A Q&A about life in porn with Minnie Scarlet

Some people crunch numbers for a living, fight in arenas around crowds, project their creativity with cuisines or even write articles, but others do porn and like many other jobs it all does the same thing in the end— pays the bills. The purpose of a job or career is mainly to pay the bills and if you’re lucky enough you might end up working in a position that you love, are passionate about and empowers you.

That’s what porn actress, Minnie Scarlet is doing. She’s letting her fans into her sexual fantasies, while being empowered and enjoying it with her audience. Porn isn’t a typical day job and questions generally arise when someone mentions what they do for a living, even it is something as extreme as porn. That’s why The Corsair took the liberty to communicate via e-mail with the rising and multitalented porn actress to ask her a few things about her career and lifestyle.

What's your stage name? Why?

Minnie Scarlet! And honestly it's weird why; I used to have several tarantulas as pets. At the time, "Minnie" was the name of my smallest one and my largest one was a Scarlet Bird-eater breed. That’s how I developed my stage name; think I'm crazy yet?

How did you get into porn? And for how long have you been doing it?

Just a disclaimer: people working in The industry don't consider me a porn performer because I never did boy/girl scene or shot professional scenes full time but if the majority of your income is made from porn, I think you do porn. I just took part in a lot of indie and amateur productions.

I found myself couch surfing in college at 18 and I didn't want to drop out. It began with erotic nude modeling, capitalizing on the "alternative, tattooed" niche. The site I was on only offered nude photos so it wasn't hardcore or much money. Eventually through the other women I met on the site, I learned of webcamming and selling fetish clips— both better sources of income and thus started my network of people and places in the industry.

What are the beneficial differences between porn and a regular job?

There's the fact that you can make up to a few thousand on a good day. It's rare and not every porn performer has or will reach that… but it's possible. It's hard to say in general terms because even the porn industry is hierarchical. There are girls who get paid $1-2k for scenes then there are some who get paid $200-$300.

Also I've met so many of my friends in the industry that make working really fun! It also, like many freelance and entertainment gigs, requires a flexible and non-conventional schedule. Porn can also provide you new opportunities. It closes the door for certain kinds of jobs but it can also serve as a platform to become known or kick-start other endeavors. It really depends on the performer, what opportunities present and what they choose to do with them.

What are some things people don't realize that come with being in the industry?

Barely anybody is ballin' anymore. And if they are, it's because they were smart with their investments and time.

If you shoot for a bunch of companies you just get that one time payment and then somebody else owns that content forever. There's not much security in that. Plus people are still attached to the romanticized idea that if you do porn it's easy to get big money fast. Every successful porn performer has several hustles for example, I worked at a medicinal marijuana dispensary, as a makeup artist, sold clips, etc. all while "doing porn". Gotta get that money, honey.

What do you love most about porn?

Personally, it's taught me so much about people and social norms. It's a strange thing to focus on when asked about being sexual for money but I'll value and use the information I learn during my time as a sex worker for the rest of my life. It's given me the freedom to present myself sexually in a way that I'm comfortable with, a luxury that didn't come easy— but it makes all the difference.

I also love the chance to look at the current state of pornography and the chance to contribute my own version is a beautiful thing. On top of that, I've been given chances to do awesome non-porn stuff (a B-film, a scene with Charlie Hunnam on Sons of Anarchy). I don't know if I'd have those opportunities if it weren't for porn.

What's your favorite scene to shoot?

Ooooh I love Fem domme (female domination)! I am an out, proud feminist and I guess that attracts submissive men because they love to get chewed out by me. Imagine getting paid to talk about how men should be thankful to kiss a woman's feet and if they catcall, they are disgusting scum). I think it's a somewhat of a high for me and probably therapeutic.

Since you're Asian, what's it like being a direct target for Asian fetish porn?

To put it simply, I hate it! An agent who happened to be a white dude told me once that Asian performers should never be out of work; they should be shooting at the very least one scene a week. I asked him to elaborate, “Where was all this work?” He then directed me to a company with the words "Third World" in the title. The scene they would hire me for was essentially: I was a Vietnamese immigrant who needed her green card but the only way I could get it was from f*cking a white guy. I didn't do it for obvious reasons.

It's not uncommon for women of color to be put in these degrading situations that are reflecting of real life. People say it's just fantasy but when people watch these scenes they are thinking about women like my grandma, my aunt, my mother being so desperate in life and then being raped essentially for something like a green card. So I'm not so fond of Asian porn even if not all are as extreme like that.

Also, you do a web series called Can You Keep Up (#CYKU) that's a spoof of the Kardashians—How's that going?

We wrapped shooting early due to some problems we had. I needed a strong support system and some help. Between promotion, running the twitter, putting together the fundraiser stuff, sending out the thank yous to fans—I also wrote, acted and directed it. Somewhere along the way the fun got lost. There were some unrealistic standards set and It was just not something that was fun or doable anymore.

I think it was an amazing learning process though. Like I mentioned earlier, I value all the information I get to learn.

Recently James Deen has been accused by porn actresses for abuse and rape. What is your opinion on him?

In the last year or two I actually heard some pretty crappy stuff about the dude including violence and rape so I'm absolutely not shocked. I also read that he rejected the idea of the, "Yes Means Yes" law, which defines consent as a sober, conscious decision by both parties. He just represents an idea of sexuality for women that isn't shameful. Women could actually speak publicly about how hot he was without necessarily saying "I masturbate." Since he is the epitome of normal (white, Jewish, conventionally attractive) It's super easy to project fantasies onto him.

What should we expect next from Minnie Scarlet?

I want to do a sketch show! “Can You Keep Up?!” was successful in some aspects but my main objective was fun. Sketch comedy is a little more familiar to me. I'm really bad at commitment so staying with the same storyline and characters for too long is blah. I'm going to try and do something that my partner and I can do on our own. So we'll see! I'm sure it'll be something soon.