Many people are curious about the lives of porn stars. For example, how do they feel about themselves and the work that they do? How much money do they make? How many sex partners do they have during their career? It turns out that surprisingly little research has explored such questions. However, two recently published studies describe (separately) what the lives of male and female porn stars are like. The results are summarized in the infographics below.

Unfortunately, these studies didn't ask all of the same questions. As a result, there are some differences in the information included in each infographic (for example, the study of men asked about salary, but the study of women didn't). However, both studies did inquire about self-esteem, how much they enjoyed sex/porn, average age of first sex, as well as how many sex partners they've had off-screen, thereby allowing at least some comparisons to be made. As you'll see, the results are inconsistent with the idea that porn stars are "damaged goods." Both male and female porn stars report enjoying their work and have high levels of self-esteem on average.