Queer porn performer Chelsea Poe on being interviewed by the BBC and her history with Lily Cade.
From starting off in the porn industry fighting against transphobic slurs, to her online Twitter debacle with Lily Cade, to the BBC article which sparked controversy— Chelsea Poe sat down and spoke of her experience as a trans queer porn filmmaker and performer.
Born in the Dutch town of Holland in the United States, Chelsea Poe moved to the Bay Area of California eight years ago to pursue a career in the porn industry.
“I’m from a very small town of maybe 30,000 people so I think I had an idealistic view of everything,” Poe recalled her younger self with a wistful laugh. Her reason for wanting to pursue porn was to campaign against transphobic slurs which were present in queer porn at the time.
“When I first got into the industry, as a trans woman, you had such limited opportunities that you had to kind of do this very niche porn where you’re going to be called slurs and it’s all for the male-gaze. At the time, it was also encouraged to go off hormones so you could perform better and that’s obviously not good for your immune system and you have real consequences from that.”
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Poe’s activism is not just limited to inclusive representation on screen but also to provide trans women with a better experience watching porn from behind the camera. “Inclusion in lesbian porn was a big part for me and I think that’s why I was interviewed.”
The BBC article published on the 26 October titled ‘We’re being pressured into sex by some trans women’ detailed accounts from some lesbian women on Twitter on their sexual encounters with trans women. Poe was interviewed for the article, but the final piece omitted her interview which included vital information about the controversial figure Lily Cade, another interviewee who made the final cut.
Caroline Lowbridge, the writer of the BBC article, found Poe through Twitter and that was how Poe found herself being interviewed earlier this year. “She reached out to me and was like ‘do you want to talk about the cotton ceiling?’”
“I told her I wanted to focus more on the systematic issue which existed in porn at the time,” Poe said, situated in her bedroom in California.
“It was the most uncomfortable interview in my entire career of doing interviews.” Poe added that the interview felt like it was set up to “bait” her into talking about her dating life and what she would do on a date with someone who was not attracted to her because she was a trans woman.
Whilst in an exclusive relationship, Poe said in her interview that she always discloses to people that she is trans for her own safety before going on a date. “I’ve never really had any issues where I’ve been unable to date anyone because I’m trans,” added Poe, her experience contradicting the narrative of the BBC article.
Also interviewed for the BBC article was Lily Cade, a controversial figure who has been criticised for her anti-trans rhetoric on her website. Poe spoke of her experience with Lily and how that had led her to be harassed by TERFs (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists) online for months.
“I knew they [Lily Cade] were working for other queer porn sites and stuff and I’ve seen a few of their scenes. They went to a party I hosted at pride in San Francisco that ironically was the day gay marriage was legalised in the state and Lily Cade has since come out against gay marriage.
“They [Lily Cade] went to this event I hosted. They followed me on Twitter and I followed back. I think they used this slur on Twitter and I was like ‘hey just so you know, that’s kind of transphobic!’. Then something came up about them directing and I responded saying: “I would love to work for you!” They said: “No I can’t have penises on my set.’”
Chelsea Poe was interviewet and was left out.
— Nadia Jacobsen (@NadiaJacobsen3) November 7, 2021
Other prominent trans people say they would have talked to the journalist, but was never contacted.
So no the journalist didn't do her job, and the editorial staff left out a trans woman who actually warned against Lilly Cade
It was after that exchange on Twitter that Poe found herself in the middle of a TERF war and was harassed for several months online. “Every time I refreshed Twitter; it would be the max number of notifications from misgendering to telling me to kill myself.”
As the online hate began to simmer a little, Poe travelled to Europe for a few festivals. It was during her time in Europe she heard from “friends and other filmmakers that [she] worked with about Lily Cade’s sexual assaults on them”. Lily Cade has since responded to these allegations writing on her website: “If a rapist is someone who is accused in public of sexual assault, then I am a rapist.”
From accusing trans people of being mentally ill to calling like-minded people to ‘lynch’ celebrities like Caitlyn Jenner and MMA fighter Fallon Fox, to flat out wanting the execution of trans women—Lily Cade has not held back in her ‘distaste’ for the trans community. As a result, Cade has been de-platformed and faded out from the porn industry which is why her interview being included in the BBC article angered many.
“Personally, as someone who has PTSD from the whole Lily Cade thing, which I had to work through in therapy for years, I think [Lily Cade] being de-platformed for this really held them accountable,” said Poe.
While many people criticised the BBC for not including Poe’s portion of the interview and instead giving a platform to someone like Lily Cade, Poe was not surprised. “I mean of course they did!” said Poe when she first saw the article two weeks ago. It was not the lack of her interview being published which led Poe to speak out on social media but the inclusion of TERFs like Lily Cade.
On her podcast, ‘The Performers Pod with Chelsea Poe’, Poe went public and talked about her experience with Lily Cade as well as her interview for the BBC article. It was this uncomfortable interview with the BBC that inspired her to create her own podcast—a platform where she can speak without the goading of journalists.
Poe described the reactions online as “wild” as more media platforms are now covering this issue which started from a “lesbian porn drama” from years ago. The main naysayers to Poe’s side of the story come from the UK. “There is a little part from the UK where people think I’m trying to take on the BBC.”
“I haven’t heard any Dutch media talk about it or anyone in California. As soon as it hit 1 am UK time, I would get no notifications,” Poe said laughing at the absurdity of the situation.
Alongside the positive reactions, Poe has also been navigating through the familiar trenches of online hate. A combination of meditation, therapy, and converting to Buddhism has been helping her cope through it all.
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“I think I can handle this now and realise that these people aren’t arguing in good faith. Maybe four to five years ago when I was still operating in such a trauma mindset because I didn’t really deal with the stuff I went through with the online harassment, I would definitely be responding differently and probably spiralling.”
Poe has been spending her time, since the publication of the BBC article, talking openly about her experience with Lily Cade across many social media platforms. As for her unreleased interview, Poe hopes that the BBC will post it.