At the heart of Europe's largest adult entertainment trade show

English script, Youtube / LADbible Stories et Josh Pieters, 05-01-2026, Watch the movie

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I've been to like VidCon and some YouTube conventions, but in terms of this convention, it's looking >> So, sorry to interrupt. >> My name is Josh Peters and I watch pornography. I have done since I was 12 years old, which sounds like a really strange thing to say out loud. I still don't think I could look my parents in the eye and tell them that same thing.

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And I don't know why. What once lived in magazines and VHS tapes, is now in our pockets, often feeling unavoidable. Now, new government regulations, including stricter censorship and mandatory age verification, are set to change how people access porn online. If porn is something we all watch seemingly all the time, why is it still so hard for us to talk about? Why is there so much shame around it? To understand why we carry the shared shame around pornography, I've traveled to XBiz 2025, Europe's biggest adult entertainment

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conference by day and the Oscars of porn by night. Here, I'm immersing myself fully in this world to get answers to questions I've long wondered about. >> I love anal. I'm a big squatter. >> Okay. And what what how does that what happens with that >> with squatting? But before all that, I wanted to hear from some of the UK's influential online voices, exploring their differing opinions on an industry we rarely talk about.

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Riyad Cariff, a broadcaster, writer, and queer rights advocate. >> I remember literally typing into a search engine, sexy hunk topless, and then they appeared on dialup internet. You know, did did >> known for tackling tough conversations. to Boo on the Bus host Zara Macintosh. >> I thought porn was for men. So, I never even considered it as being something that would would have a role in my life.

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>> I got to hear from Diego Day, who per his Instagram bio, helps guys date beautiful women. >> I don't think porn should be legal. I haven't watched porn for numerous years now. I generally think watching porn is a sign of a weakness for a male. >> I also sat down with psychologist and sex therapist Dr. Paula Hall.

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>> We need to talk about porn. Porn is part of life now. It is part of society. We need to acknowledge that, accept that, and just be more open about it. Welcome to Amsterdam, where the streets are lined with canals, the soundtrack is bicycle bells, the air has interesting smells, and there's a porn convention with over 1,000 porn stars from across the globe. And me.

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So, on our way to the convention, I've never been to an adult entertainment convention before. Um, I don't know what to expect. >> On arrival, with an almost corporate comfort, experts felt like any other conference except with a different dress code. >> It's really good to be here. Coming to Bong Convention, you don't really think about the food.

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Someone had to think about the food and whoever did has done a fantastic job because it's excellent. Registration complete, it was time to network. And one thing was clear. People were open to talking to us about the industry and its added benefits. >> I enter point because it gave me the financial freedom uh the freedom of time.

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I can travel and I can also explore my uh secret uh passion uh in a way that I I wasn't able to. >> What's your secret passion? >> Being a naughty mil. their mouth, their ass. I give them pleasure, but also give me pleasure that they take, you know, what I give. >> That's very, very interesting. >> But I wasn't just here for fun in the catering.

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>> I was here to learn. >> You were a teacher. >> I still am a teacher. >> Genuinely. >> Genuinely a teacher. I have been for 14 years now. >> What do you teach? >> Um, primary. >> The exped, roundts, and seminars. During a seminar on the evolving landscape of porn, I was introduced to Dan Le, aka porno Dan. A true thought leader, he's worn every hat imaginable, both behind and in front of the camera.

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>> I'm in a Hall of Fame. >> You're in the Hall of Fame. What does What does that mean exactly? It means you done a lot of porn. >> A veteran of the porn industry, Dan had some interesting behindthe-scenes insights into the making of porn. Every single porn performer is on performancing drugs. Everybody.

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I've done 3,000 scenes. I've never done a scene without having at least something in my system. From horny goat to sealis to Viagra. Okay. >> What's horny goat weed? >> This is what you took before Viagra existed. >> What is it? >> We all God only knows. But it seemed like it worked. >> I took tons of Viagra, right? And as a result, I actually had developed eye problems because I had the capillaries on the back of my eyes from all the Viagra uh got messed up.

