Consent in Porn: Debunking Myths & Managing Realities

‘Consent in Porn: Debunking Myths & Managing Realities’ Panel Scheduled for Feb. 25 from Mindbrowse.com & XBIZ

LOS ANGELES (February 12, 2016) – Mindbrowse.com and XBIZ.com will bring together key members of the adult entertainment industry for the panel “Consent in Porn: Debunking Myths and Managing Realities.” The event will be live broadcast from Los Angeles on Mindbrowse.com, free of charge, beginning at 1pm PST on February 25.

In every social interaction, consent – permission for something to happen – is key. Though the concept itself is simple, consent becomes quite complex in daily life. It takes many forms and is constantly being renegotiated.

Porn production is one instance wherein consent is exceptionally complex. From booking a scene to endless iterations of on-camera sex, performers are navigating various dimensions of consent, often moment by moment. These negotiations occur within a subculture operating under its own set of unique norms, as well as within the context of a wider society that continues to stigmatize professional sex work.

Read on…

During this event, performers, labor organizers, producers, and agents will discuss the ways in which consent operates in their professional environment (and how this impacts their personal lives). Questions like “How do porn performers negotiate consent in the workplace?” and “How are these negotiations metered synergistically with daily life?” will be addressed.

This event will be moderated by Dr. Chauntelle Tibbals, author of Exposure: A Sociologist Explores Sex, Society, and Adult Entertainment. Adult entertainment performers and industry principals participating in the panel will be announced in the coming days.

“Consent is an integral aspect of all social interactions, one that seems to be made even more complex within the context of sex work and adult content production,” Dr. Tibbals said. “I am very pleased that members of the adult industry who are impacted daily by these issues will be sharing their insights.”

Mindbrowse Producer and Sssh.com Founder Angie Rowntree stated, “I am very pleased to be a part of this broadcast, which explores the often complex topic of consent touching the lives of so many people, not just in the adult entertainment industry, but in society as a whole. Dr. Chauntelle is the perfect person to moderate this event. As a PhD sociologist with a deep understanding of the adult industry and human sexuality, I anticipate that she will facilitate a meaningful and important dialogue on the interpersonal aspects of consent”.

If viewers have questions for the panelists, 7 Veils Media will be monitoring the hashtag #SexTalkTuesday during the broadcast. Viewers may simply add #SexTalkTuesday to their tweets, and their questions will be passed on to the live panel.

Speakers On The Panel:

Mercedes Carrera – Adult Film Performer – @TheMercedesXXX
Adult performer Mercedes Carrera joined the adult industry with a background in mainstream modeling and acting, as well as education and work experience in engineering. Mercedes still is actively involved in technology and being an all-around irritant to anti-sex radicals.

Nina Elle – Adult Film Performer – @NinaElleXXX
In 2010, Nina Elle started webcamming after learning about it on the Oprah Network series “Our America.”  After a few years of that, she decided to take her work to the next level and moved to Los Angeles. Nina is married and her husband has been her biggest supporter, always putting her career in the foreground.

Conner Habib – Author, Adult Film Performer, and Sex Workers’ Rights Advocate –   @ConnerHabib
Conner Habib serves as Vice President of the Adult Performer Advocacy Committee (apac-usa.com). His essays have appeared in dozens of print and online publications, including The Stranger, Vice, Salon, Slate, and more. Habib gives lectures around the country about sexuality, spirituality, pornography, science, and art.

Mickey Mod – Adult Film Performer – @theMickeyMod
Mickey Mod has performed in dozens of adult films with a specialty of BDSM and is an editor for Kink. A gentleman and an artist of sex from the vibrant erotic scene in San Francisco, Mod offers great sexual wisdom.

Mark Schechter – President ATMLA – @ATMLA
Founded in 2006, ATMLA (Adult Talent Managers LA) has become one of the largest leading adult talent agencies in the Los Angeles area. Their goal and mission — to grow into the largest and most desired agency amongst the industry professionals, including performers and production companies and crew — is facilitated in part by Schechter’s commitment fair business practices in porn. To these ends, Schecter serves as the Treasurer of the Licensed Adult Talent Agency Trade Association (LATATA), of which ATMLA is part.

Dana Vespoli – Adult Film Director and Performer – @danavespoli
Dana Vespoli attended Mills College, an independent liberal arts college in Oakland, CA, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in comparative literature. Vespoli started directing adult content in January 2006 and her career has developed steadily since then. Vespoli currently directs for Sweetheart Video and Evil Angel. She was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame in 2016 and XBIZ “Director of the Year – Non-Feature Release” in 2016.

About Mindbrowse.com:

MindBrowse.com, which was founded by industry veteran Angie Rowntree, is a place where the adult entertainment industry’s ideas go to grow up. Here, various notions are debated, discussed, turned inside out, parsed and reassembled. It’s a place where people talk about issues that affect everyone involved in porn, from the corporate executives who pay for its creation to the men and women who perform in it – and the fans who watch it. Put more prosaically, MindBrowse is a site that hosts live videoconferencing discussions of compelling and challenging topics. For each discussion, Mindbrowse.com assembles a panel of speakers with diverse backgrounds and opinions encouraging a ranging and balanced discussion of each topic with audience participation via Twitter (#SexTalkTuesday) or on SexTalkTuesday. Mindbrowse.com is based upon the notion that porn has reached a point where it has become a part of the broader cultural landscape now therefore the discussion of its direction and place in society must be addressed by its members as well as its detractors. MindBrowse is a Production of Sssh.com, The Web’s Premiere Porn for Women and Couples site.

About XBIZ

XBIZ™ is the global leader in adult entertainment industry news, providing up-to-the-minute coverage of the industry at XBIZ.com and in two monthly trade publications — XBIZ World for the Internet and technology sectors and XBIZ Premiere for the retail market. XBIZ is frequently cited in mainstream media for coverage of the adult entertainment industry and has been published in CNN, Fox News, Newsweek, MSNBC, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Wired, ABC, USA Today and Los Angeles Times among others.