After six years of flirting, Q-Tip and Kenzi Eris finally hooked up! After, they discuss getting back to better-than-normal, how good quarantine has been (for pets), and surprise at just how big CrashPad’s audience is.

How did you enjoy the shoot today?

It was great! It was fun. We’ve…been flirting for six years and we finally got to play.
I’m excited. That was good. How did you enjoy the shoot?

It was fun. It was fantastic. It was a reason for me to get dressed up. Because of quarantine I am an “essential worker” but my job actually has me in a uniform so I haven’t worn anything like that there’s been no place to go out, there’s been no reason to dress up. I have a bunch of nice clothes in my closet, and they sit there. So now, that was a really good reason for me to dress up. And finally. Finally we fucking hook up!

Okay. Yup! That was pretty good…

What was challenging for you?

Um, I’m so out of shape. The level I think we both like fucking at after the quarantine, I’m like “argh” I cannot continue this for as long as I used to be able to
– Same. Same.

My stamina is trash.
Like, phew! I’m out of breath!

That was challenging!

I was like whaaaaaat?…

I think we both like fucking fairly vigorously sometimes.

Just gotta get back to the gym

When I moved to the East Bay I’m not in the hills anymore so I don’t have the ‘walk up the hills daily’ So… I miss it.

Cardio…

What are your safer sex practices and why?

Testing every three months for all of the things. Most of the sex I do isn’t fluid. I do a lot of kink so that, in a way, is safer on it’s own. For any genital to genital contact, condoms, gloves and, oral depends like a discussion of what the other person’s practices are. So I guess they’re not…as much a set – specific set – as much as being aware of the risk factors and discussing with the people like, what have your risk factors been lately? It’s been the pandemic. I’ve only been having sex with one person. Etcetera…

Yeah. That is definitely… the pandemic has helped narrow the scope ho life has been slow life and that’s been killing me, my practices are generally kind of the same in that generally I like barriers for, you know, oral any of the toys or anything like that but it’s also because I’m lazy and it’s easy clean up.

It’s easier, yeah. It’s much easier, just like take it off, meh! toss it aside and pass out. But it also depends on the person I’m with, their risk factors, my risk factors, what other parameters they have in their lives as well, like other partners and what their requirements are, it kind of varies, but generally speaking gloves, condoms, changing them between people, that sort of thing

You said barriers, do you usually do dental dams?

Oh, cocks. With the cocks. I am not… I’m not talented enough to do oral on a vulva with a dental dam

Supposedly Saran Wrap’s better, but yeah

It’s a very Bay Area thing where most people have HSV* [*Herpes Simplex Virus i.e. HSV-1 or HSV-2]

I have a bunch of partners with it this is a risk factor, it’s the main one I’m going to worry about.
Which is the testing part of that for me so if the testing is fine then we’re good, otherwise then I will use dental dam barrier, whatever, if it was anonymous sex it’d be a little different

If it’s anonymous sex, I don’t think I’m going down on them.
Yeah?

I mean, I’m a ho but I got standards.

It’s been a decade or so Pre-transition I had a different type of ho though.

(Q claps)

Why do you continue to do porn?

The same reason I started, being a person of size, person of color, queer…masculine of center human. I used to work for a porn company on the distribution end and there was never anything in all the stuff I looked at that was me or any of the people I cared about or was with reflected in a positive manner so that’s why I started, It’s been kind of a….I keep doing it because why not? I get to fuck my friends and get paid for it.

And I still have those moments when people come to me or meet me somewhere or reach out to me and they’re like “I saw you on CrashPad” and I’m like… Oh god. People actually watch it.

Yeah, I was surprised how many people watched it.

When my first scene got featured in [Autostraddle’s] Lesbo SexySunday

THREE TIMES!
(Q Claps)

I’m just like “Oh God!” I think the editor has a crush on one of the two of us.

It’s a worthy crush.

For me, it’s fun. And as you said, representation.

As a trans woman, most of the porn out there is like…”tranny” topping porn of a very specific sort so it’s nice to see something else.

Our friends are sex workers. it’s fun to fuck them on camera. I like an audience! Honestly, 90% is vanity. I do appreciate a good audience.

Whereas I’m like… I’m just going to pretend like this never happened.

Oh, it’s terrifying. Cameras terrify me. But, the idea of the audience…balances that.

We are definitely on opposite ends. I love doing this. It makes me happy. It’s fun.
And there’s also still that part of me that’s just like…”Porn. I does it. And it’s out there and peoples sees it.”

I like to help normalize it.

My main job is not sex work. I can be like, No, I’m a professional. I also do porn. And if anyone has a problem with that take it up with me.

(Shine Louise Houston, off camera) What has been the best thing about quarantine?

Phew…man….Best thing about quarantine. My cats have loved it. For them, they think it’s the best thing ever.

All pets are like…

For pets, they’re just like “Quarantine is GREAT!”

I think…I’m hoping we’ll see that it’s a bit of societal reset that maybe we don’t fall back into all of the same norms

Everyone’s like, “I want everything to get back to normal”

I’m like, I want everything to get back to better than normal.

So. I don’t know..
– You’re ambitious, I love you for that.

You’ve got a big heart.

Well I know plenty of people who don’t do well in a typical office setting and for companies to have to have been remote and understand

that hey, you could support more diverse people with a more flexible work environment.

Had people working from home with kids now suddenly their childcare situation’s much easier they can work from home regularly.

the biggest thing for me, the best thing about quarantine has been

I was not made at the slowing down of life. I was constantly busy for one reason or the other. Between work and social engagements… and things like that to have it all just sort of stop at first it was just like “Oh no!” And then it was like “Oh… yeah!”

I’m 43.

A little slowdown probably isn’t the worse sometimes.

I’ve spent… uh… I’ve got a new roommate at the beginning of COVID. We moved in barely knowing each other. This could have been U-G-L-Y.

I’ve seen it go bad, yes.

But we bonded quite nicely. And so we spent the quarantine times fixing up the house. Making space for having folks over. We started having people come over and hang out in the backyard. And I set up chairs, socially distanced apart. A little fire… Social life is getting a little more intentional through quarantine… And extra bonding time with partners in the pod.

Rather than run around trying to do fifty things

I think the best thing actually for me was that…I realized during quarantine that I chose well. That I chose… That my friends are actually people I want to be around. If I’m going to be stuck on an island, these are my – I made good choices.

That’s the biggest thing, I think, for a lot of people. They’ve double-downed on who they actually like.

And want to spend time with. And have no patience for those they don’t.

Yeah.