History of US Trans Pornography

This chapter provides a history of trans pornography in the United States. It traces its origins back to the 1960s and charts its evolution from community-produced niche magazines to a highly commercialized genre of studio pornography that is increasingly being integrated into mainstream straight pornography. Initially a largely community-controlled genre during the 1960s and 1970s, trans pornography was popularized and commercialized in the 1990s by a string of cisgender men who marketed it to straight-identified men. From the 2010s onward some of the largest conglomerates in the pornography industry have begun taking a direct stake in its production. This history provides a detailed overview of the genre’s major players, featuring key performers, producers, and studios that have all crucially shaped it. It details the persistent exclusion trans people have faced in this area of the economy and shows how, against all odds, trans porn workers have managed to successfully assert themselves alongside their cisgender counterparts in some of the industry’s biggest productions.