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I'm lucky it was just my eyes, but I have some of my friends that are male performers. Their penis no longer functions because they've injected so many times. Probably 95% of male performers all inject their dick before they do a porn scene. Studies have shown that the average penis size portrayed in porn is 1.5 times larger than the UK average.

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So, I was interested in finding out how porn stars thought that may affect their audience. >> You're the womb raider. >> Yes. >> What are the pressures you feel as a male performer in the industry? as a black guy, like you're supposed to have the big the biggest penis ever. I don't know if you heard people injecting their penis with I don't know what it is exactly or taking pills and then eventually you might have to rely on that.

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>> Do you think it's concerning for like young people watching porn that sometimes those stereotypes get learned by them? >> I can see that definitely being a problem. A lot of it is staged and a lot of it is set up. So, just don't fall for a lot of the A lot of the scripted stuff I would I would say. >> What would you say the difference is for you between like sex on camera and sex in your private life? Like >> time much faster.

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>> Is that is that that easier? >> Yes. That's simple. No, no crazy positions. What looks for the aesthetically pleasing on a camera doesn't feel very good to be up and over like this and stretched out like you know. >> For many young people, porn isn't just entertainment. It's their first sex education. The problem, it's not real.

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>> Everything's slightly done out on an angle. It's kind of going in a little bit diagonal wise. It kind of hurts a little, you know, but it's for the third party, you know. I think when the camera's there, the what you're doing it for is not really the other person, but the audience, and that's who you think of first.

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So, the things you do on camera, they look good, but they don't necessarily feel good. I don't know if the issue was actually with porn, but with sex education. I think if we had good enough sex education then porn would be fine. But I think that's where it's lacking and that's where people are getting their information from and that's where the disconnect is.

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>> Sex was not widely spoken about in schools and schools they're really promoting use of condoms. Sex is not really something that's explored as something that could be for pleasure. I think like most people feel like you need to resort to porn to learn. >> How do you feel sex education is handled in schools? >> Not very well.

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It doesn't prepare children growing up if they encounter something sexual. They I just don't feel like they really understand anything. It's so old-fashioned. >> And I guess a lot of them are maybe learning about sex through watching porn, which >> Yes. And I don't think that's the right thing. I don't It's not the right thing.

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Of course, it's not cuz it's not realistic. It's not the real way things should be. >> The education system, you know, in every country should be the ones who educate people about sex. It's not through videos. There's more to these scenes than just the sort of hard sex that they see within them. >> I have video consent that we do before scene.

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I have a checklist 54 things from kissing to fingering to everything done. No one's going to see that. Nor is my responsibility. The responsibility is on the people of educators education system. It's not my job. We all do porn. We're all smut peddlers, right? At the end of the day, I don't kid myself. I'm porno Dan.

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I'm not, you know, something else. Dan, talk to your partner. Ask them what they want. Communication is the key. And that's what we do before a porn scene. I communicate with the actors. What do you want to do today? What sex arcs are you comfortable with? Do the same when you're having sex at home. And the communication that will make for the best sex possible.

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It makes for the best possible film as well. >> Why do you think there is this stigma with porn where a lot of people feel guilty about watching it? It feels like it's a bad thing when everyone's doing it. >> There's a lot of things that people feel guilty about because that's, you know, society has that double standard.

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You shouldn't bet on sports. It's bad and evil to bet and we've got here's the helpline. But yet half the football teams have a gambling shirt. It's a double standard. >> Same thing with porn. Oh, you shouldn't watch porn, but yet everybody does. >> After sitting down with Dan, I wanted to hear other perspectives back at the hotel.

