According to the San Francisco Weekly, Hollie Stevens (who the article dubs a "clown porn pioneer") first started shooting clown porn because it is fucking hilarious. "I shot a lot of clown porn for amusement," she told the publication. Stevens, who also does mainstream porn, has cancer.
But wait. Okay. Clown porn? This — for the uninitiated — is actually a thing. Pretty simply it is an off-shoot of clown fetishism — whose enthusiasts get off on dressing up as clowns and having sex in costume. The costumes are pretty much identical to the ones worn by those terrifying clowns that parents still (for some reason) book at their kid's birthday parties.
For a lot of clown fetishists that whole "clowns are scary" thing is kind of the point. It's creepy sexy. It is about the rush that comes from having a sexual encounter with the scariest/dirtiest kinda person you can imagine. Maybe needless to say, this is an off-shoot of BDSM. I should also note that some clown enthusiasts insist it isn't about the scary factor, but rather about making sex less serious, about it being light and funny. Because apparently some adults actually think clowns are funny?
And also when you start to really think about it, there is a long history of clowns being sexual. Clowns in ancient Greece wore giant strap on phalluses, with which they bumped into things for laughs. (Oh, penis LOLs.) Medieval jesters told dirty jokes and in American burlesque the "dirty clown" was an archetype.
But anyway, back to Stevens. I googled her and she is known as the "Queen of Clown Porn." She sorta created the genre; the tumblr Fuck Yeah Clown Porn is basically all photos of her. But the focus of the San Francisco Weekly article, being very San Fran and very PC and liberal, is not at all about clown fetish (that was all us) but rather about this woman's battle with cancer.
Her story — in an inappropriate contrast to clown porn being fucking hilarious — is truly heartbreaking. First she had a lump in her breast which she learned was cancer. Then after feeling a pain her leg, she learned she also had bone cancer. After a recent check-up cancer was found on her rib and liver. Stevens, according to the San Francisco Weekly, does not have health care. (She is on her third round of fundraising; check out her fund here to help.)
Here is where the article makes its point:
I've seen some negative coverage on this story because of Stevens' job as an adult performer. That kind of press feeds into the stereotypes that already exist about sex workers. Stevens is a human being, and no one should have to deal with all of this alone. Cancer affects us all, and too many of us have either lost people to it or have fought it ourselves. People in the adult community have rallied around their friend in a way that is truly heartwarming. This illness has changed Stevens' life and it has changed the lives of the people around her forever.
I know it is pulling at the heart-strings but nevertheless it seems like a good time to remind us all to not judge a squick-y kink by its cover. Clown porn stars are people too. And this is a woman who really brought clown kinks into much more of a mainstream — as much as she did clown porn for its humor, I'm sure she helped many a clown-kinkster learn they are not alone.
Clown-Porn Pioneer Battles Aggressive Cancer [SF Weekly]
Image — which is not of Hollie Stevens — via Andreas Gradin/Shutterstock.