January is a big month in porn. First, the adult entertainment news site Xbiz hosts its annual namesake trade show in Los Angeles, which is followed shortly thereafter by fellow trade publication Adult Video News (AVN)'s own eponymous expo and signature awards gala.

But the mood is heavier than usual heading into this year’s extravaganzas, as the industry reels from the untimely and devastating losses of four female performers: 35-year-old Shyla Stylez, 31-year-old Yuri Luv, 23-year-old August Ames, and, most recently, 20-year-old Olivia Nova, all of whom died within the past 3 months. “It’ll be brought up. Of course it’s going to be brought up,” James Bartholet, an adult performer and publicist whose clients included Stylez and Luv, said of attendees speculating about a link between the women's deaths.

The circumstances surrounding each woman's passing are, however, not entirely clear. Citing privacy concerns on behalf of the families, Bartholet declined to confirm the cause of either Stylez or Luv's death. But a friend of Luv’s told Newsweek that she suffered on accidental drug overdose, while multiple reports have stated that Ames, who was subjected to cyber bullying prior to her death after posting controversial social media remarks, took her own life. In a statement released on Ames's website, her husband, Kevin Moore, confirmed this, blaming her death on those who attacked her on social media: "I write this to make it crystal clear: bullying took her life. If the harassment had not occurred, she would be alive today," Moore wrote. And following reports of Nova's passing, many media outlets published her final tweets, which expressed her feelings of loneliness and grief.

But even without all the details, the fact that so many performers have died suddenly within a short period of time has raised questions about whether porn actors are vulnerable to struggling with issues like mental illness and substance abuse, by virtue of the stigma surrounding their profession.

This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

As Men's Health previously reported, it can often be difficult for those in the adult industry combatting mood disorders or addiction to secure the care they need, especially when it comes to finding a therapist who will counsel them without judgment.

“We’re always trying to connect people to doctors and mental-health professionals,” says Mike Stabile, the director of communications for the performer advocacy group the Free Speech Coalition (FSC). “The hardest issue we face is that mental-health providers, particularly for sex workers, are really difficult to find. You’ll hear over and over again that there will be a blame-the-victim narrative.”

This can compound the general public's harmful misconceptions about porn — namely that they're inherently damaged, traumatized by sexual abuse, or prone to addiction. While a handful of studies have demonstrated that rates of mental illness and sexual abuse are no higher in porn than more mainstream fields, industry vets are nevertheless grieving the deaths of these four women while assessing how to protect their own — all without appearing to confirm existing generalizations about their business.

Actress Tasha Reign is chairperson of the Adult Performer Advocacy Group, or APAC, an organization that aims to improve working conditions for porn performers. She is unequivocal about the uphill battle porn actors face when confronting self-worth, and how porn performers can often feel exploited and excommunicated from mainstream society. “You are somebody doing a legal job and you pay your taxes and are proud of what you do,” she says, “but you’re not being treated like an equal."

This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

To make matters worse, there is a perceived lack of infrastructure in place. “We don’t have a union,” Bartholet opines, audibly frustrated. In fact, the International Entertainment Adult Union has been a Department of Labor-approved nonprofit labor organization since 2015, but even its leadership recognizes that it's under the radar."We are working hard every day, every minute, and our goal is to leave the industry a better place than we found it," says founder and secretary Amanda Gullesserian, citing planned rehab centers for members and established support groups as examples.

But young women who get into the industry at an early age might not be aware of such groups or the services they provide, particularly if they're not based in California's San Fernando Valley, where the majority of porn is shot.

“The industry is so diffuse,” laments Stabile. “It doesn’t just shoot in L.A. or Florida. People don’t even know who to contact [for support]. People come from all over. They start in all different ways. What we find is, with new performers, it may be a while until they even understand there’s a Free Speech Coalition or an APAC.”

Carter Cruise, a performer with five years of experience, believes that an improved on-boarding process is the surest path to readying new talent. “I think it should be required,” Cruise states matter-of-factly about performers going through some kind of formal orientation before entering the industry. “Everyone should have to have a license. It doesn’t need to be through the government. You’re not allowed to see pornography until you’re 18, but then they allow girls to go shoot a scene on their 18th birthday. That’s horrifying. Everyone should have a better idea of the health risks, the relationship risks, the social stigma that they’re going to carry with them forever."

This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Apart from early intervention, there’s also the option of outright raising the legal minimum performing age. Porn actor Ela Darling believes that the minimum legal age to shoot porn should be raised from 18 to 21, so newcomers to the industry (like Nova, who had been shooting porn for less than a year) are better equipped to understand the risks.

“If you’re a teenager, or even still in high school, are you really equipped to make a decision that’s going to be very public and explicit and immediately close doors?," she says. "It would probably be impossible to actively sit down every performer and require them to go through some kind of training...but are we really comfortable making money on the backs of these teenagers who are coming into this with not a lot of information about how this [decision] is going to impact them?”

Groups like the FSC and APAC are working on how to monitor their community and provide support to performers from within via FSC initiatives like the Inspire campaign, which points aspiring porn actors toward licensed, legitimate agents. But performers like Reign also believe that the onus is on the culture at large to support the rights of sex workers, who should be provided with access to proper mental health care and substance abuse treatment without being shamed for their professions.

“I don’t see any politicians advocating for sex-workers’ rights,” says Reign. “Grassroots [action] is great, but we need people running for bigger positions saying, ‘Yes, we care about all women and adult actresses as well.’”

In the meanwhile, industry innovators are taking steps at the ground level to offer resources to those in crisis. Last December, the FSC hired professional dominatrix Lady Scarlett Sin, who holds a Master's in social work, as its Social Work and Health Systems Specialist. Cam websites like ManyVids have also hired an in-house Support Worker.

"With the passing of August Ames and the other beautiful, talented adult performers, we felt there was a need to provide adult-content creators with the tools to make them feel like someone is there for them," says ManyVids publicist Stephanie Princivil.

And while porn professionals are susceptible to the same pitfalls and bouts with self-esteem as workers in any career, it's also clear that prejudicial attitudes toward porn and sex work can exacerbate existing symptoms of mental illness, or feelings of depression.

"I think it has something to do with feeling like your family and friends don’t accept you, and society doesn’t accept you,” Reign says. “It wears and tears on you."

But even if those outside the adult community often overlook porn performers' humanity, the community itself has nonetheless demonstrated extraordinary grace and empathy, with many members reaching out to each other to offer solace. Ela Darling urges adult performers who may be struggling to keep the following in mind: "Remember, you are not just your brand."

If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please seek help immediately or call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io