Do porn fans mind their manners at adult-themed conventions? Not all the time, as reported by New York journalist Diana Falzone in a Daily Beast article, “Porn Stars to Creepy Fans: ‘We’re Human, Not Just F*ck Toys.”
Inspired by Romi Chase who reached out to Falzone about her worries with appearing publicly at conventions due to a past physical assault, this feature includes reports of bad fan behavior by Romi and fellow adult entertainers, Kendra Sunderland, September Reign, Marcela Alonso and Gigi Dior, as well as an interview with Dan Davis the creator of popular lifestyle convention, the Exxxotica Expo.
Dressed in a mini-skirt and fishnet stockings, Chase stood for more than a few images with the fan. “And at some point we did this pose where he is facing the camera and he put his hands around my waist,” recalled the adult performer, whose legal name The Daily Beast is withholding out of privacy concerns. “My back was turned toward the camera, kind of like a butt shot, and then out of nowhere he proceeded to put his hands in my butt, like, underneath my skirt.”
“Hearing anything about alleged incidents from anyone who has attended EXXXOTICA such as these encounters is obviously alarming to us, and it is something we take very seriously,” said Dan Davis, director of operations of Three Expo Events, which produces EXXXOTICA, in a statement to The Daily Beast. “The alarming behavior of the few definitely casts a dark shadow on the industry as a whole. These ‘fans’ have to realize that these women are people. They are someone’s daughter, wife, girlfriend and human beings who deserve respect.”
Overly aggressive fans are a common experience at adult-industry expos, said Kendra Sunderland, a 27-year-old porn actress who rose to fame after her amateur video from a college library went viral online. “I have been doing conventions since the beginning of my career, and there’s always somebody at every convention,” she explained. “It’s always a problem.” Sunderland said that at various conventions she’s had men put their hands underneath her skirt and inappropriately touch her without her consent.
Porn actress September Reign, who asked to keep her legal name private, recalled threatening a handsy fan at the 2017 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas. “If you touch me again in that way, I’m going to break your finger so I don’t think you want to continue to do that,” she said she told one man who’d groped her at her booth. “Obviously that made him mad and he walked away.”
In addition to outlining clear codes of conduct, most expos do provide security guards. Adult content creator Marcela Alonso told The Daily Beast that at the same Chantilly-based EXXXOTICA event in 2022, a fan came into her booth and began to physically assault her. “I had to scream and yell,” she said. “EXXXOTICA security kicked him out.”
You may read the artcicle in it’s entirety here The Daily Beast.
