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To me, if it's porn, all of the sex has to happen in front of the camera.

For many, porn and sex work is equated to a salacious world of sleazy men with moustaches and pimps with gold chains.

So a common reaction to news that a porn star was treated in a degrading way becomes, ‘Well, what do they expect?’

But, as Australian porn star Madison Missina told Mia Freedman in her No Filter podcast, porn stars – like any employee – expect respect in the workplace.

Listen to what she had to say here:

Missina, 32, said there were some really great, professional adult actors out there. They were hygienic, respectful and keen communicators.

“There are some porn stars that I no longer work with that I’ve turned up to set and they’ve been all over me, wanting to touch me and say things to me like, ‘Oh, I’m just trying to make sure we get great chemistry for set’,” Missina said.

“And I’m like ‘Eugh. No. This is just sexual harassment. Stop it.”

Madison Missina. Image via Twitter.

And now just this week, there are numerous media reports about porn star James Deen exhibiting this behaviour with co-workers.

In recent days, three former co-stars of the world’s most famous porn star have gone public with allegations he raped or assaulted them.

The empire of the adult film industry’s “it boy” – a man who managed to amass an impressive 89 film and TV titles to his name in 2015 alone, as well as a huge legion of male and female fans – is crumbling around him, with porn studios and websites quickly severing ties with him.

James Deen has denied the rape allegations made by his ex. Image via Instagram.

It began on Sunday, when Deen’s former girlfriend and fellow porn star, Stoya, claimed she was raped by the 29-year-old

“James Deen held me down and f–ked me while I said no, stop, used my safe word. I just can’t nod and smile when people bring him up anymore,” she wrote on Twitter.

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He denied the allegations the following day.

But several other adult film actresses have since claimed Deen violently assaulted them at their workplace.

Ashley Fires says Deen is the only performer she point-blank refuses to work with, The Daily Beast reports.

“The reason I put him on my ‘no list’ was because he almost raped me,” she said.

“I was getting out of the shower of the communal bathroom at Kink, I reach for my towel to dry off, and he comes up from behind me and pushes himself and his erection into my butt. He pushes me against the sink and starts grabbing on me and I was like, ‘No, no, no James, no,’ and he released me from his grasp, and says, ‘You know, later if you want to fuck around I’m in room whatever-it-was. I was like, ‘Fuck you.’ I didn’t even know this guy, he was so out of line and entitled with my body.”

Fires said that about a year later Deen demanded she “stop telling people about it” and to instead say she refuses to work with him because he reminds her of her brother.

Ashley Fires. Image via Twitter.

Tori Lux similarly claims in an essay published by The Daily Beast that Deen beat and sexually assaulted her on the set of a major porn film after she’d finished performing a scene in June 2011.

“I hadn’t even had time to dress myself when he said, with a smirk on his face, ‘Tori Lux, would you like to sniff my testicles?’ ‘Nope,’ I replied in a neutral tone. ‘I’ll repeat myself: Tori Lux, would you like to sniff my testicles?’ he asked, more aggressively this time. I replied with a firm ‘No,’ in order to establish my boundary – which James then disregarded by grabbing me by the throat and shoving me down onto a mattress on the floor.

“He proceeded to straddle my chest, pinning down my arms with his knees. Then, he raised his hand high above his head, swinging it down and hitting me in the face and head with an open palm. He did this five or six times – hard – before finally getting off of me.”

Lux said she was afraid to speak out against the hugely popular actor following the alleged assault.

“The reason for that is because people – including the police – tend to believe that sex workers have placed themselves in harm’s way, and therefore can’t be assaulted,” she said.

Stoya. Image via Instagram.

 

In Madison Missina’s view the boundaries are very clear and always should be.

“To me… if it’s porn, all of the sex has to happen in front of the camera,” she says.

“I don’t like this whole concept of fluffing. I don’t need my co-stars to be touching me or warming me up. To me, that’s my private time.

“As porn performers, we’re not there to please each other or to have sex behind the scenes or whatever. We’re there to get a job [done].”

And that job in that workplace, like any, should be free from harassment and sexual assault.

You can listen to Mia’s entire interview with sex worker, therapist and porn star Madison Missina here: