Disrespect of TS Performers by AVN Awards Ceremony
Comments (4) Recently, transsexual star Brittany St Jordan, a nominee for the 2012 AVN Best Performance by a Transsexual award, wrote a scathing and spot-on commentary about AVN’s deplorable treatment of TS performers (we have reprinted her commentary in its entirety in our Transgender News section). While I may not concure precisely with Brittany on every point, in general I share her point of view and support her outcry against the industry. As she, and others before her, has indicated, there would not even be a TS award in the AVN awards if not for the outspoken actions of TS superstar Joanna Jett, who several years ago successfully lobbied for TS inclusion in the industry’s equivalent of the Academy Awards. However, years later, there has been little if any additional progress, and TS performers are still treated as the “dirty little secret” of the industry.
This is out of all proportion to the marketshare that TS porn has in adult entertainment overall. Granted, it’s a niche category and much, much smaller than hetero porn or gay porn, but it’s still a multi-million dollar niche and one much larger than many more peripheral niches. Yet AVN still does not present the TS Performer award during the hours-long ceremony, but rather lists the winner on a televised scroll at the end of the ceremony and then mails the award to its recipient. TS performers are treated as second class performers, often waiting outside the venue for hours while all straight and gay porn performers are ushered inside as soon as they arrive.
As Brittany states: “This triumph has dwindled in current times however. Yes, there are TS categories to be voted on but there is one major flaw in the way the awards are presented. Any of the winners of any TS category are not given their awards at the actual AVN ceremony. Instead, what happens, is at the end of evening the names are listed on a screen for people to view as they are leaving and the award is then shipped to the winner. Yes, that is correct, AVN considers TS performers, producers, and distributors to be fetish related and therefore not included in the actual ceremony with the rest of their counterparts amongst the adult industry. So according to this line of thought, anyone regarded as TS related in the adult industry are not considered to be on par with everyone else. As long as this is the policy no TS performer or producer will ever be given given the same recognition as everyone else for doing the same, and sometimes more, work than their counterparts in the other genres of adult entertainment.”
She concludes with a call-to-action, saying “If you feel that TS performers and producers of TS content deserve the same level of respect as everyone else at the AVN awards then please contact AVN (pr@avn.com) at AVN and let him know your thoughts and feelings. Please forward, repost, tweet and any other method of communication you can think of to spread this message so that we can spread the word about the AVN and their lack of respect for the TS genre of the adult industry.”
Here is the mailing address:
AVN Media Network, Inc.
9400 Penfield Avenue
Chatsworth, California 91311 USA
818.718.5788 tel 818.718.5799 fax
I encourage all fans of TS porn to follow suit and contact AVN to voice your outrage, and kudos to Ms St Jordan for stepping up. And kudos to XBIZ for recognizing TS superstar Jesse Flores as Performer of the Year this year, and to Grooby for the 4th annual Tranny Awards as the alternative awards for our niche.
Themocracy