Pornography and the Trans Community

Before we get serious, I thought I would start with a joke, “What is the difference between erotica and pornography? Erotica is using a feather; pornography is using the whole chicken".

And who said it? Woody Allen, and this joke is widely considered to be a brilliant, classic piece of comedy writing.

However, given that you now know who said it, and the alleged accusations made against them, do you still think it is funny, or does knowing, assuming you didn’t know before, who said it, alter how you responded to it.

And that perhaps raises a more general point, can you, separate the creator from their works, and loyal listeners may already be ahead of me.

A certain author of wizardry related stories, has made comments that I, as a trans woman, have found objectionable, so can one still enjoy Harry Potter if trans or nonbinary?

I didn’t watch the films when they came out, I don’t know why, but recently I binge watched all eight films on Netflix, and the that fact that Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, have all come out publicly supporting trans people, was certainly a factor in my decision to watch them.

Would I read the books though?

Well, no, a bit too close to their creator, so can one separate the creator from their works?

I suppose it depends, I would say there is a difference between the thoughts of their creator, and their actions or alleged actions.

I could watch the Harry Potter films, but I am not sure I’m inclined to watch a Woody Allen film again.

Welcome to “Trans Wise Trans Strong”, I am Carolyne O’Reilly.

Episode twenty-six, “Pornography and the Trans Community”

But how old is pornography, whether pictorial or written, well according to Aegeus - Society for Aegean Prehistory, the world’s oldest pornographic images are the Kangjiashimenji Petroglyphs, which are bas-relief carvings on a massive red-basalt out crop.

The Kangjiashimenji Petroglyphs are found in the Xinjiang region of northwest China, and are at least 3,000 years old, and this artwork include some of the earliest very graphic depictions of copulation in the world.

Moving forward to the first century of the Common Era, we come to the Pompeii mosaics and frescoes, which viewed from the twenty-first century do feel rather pornographic, but would the Roman’s have considered them so, I suppose it depends on your perspective.

As for the earliest examples of pornography in the written form, there is “I Mondi”, published around 1524, and is a book of explicit engravings by Marcantonio Raimondi, with sixteen accompanying equally explicit Sonnets by Giulio Romano.

And the following decade Giulio Romano published “Ragionamenti”, around 1534 to 1536, which is written in prose and has Roman sex workers revealing to each other the moral failings of many important men of Rome.

Then from the eighteenth century is, “Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure”, published in 1748 by John Cleland, which is the first example of prose pornography in English, and is about the life of Fanny Hill who arrives in London and becomes a sex worker.

Although I said this was the first prose example in English of pornographic writing, that is perhaps a bit unfair, and describing it as erotica might be more accurate, and again whether pornographic or erotic depends on your perspective.

And the perspective of the Director of Public Prosecutions in 1960, was that, “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” by DH Lawerence, published by Penguin Books, was pornographic, as they prosecuted Penguin Books under the Obscene Publications Act 1959.

And what was the out come of the trial?

In the case of Regina v Penguin Books Ltd, Penguin books where acquitted by a unanimous not-guilty verdict on the 2nd of November 1960, which demonstrated that a book's literary value outweighs any accusations of obscenity.

And there is one aspect of the trial that illustrates how out of touch the establishment was with society, the prosecuting counsel Mervyn Griffith-Jones at one point asked of the jury, "Is it a book that you would even wish your wife or servants to read?”, so sexist and classist, how lovely!

And the following decade would see who is considered to be the first transgender adult entertainment performer, Ajita Wilson, who in the mid-seventies had gender affirming surgery, and worked in adult films in New York, and crossed over into softcore European films in 1978.

She would continue to work in softcore and hardcore films, but tragically in 1987 she was involved in a car accident, and died of a brain haemorrhage aged just 37.

Another early prominent transgender performer was Jill Monro, who, was active during the so called Golden Age of Porn, which was from 1969 to 1984, and Jill is one of the first openly transgender stars in the adult film industry, and also like Ajita, died in her thirties, of a drug overdose on the 10th of August 1982 in California.

And lastly there is Sulka, who is considered to be one of the first trans women to explicitly appear on film before having her gender affirming surgery, and this set the precedent for the early aesthetics of the modern genre.

However, Sulka did have her gender affirming surgery and this was featured in the 1981 film, “The Transformation of Sulka”, and Sulka is still with us.

And coming up to date the genre of adult entertainment that is most popular is lesbian, with transgender often ranked second, and Out magazine examined Pornhub’s 2026 annual statistics for Transgender Day of Visibility.

TDoV was founded by Rachel Crandall Crocker in 2009, and is on the 31st of March, and perhaps one can think of it as the sunny Yang compliment, to the shady Yin of the Transgender Day of Remembrance on the 20th of November.

