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Donald Trump may have had an affair with a porn star , but if he returns to the White House he could ban the industry, adult film actors are warning in a campaign urging young men to vote against the Republican on November 5.
The #HandsOffMyPorn campaign has spent $200,000 on ads on adult websites, warning that prominent Trump allies want to ban pornography and jail stars.
And they are calling for action at the ballot box: “If you care about adult entertainment, if you consume or create adult entertainment, you have to vote on November 5,” porn actress Siouxsie Q told AFP. “There is no other way to do it.”
The campaign seeks to challenge Project 2025, a plan to reform the federal government if Trump wins.
The 900-page bill’s foreword reads: “Pornography should be banned. People who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned.”
Trump has tried to distance himself from Project 2025, but dozens of his allies and former members of his administration co-wrote the document. Democrats say many of the proposals are in line with those of the Republican candidate.
The #HandsOffMyPorn campaign is primarily targeting men, who consume four times more pornography than women, according to the Institute for Family Studies.
With just weeks to go before the close election between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, polls show a sharp gender divide among voters.
Trump has a stronger support among male voters, regularly directing his sexist rhetoric at young men on right-wing podcasts.
#HandsOffMyPorn “public service announcements” are served to users in key election battleground states like Pennsylvania, Arizona and Georgia, almost always before they view adult videos.
Actresses like Siouxsie Q appear in the ads issuing invitations like, “Hey, I know you’re busy. I know you’re doing something. Hang in there. If you want to keep doing that, you really need to vote on November 5th… Enjoy!”
Harris has no connection to the #HandsOffMyPorn campaign, which is funded by the organization Artists United for Change, Siouxsie Q explains.
“We secretly hope that she likes what we’re doing,” the actress comments.
– “Lightning rod” –
Anti-pornography measures are nothing new in the United States, but Holly Randall, who has been in the industry for 26 years, says she has never seen a potentially devastating threat to the sector like this one.
Not even when her parents, who worked in pornography during the Ronald Reagan administration in the 1980s, had to secretly film hardcore scenes.
“I’ve seen these attacks come and go… Bill 2025 is the most explicit reiteration of wanting to make pornography completely illegal,” he says.
“Absolutely, I’m concerned about the incarceration” that is being proposed, adds Siouxsie Q, who became famous for her feminist performances in queer and bondage films before becoming a producer.
Porn stars also warn of the consequences that may exist beyond this popular industry.
According to Siouxsie Q, what can happen with pornography is a symptom of the impact on the right to free expression guaranteed by the First Amendment. She also mentions the ban promoted by Republicans on books on sexual education in schools.
The adult entertainment industry is “a lightning rod,” Randall said, for broader issues like trans rights, gay marriage and even reproductive rights.
“It’s always the easiest to attack because it represents people’s uncertainty and fear of moral changes in sexuality and gender fluidity,” she says.
– Outside the law –
Although Trump denies any ties to Project 2025, an investigation by The New York Times this week showed that “well over half” of the document’s authors were part of the former president’s administration, his campaign or his transition team.
Randall notes the irony in the matter: Trump, convicted of fraud after paying bribes to buy the silence of former porn star Stormy Daniels, is involved in the project, although he suspects that he “doesn’t care whether or not” the industry is banned.
“But it’s people around him like JD Vance (his vice presidential running mate), the far-right conservatives, who want to ban pornography,” he said.
JD Vance wrote the foreword to the upcoming book by Kevin D. Roberts, who wrote the section of Project 2025 that proposes banning pornography.
“I think Trump will easily step aside and let that happen,” Randall says.
