So You Think You Can Porn? Jessica Drake & Navigating The Adult Film+ Industry

Episode Transcript
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Annette Benedetti (00:03):
Hi, this is Annette Benedetti, your hostess
for a locker room talk and shots, the podcast that likes to
think of itself as the queer NPRof raunchy women's sex talk.
You are about to sit in on thekind of conversations women have
on their girls' nights out orbehind closed doors, while
enjoying delicious drinks anddishing about sex, think, fun,

(00:26):
honest and feminist as fuck, andalways with the goal of
fighting the patriarchy.
One orgasm at a time.
Welcome to the locker room.
Today's locker room talk andshots topic is so you Think you

(00:46):
Can?
Porn navigating the adultindustry with award-winning
adult performer and sex expert,jessica Drake.
Now, you guys all know I've longhad dreams of starring in porn
and more recently those dreamshave been reignited by the hump
film festival.

(01:07):
I'm like I want to write ascript, maybe start it a little
bit, but I'm not gonna lie, I amnowhere near taking that leap,
and a lot of the reason aroundit is well, lack of knowledge,
also being really still plaguedby some of the stigma around the
idea of doing something likethat and just a lot of

(01:28):
misinformation.
Well, lucky for me and you, Ihave literally the best guest I
could have on today to fill someof that information gap in for
me to help you know, talk to thedisinformation out there and
also maybe give me tips so thatperhaps one day I can fulfill

(01:50):
this goal on my sex bucket list.
My guest today is Jessica Drake.
She is a certified sex educator, a multi-award-winning adult
performer.
She was named 2017's sexpert ofthe year by ex-biz and trained
by San Francisco Sex Information, and is a member of the

(02:12):
American Association ofSexuality Educators, counselors
and Therapists.
Jessica works withorganizations and universities
to foster sex positive attitudesand behaviors, with the goal of
de-shaming and embracing humansexuality.
Now, that's my kind of woman.
Right there, jessica, I wouldlove for you to take a moment as

(02:32):
if many of my listeners don'talready know who you are to tell
everybody a lot more about you.

Jessica Drake (02:40):
Well, thank you first of all for the amazing
introduction.
As y'all might have heard, myname is Jessica Drake.
I have been in the adultindustry for more than 20 years
right at this point I mean 2022.
And I'm originally from Texas.
There's a really interestingbackstory as to how I got into

(03:00):
the business and over the yearsespecially over the past maybe
10 or 12 years my career hasreally taken a completely
different trajectory than I everimagined that it would.
I'm really happy to be heretoday and talk about all of that
and also share with you someother things that I have going

(03:22):
on that don't have anything atall to do with porn, so thank
you for having me.

Thank you for being here Now.
Listeners, you want to stay tothe end if you are all
interested, like I am, inperhaps dipping your toe in the
water of getting into the adultindustry.
Jessica is going to give ussome great tips and kind of help
us take those next steps.
So you're going to want to stayto the end when you will get

(03:49):
the takeaways you get every weekthat you can start implementing
in your life and career today.
So Jessica, let's raise ourglasses and get ready to talk
about porn.
Let's talk about porn, let's doit.
So I just want to jump right inwith your story how you got

(04:10):
into the porn industry and whatthat looked like for you.

Yeah, so it's not anything that I ever imagined
that I would be doing, and Ithink part of that reason is the
massive stigma that goes alongwith the adult industry, all the
stereotypes that people have,all of the preconceived notions

(04:36):
they have of what being in pornis or what being a sex worker is
.
I mean, I had them myself inthe beginning and it's really
interesting.
I come from East Texas.
I was raised veryconservatively.
I was raised Jehovah's Witnessas well.
I had abstinence, only sexeducation, barely.

(04:58):
You know.
I had a lot of misinformationtaught to me about sex, or no
information, and a lot of fearbased stuff.
So I found myself leaving homeat a younger age because of how
repressive it was, and I've beena lot more forthcoming about

(05:19):
this lately in the past fewyears.
But look, the reality is I wasan underage stripper in Texas
and I continued being a stripperand I decided I needed to go to
college, not because I was surethat I knew what I wanted to do
, but just because I thought itwas the thing to do.
So I was going to college.

(05:41):
I was probably about 24, 25 bythis time.
So I had a whole life alreadydancing, going to school and
working other jobs, and I workedat a club that had feature
entertainers and a featureentertainer is a performer who
comes through, usually works twoor three days, only on the

(06:03):
weekends, does big theme shows,gets paid really great money to
do that and they just travel.
Many of them have magazinecredits or movie credits or
mainstream credits of some sort.
So I got it in my head that Iwanted to be a feature dancer.
I already had the really bigshows and the really big
costumes, already supercomfortable on stage, contacted

(06:25):
a dance agency.
They sent some people out tomeet me and little did I know
that those people had ties tothe adult industry here in
California and my firstimpression was, no, there's no
way I could ever do that.
But I ended up being friendswith these people.
So it was a couple, a husbandand wife couple.

