The news that OnlyFans, the premier site for user-generated adult content, was experiencing a traffic boom amid the COVID-19 pandemic prompted The American Conservative to, well, lose its goddamn marbles.
In a column published on April 22, Charlie Peters began his ill-advised essay as follows: “Every now and then, the modern world produces a trend so ghastly you can’t help but sit back and think, would a global Islamic Caliphate really be that bad?” It didn’t get much better from there.
On April 30, veteran porn actress Brandi Love—herself a pro-Trump conservative—responded to Peters’ absurd piece with an op-ed in The Federalist that took it apart it piece by piece, citing everything from First Amendment rights to Republicans’ well-documented love of porn to how camming sites like OnlyFans have provided many people with feelings of comfort during the novel coronavirus crisis. (Heck, even Beyoncé’s a fan.)
“I could count dozens of emails, texts and DMs staying, ‘Thanks for keeping me sane while I’ve been locked up. This has been my release,’” explains Love, who’s spending around 6-12 hours a day during the current lockdown creating at-home content. “And it’s not just a sexual release. With camming, it’s seeing other humans. It’s unhealthy to be alone.”
As a pro-Trump porn star, Love is something of a rarity in the adult industry, given its decidedly liberal bent. But it hasn’t stopped her from being one of its hardest-working women. “On set there have been times where conversations get heated, and I’ll stand up and go, ‘I’m going to have to disagree, and maybe it’s best if we don’t talk politics on set.’ But I’ve never not worked with somebody because of their political bent. I could care less,” she tells me.
There was a whole lot more where that came from.
I agreed with your Federalist op-ed in that, yes, living under “a global Islamic caliphate” would certainly not be better than keeping camming legal.
It does beg the question, like, where are you in your life and in your world where you, as an American—and he claims to be a “Christian American”—that living under those conditions could be better than letting people have freedom with their sexuality? It’s pretty scary. [Ed Note: Peters is British and did not, in fact, claim to be a “Christian American.”]
You raised a number of interesting points in your essay, including that you believe adult entertainment is “protected speech” under the First Amendment. It reminded me of when the George W. Bush administration tried to prosecute John Stagliano under federal obscenity charges. It seems like there’s a lot of hypocrisy concerning adult entertainment in that so many people consume it, yet there’s an incredible amount of judgment passed on it—and those who perform in it.
One hundred percent. And it’s a problem when those who take issue with it try to push their will into changing our laws and our constitutional rights to please them and their agenda. That’s the opposite of living in a free country. If you don’t like it, don’t watch it.
Red states also consume the most porn, so it’s strange and hypocritical to have a column be published in The American Conservative that demonizes pornography, and also to have red states be the ones constantly trying to legislate against the adult industry, no?
Both the right and the left don’t like me. I don’t seem to fit in anywhere, and yet all I do is preach our freedom to think for ourselves. The left thinks I’m being exploited; the right thinks I’m wearing a scarlet letter. All I’m doing is providing a phenomenal life for myself and my family doing what I choose to do in an industry that allows me to make endless amounts of money, and yet, neither side can tolerate it. It’s a bizarre time working in a bizarre industry in the sense that everyone loves us but outwardly will say they don’t.
This zealot-like Christian wrote the article I’m referring to, and the very book that he believes in, the Bible, Jesus, the very person that saves him from his sins, he had dinner with prostitutes and tax collectors. He didn’t scream or yell at them and spit in their eye—he welcomed them. I just hope my article didn’t come across as an attack-back on him, because it was more like, what?!
It’s not just The American Conservative though. Recently, several other right-wing pundits—Matt Walsh of The Daily Wire, etc.—weighed in on the news that Pornhub was offering free premium accounts to users during the COVID crisis, and took it as an opportunity to demonize the adult industry. Judgment against sex workers exists on both sides of the political aisle, but I do think it’s considerably more pronounced on the conservative side.
I would actually have to beg to differ. The emails and hate I get are equal. The feminist movement is attached to the left—it’s a “liberal” movement; you may have some feminists in the conservative movement, but I’ve never met one. They hate me, which seems hypocritical because they push for women to have equal rights and push for women’s power. I have it. I have the power and I’m making the money, and yet they hate me. Go on my Twitter feed, you’ll see. Anytime the far left works with the far right to get something done, which is to abolish porn, we should all be afraid. That is a frightening concept to me.
I don’t believe the far left is trying to abolish porn? That seems odd to me, because those on the “far left,” as you say, are openly fighting for sex workers’ rights, and want to decriminalize sex work. That’s the position of everyone from Bernie Sanders to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Elizabeth Warren, is to decriminalize sex work. You’re not getting that type of support on the right.
It seems to be [that way], but from my perspective, I have not seen that. First of all, it’s never been done. Every Republican president was demonized and made the adult industry think they’d ruin porn; it’s never happened. We haven’t had one president do that. Not one—on the right or the left. I do agree with you that that seems to be the sentiment, but I’ve never seen it happen. And from my perspective, I’m crucified by the right and the left. It doesn’t seem to matter. I’m OK with it but it does sometimes suck!
I’m curious about your perspective too, because you are a Republican and pro-Trump, which I imagine must be a lonely place to be in the adult industry. Have you found it to be difficult having those political allegiances and navigating the adult industry?
For me, we’re so polarized in this country, period. It’s a very sad time, in my opinion. I grew up in an America where differences of opinion were celebrated, and kept things interesting. In the last eight to 12 years, we’ve become so polarized that, even if someone’s known me for 10 years, I’ll tell them I voted for Trump and they’ll go, Oh my God! How could you fucking vote for that guy? And I’m like, Wait, we’re friends, man. I know you. I’m more than a voter-registration card, am I not?
