‘City Porn’ takes a candid look inside the diversity of America’s sex industry

This four-part documentary series follows the diverse US sex industry, starting in Portland, then travelling to Las Vegas, San Francisco and New York.

Financial dominatrix, Goddess Venus, loves telling men what to do. Source: SBS

Across four different US cities, City Porn breaks down misconceptions about the sex industry and presents a surprisingly wide variety of people who make their living in adult entertainment. Rather than creeping along red-light districts under the cover of darkness, the series follows people who have consciously chosen a job that involves breaking down the shame around sexuality and sexual fantasies.

We meet not only sex workers but producers of custom porn, gay porn and a queer porn web series, a start-up tech company making adult virtual reality and people running events that combine sex and cannabis, among others. They’re all wildly different, but equally passionate about open communication, sex education and acceptance – of fantasies, body types, sex parties, and above all, one’s own body and desires.

In Las Vegas, Madam Dena shows us round a resort that just happens to include a brothel. We meet some of the women who contract their services to the resort and hear from regular clients, including one woman who pops in for some ‘afternoon delight’.

In Portland, 'a really sex positive city', Alice shows off her wild imagination as she prepares to compete in the Miss Exotic Oregon dance competition, while down the road, Allen takes niche commissions for superhero porn to fulfil clients' very specific fantasies.

On the set of a custom porn film shoot in Portland, USA. Source: SBS

In San Francisco, the only woman director of gay porn takes us along the fun ride that is her life as she shoots a sequel to one of her many successful films. She’s exuberant and full of joy and adores her job, declaring she’s ‘in this for life’.

This is a common thread among the people we meet in City Porn, from a kinky wrestler dominatrix to a financial dominatrix to a young man performing a one-man show about his time in front of the camera in gay porn: they all love what they do.

As Goddess Lola Jean of New York says, ‘Now for the first time, I’m not ashamed [of my sexuality] and I’m controlling the conversation around it. And I’m benefiting from it and helping other people. … Do I think people should be having more sex? Yes, probably.’

City Porn airs Fridays at 9:20pm on SBS VICELAND with episodes available to stream at SBS On Demand after broadcast.