, you have to clearly understand what you’re getting into, you have to make up your minds that you’re willing to be involved in whatever act that is.

    People who are not involved in the sex industry don’t understand what goes on behind the scenes. I wish the general public understood all the work that goes into porn, but the reality is that they don’t. It’s what they see when they download it from the internet, so it’s tricky.

    I think consent education is necessary for both men and women. We’re in a society right now where we’re teaching – I’ll say women for the sake of this discussion – where we’re teaching women how to not be raped. Teaching women how to not be sexually assaulted, don’t get too drunk, don’t go anywhere alone, don’t wear that dress. We need to stop doing that. We need to concentrate instead on telling people, don’t treat other people that way.

    We need to concentrate on a more ethical approach, a more human approach, rather than to perpetuate victim blaming and victim shaming. It’s a really complicated situation.

    Featured image by Rumana Akoob