(06:47):
He was the director, she was anactress.
Also, they had other people outin Texas with them a
photographer, a makeup artist,other people in their crew and I
was like, wow, you know, thesepeople are amazing.
They became my friends.
I came out to LA a few times tospend time with them and I think
a pivotal moment for me waswhen they took me onto the set

(07:10):
of an adult movie.
And I will never forget, like Iwas a Jill Kelly fan back then
and it was, it was a Jill Kellymovie and they took me onto the
set and they made me the condomand lube person.
So I was standing like I don'tknow 15, 20 feet away from one

(07:32):
of my sex idols and they werehaving sex and my mind was blown
and it was my responsibility togive them condoms when they
needed them and offer lube andlike go run and get the water
and baby wipes and paper towels.
And I mean it sounds reallyfunny to say it now and also a

(07:53):
bit surreal when I think aboutwhere I came from versus then
and what I saw versus where I amtoday.
But like I was thrilled, it wasthe time of my life and of
course I left that set going.
Oh, it's nothing like I thoughtit was, you know.
So I kept coming out here to LAfrom Texas and I started

(08:16):
dabbling in adult work.
So I did a few magazines, did alittle like HBO, skin and max
type stuff, girl in bikini,number four.
And then, you know, we weresitting around talking one day
and they said do you want to doa movie?
And I said yes, and it justsort of popped out of where I
knew, like what I said, and theywent whoa, because they were

(08:38):
kind of kidding.
They were like are you sure?
And I said yeah, and thebiggest takeaway that I want
anyone listening to this to haveis that this awesome group of
people that I met that I spentlike probably a year with before
I decided to take the plunge,before they shot me in a movie,

(09:00):
they said listen, we have totell you something.
This can be amazing.
You can have the time of yourlife like.
You can make a ton of money,you can meet people, travel, you
know, do, do all the things,get all the attention like, feel
awesome, but it will alwayshaunt you.
And I didn't quite know whatthey meant, but I definitely

(09:23):
took those words into some kindof consideration.
They told me that it willforever change the way that some
people think about me and I'velived that again and again and
again.
But that speaks to the stigma,which we can expand on later.
But in a nutshell, that is howI came to be sitting at this

(09:46):
desk now, all these years later,and it has been an absolute
adventure.

I just love that your story is going from
condom and lube girl to sexexpert.
I mean a sex educator, a sexexpert like this award winning,
like well respected performerand and someone who really is

(10:16):
helping guide people in havinghealthier, better sex.
You know, I think that'sincredible.
Do you ever think back to thosecondom and lube days and just I
can't, yeah, and I also think,wow, what an easier time.
You just had to hand them thelube and the kind you know.

(10:37):
I think women we kind of knowwhen it's time for that change.
Yeah, again, there's a lot ofstigma about women who get into
porn being just these, reallybroken down women who are lured
into porn and doing things theydon't want to.
Can you speak to that sort ofvision that is created around

(11:02):
women and porn and yourexperience going into porn?

Yeah, I think that it's really important to
acknowledge that I can onlyspeak from my own lived
experience and and also though alot of the things that I've
seen over the years, because youknow the performer pool at
times, especially pre COVID, was, it felt, a great deal smaller

(11:31):
and to some degree a bit siloed.
I can say that with greatcertainty that, as a performer
and a director, I have never norhave I seen anyone who was not
here of their own accord and I'mnot saying that that doesn't

(11:53):
happen.
Being a sex worker at all.
I'm saying this is not anythingthat I've personally seen.
I mean, you heard the story.
I really came into thisgradually but then absolutely
made a very informed decisionwhen I decided to do it.

(12:16):
But there are a lot of otherstigmas that go along with being
an adult performer.
I think one of the mostpervasive well, they're all
super bad actually.
They're all broken, we're alldamaged, we're all abused, we're
all either addicted to drugs oralcohol or both.

(12:36):
And I think I think that if wezoom out and we take a look at
the bigger picture and not justhold the adult industry under a
microscope, particularly lately,right maybe the last five plus
years, as a society, we'rebecoming more and more

(12:57):
comfortable acknowledging andtalking about mental health
issues and trauma, and I don'tthink it's fair to say that
everyone in the adult industryis damaged or, you know, has and
this is one of my pet peeveshas daddy issues like, yes,
let's blame the person on thefather's failure, like, oh, but

(13:19):
I just don't think that that's.
I think it's a very broadgeneralization.
And also in the beginning of mystory as to how I got here, I
disclosed that I was raisedreally strict, grew up Jehovah's
Witness and left home at anearly age and became an underage
stripper.
So you know, to some degreeSome things are true, but I

(13:42):
don't think that they'respecific to our industry.
Another thing that really getsme, and I don't know why, this
is still surprising to me but ifI disclose to someone that I'm
in the adult industry, theythink that I am just having sex
with everybody all the time, andthat couldn't be further from
the truth, because if anythingbeing in the adult industry has

(14:04):
made me incredibly selectiveabout the people that I have sex
with and sometimes I'm justhappy to have sex with myself,
quite honestly.
And then I'll get super serioushere for a second and say that
some of the most damaging thingsthat are happening with adult

(14:28):
performers right now is thisongoing discussion where folks
are conflating human traffickingwith consensual sex work, and
it just keeps on happening andit presents itself with things
like harmful legislation beingpassed under the guise of

(14:48):
stopping human trafficking.
That's how we ended up withCesta Fosta, which is awful for
all parties involved and thesethings.
It's not sex work that is thedanger here.
It's the way that sex workersare treated Like we're
disposable, like people havesaid in court police inside, we

(15:13):
can't rape or prostitute.
I think it's theft of serviceswas the quote.
They don't recognize us asvaluable human lives and that's
why we're seeing the loss of somany sex workers, particularly
black, trans sex workers, and Ireally think that we need to
think about what the stereotypeis really doing to people.

(15:36):
I've also had friends,especially lately because I
don't know what's going on withthe banking, but it's getting
increasingly worse.
There is banking discriminationright straight across the board
with performers, with sexworkers.
I have someone that I know whohad their Wells Fargo account

(15:58):
canceled, their business accountcorporate account canceled last
week with over $40,000 or$50,000 in it.
The bank offered no explanationand said it could take up to
six weeks to get their money forno reason.
Chase has a reputation fordoing that as well.
It's just very pervasive, thestigma and it's in all parts of

(16:20):
our lives.
It's a really big deal.

