Adult Film Performers Say the State of Mental Health in the Industry Needs More Attention (CBS News)

Read the full article by Taylor Mooney at CBSNews.com 

There are many stories about the mass proliferation of porn online and the impact it has on viewers. But those stories leave out an important group, according to adult entertainment industry icon Amber Lynn: the people in front of the camera.

Between late 2017 and early 2018, five porn actresses died by suicide in 12 weeks. "I've dealt with depression and anxiety for many years but I didn't think it was something I'd need to advocate for my community until we had that bump in suicides," said Riley Reyes, adult film actress and chairperson of the Adult Performer Advocacy Committee. "Nothing like this ever happens in a vacuum. And anyone choosing to take their own life – it's probably a confluence of factors, and they've been fighting for a long time."

Lotus Lain, adult actress and Industry Relations Advocate for the Free Speech Coalition, said discrimination within the industry largely affects minority groups like people of color and the LGBTQ community. "There's definitely racial discrimination, that's the first one that I've experienced. If you're not a white girl porn performer you're [considered to be] an exotic, 'othered' performer, a niche performer," she said.

"If a black performer can't even hope to get an award nomination because it'll never happen, how do you think that affects performers?" she added. "When you see your white counterparts in 20 different award nomination categories and you see that even the top black performers are only in two categories, how do you think that would affect anybody's mental health? You feel worthless. You feel invisible."