LOS ANGELES—The adult entertainment industry has not faced such an onslaught of controversy and opposition as seen currently in over two decades. 2024's Presidential Election in the United States has proven to be consequential for not only the country but for the potential survival of the industry and its adjacent fields of business.
Today could see the rise of a far-right presidency emboldened by Project 2025's promises to go after and imprison "pornographers," or a more progressive presidency where the central figure has done just as much damage to consensual commercial sex work in this country as any other politician.
While these two choices—former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance of Ohio versus Vice President Kamala Harris and Minn. Gov. Tim Walz—may seem unideal at best for industry stakeholders, the specter of Project 2025 has compelled many adult stars and other professionals to go on the campaign trail to get out the vote and educate voters about its potential harms.
Adult star Siri Dahl, with podcaster Alex Steed and producer Madelynn Britt, provided one example of activism against Project 2025 in the weeks building up to today's election.
On October 15, Dahl broadcast the 12-hour-long "Corn Telethon" event on her various livestream channels, including YouTube and Twitch. AVN previously covered the telethon's announcement. Featuring stars from across the industry and allies to sex work and progressive politics, the telethon raised funding for sex workers' rights organizations.
During the broadcast, Dahl and fellow stars like Gwen Adora, Ana Foxxx, Casey Calvert and many others made appearances in costume, celebrating Halloween and raising awareness for sex workers' rights. Over $8,000 was raised during the telethon to support SWAID and SWOP LA, with a portion to also fund ongoing journalism initiatives.
Pornhub also sponsored the event by providing seed funding for the production.
"I hosted the live show for 12 hours straight, and together with my co-hosts Gwen Adora and Ana Foxxx, we interviewed over 40 people, and raised $8,000 for SWOP LA and SWAID Collective Las Vegas, while highlighting the dangers of Project 2025’s anti-porn agenda and AV legislation," Dahl told AVN.
"I’ve been asked a lot how I made it through the 12 hours with no breaks, and I don’t know, because I never felt tired," she added. "Each guest brought a new energy to the set and that honestly made it feel easy to keep going."
"We can’t and won’t be kept down by forces that turn their shame into our oppression," added Steed. "We will always fight back, and ideally we’ll do it with joy however and whenever we can."
Several supporters of the "Corn Telethon" are also involved with the Hands Off My Porn campaign. Backed by the progressive political action committee Artists United for Change and dozens more adult stars, the campaign is a public education advertising drive in key swing states targeting users of porn websites, primarily men, with the messages of Project 2025 and the Heritage Foundation's well-funded efforts to adopt age verification measures and potentially ban porn during a Trump presidency.
"Project 2025 calls for arresting all of us in the industry and shutting down any telecom companies that allow porn to be transmitted using their networks," explained Allie Awesome, an adult content creator and public relations professional in the industry, in an email to AVN. She is one of several performers who have contributed funding and their voices to the campaign. As AVN has reported, Project 2025 not only targets pornography in its most universally recognized form, but calls to suspend the First Amendment rights for content that isn't even technically pornographic by its nature but is regarded as such by conservatives because it deals with sexuality, reproductive rights, or LGBTQ+ subject matter.
Dahl, speaking about her involvement in the Hands Off My Porn campaign, told AVN this group is concerned about the rights of adult industry professionals and consumers.
She said, "When we undertook this campaign, we did so not just because there are thousands of people in the industry who will have their lives hurt by Project 2025’s total criminalization of porn, but because it will impact our fans and consumers."
This "impact" Dahl refers to comes in the form of laws that require potentially unconstitutional age verification laws that were confirmed to be "back doors" to ban porn by one of Project 2025's authors, Christian nationalist and former Trump administration official Russel Vought.
Comedy Central's The Daily Show covered the proposed ban on pornography touted by the Heritage Foundation and its Project 2025 initiative by featuring the Hands Off My Porn campaign. Host Jordan Klepper highlighted Holly Randall, director and host of the "Holly Randall Unfiltered" podcast, who is additionally involved.
Randall said, via a statement last month, “I have been in this industry for over 25 years and have witnessed many attacks on our industry, but Project 2025’s ban on pornography is the most extreme proposal I have ever seen, and voters have to take that threat seriously."
Others involved with the Hands Off My Porn campaign include performers and producers like Michael Vegas and Siouxsie Q. Other adult stars backing the campaign include Monique Alexander, Alison Rey, Kimmy Kimm, Bailey Rayne, Karla Lane, Seth Gamble, Freya Parker, Little Puck, Scarlett Skies, Brittany Andrews and Tommy Pistol.
In particular, Siouxsie Q is additionally involved with a get-out-the-vote campaign sponsored by Elevate, a sex workers' rights education movement sponsored by Streamate.
Cherie DeVille was also tapped by the adult industry voter advocacy organization Erotic Professionals & Allies United (EPA United) to release a series of social media videos aimed at encouraging voting in the upcoming election.
“If you’re a fan of adult content, you’ve probably noticed that politicians don’t have our best interests at heart," DeVille said. "Politicians have no idea how many people are actually fans of adult content. They don’t realize we are their constituents. We vote."
