Source: Adult Industry News
By: Rich Moreland
The Benefits of Tolerance: An Interview with Chanel Preston, By Rich Moreland, February 2014
During the Adult Entertainment Expo, I finally catch up with Chanel Preston, a stunningly gorgeous woman who can carry a fan�s image of the porn world on her shoulders. She�s this year�s co-host of the Awards Show and getting a few minutes with her in the media room is a major triumph of journalistic chutzpah sprinkled with a bit of good luck.
I have a couple of controversial issues in mind and she’s game.
We chat about Measure B, the law that mandates condoms in filming, and rumors it may drive the industry out of California. Performers believe in choice and safer sex practices in filming is an individual right that should be preserved. However, attitudes about latex take a different turn when the subject is escorting. Talent who escort, everyone agrees, has the extra responsibility to protect the performer community.
At this point, Chanel Preston mentions something I had not considered, the quiet denunciation taking place inside the industry toward performers who escort.
“Unfortunately, you would think people would be more tolerant because they�re in an industry that people look at and stigmatize, but that�s not the case,” she says. “We still stigmatize within the industry. Performers are like, ‘that girl escorts,’ and they look down on women [who do that].”
Chanel finds the attitude troublesome. Performers (males and females) can “make a business out of it [escorting] just like we make a business out of doing porn,” she says. “It’s no different.” Of course, Chanel is speaking of the sexual part of the equation because she does understand that escorting is a form of prostitution and not the legitimate enterprise porn is.
This former stripper is not letting performers who escort off the hook, however. She believes they have a huge responsibility, learn to respect themselves and use condoms in their off the set activities.
For that very reason it’s important that industry people not “look down on girls who escort,” she says, because tolerance and acceptance benefits everybody. “If we embrace it [escorting] and empower those women they’d be more apt to protect themselves.”
Chanel returns to our original thoughts on Measure B. When industries are pushed underground, she says, “Safety is eliminated and people do stupid things. I don’t think people get that.”
When the subject is escorting, I never ask a performer that most personal question because it is none of my business. Unless a performer willing tells me, I have no way of knowing and I make no assumptions.
In the course of our conversation, Chanel states in passing, “I don’t personally escort because I don’t enjoy doing it. I like performing. But I have no problem with girls do.”
This native Alaskan adds another thought an outsider might miss. “I think people are just scared because they can�t control the escorting industry,” she says. For some performers, not knowing if the person shooting today used a condom last night when they escorted is most alarming, a point of view I�ve heard repeatedly.
As for condoms in escorting, Chanel points out that every porn performer has “A sense of responsibility to maintain that homeostasis amongst the performers.” Bringing an STD onto the set, “That�s harming people,” she says, and “people have families.”
When a girl escorts, she needs “To use a condom because they [civilians] don�t have the closed community we have. Even if the person is tested,” Chanel continues, “they�re probably were not tested the day before.”
Chanel Preston wraps up her final thoughts on topic.
“It is important that performers stay safe so instead of shunning the girls that escort we should embrace it and teach them to be safe and mindful of what they are doing,” and, most important, “let them know there are repercussions if they don’t.”