Right and without the stigma and without
that type of discrimination,you're going to see people
thrive at their profession.
And when more credit is givento you and prestige is given to
a profession, the more powerthat is held within that

(16:42):
profession and when you areempowered, you're less likely to
end up being hurt, raped, putinto dangerous situations.
So yeah, I mean certainly onthe show and in my community we
are very pro sex worker.
It's a legitimate professionand I think the people I know

(17:04):
that are in it are just reallyamazing, intelligent and
empowered people.
So I am curious about yourjourney through working in the
adult industry.
But how do you think itaffected your growth as a person
, how you viewed the worldaround you and people?

That's a great one.
So I would say, initially,getting into the adult industry,
I became very critical ofmyself because I came into porn,
in.
I think I did my first movie atthe very end of 99, the
beginning of 2000.

(17:50):
So I mean, imagine societalbeauty standards now, what skin
as far as beauty trends and likebody type and all that.
Well, back then it was reallydifferent and I was sort of
served up this idea of what sexshould look like and what porn

(18:12):
should look like and what a pornstar looks like.
And to some degree I conformed,because that's what you do when
you get in you want to fit in.
And I think, coming into theindustry not at 18 or 19 or 20
or 21, 23, I think I think I wasable to bring with me some

(18:38):
comfortability with my body andsome knowledge and already a bit
of exploration that I wouldn'thave had if I would have come in
younger.
But still, I was superconscious about seeing myself
have sex on camera for the firsttime.
So I watched that first movieand so my brain did two things
at the same time.

(18:58):
I was thinking, oh, my gosh,this is so hot.
Simultaneously I was like, oh,what face am I making?
Why are those folds in the sideof my body?
Like, oh, is that, is that aorgasm?
Face, like, don't do that again.
Like it was.

(19:19):
But then I was like, oh, it'sso hot, so sexy, you know.
Like, oh, I'm having good sex.
But then, watching it, it justdid a number on me.
It really did.
And so it became a problem.
For a number of months actually,I would watch a scene and like
be so hard on myself andcritique myself and make notes
for next time, you know, until Ifound that I wasn't enjoying

(19:40):
having sex on camera as much andluckily I had the presence of
mind to be like, oh yeah, youcan't watch yourself anymore,
you're grounded from watchingyour scenes.
So I was able to do that.
And then, like later on, now,when I watch scenes that I do or
content that I create, Istrictly enjoy it.
But it was definitely aprogression of time, it was a

(20:05):
comfortability, it was therapytoo, you know.
It was the knowledge that weall have the same concerns and
figuring out what we like andwhat works for our bodies, and I
think that's what reallychanged things for me.
The other thing that Warren didthat I imagine I already sort

(20:25):
of had from leaving home earlyand being a dancer at a very
young age gave me a very thickskin, made me not care very much
what people thought of me,although I did waste some time,
and they're really caring whatpeople thought of me, but it
helps with all of that too.
It made me very, I would say,creative, made me look at things

(20:52):
from a lot of different ways asI morphed from being just a
performer to a writer and adirector before I got into the
sex education side of what I do.
I just became so creativebecause I had absorbed
everything that I had seen inporn like a sponge.
I was never just sitting on setwaiting to do a scene.

(21:16):
I was always talking toeveryone or helping out or
helping the lighting guys orjust wanting to be a bigger part
of what I was doing.
So that was really cool.
I definitely wouldn't say I wasself-taught, but I took the
initiative to learn from all thepeople around me and the

(21:36):
creativity that it fostered inme definitely led to some really
big cool things andopportunities.
So they've poured into a lotfor me really.

Yeah, how cool.
So then you went into writingand directing and what like?
Sex is such a rich topic forgetting creative, and especially
writing and getting to create ascript and a film and direct it
.
That's amazing, like what adream job.
So, on that note, am I correctin saying that you are about my

(22:14):
age, in your later 40s?

Yes, my birthday is October the 14th, very soon.

And folks, you should head over to YouTube
in case and watch this onYouTube, because you know I get
a lot of look.
I'm in quote the adult industryin what I talk about on this
podcast and it really resonatedwhat you said at the beginning
about taking that leap intodoing this podcast.

(22:46):
It was like this quote willhaunt me.
Yes, it's going to change verymuch how people see me and
there's no getting away fromthat.
And one on social media and oneof the things that terrible men
love to say when they hear myage is oh, she's old and no one
wants her anymore and blah, blah, blah.
Well, I am.

(23:07):
I think I might be a year olderthan you, but whatever, we're
like twinsies and you want to gocheck out, jessica.
I'm just saying women my ageare hot as fuck.
I'm like this is my moment ofpride to be able to show exactly

(23:29):
what women in their 40s and 50sI mean, we're not there yet,
but are beautiful, hot and sexy.
And I believe you mentioned youare still creating some content
, are you?
You still making films?

Yeah, so I am.
I am my own content creator andI'll explain what that means.
But first I want to piggybackon what you were just saying.
Like I think the other thingthat's changed a great deal in
our industry is we really havediscovered, because you can't
argue with like traffic, webtraffic, and you can't argue

(24:04):
with number of clicks or ratingson scenes, but like people are
into, people of all differentages and all different body
types, so we've sort of justblown the societal beauty
standard or their ages andbeliefs out of the water over
here in Horn and personally forme, I have never been happier

(24:29):
with my body.
I've never been more comfortablein my own skin.
Yeah, I have flaws.
I have had flaws or things thatI perceive as flaws.
I have had flaws since I was ababy stripper in El Paso, like I
hated my knobby knees and myflat chest and my face, like I
already had things I just likedabout myself.

