Page 44 - AVN August 2018

FEATURE
LEARNING
CURVES
Three performers talk
about mixing adult
and education
By Nicholas Yanes
A Duke University student was outed as the porn
star Belle Knox in 2014. It has long been accepted
that many college students engaged in sex work
for extra money, but this story gained so much
attention due to Knox being a student at a prestigious university
and because it highlighted the increasing costs of college in the
United States. Knox’s career and popularity did spike after this
event, but she eventually left porn and has recently enrolled in
law school.
Though Knox was only one student, her outing increased the
awareness that many college students are also sex workers.
Moreover, in light of the #MeToo movement, campaigns against
slut-shamming, and more voices advocating for sex-positive
attitudes all converging on college and university campuses
across America, it is time to re-examine the concerns and
perspectives of college students who are also sex workers.
Newbie performer Lydia Love went to school to get her CNA license and found a “normal” job didn’t fit in with her college workload.
FEATURE | By Nicholas Yanes
“IT WAS VERY HARD ON ME
PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY
TO WORK SO MUCH. ... MY NEED
TO PAY FOR COLLEGE AND
MAINTAIN MY PERSONAL
HAPPINESS WAS MY REASON FOR
INITIALLY ENTERING THE ADULT
INDUSTRY.”
—LYDIA LOVE
Work/School: The Balancing Act
With college tuition rising faster than inflation and outpacing student aid, many co-eds
have to work in order to pay for college and afford food. (Finances for many college students
have become so strained that they deal with hunger on a regular basis.) Given that most
jobs available to college students don’t pay a living wage and that student loans are more
financially suffocating than anything found on a BDSM set, many co-eds are turning to adult
entertainment and sex work to earn the money needed to subsist.
Lydia Love is relatively new to the adult entertainment industry and pursued work in porn
when she realized that balancing college courses with a “normal” job simply wouldn’t work.
“I went to school to get my CNA license. While taking my class five days a week, I was also
working at a retirement home and a strip club,” Lydia Love told AVN. “It was very hard on me
physically and emotionally to work so much just to pay for school. My need to pay for college
and maintain my personal happiness was my reason for initially entering the adult industry.”
Alison Rey has also observed the physical and emotional tolls that come from working full
time and going to school full time. Reflecting on how her friends struggled to balance work
and school, Alison Rey said to AVN, “I had a lot of friends who were working full-time jobs at
restaurants and would have to miss class or skip out on homework assignments, just so they
could make enough money to support themselves while in school.”
In contrast to her friends, Rey only had to work in college when long weekends and holiday
breaks afforded her the time to travel to Los Angeles to shoot scenes. “It was nice to have a
source of income that didn’t conflict with my school hours,” Rey said.
This ease of balancing school and work isn’t something that all performers enjoy. Lydia Love
shared with AVN how she frequently struggles to juggle her work and school life. “At times, it
feels as though I have to choose one over the other,” Love said. “It’s very hard not to check my
phone or think about work when I need to focus on school, but it’s all about being disciplined.
When I travel out of town for work-related reasons I’m always doing homework at airports and
on the plane.”
Porn provides performers similar to Alison Rey and Lydia Love some financial stability,
and for these two performers, being in this industry has also allowed them to gain distinctive
insights into the fields they studied.
“I absolutely do feel that my experience in the adult entertainment industry has shaped my
studies in a way that is unique from my peers,” Rey said when discussing how her porn career
influenced the way she approached her three majors. “I feel a lot of college students are only
aware of the world around them as it is defined by their university bubble.”
She continued, “They might be able to apply concepts of sociology and justice to their world
via social media or what they see on the news, but by and large, their human experience is
relatively homogeneous. They aren’t exposed to the wide variety of people that I have been
exposed to because of performing; instead, they are familiar with the students in their class,
the people they work with, their families and communities. While these groups can be much
different on their own, I think it’s safe to say that someone who is constantly in contact with
44 | AVN.com | 8.18