Jessica Drake on unrealistic expectations of adult films
Drake has spoken at universities about sexual education and consent since 2011.
Jessica Drake created her series of erotic educational films “Jessica Drake’s Guide to Wicked Sex,” because she feels the adult entertainment industry needs more content that portrays sex in a realistic way. The guide covers topics ranging from safe sex to senior sex. Photos by KALI HOFFMAN, Photo Editor Hoffman
When Jessica Drake was a college student at the University of Texas at El Paso, she earned her money working at a strip club.
“Life got hard. I was trying to take care of myself and support myself, and all of a sudden it was easier for me to strip and harder for me to go to
school,” Drake said.
Jessica Drake is an award winning actress in the adult film industry as well as a sex educator. Approximately 150 students attended a lecture and Q&A on Sept. 30, in which Drake shared her experiences spanning her 20 years in the industry, since her first film in 1999.
During her time working at a strip club, Drake was approached to be in magazines and movies. Initially she was against it, until one day she came out to Los Angeles to visit an adult movie set. When she got there, she realized it was one of her idols, Jill Kelly’s, an adult film actress, movie. She had so much fun that she decided to try making a movie. At the beginning of the discussion, Drake established an agreement between herself and the audience. The agreement included the following: “sex work is work, and sex worker rights are human rights.” Drake asked the audience for discretion, participation and to ask questions and allow everyone the freedom to be who they are.
“We are all consenting adults and we are all open and willing to share ideas,” Drake said.
Drake introduced herself, “a Wicked Pictures exclusive performer, writer, director, creator of Guide to Wicked Sex, and San Francisco Sex Information (SFSI) certified Sex Educator,” before asking the audience questions about themselves: Who watches porn? When was the first time you saw porn? Who had sex education growing up? With these questions, she made a disclaimer that you can raise your hand or raise your hand in your head.
Drake said that her professional name is her way in the door. She has had great success in her career, and with that success she has had the opportunity to pursue other things that she is passionate about, like sex education.
Sex education and her work in the adult film industry is not the only reason Drake is known. She is one of the women that have accused President Trump of sexual misconduct while he was a candidate. Trump allegedly touched and kissed Drake during a charity golf tournament in 2006 without her permission. Drake was also offered $10,000 to go to Trump’s hotel room alone.
“This is not acceptable behavior for anyone, much less a candidate for president,” Drake told Vanity Fair in 2016.
When faced with Drake’s accusation, Trump sarcastically said “Oh, I’m sure she’s never been grabbed before,” according to the New York Times.
After the incident, Trump’s campaign issued a statement in response to Drake’s allegations, claiming that they are falsified.
Drake was brought by Professor David Frederick, who teaches “Human Sexuality,” to speak in Frederick’s Human Sexuality and Health Speaker Series. The series is featured in “This is Life with Lisa Ling,” a CNN documentary. The episode, “Porn Ed,” which premiered the sixth season, aired on Sept. 29. Drake, expressed her feelings about the adult film industry’s portrayal in the episode.
“Only 5 minutes into #ThisIsLife with @LisaLing and already disappointed but not entirely surprised by the reinforcement of some really common shaming tactics & misinformation. Although this is a necessary conversation, I keep wishing it was framed differently,” Drake tweeted on Sept. 29.
Drake comes from a conservative, east Texas, Jehovah’s Witness family. She described to the audience how she grew up with shame around her sexuality. Now that she is a sex educator, she tries to create a “shame free, consent-informed, sex education that normalizes people’s sexuality, whatever it may be.”
Drake wants her discussions, educational DVDs and classes to provide people with the sexual education they didn’t get growing up and to fill in the gaps in their knowledge. Drake described a situation where a woman, taking one of her classes, asked her if she would sit down and have coffee with her daughter so she could ask Drake the questions she was too embarrassed to ask her mother.
Drake also spoke about the unrealistic expectations porn creates for viewers and the lies porn tells.
She posed a question to the audience of the expectations porn creates and wrote these expectations on a whiteboard at the front of the room. By the end of the discussion, the board looked something like this: “unrealistic body image (fake boobs), mind-blowing orgasms, loud sex, satisfaction independent of circumstances, ridiculous positions,” or as Drake calls it, “cirque du sex.”
“I am not giving you a polished version of what the industry is, instead I want to give you a real version of what the industry is. That’s my goal in doing this,” she said.
Since being invited to speak at her first college campus in 2011, Drake has spoken at several universities including University of Southern California (USC), University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and now Chapman University. Drake says that this industry has made her who she is, and she wants to be able to do as much good as she can.