In a 2012 article published in the International Journal of Sexual Health, James D. Griffith, Lea T. Adams, Christian L. Hart, and Sharon Mitchell asked 176 actresses to describe the reasons that led them to their profession, as well as their likes and dislikes of their chosen . The responses were coded and categorized, and the frequencies were tabulated into three tables. The response categories, along with their percentages, are shown below. (The percentages add up to more than 100 because respondents could list multiple motives, likes, and dislikes.)

Reasons for Getting Into Porn

Money: 53 percent : 27 percent : 16 percent Fun: 11 percent Related Industry: 7 percent Acquaintance: 7 percent Chance/Confusion: 6 percent Creative Expression: 5 percent Personal Growth: 4 percent Disliked Prior Job: 4 percent Coercion: < 1 percent

List of Likes

Money: 41 percent People: 39 percent Sex: 21 percent Freedom/Independence: 18 percent Attention: 13 percent Fun: 8 percent Creative Expression: 7 percent Personal Fulfillment: 4 percent Rebellion: 1 percent

List of Dislikes

People: 39 percent STD Risks: 29 percent Exploitation: 20 percent Work Conditions: 10 percent Social Stigma: 7 percent Drugs: 7 percent : 6 percent Discomfort: 4 percent Outside Relationships: 2 percent

Notwithstanding the potential bias that might be inherent in such self-reporting, the findings cast doubt on the stereotype of the exploited, abused, and broken woman forced into porn servitude. The results discussed here are in line with those that I reported in an earlier article that seemed to dispel the notion that porn actresses were “damaged goods”—albeit it is instructive to note that the former porn actor Dave Pounder suggested otherwise when I interviewed him last summer.

These cumulative findings pit two opposing camps against one another. Is the proper position the one that seeks to emancipate women from the clutches of the “porn patriarchy”? Alternatively, would such protection not be a form of benevolent (as it assumes that women need protecting)—and as such, women should be free to choose their vocations as they see fit? Ah, the quandary!