Conversations with porn stars: My life after leaving the industry

Only those who have worked within the industry truly understand what it means to be an adult actor, yet their voices are often unheard in the debate. In a series of interviews, performers tell The Independent what they want you to know about their line of work

Raylin Joy

Porn and stigma are inextricably linked. We know porn consumption is on the rise thanks to the readily available adult material flooding the internet. We have analytics to tell us which types of porn are the most popular depending on the country and even data illustrating how viewing habits differ by generation. But while views on the adult industry are increasingly progressive, the widely held perceptions of the women and men in the frame remain static.

Raylin Joy, a singer and actress in the Showtime mini-series Submission, is more commonly known by the name she assumed as an adult performer: Skin Diamond. Joy now goes by her real name and has stopped performing in adult films to focus on her music career.

Can you ever truly leave an industry where your work is permanently committed to the internet, replicated thousands of times and watched by millions? A number of prominent adult performers have completely retired from adult films to pursue other careers: Lisa Ann and Sunny Leone are two of the most famous to move on to other public facing but unrelated roles. Do you try to detach yourself from the identity you built within porn and rebrand or continue with that identity but move forward in a different direction?

Joy is rebranding, but her past is not something she wants to hide. A sex-positive advocate, actress and singer, porn is not something she will deny as she transitions out of it. Her work in Submission, an erotic series exploring BDSM, looked directly to the films she has made during her career. Here, in her own words, she explains what it is like to be a porn star and what life is like after leaving the industry.

Why did you decide to work in adult films and how did you first get into it?

I actually got into in by accident. My plan wasn’t to get into porn and to be a porn star. The opportunity kind of fell into my lap. I grew up in Scotland and I was going to fetish clubs in London and I was really involved in the fetish scene and Torture Garden and all that sort of stuff, so I was kind of doing risqué shoots anyway. I had modelled for Burning Angel before just doing a photo shoot and they asked me if I wanted to come to Paris and shoot some scenes. I was like, yeah I want to go to Paris, so I went and I did it. When I was there it wasn’t how you’d think a porn set would be it, it was just a bunch of friends hanging out, having sex and getting paid. I just kind of thought that was really cool. Honestly, I thought it was just so much fun so I shot all my first scenes – like my first girl-girl scene, my first boy-girl scene, my first anal scene – all in that one week because I didn’t ever think I would do it again. I was just kind of doing it for sh**s and giggles. Then fast forward a year when I was living in LA and very very broke, and not really doing anything else and the opportunity again just fell into my lap. I had a lot of fun with it so I thought, why not? So, here I am now.

How old were you when you did your first scene?

When I did my first scene I was 23. But I have a baby face, which works for me.

Did you have an agent straight away? Or did you work independently at first?

The first scenes that I shot for Burning Angel were all done independently. It was actually Joanna Angel who invited me and my friend at the time to go to AVN and that was really the pinnacle moment where I saw the rest of the porn world and how big it was and I met all the people and I thought how fun it seemed. I did do quite a bit of research and I asked around about agencies and who’s the best one, and my agent Mark Seigler popped up as the best one, so I chose him. If you are going to be in the adult industry, he is the best agent that you could possibly get.

Do you stay with him?

Yes, I do.

How long have you been in the industry for now?

Probably six, going on seven years now. I did my first scenes in 2009.

That’s quite a long time for an industry that has a lot of women coming in and going after six months to a year.

Sometimes the stigma that can come with porn is too much for some girls to handle.

Yeah it is a very fast paced career span, even if you are in it for a long time it is still very short. Like Whip girls, who have been in the industry for 10 years, are like ‘woaaah’ you have been around. Because a lot of the new girls will pop up for a year or two maybe. Unless they are the top girls of the industry, they just sort of disappear into obscurity.

Why do you think that is? Is it a financial thing? Because it’s quite a short period for most women.

Yeah it is definitely hard, it is not as easy a job as you might think. It would compare to athletes: their job is very hard on their body. You are basically being a sexual athlete, so it’s not the easiest on your body. You’re doing all these crazy scenes and getting into weird positions. And also I think that in my personal opinion sometimes the stigma that can come with porn is too much for some girls to handle. Because it is not even the porn world that can really get to girls, it’s the bulls**t that girls can experience from the outside world because people think they have this idea of porn and that if you are a girl who does it then you must be a little bit weird or something. For me, personally, I don’t give a s**t but for some other girls they find it quite hard, so that’s why they don’t stick around for as long.

Have you ever had any problems in your day to day life because of conservative attitudes [towards porn]?

I feel like I have been very lucky because all the people I keep around me are very understanding and not judgmental in that way. But I have heard stories from other girls who are try to move on from porn – like going to school and trying to become a nurse – and then everyone at the hospital finds out that she did porn and then she ends up getting fired. It is a bummer because I think that is why a lot of girls get weird about leaving because they are unsure as to whether they are going to be accepted into normal society again. I have been really lucky.

I think that is why a lot of girls get weird about leaving, because they are unsure as to whether they are going to be accepted into normal society again

Is that something you worry about? Because I know you have done mainstream modelling for some agencies, and I know you are in Submission, but having worked in porn will there be certain things that you won’t be able to do?

No, I don’t think so. The main things that I want to do after porn is obviously Submission; I am really getting into my acting again. That was what I originally studied in Scotland, stage acting. I wanted to go to RADA or something. But I have actually been really focused on my music. Developing myself as an artist, and really getting into writing, performing and being on stage singing. For me, I am the type of person who does whatever makes me happy. But I am not really worried about it at the moment, because I am focusing on all of these new projects that I have got going on so I don’t really have time to worry.

