Porn is a medium where people can experience sexuality and reflect upon their own identity and experiences. But there is still much need for progress and a lot of room for improvement when it comes to queer and trans representation. We interviewed Valerie Paige, a non-binary trans performer on CrashPadSeries.com and producer of Black Swan Productions, on bringing visibility to post-op porn performers.

How long have you been working in porn, and what have your experiences been?

I’ve been doing porn for about three years and it’s been very challenging, being a non-binary trans woman. I briefly did some work within the trans porn scene, but wasn’t well received for the most part, given I was considered ‘unconventional’ by many consumers and producers (mostly straight cis men) who often have a preference for traditionally feminine trans women that have a more girl-next-door aesthetic. There’s very little tolerance for girls who break away from that aesthetic and the trans porn industry continues to enforce very rigid standards of how trans women are allowed to present themselves.

Did things change after SRS? (Sexual Reassignment Surgery, also called Gender Affirmation Surgery.) Were there any changes you anticipated?

After SRS, what little work I did have in the trans porn industry ceased immediately, due to post-op trans women being considered ‘unmarketable’. In addition, I lost most of the fans I had amassed. While I fully expected this, I’m nonetheless very disappointed. In my personal opinion, the rejection of post-op trans women, along with the lack of representation of trans men and non-binary folks in trans porn, highlights the fact that far too many care only about fetishizing pre-op or non-op trans female genitalia, and not being true allies as so many claim to be. And this, of course, upholds the very harmful practice of othering trans women from cis women, reducing trans women to a set of genitals, and remaining misinformed on trans issues and experiences in general.

What makes it possible to continue to work?

I ultimately found an audience in the queer porn scene, where audiences and producers tend to be queer, trans, female, and non-binary, and who are more open to various aesthetics, presentations, body types, etc.

My support among the queer porn industry and overall queer community has remained high. Between my continued work with CrashPad Series and the growing support for the work I do with my own company Black Swan Productions, I am able to continue doing porn, while also incorporating my art and activism. Furthermore, with the growing trend of performers/artists producing their own content, I’ve been reaching out to performers whom I want to work with, both trans porn and queer porn performers alike, as most of them being open to working with post-op trans women.

What are some obstacles post-op trans women have when working in porn? Are there any myths or assumptions about performers’ abilities, and are there any hiring blocks when applying?

The biggest obstacle for post-op trans female performers is the all too prevalent fixation with genitals: the straight cis male obsession with the whole ‘chick with a dick’ fantasy, to where trans women are reduced to a body part rather than embracing a woman for her overall being, presentation, personality, etc. I often hear from cis guys that if they ‘wanted pussy, they’d just go with cis women’. Once a trans woman has SRS, she’s seen as no longer being ‘exciting’ to most cis men (the primary consumers of trans porn), and she’s still seen as less than a cis woman, to where she’s more or less invalidated when it comes to porn.

What do you wish producers/co-stars would know when it comes to hiring a woman/non-binary performer post surgery?

The lack of overall post-op visibility makes things difficult for post-op folks who continue to be open about being trans. With so many post-op trans folks going stealth after SRS (and understandably so, given how dangerous being openly trans can be), there’s not much conversation regarding post-op issues in all sorts of matters, including porn, sexuality, healthcare, body positivity, acceptance, etc. I would love to see more producers and co-stars take a more proactive stance in supporting all trans people, regardless of anatomy. Producers in trans porn continue to label post-op trans women as unmarketable, but they do very little to ever promote post-op performers, even when it comes to those who were successful as pre-op or non-op performers.

What companies and websites are currently known to hire post-op trans women? What performers have you noticed working?

In trans porn, Grooby is the only company that has a site specifically for post-op trans women, but they typically only hire traditionally feminine, girl-next-door type of trans women; much like they do for all their other sites. As I mentioned before, the trans porn industry frowns upon trans women who don’t present as ultra femme and soft, and Grooby is the largest trans porn producers, usually acting as a sort of gatekeeper for all other companies in the scene.

For queer porn on the other hand, most companies and producers hire post-op trans women of all sorts, most notably CrashPadSeries.com, with whom I did my very first shoot after SRS.

I see very few openly post-op trans women doing porn; I know of a handful who successfully did porn before their SRS, but wound up retiring afterward. One currently active performer I’ll mention is Stella Vayne, with whom I will be doing a post-op lesbian scene for Black Swan Productions. I also know of Holly Parker who produces a lot of content for her Only Fans page.

Where do performers go to find work? Do you have any tips for viewers (search terms, etc) who are either actively seeking or who simply don’t mind either way to know where they might watch post-op performers, thus supporting and normalizing post-op trans women in porn?

Though finding work with larger companies remains bleak, I feel it can be possible for post-op performers to succeed, given the rise of model-produced content sites such as ManyVids, Only Fans, Amateur Porn, etc, along the queer porn industry’s acceptance of post-op performers. To build a space for post-op trans women, it will take a combination of hard work and dedication to build a brand and create visibility, as well as teamwork and openness on the part of co-workers outside of the post-op trans demographic. I also encourage post-op performers to hashtag their work as #postopporn, as a means of making it more accessible to audiences; visibility is absolutely vital to normalizing post-op trans female porn.

NORMALIZE POST OP TRANS GIRLS IN PORN
NORMALIZE POST OP TRANS GIRLS IN PORN
NORMALIZE POST OP TRANS GIRLS IN PORN
NORMALIZE POST OP TRANS GIRLS IN PORN
NORMALIZE POST OP TRANS GIRLS IN PORN
NORMALIZE POST OP TRANS GIRLS IN PORN
NORMALIZE POST OP TRANS GIRLS IN PORN

— Valerie Paige (@MsValeriePaige) December 10, 2019

What will it take to normalize post-op trans women in porn?

I think the most important way for us to build a scene in porn will be to increase our visibility. While I fully understand the appeal of going stealth after SRS, and I certainly don’t judge anyone who goes that route, it’s important to have more post-op folks continue to be open about being trans. This will of course, be more feasible for those living in more accepting areas, such as the Bay Area, Seattle, Los Angeles, etc, where we can use our geographic privilege to be visible for our community.

Finally, the understanding that straight cis men are not the only people who consume porn will do wonders in terms of creating a space for all sorts of performers, including: post-op trans women, trans masculine folks, non-binary folks, older performers, disabled performers, POC performers, performers outside of the HWP body type, etc. As long as companies continue to cater solely to the perceived interest of straight cis men, so many beautiful performers will continue to be left out, and so many queer, female, POC, trans, and non-binary consumers will continue to be discouraged at not seeing someone who they can identify with on camera.

Thank you Valerie for this important interview. Follow @MsValeriePaige and her own productions with Black Swan Productions on Twitter, and watch her CrashPad episodes here. (Any sign-ups through her performer page earn her 40% commission.)

Encouraged by Valerie’s hashtag and in the interest of normalizing and also showing that post-op trans women and non-binary performers in porn are absolutely hot, we’ve tagged about a dozen of these scenes so that they can be searched by the phrase PostOpPorn. Thanks for supporting queer and trans-made porn, and for encouraging more!