Pornhub found that many transgender adult entertainers had a record number of viewership in 2026, with Emma Rose holding the top spot, followed by Eva Maxim, Ariel Demure, and Daisy Taylor completing the top four.

The top most searched term was “trans” and the next four most researched terms all featured the word “transgender”.

The country that watched the most erotic transgender content was Italy, this was the second year in a row that Italy held this top spot, followed by Uruguay, my country the United Kingdom, was third, then there was Brazil, and Puerto Rico.

As for which age group watched the most transgender videos, it was the Baby Boomer Generation, which is mine and are people born between 1946 to 1964, and have I watched adult transgender material, that would be a, yes.

And in many, the transgender actresses are portrayed in a positive way, and such is the porosity of positive representation of trans women, it says something that it was in adult entertainment that I found positivity.

Do I still view porn, no, when I began my Gender Affirming Hormone Therapy, I decided to avoid it, and after about a month, I could no longer see what the appeal was.

Looking at the 30 names on Pornhub’s list of “The Most Viewed Transgender Performers”, I am not sure if there is a single trans male performer, which is reflective of adult entertainment performers, where trans female performers far outrank trans male ones.

And this disparity between trans female and trans male, can be seen for example in news coverage, which quite often starts by talking about transgender this and transgender that, but it soon becomes clear that the focus is towards trans female people.

Therefore I would like to highlight Buck Angel, a former and considered to be the first prominent, trans male adult entertainer, who in 2007 won the Adult Video News, the AVN Award for Transsexual Performer, and adapting to the evolution of terminology, this award is now called the AVN Award for Transgender Performer.

And this change from transsexual to transgender, is reflective of how language evolves, as transsexual is now considered a stigmatising term, and of the winners of an AVN Award for Transgender Performer, from their start in 2004, Buck is the only trans male winner.

If you are listening to this episode on its transcript page on the website supporting this podcast at www.twts.co.uk, you will see a link to the Buck Angel WikipediA page where you can see a photograph of Buck.

And according to the Supreme Court ruling in April 2025, in the case brought by For Women Scotland, a person must now use facilities inline with the sex they were assigned at birth.

I wonder how a member of “For Women Scotland” would react if they were using a women’s toilet and Buck, rocked up to use the same facility, which according to this ruling they where entitled to do so.

Buck was born in the same year I was, 1962, on the 5th of June, and now is an advocate and sex educator, and served on the board of directors of the Woodhull Freedom Foundation, which advocates for sexual freedom as a fundamental human right and was founded in 2003.

At school Buck was bullied for their gender non-conformity and used alcohol and marijuana as a coping mechanism for their psychological distress, and made many suicide attempts, which tragically still happens within the trans and nonbinary communities today.

The Suicide Prevention UK website, has an article where they detail Stonewall’s findings for attempted suicide among trans people.

They found that 48% of trans people in the UK have attempted suicide at least once, and the figure for how many have considered suicide, and having repeated thoughts of self-harm is 84%.

And shocking as these figures are, what is more shocking was that the rate of suicide attempts among young transgender and nonbinary people was more than double that of cisgender young people.

And following the Cass Report, published two years ago, and the NHS virtual ban on puberty blockers for young trans and nonbinary people, I do not foresee that this figure will improve and I fear may increase.

And what is the opinion about prescribing puberty blockers for young people outside the UK?

The American Academy of Paediatrics and Endocrine Society, have stated that anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts can be significantly reduced by the appropriate use of puberty blockers.

But back to Buck, they eventually found a therapist who understood that they were transgender, and together they found an endocrinologist, who although worked with trans women would helped Buck, and then aged 28, they embarked on their transition journey.

And over a 6 month period their endocrinologist experimented with different doses of testosterone, until they found the correct dosage which was 1 millilitre of testosterone every 10 days.

Buck would go on to have Top surgery, which is a double mastectomy, and in 2011 had a hysterectomy, but has not had phalloplasty surgery as they felt that the current medical state of the art did not meet their needs.

And if you would like to learn more about phalloplasty surgery, you may be interested in the episode, Transition: Medical if Trans Male.

Whilst they were working in adult entertainment, Buck formed their own production company, “Buck Angel Entertainment”.

And back to, “The Most Viewed Transgender Performer”, Emma Rose, who transitioned in 2017, she has won multiple adult entertainer awards, and speaks out about the fetishisation of trans women in the media.

And what is the core aspect of transgender fetishisation, I would suggest it is the dichotomy of a female or male body with the external genitalia of the opposite gender.

And this dichotomy extends to the viewers of female transgender performers.

For trans female adult content, the overwhelming majority of viewers are straight cisgender men, who I am sure would have zero interest in a male body with male external genitalia, but are turned on by a female body with male external genitalia!

So why is this, well I would say they were reacting to them as women, the majority of trans female performers have long hair, breasts development and a professional level of make-up, so watchers of trans female adult performers are more accepting of them as women, than say, the Supreme Court.