So yes, I’ve lost some friendships, and I’ve had people come out of the closet, for lack of a better word, and say via email that they have shared beliefs but just can’t come out and say anything because they’re afraid of the backlash. What kind of world do we live in where we can’t express our opinions without backlash? So yes, it’s difficult in the sense that you have to have thick skin, but believing what I believe isn’t difficult. It’s a free country and what I’m willing to fight for. I believe in the Constitution of the United States. That is more important to me than what I do for a job—or who I voted for. I’m just doing me.
Your column ran in The Federalist, and it struck me as an odd choice because—did you read their response to the free Pornhub premium news?
No.
Because The Federalist published a piece on April 3, when the free Pornhub premium news broke, that was titled: “How Big Porn Is Making the Coronavirus Crisis Even Worse.” And The Federalist piece repeats a lot of the arguments made in The American Conservative piece—the piece you yourself rebutted—and even compares porn to the current pandemic, saying, “Like the coronavirus, pornography use is silent but deadly, a powerful disease that has had devastating effects across our society.” The Federalist piece went on and on about how porn is a societal evil.
Right. Well, if they asked me to respond to that, I would. Perhaps I will on my own blog. This is what I respect about them, and about you guys: You respect articles from both perspectives.
We try to treat the adult industry like any other industry—profile its stars, report on trends, etc. You know, one thing I’m a little confused about is that the Republicans inserted anti-porn language into their 2016 Republican Party platform, branding it a “public health crisis.” The Democrats did not do that. So how do you reconcile that with voting Republican, and Trump?
Again, because the health and progression of our country is more important than what I do for a living. I put my country before my job. If getting the right president in office to get this country right prevents me from doing what I do for a living, that would suck, but it would be selfish of me to vote someone in for the sole purpose of maintaining my job. That’s just my opinion. As far as the Democrat or Republican thing, I’m not a political head. I’m not Politico. It’s just the life I live, and the beliefs I have. My biggest issue with the Republican Party is that its hierarchy is the Christian right—I mean, that’s where they get their funding from. So, how can even a moderate Republican get the ticket if he doesn’t give them what they want, which is based on religion? And religion makes their money on shaming people for sex. So yeah, it does suck that that’s the reality of that situation, but what negative things have happened to the adult industry since our president has been in? Nothing. It had to be put in to appease these right-wing Christians.
Can I ask why you voted for Trump?
Because of the policies. Because of what he wanted to do for this country: Making America first, lowering taxes, getting hard-working Americans back to work. And in my opinion, he’s done the very things he set out to do—before the coronavirus. Were there things I didn’t like? Of course. But there’s never gonna be someone where I’m like, this is awesome. And my voter card may be Republican but I voted for Bill Clinton back in the day. For me, it’s always a matter of what is on the ticket and what is their agenda—and then you just hope they do what they said.
Are you happy with the way he’s handled the current crisis?
I’m not happy about it at all. I think in the beginning, yes, he did stop travel, he did close our borders, and there’s no doubt in my mind that that saved a lot of lives by getting that done. Where we stand now? I think we are getting to that critical point where the cure can’t be worse than the disease. I know a lot of people who would rather take the risk of getting sick than go flat broke, lose their home, go into bankruptcy, and not have enough money to feed their kids. And frankly, the president is between a rock and a hard place. He did the smart thing and gave the power to local government—every state has their ability to open up, or not open up. To me, that was very wise. In my opinion, the country needs to be opened back up. Do we need to take precautions for the elderly and for people with pre-existing conditions? Of course.
So you think the adult industry should be opened back up too?
No, I don’t… I don’t know about that. I’m talking about normal jobs. The adult industry is not “traditional” handling—we’re face-to-face contact, bodily fluids being exchanged. I think that industry, in particular, needs to come back when it’s comfortable and it’s ready. Whether that means people having antibody tests, which shouldn’t be so hard [to get]. I’ve been trying to get one for weeks! I don’t know what the problem is.
That’s something you sort of have to blame on Trump, no? The lack of testing that’s gone on? We’re really nowhere near where we need to be on testing for the virus, which is the first step toward getting things back to normal.
Well, that goes back to getting more things made in the U.S.A. We shouldn’t be counting on other countries to import things to take care of our people. That’s a problem. If we have to blame somebody, it’s easy to put blame on Trump because we don’t have enough tests, but I just see it as a problem all around that there aren’t tests. I don’t know how you blame it on one person. He’s not the manufacturer.
He does have the power to produce more tests as well as PPE for first responders, though, by enacting the Defense Production Act and forcing more American companies to mass-produce these items. He’s done that with the meat industry but not for medical supplies, for reasons I can’t really explain.
It’s probably hard to get anything done when everything is wrong in the eyes of your viewers. I’m just being honest. If the guy cured cancer he would’ve done something wrong by somehow keeping people alive for too long and putting stress on the medical system. Honestly, for me, it sucks to watch, because it doesn’t matter what good is done, he gets faulted by the media and the people who hate him. There’s such a blind hate that they can’t even see positive. Is he perfect? Hell no. Is he awkward? Yup. Does he speak eloquently? Nope. Is he getting shit done? Yes. And that’s why I voted for him.
Do you feel he should be more supportive of the adult industry, since we know he’s someone who’s had let’s say “friendly” interactions with porn stars in his personal life?
Even if he wanted to, he doesn’t have that luxury—and you and I both know it. That’s not a politically safe position to take. Plus, show me a powerful man that doesn’t have beautiful women around him all the time? Seriously, I’d love to see that. It doesn’t exist.
