Legal and Health Experts Take Center Stage at Pineapple Summit

LOS ANGELES—Performers must continue to protect themselves and their content from legal assaults, even as a new presidential administration is set to be inaugurated next month, say legal and health experts at the Pineapple Summit held today by Pineapple Support. The two-day event, which was dedicated to discussing different aspects of mental and physical health, therapy and coping skills for members of the adult industry, was held online today and broadcast on Pornhub. The event will also present its second and final day on the site beginning Friday at 9 a.m. PST and concluding in the afternoon. To participate, visit PineappleSummit.org or click here. Veteran adult industry attorney Corey Silverstein, who serves on the board of Pineapple Support, said sex workers who reach out to the organization are feeling the stress and anxiety of having to deal with restrictions by FOSTA-SESTA (Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act-Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act) and the fact that it will likely continue to impact the industry severely even after Donald Trump leaves office. “FOSTA-SESTA has caused a lot of damage and caused a lot of fear that we’re still going through,” Silverstein said. “Now we’ll have a new president who didn’t sign his name to it, but we do know his vice president has been very supportive of it.” Fellow industry attorney Lawrence Walters said that support for FOSTA-SESTA has made it a formidable adversary that has unfairly targeted sex workers rather than criminals and sex traffickers. “It would be a mistake to believe that this is driven by the religious right or plurality,” Walters said. “FOSTA-SESTA and these other proposals are bipartisan in nature. Republicans and Democrats and other groups have teamed up with the religious right, anti-sex worker feminists … and Big Tech, who think this will give them a monopoly and keep out smaller players, so this goes far beyond the moralists out there who want to stamp out porn. There is an unholy alliance of groups who often times would never talk to each other.” Besides FOSTA-SESTA, Walters said other legal issues are also playing a disruptive role with industry members, noting that performers need to take greater control of their livelihoods by not relying on so-called handshake deals or making verbal deals which can’t be proven in a court of law. “Make sure you document your deals and content trades, so don’t have handshake deals, so that you know who did what and what you expect from your deals,” he explained. “And protect your stage name so you don’t have problems later.” Besides legal advice and information, the summit also presented performers like industry veteran Lance Hart, who spoke about the challenges of working in the middle of a pandemic. “People get stressed out. But you have to be creative. It’s easier to get booked if you get creative,” he said. “If I pay two to three times their day rate and I can get three to four scenes I save money. … You pay more, but at the end of the month, my costs go down because I’m paying more and getting more content.” The summit also featured mental health experts like Angie Gunn, a clinical therapist who spoke on improving mental health and reducing stress through various techniques. “Think about something beautiful and a place you really enjoy. A place that makes you happy,” she said. “Think of ‘what images I see, what stories am I thinking of, what emotions am I noticing,’ and when we ground our senses, we give our bodies a chance to remember what it feels like to be in that place on a very physical level and it helps to come back to safety, so if you feel stressed, feel free to use this tool.” Also participating was relationship coach Alisha Fisher, who spoke about the issues facing those who have dealt with sexual trauma. “Healing isn’t a straightforward path for suvivors of sexual trauma,” she said. “But it’s important that we learn particular strategies to cope. To know what works and doesn’t work are really important.” She explained that focusing on the present rather than the past is especially helpful in overcoming the pain of past trauma. “Distract yourself from what you’re experiencing and refocus on what’s happening in the present moment,” she said. “So start to focus on what your body is on, like now I’m on this leather couch and my feet are touching the floor. That is what reorienting the senses is all about. Making you feel like you are here right now in the present.” She noted that breathing exercises are also helpful to reduce stress and negative thoughts that preoccupy people. “The key is to figure out which breath is best for you,” she said. “The breath is an effective tool to focus on. So maybe it’s focusing on the inhale or focusing on the exhale, depending which works best.” The summit continues tomorrow at 9 a.m. PST on Pornhub.