(24:50):
I have fewer things now and Iwould not trade this age for
anything.
And it's a really cool time too, because I think society to
some degree is starting to bemore open to talking about Women

(25:12):
getting older.
I think women getting older, ofcourse, are leading the
conversation and like kudos toall of us brave women out there
that are talking about it, butit's leading to to bigger things
, you know, as far as Aging andsexuality, and we're starting to
talk about Paraminopause andmenopause and was happening to

(25:35):
our bodies and how can we dothings to take care of ourselves
and feel better.
And it's just great to be apart of this movement and
conversation.
And so now I'll say I stoppedshooting for other companies
during COVID and the reason thatI did is because it didn't feel

(25:58):
safe to be shooting with otherhuman beings during the time
where there wasn't a vaccine.
Nobody really knew what wasgoing on, like I don't really
think we still have the fullpicture, but anyway, everything
had shut down.
So Everyone was on hiatus andduring that time I started, and

(26:18):
only fans, like many otherpeople did, and I spent probably
the first year of COVIDshooting Just by myself.
So what I mean by that is I wasthe lighting person, the camera
person.
I would build if it was alittle set, like I would build a

(26:38):
little set.
You know, I was wardrobe, I washair, I was makeup, I was all
the things, and if it was video,I would edit it.
So I did all that and then,once I got more comfortable
being around humans, I startedhiring a very favorite

(26:58):
photographer of mine and a fewother people here and there to
help me shoot content, but it'sjust been me.
I've only shot solo since rightbefore COVID started.
I'm really active on only fans.
I just opened my books to takecustom orders, which is really
rare.
I only do it like once or twicea year.

(27:20):
I'm doing it right now and itmakes me really happy.
I did a shoot this morning atmy house, before I came into my
office and just having Absolute,complete control over what I'm
doing and what I look like andthe platform I'm distributing it
on and being the person whomakes the money.

(27:41):
That's where I want to be in mylife right now.
So I have been toying with theidea lately of maybe shooting a
Few projects for a couple ofcompanies or directors that I'm
especially enamored with, but Ican't make up my mind, you know,
I think.
I think right now it might beall about me.

That's what this time of life is like, and
you're absolutely right.
I think there's a lot ofmisconceptions about women, our
age like I had talked a lot onthis podcast about.
I was dating for many, manyyears and the older I got, the
more I found especially younger,much younger men were pursuing

(28:26):
the fuck out of me.
And you know, the idea of acougar, like seeking out younger
men, like I never hunted thecubs, like I wasn't into it, I
mean, that just wasn't my thing.
I mean I did give it a spin,don't get me wrong.
I was like, I was like, yeah,right, well, if you thought, if
I must, if I must, I'll give ita shot.

(28:46):
But but and the older I get, Iam, I'm telling you that I get
more attention now.
Then I did when I was youngerand I am I think you're right
more comfortable in my body.
I mean, and that's why I havehad these fantasies and thoughts
about Creating my own content.
I'm like I feel really good andI feel really sexy, and why,

(29:11):
why not?

I guess that's why not, indeed, I mean.

And, just like you said, you're at this
place where you're making thesedecisions about yourself because
of your career, so I thinkthat's amazing.
Now I'm an ask a question Ithink everybody wants to know
Okay, is the sex you're havingin the videos good sex, is it

(29:39):
good?
Sometimes I watch porn and I'mlike I don't know she read not
not necessarily yours, but I'msaying generally because I am a
connoisseur of porn and I'm likeis she, is she into that?
And then sometimes I'm likeshe's definitely into that.
And so I'm curious on let'sgive me a percentage how often
is it good?

So that is definitely not a One-word answer
question In the beginning andI'll answer here for myself
first, and then I'll answer fromthe perspective of being a
director and being on hundredsof movie sets over the years.
So for me it was super hot inthe beginning because it was

(30:25):
very new.
So you have like the honeymoonstage, if you will, and and I
would be very excited with justthe idea that I was Filming a
hardcore sex that other peoplewere going to see, and that
alone was enough to get me offreally.
And then I was in the businessa little bit longer, and I Mean

(30:50):
it really.
This is true if you're watchingporn.
Most of the time the sex thatyou see is going to be very
linear.
It has like a formula, and thereason for that is and a lot of
people don't know this we havebroadcast requirements and like
runtime requirements, so how thescene is going to be sold and

(31:11):
on what platform dictates howlong it is or how many positions
have to be covered or justdifferent stuff, how it has to
be shot.
So it became linear likekissing, kissing, oral, oral
position, position, position,come shot, that's all and then

(31:35):
it was done.
So I mean, it almost always waslike that for the first two
years that I did it.
But I think I had like an ahamoment, and Pretty sure it
happened after one scene where Iwas on my knees, come on my
face waiting for a towel, and Iwent and this isn't fair, like,

(31:57):
why is the money shot, the mostimportant thing in the scene,
why?
Why am I doing positions thataren't particularly comfortable
to me?
It's, don't get me wrong, I'mbendy, like I'm really like
bendy and flexible and I like mylegs back here, but also I Want
to get off a lot.
So when that realization hit, Iwas like Relentlessly pursuing

(32:22):
my pleasure Every time I shot ascene and it to some degree
could be a problem to thedirector, who was in a hurry to
Finish and go home, but I wouldand I always would get my
partners to do the things that Ineeded to get off, and so this

(32:42):
is sort of like a side topichere.
But payment processors, um,that process members payments
online, like for a website orwhatever, have these rules and
you can't shoot things ifthey're on the no list.
At the time, choking was one ofthose things, and choking is
also something not Real, likeI'm gonna cut off your air

(33:04):
supply choking, but like a love,a hand on my neck.
And one of the things that Iheard the most common was stop
choking, jessica.
That would be the director'scommand to whoever I was in the
scene with.
Or Stop slapping one another.
That's enough spanking, stopchoking, like.
So I'm doing all the thingsthat I need to do to get off and

(33:26):
if I haven't gotten off, I'mrubbing my own clit.
Or when I'm bringing toys tothe set, I make sure that
they're charged or they havebatteries or whatever, even
though the sound guy Says thatdestroys their audio.
But like I get off.
That being said, there arealways those scenes where, like
you show up.

(33:47):
It's happened me quite a fewtimes.
I've been really eager to workwith a woman who I fantasized
about.
I don't really know her, butshe's been in the business,
she's a big name.
I can't wait to get my hands onher and we're booked for a
scene.
And then I find out that she'snot into women.
It's so sad.

(34:07):
It makes me so sad.
It really does look.
Oh, what a waste Cause.
If you're not into it, I don'twant to be doing it with you.
I can feel the lack ofchemistry or participation for
that matter.
If you're gonna eat me out, youneed to mean it.

Oh my God, this is like by woman's plate in
life.
This really does like tie overinto real life when you get into
threesome and you're likeyou're really there for the
woman and then you realize, oh,the woman's just doing this for
the man and that is the ickiestfeeling in the world.

Yeah, it feels like bait.
It doesn't feel good at allBeen there, absolutely been
there.
That was one of my ex's favoritepastimes but anyway I will
close my mouth on that topic andother times we find ourselves
if it's a big movie, we dodialogue all day long and it's

(35:10):
like very complicated thingsthat we're doing, and when it
comes to the sex, we're tired,or it's outside and it's 40
degrees, or we're in platformheels and a man made waterfall
or something like that.
So, no, not every scene is agood scene.
To answer the question verysimply, not every scene is a
good scene, but I try to alwaysmaximize the pleasure that I'm

(35:35):
having by doing the sex actsthat I enjoy.
No matter what.
Clitural stimulation is a mustfor me.
I choose partners based onchemistry and then I really I've
said this so many times and asthe years have gone by, I
understand more what it means Ilose myself in the sex.

(35:58):
The sex on camera is good to me.
When there are no more camerasanymore, when I'm not thinking
about my o-face or the roles onmy side or like, oh, throw my
hair that way or don't make thatface, or when all of that noise
fades away into the backgroundand I can just concentrate on

(36:19):
just great fucking, then that'smy happy place, that's my
nirvana, that's where I wanna be.

Yeah, I guess that was what I wondered.
Were ours, the performersallowed to prioritize their own
pleasure in the process to someextent?
I know you're there to make amovie and so that's ultimately.
I mean that's a job.
It's a job.
But even in our jobs, everydayjobs, you definitely try to
maximize what is you know whatmakes the job fun and something

(36:48):
you wanna return to.
All right, just one lastquestion.
I mean, are there, like whenI'm watching, sometimes I'm like
ow, ow, you know cause the guysjust shove their dicks.
Do you guys ever like is it aspainful sometimes as it seems to
me?
Cause I'm like it's like warmerup a little bit, like yeah,
what viewers don't see.

And I talk about this a lot.
I do a lot of universityconversations at universities
about porn literacy and one ofthe things that I'm teaching
when we're talking about pornliteracy or we're having these
conversations together and thereare like some really open,
candid conversations is you haveno idea what's taking place

(37:33):
before the cameras start rolling.
So for me, if I was expected todo like a really a harder scene
with more aggression orpounding or anything like that,
we've also most of the timewe've also taken the stills for
the scene before we actuallyshoot the scene, so we've had

(37:53):
the sex before we're actuallyhaving a sex.
A lot of people don't know thatand some people just really
like extreme hard, fastpenetration.
Others don't.
I do sometimes.
If I'm in the mood, if I'm likereally really worked up, then
absolutely.
But I think a lot of us do this.

(38:15):
If it's too much, too hard, toofast, uncomfortable, we do the
tap out so like I'll have myhand on my partner's back or his
thigh or his ass or anywhere onhis body, back of his arm, and
if it's too much, I'm like andthat's take it down a notch.
Still too much, take it downanother notch and a lot of the

(38:36):
time viewers viewers don't seethis.
They're not privy to this.
So everybody's different.

And you find that the people you work with
are very responsive to yourrequests.
Like you feel like you cantrust people, Like if you're
like hey.

So normally I would say most of the time most
of the time I can't say 100% ofthe time I have absolutely had a
scene.
Performers not listened to myguesses or my nose.
I have had people begin toviolate my boundaries Now.

(39:18):
So I would say in the past fiveplus years I've gotten a lot
better at very clearlycommunicating why that's not
okay and why that won't happenagain or I'll never work with
the person again.
And I would say prior to that 90, I'll go with 90.
To be honest, I said 90% of thetime if I have said no, my no

(39:43):
has been heard, my wishes havebeen honored, and the rest of
the time it's been like okay,maybe they were super excited
and just needed to hear it asecond time or whatever, and
once or twice they absolutelyweren't listening and they went
on my no list.
But I find, and alsorecognizing that I'm coming from

(40:03):
a place of privilege because Iwas contracted to a big studio
for a really long time andcalled the shots on all of my
movies, so I'm pretty sure therewas also just some degree, I'll
say, respect for who I was inthose moments and maybe people
knew better than to go againstmy wishes, but I would say

(40:27):
generally speaking yes, my, ourboundaries are respected.

What are the biggest changes you've seen in
your industry since you enteredit?
And tell them that, Because Iknow from that timeline.
Obviously a lot's changed asfar as how people view porn and
the kind of porn being made.
But from an insider's point ofview, what are the biggest

(40:53):
changes that have taken place inthe industry?