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>> It's a very nice hotel. You see like wealthy people that are staying here and in and amongst them there's a porn convention happening. You know, the creators are are collaborating as they call it in the bedrooms upstairs. I wonder if id paid to stay, I'd probably be a bit like, is this okay? After another quick nibble from the snack table, I was excited to sit down with Paulita Pel, a feminist porn filmmaker and performer who looks to challenge the way we think of porn as a society.

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Kita first reached out to me after my film with Lily Phillips as she was planning her own 100man gang bang. Sorry, I'm not I'm not super wellversed in um gang bangs, but do you think there is a line? Is there something that is simply too much to portray? Even if it weren't uh real, if you were portraying fantasy, >> I think as long as the means of production are ethical and the means of distribution are control and age appropriate, I don't see the necessity of drawing a line in terms of what can we portray fictionally. the line between

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helpful helpful helpful and it damaging very thin and all it takes is one wrong click and you've gone into that territory. Creating those fantasies and bringing them to life might normalize them for other people who otherwise wouldn't have had them as fantasies. >> I disagree. I think uh humans are very well able to distinguish between film fiction and reality.

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Undoubtedly, there are young people who totally get this is just entertainment. It's recreation. It's the edited highlights and please don't do this at home. And then there are others who are more vulnerable um who are negatively impacted by porn. >> In the UK, 63% of Gen Z say they first saw porn before turning 16, with one in 20 exposed before the age of 10.

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>> I think porn should be rated the same that other kind of media is rated. >> Not all action movies are rated 16 or 18. And there's different >> exactly >> you have certificates on everyday movies in the cinema online. There should be a similar kind of this is for you, this isn't for you yet. >> The moment that you don't support an industry, we don't have no means of financing.

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We don't have no means of proper distribution other than going by the algorithm, going by quantity over quality, the most extreme clickbait thing. Things are becoming standard that shouldn't be. It's creating more shame. Censorship is never the answer. The moment we enable people to accept themselves and understand like, okay, I have this really weird ass fantasy, but there's a way for me to leave that out safely. That is the way to go.

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>> There's so much shame around watching pornography. >> I think there should be a lot more. I think generally shaming people for watching porn in society would be a healthy thing. >> Research shows that shame can't be ignored. After watching porn, men are far more likely than women to report feeling ashamed, numb, or insecure.

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And with 77% of Gen Z still watching porn, most of whom have never spoken about it with their friends, that shame is leaving a lot of young men silent. >> If the only source of information for young people about sexuality is porn, then they're getting very wrong ideas. If you're just watching Too Fast, Too Furious for learning how to drive, you're going to have a very poor understanding on how to drive a car.

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But that doesn't happen because people, young people are aware that what they're watching is a fantasy. You know, there's no taboo. That is the work that needs to be done. >> Paulita tried to paint a hopeful picture of what the industry could be for both creators and viewers. But it became clear to me that the stigma and shame we feel as consumers of pornography can also take a serious toll on the creators themselves.

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From my own experience, the pressure and judgment in the limelight can be overwhelming. In an industry so heavily stigmatized and often misunderstood, I can only imagine how much heavier that burden must feel. That's why performer Leia Tannet founded Pineapple Support in 2018 to provide vital mental health support to people in the industry after five well-known performers tragically took their own lives.

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>> The stigma that society places on this industry I see as the root of all problem. If there wasn't such shame around porn, pineapple support wouldn't need to exist. people could just go and see any therapist. They go and seek help to then have that therapist to tell them that you're struggling with your mental health because you're in the adult industry.

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That's that's treating someone's career choice rather than even, you know, addressing the mental health struggles. We did a mental health survey. The results were quite well actually scary. 60% had considered taking their lives by suicide. That is a really big number. 50% said that they felt stigmatized for being in the industry and you know the two the two must be linked.

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>> Porn actors there's no real skill set that that requires. >> What would you say some of the skills required to do your job are? >> A lot of hard work an incredible amount of of physical labor. The ability to be consistently energetic even in times where maybe one wouldn't want to be energetic. Social skills.

