WEST LOS ANGELES—It was standing room only at the Moore Hall Auditorium 100 last night as the UCLA Campus Events Commission and Student Wellness Commission presented its first adult-related event of the year, referred to simply as the "Porn Panel." The event was sponsored by adult website JamesDeen.com.
Moderated by sociologist Dr. Chauntelle Tibbals, the panel featured adult stars James Deen, Tasha Reign and Colby Keller—and the panel's allotted one hour was hardly enough time to cover all the topics the more than 300 attending students, faculty and others were interested in hearing about.
Tibbals' first question to the trio was what they were currently doing, and gay performer Keller referred to an "art project" with which he was currently involved—and while he didn't go into any detail, those interested can find more information here. Keller also said that it's more difficult to find work in adult movies these days—a complaint later echoed by Reign, who mentioned that she's currently feature dancing at a club in Ohio. Reign did say she'd had a couple of movie shoots earlier in the week, but that fewer movies were being shot, and noted that when she's not on set, she frequently puts on webcam shows for her fans.
The audience exploded with applause at the first mention of James Deen's name, though he seemed a bit unsure of how to answer the question.
"I have no consistency in my daily life," he began, but noted that much of his day is taken up with performing in movies and handling his voluminous email.
Tibbals next asked what the panelists thought of the rampant piracy that's plagued the adult industry, and Reign, who has her own production company, noted that since people who steal her content aren't paying her for it, sometimes she'd rather shoot for someone else than create original productions which would then be pirated.
Deen, on the other hand, while having no good words to say about pirates, admitted that he has sometimes forwarded the URL of a pirated clip of his to his editor, so that the editor could see more accurately what changes Deen wanted him to make to the clip for its DVD distribution. Keller, however, claimed that he'd have no problem if people pirated the clips from his art project, because it would mean that they'd be getting more distribution than he could arrange himself.
Tibbals then brought up the issue of performer health, and Deen explained to the crowd that he, like his fellow performers, is tested every two weeks, and stated that in the 11 years that he's been performing hardcore, he's never contracted an STD. But when Tibbals brought up the issue of condoms, Deen informed the audience that there hadn't been an on-set transmission of HIV in over a decade, and Reign said that parents and teachers should make it clear to students that pornography is fiction, and not something to be emulated in real life—but she believed that porn could be part of a comprehensive sex education program. For his part, Keller stated that he'd always used condoms while performing, and that he also regularly took a PrEP medication to avoid being infected with HIV—and reminded the audience that for many years, and in many areas even today, being HIV-infected is a "horrible stigma."
Tibbals next asked about the recently enacted anti-porn law in the United Kingdom which criminalized the production and distribution of various "violent" sex acts—even such benign acts as facesitting. While the panelists didn't seem very familiar with the law, Deen announced that one consequence of it was that he would not shoot in the U.K., while Reign championed the idea of free sexual speech, and said that if she were in the U.K., she wouldn't hesitate to sit on her partner's face.
During the question-and-answer period that followed the panel discussion, one student asked what would be the best sex advice the panelists could give to college students, Keller immediately said, "Have as much sex as possible while you're still young," which brought a loud cheer from the audience. However, both Reign and Deen cautioned the students that it was of utmost importance that whatever sex they had was consensual, with Deen stressing two points: Communicate with your partner about everything, and "Don't be an asshole."
In response to yet another question, Reign told the audience that even in high school, she had wanted to be a nude model, and when she came of age and the opportunity presented itself, that's what she did—and it was only a short hop from there to acting in adult films. Keller, on the other hand, noted that he'd gotten a degree in anthropology, but that no one was hiring anthropologists, so sex work became simply a way to survive. Deen, on the other hand, told the crowd, "I've always wanted to do adult films my entire life."
There was also a short discussion about who actually watches porn, and Keller reported that in addition to gay men, many women like watching gay male porn, which led Reign to note that on the internet, and even in movies, there's porn for every taste, and Deen to warn that sexuality is subjective, and that many people often project their own tastes and prejudices onto the type of porn they enjoy. He also noted that poor sex education leads people to emulate what they see in adult movies—a bad idea, to his thinking—and he reiterated that when having sex, make sure that all parties are in agreement with what's happening.
All in all, it was a pretty lively discussion, and after it was over, many students flooded the stage area to meet the porn stars—and take selfies with them. It bodes well for similar events to be scheduled on the UCLA campus.
