Anxiety and depression; are universal mental health problems. No matter the nationality, race, gender, or profession of a person, they can experience these. Nothing can make people immune from being lonely. Meanwhile, lots of things can make them feel melancholic or bad about themselves.
The typical advice given to people who feel gloomy is to share their thoughts with others. By speaking their heart out, they can ease the loneliness they feel inside. However, people who are depressed struggle to speak about their condition. It is not a topic that can easily be brought out. It takes effort to admit that you are lonely, and it takes even more, to say it out loud.
Speaking about mental health is more challenging for adult entertainers – porn stars, webcam models, and OnlyFans content creators. A number of reasons force them to keep quiet. But porn actress Cherie DeVille has decided to break her silence. She wrote about her mental health problem and the mental health crisis experienced by her peers in general. Furthermore, she included in the memoir the reasons why porn stars refuse to talk about it.
Misconceptions About Porn Stars
To appear on films where they have to have sex with people they barely know – that is what porn stars do. Either that or they film themselves playing with sex dolls or stripping for their audience.
Many people believe that for a person to be willing to do these erotic acts, they must be “flawed” in some way. A common belief is that all sex workers are suicidal drug addicts. They entered the industry under the influence of drugs and would not leave it because of drugs. If not drugs, people suspect every porn actor has been sexually assaulted in the past.
While there are cases when these are true, they are not always the case. Cherie DeVille says people presume she was abused as a child just because she stars in porn. But actually, she grew up in an average, upper-middle-class family, and she was never molested.
Still, people have this idea embedded in their skulls, which negatively affects the porn star’s mental health. Porn stars can speak out about this issue. But they know most people will not believe what they will say. They will just brush the words off and pretend they heard nothing. Thus, porn stars choose to stay quiet.
Being Involved in Sex Work Causes Depression
Cherie DeVille says that porn does not cause any mental health disorder. However, she admits that working in porn can make pre-existing conditions worse. For instance, a person suffering from anxiety may grow more anxious because of the stigma surrounding porn. So contrary to popular belief, their mental health condition did not stem from porn itself.
Unfortunately, people fail to see this – not even therapists. When news about porn star August Anmes’ suicide broke in the past, her peers revealed some disheartening information. They say that when therapists learn what they do to make a living, they immediately conclude that that is the root of the problem. Therapists would say, “Oh! That’s why you are like that.” They throw the possibility that the actors may already be suffering from depression before they filmed their first porn out of the window. These therapists will advise the sex workers to leave the sex industry. They assume that it will solve everything. But then again, since participating in sex work isn’t the cause of the problem, nothing will change even if they follow the advice.
Since sex workers already know what people would say, they find speaking out just a waste of effort. Cherie DeVille says, “If we lose an eye, we see a doctor. But if our mental health suffers, we just keep on pushing.”
Double identity
We are all aware that the coronavirus did not threaten only our physical health. It has also caused mental health problems.
Claire DeVille says that she’s an extrovert – outgoing and loves human interaction. That is why she entered the world of porn. But the pandemic did not permit her to get close to other humans. She now shoots content alone in her hous, with only sex toys as compa. As a porn star who is already ostracized by the community around her, she felt even more isolated.
The interaction she’s getting comes from her fans. However, she cannot talk to them the way she wants to. For Cherie DeVille’s fans, she will always be this dirty stepmom – the character she plays in her scenes. Cherie writes that some porn stars’ personalities in real life are similar to the character they play on screen. But she’s not included in that group. In fact, she admits she’s not interested in stepson roleplay.
Before the pandemic hit, Cherie separated her two personalities. She played her role on set and lived as herself at home. However, her home is also her workplace now. So, she has no choice but to portray her character almost 100% of the time.
Cherie says she’s not the only one experiencing this. She cites that other porn stars who joined the industry when they were young are now successful and independent businesswomen. But when on camera, they have to pretend they are still the weak, clumsy women who depend on their “daddies” too much.
Cherie says that the divide between their persona and real identity could sometimes be jarring. This duality could increase mental health problems.
Again, porn or sex work itself is not the culprit here. It is the way their fans view them. It falls in line with the first two reasons discussed in this article. It has always been the people around the porn stars that cause them to experience mental health problems. Their inaccurate perceptions and misconceptions are the ones hurting these entertainers.
Cherie DeVille says that if the stigma surrounding porn stars’ mental health ends, her anxiety will decrease. She says that writing the article boosts her anxiety – probably afraid of what the readers would think of her. “Would they believe what I am saying? ” she might have thought. Still, she wrote it. She hopes her move will produce social changes that will allow sex workers to get the mental health care they deserve.
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