So I'm gonna say for me during this span of a 20
plus year career, I would saythere have been three that are
massive.
So the first one and I stillget eye rolls in colleges when I
start talking about this butthe first one is when people

(41:24):
decided that porn was not aproduct that they should pay for
.
So when piracy was so rampantthat we couldn't put a movie up
before it was on all of the tubesites for free, that people
underestimate the damage that.

(41:46):
Well, I mean anybody that wasaround back then they know
exactly what damage that did toour industry, but nobody else
really gets it.
So that was at piracy.
Internet piracy was first thebiggest change because suddenly
people just weren't spendingmoney on porn anymore and when
that happened, bigger budgetmovies were much harder to shoot

(42:09):
.
So we would go from shooting amovie with a $350,000 budget and
real special effects and realpeople coming over from
mainstream to be on our cruise.
We went from that to really notbeing able to do that anymore
and, of course for the industry,DVD sales went completely down.

(42:32):
Everybody was downloading itfor free.
So piracy is one.
The second thing that happened abit before.
The third thing was the Me Toomovement.
So not that we have not spokenout about it before, but after

(42:55):
the Me Too movement in Hollywood, it was almost a legitimizing
moment for the stories that wehad been relaying all along.
And it was just having thisconversation this morning with
someone about lack of consent ora boundary of violations or

(43:18):
even sexual assault in the adultindustry.
And I think, if we zoom out andlook at the bigger picture,
that it's just very pervasive inour society and the way people
think about people in the adultindustry and the way they shame
us for being sex workers is sortof the way the reason that it
doesn't get taken so seriously,right.

(43:39):
So I would say the Me Toomovement was something that
empowered a lot of people in ourindustry to take to their
platforms and share theirexperiences and, in turn, it
definitely outed some of theabusers within our industry and

(44:02):
that was a big time.
That was a super, super bigtime.
And I would say that the thirdthing was the impact that COVID
had on our industry by placingso much control in the hands of
performers, and what I mean bythat is pre-COVID we were quite

(44:28):
reliant on bigger companies,studios, we wanted big movies,
we wanted that box cover shot,we wanted the starring role.
We were in fierce competitionwith one another because that
was sort of the way the industrywas going, and when COVID

(44:50):
happened, performers reallybranched out in a way that
wouldn't have been possible along time ago.
So we have a lot of platformsthat support us as independent
content producers.
For me it's only fans and it'salso clips for sale, and I use

(45:11):
all my social medias, of course,for promotion.
The other really cool thing thatit did is it gave a lot of
performers the ability to reachfans in a way that they never
could before, because thismainstream movie company over
here wouldn't hire them becausethey didn't look a certain way

(45:32):
or they didn't match what theythought their particular
demographic wanted to see.
So the power is definitely inthe hands of the performers
right now, which is probably themost empowered that we've ever
been, because there is no reasonfor me to tolerate an abusive
director on set who's screamingat me.

(45:55):
There's no reason for me to getup at 4 am for a 6 am call time
in the desert.
There's no need for me to beput into an outfit that I don't
feel my sexiest in.
There's no need for me to workwith someone that I am not
absolutely just so magneticallyattracted to.
Like there's just no reasonanymore, and so I think overall,

(46:20):
that has been the most positivechange for performers in the
industry.

You're far more empowered now.

Yeah, and I was empowered to begin with, right,
so can you imagine?

I know it sounds kind of like a dream job
to me.
First of all, I would love foryou to share, just maybe, some
of the top industry secrets thatmost of us don't know about.
We've already shared a coupleright, but is there anything
that might surprise us that wedon't know?

Maybe a secret is , and now that DVPs are all but
obsolete, I think, unless you'rea real fan of behind the scenes
or you're getting yourinformation from, like, the
social media of a performer andthey're showing behind the
scenes on their own, I thinkpeople just don't understand

(47:19):
what really goes into making amovie, especially the bigger
ones.
I've had dialogue coaches forsome of my movies.
I've had stunt coordinators,I've had firearm trainers, I've
had rehearsals for dialogue.
I've had to memorize in ninepages of dialogue, mostly a

(47:40):
monologue, and I think peoplesometimes are like, oh it's just
fucking or oh it's just porno,with shitty acting and bad
dialogue.
But the ones who take itseriously.
I have three best actressawards that doesn't happen very
often the whole span of mycareer and I'm sorry that's

(48:03):
three AVN best actress awards.
If countless others Like peoplethat take it seriously, y'all
just don't know how much workgoes into it, so much work.

You have to do all the stuff that actors and
actresses in the big mainstreamfilms do.
Plus, you ought to actually dothe fucking yeah, I mean you
should get higher pay.
In my opinion, in my opiniontoo.
I love that you've had stuntcoordinators and firearm

(48:35):
instructors.
That's amazing.
So for someone like me, andyounger people as well who are
considering this type of career,can you give us a little
starter pack of information,tips, things we absolutely need
to know before we whip out acamera and start filming

(48:56):
ourselves and putting it uponline.

Yeah, I love this question.
I love this question because Ithink that every time somebody
comes in new to the business, Ithink they should be.
I don't know, given a handbookis the right thing, but I just
think I got the speech about.
Hey, this is always going tocome back to haunt you.
It was very helpful to me.
I would have liked to havegotten a bit more information

(49:22):
about some of the particulars,the business side of it, and if
you would have asked me thisquestion though, five, six,
seven years ago, I would havecautioned people about getting
into the adult industry.
But now, with all of theseplatforms that support content

(49:42):
creators and you can really moldyour career into exactly what
you want it to be, I think mynumber one piece of advice is
fuck and go for it Like good.
If you want to do that, do that.
Also, understand it will alwayscome back to haunt you, so I
would definitely make that apiece of the package of advice.

