CYBERSPACE—Veterans of the adult industry know that feeling one gets when a mainstream media outlet tackles a “porn story” and reaches out for comment. There's always a concern about whether they’ll be misquoted, or worse, how their words might be used to bash the industry.
No such worries apply in the case of Barbara Herman’s article for the International Business Times, posted earlier today. The headline might signal cause for concern— “Transgender Porn Is A Best-Seller, But Is It Good For Trans People?”—but instead it’s a nuanced piece that quotes many of the major players in TS erotica.
Jeff Dillon, vice president of marketing for adult e-tail site GameLink.com, neatly puts the topic in context: “Over the past 15 years we’ve watched viewership of content featuring transgender performers skyrocket,” he told Herman. When she talked to Dillion, Jay Sin's TS Playground 20, distributed by Evil Angel, was the top-selling porn title on GameLink that week, with seven other transgender porn titles in the top 100 list.
Evil Angel honcho Adam Grayson was quoted extensively as well, explaining that director Joey Silvera was a pioneer in the genre. Evil Angel typically puts out two to three titles a month, with strong sales at higher prices than straight porn. But as Grayson notes, “Grooby is the market leader: trans porn is their entire business.”
In addition to talking to Steven Grooby, the force behind the Transgender Erotica Awards, Herman also reached out to performers Wendy Williams and Buck Angel, sociologist Chauntelle Tibbals and AVN’s own Mark Kernes.
And she also spoke to Steve Volponi, vice president of sales and production for Devil's Film, whose memory of selling TS porn stretches back more than 20 years. "When I started in retail in 1991, these guys would slip into the [trans] section, grab one and sandwich a transsexual movie into the straight ones, and then they'd say, 'It's a joke, I'm going to give it to my friend,'" Volponi said. "Let's just say I met a lot of people with friends they were playing jokes on."
Pictured, Wendy Williams and Buck Angel