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And also there's a lot of as you know background work that goes into content that makes it a skill set in itself. >> It felt like you described the career of a porn actor there. >> So which which one specifically would you be referring to? >> The hard work, the social skills, doing things you don't want to do sometimes.

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>> In what world is porn acting hard work? Do you find it frustrating that people will indulge in the industry and enjoy it and take the sort of perks of it if you want, but when it comes to what these people go through and their careers and the support that they need, then it's like, well, that doesn't matter.

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They've just chosen this career, so they must deal with it. >> Yes. people come get their fill, get their get their kicks, and then refuse to look at that person as a human. And now you're going to shame them for something that you've just enjoyed. But then that brings us all the way back around to the shame around sex, the shame around masturbation, the shame around the shame around pleasure.

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I It doesn't make any sense. >> Ethical porn was created in order to challenge that shared shame. And no one has done more to bring ethical porn into the mainstream than Erica Lust, a Swedish filmmaker and writer. Erica's groundbreaking short film, The Good Girl, went viral, challenging traditional ideas of what porn could be.

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Since then, she's built a creative empire, founding Lust Productions, producing hundreds of award-winning films, and writing several books. To many, Erica Lust represents a new kind of porn, one where performers are collaborators and shame has no place on set. It opens up your throat somehow >> for singing. >> For singing or for whatever you want.

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I don't know. >> Why do you think porn is an industry where people tend to not be super conscious of what they're consuming? It's something people seem to just sort of do in secret. >> I think it has to do with that secretive element. I think it has to do a lot with the shame that many people feel of watching it with our culture that is still today quite sex negative.

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Because of that shame that people feel of sharing their habits. So many people think that they are doing something wrong when they're watching porn. We also talk about consumption. How do you consume porn? Do you pay for it or do you go to all these online free tube sites? >> The tube sites, the free access to porn, would that be unethical porn in your opinion? >> It would be.

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>> How do you get people to move over? Because paying for porn, I understand that would make things more ethical, but not everyone probably can afford to pay for porn. It's a lot easier to just go online and watch something for free. I mean there's many things in life that are easier and harder and it has to do with the value as a consumer.

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Uh the same is happening when you're buying clothes or when you're going to the supermarket. What products do you pick? Do you care about the production process behind the product? >> Ethical porn is is great. The definition though of ethical is going to vary from one person to another. So one person's ethical porn might be something that somebody else would just consider to be very very vanilla and to somebody else it might be something that they would consider extreme.

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So ethical porn, brilliant. Who defines ethics? >> Erica opened my eyes to the production process of porn. But it also became clear that many viewers aren't just feeling shame about how porn is made, they're feeling shame about what they're watching. I see sometimes when I talk to to especially to men that when I take out that component, they come to me and they say, "But Erica, what you do is not really porn, is it?" Because if they don't see that hardness, that's punish [ __ ] towards women.

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They don't identify it as porn anymore. And that I think is really scary and really sad. I think that young men would associate some form of unattained power and control through pornography that they don't actually have the right to. >> If all porn was made ethically, the world would be such a better place. But unfortunately, that is the porn that only a small minority of people want to watch.

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>> Today, porn is mass media. It's on the internet. It's available for everyone. It is influencing how people are understanding sex and how they are wanting to have sex. >> Porn is an act. It's an act at the end of the day. And I do think that that does cause problems with people growing up having expectations from their sexual partner thinking that they should be doing certain things that they're seeing on the screen which is damaging.

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I think >> young people will always search for porn related material. uh they will still do it and they still know how to get around this tech barriers. I think that what young people need is accurate, inclusive, diverse sex education by people who are serious, who dare to talk to them, and who dare to answer their questions.

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>> I left all of the sex and relationship education classes feeling more confused because I I kept thinking, well, I don't want to do any of that. That's when porn, the right kind of porn, can be incredibly life affirming. >> If you find great porn, you can learn a lot about your own sexuality and how other people are interacting, how they are communicating, and you can learn how not to feel so ashamed.

