Statement Concerning James Deen

As almost everyone is now aware, Stoya, a former girlfriend of James Deen, stated on Twitter that he had raped her, violating consent during a BDSM scene they were doing privately.  Since then, several other women have come forward with similar stories, involving sexual assault at parties, backstage, and, perhaps most disturbingly, on set.

We stand in support of these women. The accusations that they are lying are despicable as well as ludicrous. As many other have said, these women have nothing to gain and everything to lose by making such statements about the person who is without question the biggest male star porn has ever known.

For the moment, however, we will follow the example of Stoya herself and not remove reviews of movies and videos in which Deen appears.

Here are some links to commentary we have found worth reading.

• Open Letter to James Deen, from Margaret Corvid (The Establishment)
• Summary of the story by Alex Abad-Santos at Vox
• Amanda Hess on the myth of James Deen, at Slate Double X
• Somewhat similar piece by Allison Maloney, at the New York Times
• Extremely thoughtful piece by Kitty Stryker on Medium (see also this article on Mic)
• Disturbing discussion by Christina Cauterucci, also at Slate Double X, of the way in which some people in the industry seem to have enabled Deen
• An old post by Thomas McCaulay-Miller, at Yes Means Yes, about the dynamics of these sorts of situations
• Another old piece, by Kitty Stryker at the Good Vibes blog, about rape and consent in BDSM communities (see also this piece by Charlie Glickman)