(50:02):
The other few things that Iwould say are things like never
take the first deal offer to youand that goes for content
creator platforms too like shoparound for a lower percentage or
shop around for one that'sgoing to promote you more, or
just have your back, or you likeyour terms of service better.
In terms of service, alwaysread the fine print and anything

(50:28):
you sign.
So if you end up doing scenesfor companies, understand that
you can be hired to do a scene.
You paid one amount of moneyand then they can take and
resell that scene as many timesas they want.
They can comp it, they can putit in different movies, they can
put it on different websites.
You name it.

(50:49):
You've just signed away yourrights to the scene, which is
fine, but make sure you got whatyou think that's worth.
Also, they can change the nameof the scene at the last minute.
I can tell you that I've neverdone a movie called Jessica
Drake is a filthy whore.
Yet there it is on my creditlist.
So I mean, and whether or notthat's true, okay, it's true.

(51:12):
But I was very surprised whenthat movie came out because at
the time I was doing super highend, big budget movies and then
all of a sudden in my creditlist you have Jessica Drake is
filthy whore.
So, yeah, just be cognizant ofthat.
And also all the regular stufflike pay your taxes, save some

(51:37):
money when you first get in,it's amazing because the money
is so good, because you're newand everybody wants to shoot you
.
Or if you're your own contentproducer, you're brand new, so
you have new girl appeal and noone has seen all of your stuff
yet.
So it's just really importantto be mindful of that.
And there's nothing wrong withlike taking a vacation as a

(52:00):
brand new performer or buyingyourself great wardrobe and
shoes as a new performer ifyou've never had a chance to do
any of that before.
But just be very mindful thatyou have to pay your taxes and I
say this after having 20 plusyears in the industry, but it
doesn't last forever.

(52:21):
You have to have some kind of aplan, even if that plan changes
.
I think that's another reasonI'm so glad I came in this late,
as I did in life, because Ialready had a chance to blow
through some of that strippermoney.
So I was a bit more carefulwith the money that I've earned
in this industry.
Yeah, I mean.

(52:41):
And I think another reallyimportant thing is to just be
very true to yourself.
Own, your know, you have theability to say no to anyone
about anything at any time andif somebody or something is
making you feel uncomfortable.
You please stand up foryourself, and especially if

(53:03):
you're an independent contentcreator, sort of in your own
little world, if you're shootingcontent with other people,
there's nobody else there totake up for you.
So I know it's hard sometimesand I know if it's in a business
situation it can be veryintimidating.
You have to stand up foryourself.
You have to.
Nobody has your back betterthan you do.

That's great advice.
Speaking about the longevity ofthe job, I think this is a
perfect time to wrap things upwith you.
While you still do createcontent, you are also doing
other big things, so can we talka little bit about those things
?

Yes, and it's all the things that I'm really
passionate about.
So about 10 ish years ago I wasdoing autograph signings and
appearances everywhere andpeople would wait in line to get
their photo taken with me and areally interesting thing

(54:02):
started happening.
Everyone started coming to mefor sex advice, and two people
in particular really changedeverything about my career.
So the first person was a womanwho was in her, I think about
mid 40s, who had been marriedfor 15 years, who wasn't
orgasming, and the thing is shehad trained her partner to not

(54:27):
make her orgasm and he thoughtshe was.
And she was like what do I do?
After 15 years, I don't eventhink I've ever had an orgasm.
So that was something Icommunicated with her for a
number of months and, through alot of information and education

(54:48):
and self exploration, shestarted having orgasms, and
where we left off was meencouraging her to bring toys
into the bedroom so that shecould experience orgasms with
her partner as well and hopethat would give way to having
orgasms with her partner.
The other people that Iencountered they were a couple
who came up to me very seriouslyand said there's something

(55:12):
wrong with her.
We just can't do what you doand I didn't understand what
they meant and I talked to thema little bit more and they were
talking about anal sex.
I love anal sex, yeah, and also.

Yeah, yep, yep.

Also, you can't just go from zero to full on
anal penetration right, then inbadly, it just doesn't.
It made me understand thatfolks were missing this big
piece of sex education that hadto do with pleasure and
boundaries and consent and veryshame-free, non-judgmental sex

(55:57):
ed.
And so when that happened, Iimmediately signed up well,
after some research, but Iimmediately signed up to take
courses to be a certified sexeducator.
I only thought I knew a lotbefore I went to some of these
programs and along the way Imean as recently as last year I

(56:20):
keep going to conferences and Ikeep going to SARS and I keep
learning and I'm able to usethat to help other people.
But 10 plus years ago I used itas a springboard to create a
line of educational movies forpeople called Jessica Drake's
Guide to Wicked Sex, and theyare on DVD and they are also

(56:43):
streaming and there are so manytopics, from horror play to
blowjobs to masturbation to analplay.
My favorite ones are Kama Sutra, bdsm for Beginners and Senior
Sex.
Senior Sex I created rightbefore the pandemic with a very

(57:06):
dear friend of mine who's aboutto turn 80 years old.
Her name is Joan Price and Joanis an author and a senior sex
educator and I mean really justthe expert on senior sex.
So I have directed, written,directed, produced, narrated all
of these movies with a thoughtthat there may still be more to

(57:31):
come.
We're definitely talking abouta sequel for Senior Sex and a
sequel to BDSM for Beginners,and I teach a lot of classes, I
train all over the world, Ispeak at universities and for as
long as Wicked Central Care hasbeen around, we are an amazing
lubricant company.

