You might recognize the name Mandy Mitchell, and rightfuly so. She's won numerous awards for her work as a performer and producer and has become an icon in the industry. So we reached out to Mandy and chatted about her return to porn after retirement, how her career has evolved over the years, the challenges she's had to overcome, and what it's like to be a trans woman in the industry.
What influenced your decision to join the porn industry?
Initially, I just kind of fell into it. I was working as a sex worker in Portland about 15 years ago when a photographer for Grooby Productions hired me for a few shoots. I guess they were very popular, but I had no idea. I had decided at the time to go to truck-driving school and during my third day of class, that photographer from Grooby asked me if I wanted to start a solo website. Truck driving school felt kind of sketchy (the instructor kept pointing me out as the hot girl in the back of the class), so I didn’t need to be asked twice. So I dropped out and started filming content for mandytgirl.com and shortly after that did my first DVD for Robert Hill, Shemale Strokers, Grooby, and TS Seduction. In 2008, I shut down mandytgirl.com and launched Mandy-Mitchell.com with SMC Revenue in what would later become part of the TGirl Network.
In your opinion, what has been the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome being a transgender person in the porn industry?
This is such a broad topic to cover and could get really sad really fast, but given the current context of 2020, I suppose I don’t need to sugarcoat it. Ultimately, some of my closest allies and lovers died tragically young and I was never prepared for that and it still haunts me. The normal stuff that trans people talk about, the misgendering, lack of opportunity, limitations to success, intellectual property theft, and gas lighting, all that really pales in comparison to the loss.
What has been your biggest success thus far? What are you most proud of?
Marrying Bianca Stone, returning to the industry together in 2015, and building a thriving trans lesbian family business. Leaving porn was a heartache, but being able to return and succeed was a really happy turn of events. The last five years, in spite of all the ups and downs, have been amazing and I am so grateful for the amazing friendships and content I have made this time around.
How has joining the industry affected your life? Has it changed it for the better?
Well I certainly never expected to identify as a business woman, but here I am now. It definitely forced me to meet people and try things outside of my counter-cultural bubble I was in as a young queer. Ultimately, my time in porn profoundly changed me for the better.
What would you say is the biggest misconception people have about transgender performers? What do you think is the best way we rectify that perception and educate people?
I don’t know to be honest, there are so many. A big confusion is equating sissy crossdressers with trans women — there’s overlap at times, but they are mostly two completely different groups of people. The second misconception is hetero sexuality — that trans women predominantly are sexually attracted to men. Statistically, most trans women identify as lesbians or bisexuals and, although hetero trans women make up most of the cultural depictions of trans-sexuality, including in porn, that’s not an accurate portrayal of a great deal of trans women’s sexualities. I think we’ve overcome a great deal in the last ten years, though, as far as cultural and pornographic representation goes.
How do you deal with online criticism?
I block and delete. People rarely criticize me on social media, and as for Pornhub, most of the negative comments are about my body which I am under no obligation to explain, acknowledge, or host. So I moderate.
What kind of advice would you give another transgender person who is considering joining the porn industry?
Honestly, the advice I give every sex worker is to focus on indie self-production, build a fan base with live services of some kind and minimize exposure to risk. As for advice specifically for trans people, I say never put your transition or health second.
What does International Transgender Day of Visibility mean to you?
I think it gives well-intentioned allies space to meditate on trans realities. Every day is trans visibility day for me on Pornhub. I can’t escape it, but these days, it gives people a reason to come together in a way that normalizes our realities and destigmatizes interacting with us.
You’re quite a well-known name in the industry, what do you accredit your success to?
I focused on trans lesbian, kink, and queer content in the trans genre when nobody else was, and when I was told by male directors I had no future in porn, it lit a fire under my ass. I made close friendships with cis women who didn’t care if working with me would harm their careers, particularly with Hollie Stevens who really pushed me to grow, introduced me to a whole new world of people. We had a very immersive reality and at the time, there was just nothing like it in trans porn and a lot of people got sucked in by that swirl. I was deep in my art and romance and tragedy and ultimately, it brought Jay Sin and I together. We had a bit of a golden era together before I retired, and that content was quite popular while I was offline and kept my brand alive long enough for me to return three years later. When I returned, it was a new era in porn with mega platforms and great money for indie producers. I gravitated toward the people I remembered and then connected with new people I was excited about who all happened to become wildly successful. So in a way, a lot of my old work finally became accessible to a mass audience just in time to enjoy this newer generation of porn.
Follow Mandy Mitchell on Twitter for photos, videos, and updates on her next project.
Twitter @strangerswmandy
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