Directors insist on it, producers expect it, and their scene partners count on it—but how do male performers feel about the pressure to take drugs? Most industries discourage performance-enhancing pharmaceuticals; some regulators even call it cheating. Not the adult industry. In porn it’s the norm.

A guy who has sex on camera for a living cannot hide when he’s having a bad day. He can’t smile it away. Whether you’re shivering outside at 2 a.m., so cold your low-hanging marbles just became Snuggies, or sweating so profusely you need water breaks every 15 minutes just to keep from passing out because it’s mid-summer and the studio you’re filming in has no air conditioning, as a male performer none of that matters. You are still expected to perform. And though these men may perform like machines, they have a secret weapon: erectile-dysfunction drugs.

Shortly before discussing how men in the industry meet the rigorous demands of their work, adult actor Derrick Pierce was performing in just such a scene. On a couch that’s way too small, Pierce is stretched out on his back, muscles tensed as he supports himself and the weight of his co-star as she bobs up and down. Facing the camera, the back of her body presses into his with her hips arched forward at an uncomfortably wide angle. For Pierce, the visuals are far less exciting—all he can see is the back of her head. Her wrists are tied behind her and she keeps sliding off his chest. To keep filming this position Pierce must hold her up, and they’ve already been filming for five hours. This is a fairly standard workday for the multi-award-winning performer. Meeting this type of demand without going limp is a basic job requirement.

“If you start to struggle, it’s part of your job to do everything you can within reason,” says Pierce. “When you’re shooting a scene for five hours it’s nice to know if things don’t go according to plan there’s an option but there’s no cure-all or one-hit wonder. If you’re taking Viagra that will probably help accentuate the activity but it’s not going to fix a dead dick.”

There are two types of male performers in the adult entertainment, according to Pierce: those that have bad days and those that will. Owning up to this is what separates the rookies from their more experienced counterparts. Newbies have been known to call out that awkward position or the lack of air conditioning for their failure, then become desperate optimists, repetitively begging for another five minutes to get their edge back as they rub themselves raw for the next hour, sinking deeper into that mental black hole.

“Veterans will turn to you and say, ‘Hey, this is going to be a shit day, do you want to cancel me, replace me, or see if things get better?’ But they’ll tell you that in the first ten minutes; they wont act like this shit isn’t happening,” says Pierce. “Then a director or producer might ask you, ‘Do you want to pop a pill? Do you have something you can take?’”

“ Male enhancement comes in a lot of forms, and some are flat-out unsafe and wrong. ”

If taking ED drugs magically transformed a non-working unit into a meat sword there would be a much larger pool of male talent; nonetheless, it’s still a commonly carried trade tool—though not always openly discussed. “Male performers are hired on the basis of the fact that we have the ability to get hard on command, remain hard, and delay our orgasm in our repertoire,” says adult performer Alex Saint. “It’s one of the reasons that it’s so difficult to get into the adult industry as a male performer.” Saint believes the perception that all male porn stars take drugs to perform is just another public misconception, like “the women must be high to be willing to do that.”

Popping a little blue pill, sometimes referred to as an “insurance policy,” is acceptable behavior and without stigma. However, the use of an injectable is where most draw the line. “The only stigma is: don’t put a needle in your dick,” says Johnny Goodluck. “Male enhancement comes in a lot of forms, and some are flat-out unsafe and wrong. Some production companies will not allow male talent to use any other supplement outside of Viagra.”

Before reinventing himself as an adult actor, Goodluck understood industry expectations from his days spent working on set, behind the scenes. “We don’t use Viagra constantly, it’s not part of the rules of engagement. It’s a backup plan, like it is for everyone else. We have it in case we need it,” he says.

Like any mainstream athlete who’s taken steroids to deliver a stellar performance, men in the porn industry are similarly compelled to rise to the occasion.