In 2014, a vast majority of the United States population is guilty of watching porn, if not for enjoyment, then out of sheer curiosity.

Many of us even have specific stars we seek out to watch, and most people will certainly recognize the names James Dean and Sasha Grey. With the fame and money associated with being a porn star, one might not think much of what those stars are choosing to do with their lives, other than the fact that we would not embark on that same road. However, to say being a porn star is a pleasurable life path, especially for women, would be quite a stretch. These stars, with all their glory and riches, face great obstacles in and because of their professional lives that really takes the career’s allure away.

Contrary to what I’ve found to be popular belief, porn stars do not have to be clean in order to perform, and as noticeable as the lack condom is, it should be known that condoms are not even allowed during their shows. Tanya Burleson, famously known as Jersey Jaxin, an ex-porn star, admitted to catching Chlamydia in her first year of work. A huge reason sex workers spread sexually transmitted diseases so feverously is because they have to pay for their own STD screenings, buy their own medicine, and have to refrain from working for at least 8 days anytime they catch an STD.

Also prevalent in the sex industry, is verbal and physical abuse. With the constantly increasing desire for rough, and sometime even rape-fantasy porn, viewers often don’t realize that the video they are watching is less of an act than they believe. Many women admitted to being coerced into performing acts they didn’t agree to when threatened by their bosses to withhold payment. Often, acts performed on set were never agreed upon by the women and simply performed by the male actors who felt it was their right to take the film in whatever direction they pleased.

The disgruntling thing about the abuse of sex workers is that so many people publicly believe the workers deserve the treatment as punishment for their career choice. For example, porn star Christy Mack was recently beaten nearly to death by her ex-boyfriend, MMA fighter Jonathan Koppenhaver, also known as “War Machine.” Nearly every online article you can find on the incident has a string of comments posted below it, blaming Mack’s career as the reason this happened to her. One person even goes as far as saying, “Bad things happen to bad people.”

I will agree that working in the porn industry is a risky route to take, but these people are still people, and they deserve to be treated as such. Sadly, until the public at large recognizes and expresses concern about this issue, the industry will not change. The abuse will continue, as will the unsafe practices. With these factors, it is also no wonder the industry loses so many of its actors and actresses to drug use; they need a way to cope with what they face on the job every day. A serious reform is needed, but it is up to the viewers themselves to initiate it.