Why Prop 60 will Ruin my Career

Описание: Why Prop 60 will ruin my career.

For those of you who don’t know me or are unfamiliar with my work, my name is Nikki Silver and I own and operate NaughtyNatural.com, a very small feminist porn site, featuring myself and other hairy/unshaven models. And I live and shoot in the SF Bay Area, California.

I’m very concerned about a proposition which will be voted on by California voters on November 8th, this year, in less than a month.

It’s called Proposition 60 and it is the personal project of Michael Weinstein who has spent over 4 million dollars on this bill. This bill uses unclear language to require the use of barriers during sex acts in porn. It allows any California resident to sue a porn performer/producer if they see a video without a barrier being visible.

This allows them to learn our legal names and home addresses, which puts us at risk when it comes to stalkers and harassment. There is a reason porn performers use stage names and hide information, it’s to protect us. As a woman and a queer woman, that’s especially scary. I can only imagine how scary it is for trans performers who self produce given the current political climate.

I got to where I am now; running my own site, after years of working for larger companies as both a model and photographer/producer. I have worked hard to get where I am today and am pleased to say that my efforts are finally paying off. I am able to pay my models a decent wage, offer safe and consensual working conditions and support myself as well. 

In this society, which so intensely undervalues art; I have found a way to pursue my creative passions and still make a living. I love what I do with an intensity I never thought I would find in paid work under capitalism. 

There are so many ways in which being an independent porn producer is the best job I could ever ask for.
-The mutually beneficial and supportive relationships I form with models, who by and large become my friends.
-The sex positive, queer, feminist perspectives I inject into otherwise un-educated cis male porn consumers.
-The hours I get to spend making beautiful photographs and engaging videos.
-The extra time it creates for me to take care of myself and my loved ones.
-The amazing exploration I’ve gotten to do of my own sexuality and self-identity.

Porn is one of the only industries in which queer/trans people and women are often in positions of power and earn higher or equal wages to that of cis-men. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
I love California and have no interest in moving. The Bay Area has a vibrant community of independent and queer sex workers, porn producers and artists who all collaborate and help each other. I hire my colleagues for various jobs, not just modeling, frequently and get hired as well. 
Many of these people would have to move if their skill sets and connections were no longer making them a living. I would also loose out on being able to shoot the model pool that base here if they cannot shoot for any other company. 
I literally do not know what I would do if this bill passed. Luckily for me my site has a lot of solo scenes but with only those, I fear my monthly sales would severely drop and I wouldn't make enough per month to keep the site going.
So I urge you, if you live in California, absolutely vote NO on Prop 60. If you do not, please blast any social media you can with this video or any of the links etc in the text section. If you have any family or friends who live in California please also let them know to vote no. If you feel squeamish about talking about porn, bring it up from a labor perspective, that it will make small porn business’s unviable in California and leave only the big companies who can afford to shoot out of state and who, by and large, do not uphold the same ethical standards as many smaller companies. Or bring up performer safety in terms of harassment and stalkers. However you bring it up; bring it up. 
We need you, porn consumers, friends and family of porn producers/performers, every day people to inject some truth into this misleading dialogue about ‘performer safety.’ A bill which requires condoms/barriers in porn can easily sound like something meant to protect performers but it is not. It is the first step towards making porn production in California unviable and hence taking away my hard fought for and well loved livelihood. Please don’t take my job away.

For more information visit: http://dontharassca.com/