(57:52):
I have been the brandstrategist and in-house sex
educator for Wicked Central Care.
About a year ago I also startedtaking over the role of
marketing and productdevelopment.
So my plate is super, superfull, but all of the education

(58:14):
that I've had from all of thesex ed certifications is
certainly making me verysatisfied in the positions that
I'm occupying right now.
I'm very passionate abouteverything that I've got my paws
in and it's just reallyfulfilling like I'm now getting

(58:35):
to see a lot of years of a lotof really hard work come to
fruition in things like we havejust launched a line of
lubricants called SimplyTimeless for people experiencing
paraminopause, menopause andbeyond, and what makes me so

(58:58):
incredibly different are thesupportive, nourishing,
hydrating ingredients.
They can all be used as vaginalmoisturizers, they all provide
extra hydration and they have alot of ingredients that you will
find echoed in really high-endskincare, and so we're really
excited.

(59:18):
I'm really excited to be a partof doing things like this and
getting sex and aging into thespotlight and helping people
talk about it very easily.
And we're all getting older.
Joan Price says this, we're allseniors in training and it's so
true.
And when people are yuckingsomebody's yams oh, that's

(59:42):
grandma sex or ooh, I don't wantto think about old people
having sex I always ask themwhat age do you want to stop
having sex?
At what age is too old for youto feel pleasure?
That always kind of catchesthem off guard.
But that's sort of everythingnow.
I think we've come full circleand, yeah, I'm super thrilled

(01:00:07):
and super happy to be here.
And also, if you would like, ifyou do things like this on your
show, I would love to build agift box of lube, and if you
want to do a giveaway, you'remore than welcome.

Annette Benedetti (01:00:20):
Yeah, absolutely, I definitely want to
cover that and I would love todo a giveaway.
So, folks, you're going to wantto stay tuned.
I will be sending out ane-newsletter with that
information and promoting it sothat you guys know what to do to
get that gift box, because I'mexcited.

(01:00:42):
Yeah, I'm excited.
And well, now we've come fullcircle from lube and condom girl
to now Look at where you'regoing to go.
Didn't see that coming Never.
So I have read about this and Ibelieve I have some samples

(01:01:03):
coming my way.
But the bottom line is I'veread about this product and it
is fantastic.
And women who I am in the middleof, peri Minnipause and we have
talked about it on this podcasta lot and Peri Minnipause and
Minnipause we are not goingthrough what your mothers and
grandmothers did Like.

(01:01:23):
We aren't.
We are women in my age range.
We definitely are not adheringto the stereotypes that we are.
I always tell people I'm havingmore and better sex now than
I've had in my entire life, evengoing through this.
But it is super important forme to have the right products,
definitely the right lube, whichreally I needed my whole life.

(01:01:43):
But here we are and knowing howto take care of my body and then
making sure my partners getlike here's what I need, and I
find that a lot of what has beenan underlying theme in your
speaking today is once you haveyour voice, like, I think, women
our age do, and we know ourbodies and we tell whoever gets

(01:02:08):
to play with this body what weneed to get off, I find most,
99% of the time, they will hopto like do it, and so this
giveaway is going to be a hugetreat to whoever wins it,
because it means lots offantastic orgasms, whether you
are fucking yourself or someoneelse is fucking you.

(01:02:29):
I'm a big fan of fucking myself, so orgasms are powerful, and I
have mentioned this on thispodcast before.
I believe if every woman wasable to fully learn how to
experience pleasure and orgasm,we would take over the world,
because I do believe that ourorgasmic potential is super
powerful and it turns us intototally different beings Great.

(01:02:52):
Just saying Well, I want tothank you for being on now.
Before we end this, can youtell people where they can find
you?
So?

Jessica Drake (01:03:02):
on Twitter.
You can find me at the JessicaDrake on Instagram, jessica
Drake.
You can find our amazing loopsat wickedcentralcarecom.
You can also find a way topurchase those loops, some of my
favorite toys, my flashlight,my real doll and some of my

(01:03:24):
movies at guide2wickedsexcom.
And I also want to quicklymention that I am on board of
two nonprofits that are reallyimportant to me.
One is called Feed the StreetsLA, and I'll give you the
information to drop down aboutthat.
Feed the Streets LA is anonprofit here in Los Angeles.

(01:03:47):
I'm the vice president of theLA chapter and we try to meet
the needs of people who areunhoused and also folks who are
food insecure.
As you might imagine, la isvery expensive, so we are
helping out a lot of peopleright now.
And the other nonprofit thatI'm involved with is something
very near and dear to my heartfor many reasons.

(01:04:09):
It's called Tending the Garden,and Tending the Garden is a
nonprofit that supportsmarginalized survivors of sexual
assault, both of thosecompletely different
organizations that I care aboutfor many different reasons, but
if anyone would like to supportme through either one of those
organizations, it would beexceptionally meaningful.

(01:04:31):
My birthday is coming up andI'll post more information on my
social media, because for mybirthday, all I want to do is
fundraisers for both of thoseworks.

So can you give us your birthday one more
time?

It's October the 14th.
All right, leave your season.

Leave your season, so October 14th, you can
gift her by supporting hernonprofits.
I love that idea Wonderful, sothank you so much.
This has been an amazingconversation.
It has exceeded all of my hopesand dreams about what it would
be, so I want to thank you forhaving me.

You asked really great thoughtful questions and
also you pay attention.
That that really helps.
Yeah, yeah.

This is my passion, and I think our
passions align quite a bit,which has made it a special
conversation.
So, to all of my listeners,until next time, I'll see you in
the locker room.

Cheers, Cheers y'all Ring loop.

Thank you.

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