This guest editorial comes from Holly Randall, award-winning pornographic photographer, director, and producer. In it, she explains why Project 2025 threatens the livelihoods of so many, and why the Hands Off My Porn Initiative is fighting back.
Having been in the adult industry for 26 years, I’ve witnessed firsthand the waves of attacks that have plagued our community over the decades.
After my mother Suze Randall’s beginnings as a photographer at Playboy in 1974, she went on to produce porn movies in the late ’70s through the ’80s. First there was the Meese Commission in 1985: a government commission put together by Reagan which sought to regulate what consenting adults could watch. And then there was the Freeman case: Harold Freeman, a film director, was charged in California with pimping and pandering. State authorities argued that paying actors to engage in sexual acts for the purpose of creating adult films constituted an act of prostitution, but Freeman contested that these acts were intended for commercialized adult entertainment, and thus were protected by the First Amendment. Thankfully, the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of Freeman, holding that paying performers to engage in “non-obscene sexual acts” for films did not constitute prostitution under California law.
However this was not an end to our problems, as the term “obscene” is subjective and has been the subject of many a renewed attack on pornography. What followed has been many court cases brought against directors: take, for example, John Stagliano’s indictment in 2008 for creating “obscene material” and distributing it across state lines. The case was dismissed, but it has done nothing to quell the thirst of the religious right to do everything in their power to shut our industry down.
And here we are again, facing a similar threat with Project 2025, though to be fair this one doesn’t hide behind a more stringent government oversight– it calls for a complete ban on pornography, criminalizing those who create and distribute adult material. A $22 million initiative backed by Trump’s political appointees and endorsed by over 100 conservative organizations, its goal is to end the porn industry by imposing criminal penalties on those who produce, distribute, and even host adult content online. It’s an alarming overreach of government power— the morality crusade once again rearing its ugly head.
In response, over 40 leading figures from our industry have united to launch an issue education campaign: we aim to inform the public about Project 2025 and its implications, urging everyone to check their voter registration and consider what a Republican presidency might mean for our industry. We’re running $100,000 worth of digital ads in key battleground states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Arizona, reaching millions of fans and building a movement to protect our rights.
Those of us working in adult entertainment are people just like you— we are trying to make a living and support our families. We are not criminals or sexual deviants. We are regular people with a somewhat irregular job. But we are a close-knit community of people who care deeply about each other, about consent, our personal autonomy, and yes– are perhaps more sexually “free” than the typical person. But I don’t have to convince you that we are good people to point out that this fight isn’t just about us: criminalizing porn impacts distributors, internet providers, and, ultimately, the fans who enjoy our content. Project 2025 is a direct attack on our civil liberties, aiming to control what content adults can view.
The proponents of Project 2025 are using scare tactics and junk science to push their agenda. They claim to protect women, yet they strip away agency from women in the industry who have chosen this path, and are in fact thriving. Their goal isn’t to protect minors; it’s to dismantle the entire industry. Our goal is to expose the hypocrisy behind this initiative and ensure our voices are heard.
So why specifically does our campaign aim to buy 100k worth of ads that run before free porn videos on the internet? The young men who are frequent consumers of adult content represent a crucial demographic, and Project 2025 supporters are actively courting this group. In an election this close, we need to reach every undecided voter – and currently Republicans are outspending Democrats 10 to 1 on ads to reach these people.
Porn is often the canary in the coal mine—its demise is the ominous prophecy that cannot be ignored. Because history has shown that when one liberty is compromised, others follow, like a domino effect. To combat this threat, we’ve teamed up with Artists United for Change, a registered PAC that incubates artist-driven projects and has collaborated with musicians, visual artists, and more. Together, we’re working to expose the dangers of Project 2025, and with the support of artists and their fans, we’re amplifying our message and building a coalition of voices that demand to be heard.
The battle against Project 2025 is about more than just our industry—it’s about preserving civil liberties and individual choice. The right to watch what consenting adults choose to engage in should not be dictated by the government and extremist agendas. Join us in this fight by visiting HandsOffMyPorn.com to learn more, and ensure that you’re registered to vote. Together, we can protect our rights and shape a future where our freedoms are respected, and our industry thrives.