You are in quite a long list of people who have transcended porn and gone on to do something completely different. Do you think that is getting easier now?

I think that it is definitely getting easier in this day and age because I think that people are finally waking up to the idea that sex isn’t as scary as we have been lead to believe by our forefathers. I think that because of amazing musicians – I think they are really the ones opening the doors – who have been really open about their sexuality, like Bowie, Michael Jackson, Prince, and then the newer icons like Nicki Minaj and Rhianna. Everyone is using sex. Even in marketing, using sex to sell so I feel like those double standards are slowly being broken down.

How are you finding the transition from an adult film set to a normal job/film set?

I think it is really fun, I love challenging myself. I love doing things that are new and exciting. That’s what drew me to porn in the first place, that it was this grand new and exciting thing that I had never done before. Things get less shiny and sparkly after a while and I get bored. So now these mainstream projects are my new shiny and sparkly things that I am getting excited about. So, it's challenging but I don’t find it scary at all because I love that challenge.

Do you think people can detach you the porn star from you the musician?

Well the way I have been kind of doing it with my music is by going by real name which is Raylin Joy. I feel like Skin Diamond will always be a huge part of me, because if you were to take every sexual aspect of [inaudible] and put it into one entity you would get Skin Diamond. So, she’s still there but I feel like with the music and everything it is me taking off that mask; showing all of me rather than just one side. The first music video we released we did it super DIY style. I am not wearing a lot of make-up or anything because I wanted to break the illusion that is Skin Diamond because this is me now. But you will always still get the sexy stuff because that is still part of me, but you know, there is a lot more to it.

How difficult is it to build a career out of porn? Women are getting paid less and less because of all the free porn available now.

I think that the way in which girls are building their careers is changing so rapidly now. Back in the day it was the mainstream world where you would have an agent and get X amount for these shoots, but these days because of social media it is a lot more hands on. If you are going to be big in the porn industry you have to be really connected with your fans. That is the one thing that your fans cannot pirate, that one on one experience via social media and having a website and doing cam shows. Instead of just doing scenes now, you have to do everything. But, there are still ways to make a career in porn, you’ve got to get a good agent – that’s important, that’s really important.

What happens if you get a bad agent?

You end up finding yourself doing some shoots that you definitely do not want to do. I have heard some horror stories. Again, I was super lucky because I got a really good agent so I never had to work for the s***ty companies, but I have definitely heard some horrible stories, you know, being told the shoot is one thing and then turning up and it’s completely different. But I have never found myself in situations like that, so I always know what I am getting myself into. That’s why you have got to do your research.

Do you think it’s a problem that 18-year-olds are doing porn?

It is such a hard call to make because everyone develops mentally at different stages. So one girl who might be ready to do porn at 18 is one story, but if I personally tried to start doing porn aged 18 I wouldn’t have handled it very well. Because it is a very life changing decision to do porn and when you are young you are not as aware of the impact that decision can make.

 I have definitely heard some horrible stories; you know, being told the shoot is one thing and then turning up and it’s completely different

Have you found [there has been] any impact? Or do you think that because you waited, you haven’t?

I think because I waited I feel like I was at an age where I was definitely ready to take it on. When I got into porn, I wasn’t doing it so much for the money as I was for the experience: the sexual experience of exploring myself. I mean, the money definitely helps.

So, financially it has worked for you then?

Yeah, when I first got into the industry I was stripping in Hollywood but I wasn’t really making bank. It was not easy. I was struggling really hard, and then eventually I got into porn and I was able to buy furniture.

How did you get involved with Submission?

I was actually approached by my agent. Jacky St. James [the creator of Submission] and I had already worked on some adult projects together, and she already knew that she wanted me for the role and I was of course 100 per cent down. We did a very vigorous audition process because my role was the only main role in which they cast an adult actress. The network really wanted to make sure it was right. It’s been a really, really fun experience and it’s been nice to get to work on mainstream sets because I feel like everyone is so dedicated to the art and it was a really fun team to work with.

It has had a really good reception so far. Do you think it is helping to change the way we look at porn?

Yeah I think it is definitely going to help things out, especially because it is a take on BDSM – which hasn’t always been portrayed in the best way, in my personal opinion – so I think that from that perspective as well it is going to do really well. Even though I am not a fan of 50 Shades of Grey personally, it did help open a lot of doors and get people curious about the BDSM world. Even though, again, 50 Shades is not consensual BDSM at all. But it got people curious.

People are finally waking up to the idea that sex isn’t as scary as we have been lead to believe by our forefathers

Did [50 Shades of Grey] cause any problems for the BDSM world? Or do you think people just knew it was fiction?

I think that, maybe, it does have the danger to distort things a little bit but that’s why I think that it’s really important for shows like Submission to show how it really is. Now that everybody is curious about it and wants to know more about this deviant world, now people can do their research and watch the show. We have a real dominatrix liaison for all the bondage scenes doing all the rope tying and her name is Aiden Starr. She and I were helping all the mainstream actors who had no idea about the BDSM world, we were really trying to make things true to form. For Ashlynn [Yennie], when she was doing her scene I would talk with her about (because I have been a real-life submissive in the past) my opinion on how to react and how you would feel to certain situations.

Are you hoping that you will get more acting roles that are slightly different? Or are you quite happy for them to still have that aspect to them?

Well I definitely don’t mind taking on roles that are special, but I am not performing adult anymore. I’m just focusing on music and acting because that is something that is new and exciting and I just want to go for it. I am not doing adult right now so I can 100 per cent focus on the other stuff.

Additional reporting by Izzy Ions