But what of Emma Rose’s concern about fetishisation of trans women in the media, well even now in mainstream media there is a degree of othering of trans people.

And what about in adult entertainment, are viewers of trans female performers in adult films objectifying them, I would say to a degree yes, as the viewing figures for a trans female performer after they have had vaginoplasty surgery is much lower than before.

And there is pressure within the adult entertainment industry to delay gender affirming surgery, which could cause psychological stress, if the performer wants to have their vaginoplasty surgery.

That’s said, Emma Rose has had an orchiectomy, which is the surgical removal of the testes, which she did for aesthetic and personal reasons.

However, there are some transgender adult performers who have had their gender affirming surgery, such as Vicki Ritchter, who won the AVN Award for Transgender Performer in 2005, and had her gender affirming surgery in 2000.

This was perhaps later than she may have wished, as it was delayed due to contractual obligations, Vicki no longer works in the industry.

Another adult transgender performer who was nominated for an AVN Award for Transgender Performer in 2005 and 2007 is Danielle Foxxx, and she had her surgery in 2008.

I know from personal experience, the positive psychological benefit I experienced after having my gender affirming surgery, that finally aligned my physiology to my gender.

And as the title of this episode is, “Pornography and the Trans Community”, I would like to conclude with ten aspects that transgender pornography impacts the trans community, and not all are negative, and lets start with financial.

A transgender performer can earn a reasonable income, which in countries where gender affirming surgery is not available free of charge, as it is here in the United Kingdom on the NHS, could pay for their surgery.

Also, the working environment may well be less toxic, as I am aware that trans and nonbinary people can experience a degree of transphobia in, how shall we phrase it, a more conventional working environment.

However, there is a degree of hyper-sexualisation, where performers could potentially be objectified, being viewed as a sexual fetish, and this could lead to a distorted view of a trans person’s body, and could present risks when a straight trans woman is dating.

That said, cisgender women could equally face danger based on again a distorted view of cisgender women, that some forms of cisgender pornography promote.

I noted that one of the AVN awards is now titled for Transgender Performer, and within the adult entertainment Industry, terminology is improving, for example Pornhub, a major platform for adult entertainment, now uses the term, “Trans”, when referring to transgender performers and performance.

And a network such as “Adult Time”, is systematically removing transphobic labels and outdated metadata across their back catalogue of tens of thousands of legacy videos.

However outside the world of adult entertainment, glaad has a Fact Sheet, detailing for example how derogatory terms are used by opponents of transgender rights, including politicians and right-wing media.

Earlier I mentioned Pornhub’s Annual Statistics for Transgender Day of Visibility, and compared with mainstream media, there is a far greater level of transgender visibility in adult entertainment.

And it says something that when I was looking for trans representation, it was virtually only with adult entertainment that I found it, that said, for the next episode I will examining trans representation on television, and I suspect there will be a porosity from the twentieth century.

However, given the purpose of adult entertainment, there is the danger of stereotyping trans people, that said by accepting who they are, does afford some degree of affirmation for adult trans performers.

As with non adult performance, there is a risk of stalkers, and unwanted attention by those who have a distorted view of the performers, and this distorted view of what it means to be transgender could extend to transgender people in general.

I said that transgender adult performers could earn a reasonable income, however financial institutions and payment processors frequently demonstrate a prejudice towards adult entertainment accounts, citing, "reputational risk”.

So that would be highly reputable companies like, “Lehman Brothers”, would it.

Again as mentioned, the requirements of the industry not to have gender affirming surgery could exacerbate feelings of gender incongruence, and in the wider world there is transphobia, and some transphobes, knowledge of the existence of transgender adult entertainment, could equally exacerbate their irrational views.

And whilst adult transgender performers may start working for a studio, there are moves that some make to become creator producers, and perhaps produce content that may be more beneficial in terms of trans representation.

For example, Gia Darling as well as being a transgender adult performer, also has an adult-film production company, “Gia Darling Entertainment”, and in fact some creators are supportive of charities that promote a positive attitude towards transgender people.

So does transgender adult entertainment have a positive or negative impact on the trans community?

Given that for example Pornhub and Adult Time are now using terminology that is respectful of trans people, and that some adult transgender performer are also producers, and compared to main stream media, trans people are very visible.

And that some of the terminology used by main stream media, post that Supreme Court ruling, when discussing trans people, feels like a throw back to the 1970’s, on balance I would give a cautious nod to positive.

After all what is adult transgender entertainment, consenting adults having sex in a variety of interesting ways for viewing pleasure.

And as ever, if you know anyone who you think might be interested in this podcast, please point them this way.

This episode was written and presented by me, Carolyne O’Reilly, thank you for listening.

Next time, “Celebrating Trans on Television”