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>> We are sexual human beings. I'm here because two people had sex. you are here because two people have sex. And I think it's so sad that that we don't honor sexuality in our society today. >> Erica spoke passionately about the way we as an audience consume porn and how that can affect the way we feel shame surrounding our own sexuality.

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It was impossible not to be drawn in by this passion for positive porn, especially when she came bearing gifts. >> A little present for Stop it. Oh my god. Is a book. the whole orgy of 20 years of work. >> That is incredible. Is that a fist? >> And even an invitation to join her as her special guests at the XMA award ceremony where she had three nominations.

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>> You're welcome to join me for the award show with you. >> With me? >> Am I not going to cramp your style? You're Erica Lust. You're going to be bringing Josh Peters to your porn event. I bought my tuxedo, so I'll wear that. >> Fantastic. The XMA Awards are the Oscars of porn, a celebration of the biggest names and most talked about performances.

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>> I don't think the porn industry or porn itself is necessarily something to be celebrated. >> Sounds like a gathering of degeneracy. >> Whether you think the porn industry should have a night to celebrate itself. If there was any porn event to go to, this would be it. I had already heard a lot from some of the biggest names in the porn industry, but I was excited to hear from the performers themselves.

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>> What do you do for a living? Suck deck. >> Okay. >> What are your names? >> Saba. >> Do you feel like you're living out your dreams? >> I do. This is my version of the afterwards. >> Consenting adults are choosing pornography as a career. That is a perfectly legitimate choice for them. We have awards in so many other areas of life.

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Why on earth not? >> Always a little bit nervous. >> When you met, did you ever think you'd be doing porn? >> No. I honestly I lost married. >> Stage name is Bilbo Shaggins. It was a hike related joke that went way too far. >> So I do a lot of splashing and bondage like guns in the guns tang. >> Okay. >> I'm feeling good.

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I mean it's been a really amazing year. A lot of doors have opened. A lot of amazing projects. I couldn't be happier. Life is short. Whatever you do that you're enjoying, so long as you're hurting nobody, I say keep doing it. >> Kazumi. Hello. >> How do you know my name? Uh because you're very famous. >> Oh my god.

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Are you hitting on me? >> What was the last scene you filmed? >> I don't remember, but it was anal because I always have been obsessed with anal this year. >> When did you do it for the first time? >> Uh I think sometime last year and it awakened my third eye, my third hole. >> Why do they call you the Irish bull? >> Cuz I'm Irish and I'm hung like a bull.

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>> When did you realize that you had a big penis? >> When I was in prison in the showers. Spent a lot of time in jail. Got me [ __ ] together. from gang land to gang man overnight. >> Why do you think some people feel shame after watching porn? >> There's a lot of shame going on in sexual in sex in general.

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It just reflects on everything they do. Like consuming porn is not bad as if having sex is not bad. So I think it's a matter of society has a lot of shame on sex in general. So it just reflects on porn. No one should be ashamed for anything they do. Unless it's bad, of course. But porn sex is not bad. [Music] Like most things in life, porn isn't something you can pin down as simply good or bad.

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Along this journey, I've been welcomed into a community of kind-hearted people passionate about their work, committed to creating safer spaces, and striving to shape the industry in their own vision. >> Who is ready to win some awards? Before coming to experts, I assumed I'd be an outsider with granted access, maybe even seen as judgmental.

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But what I found was something quite different. I discovered conversations about a future where pornography could play a positive role in society. Even posing the question with proper sex education, could we imagine a world of safer sex, where intimacy is shared without shame? While the government has started this conversation about porn, I want to encourage you, the viewer, to start your own.

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>> I would like to thank my love. >> One thing is clear. This is an industry still wrapped in secrecy, yet impossible to ignore. Neither the industry nor the desire to engage with it is going away. So why pretend it doesn't exist? It's time to talk about it openly. If you or someone you know is struggling with the negative effects of pornography, please see the links in the description for resources and support.