Welcome back to our special edition of Model Citizens for Bisexual Awareness Week. This time around, we put the spotlight on one of our top performers on Pornhub, Romi Rain. After 13 years in the industry, Romi's been nominated for over 10 awards and won the Female Performer of the Year XBIZ Award two years ago. So of course we couldn't pass up the chance to chat with the lovely Romi about her experience in the industry and what it's been like for her as a bisexual female performer.
How are you celebrating Bisexual Awareness Week this year?
I usually go to some kind of Pride event, but unfortunately, due to what’s going on, there’s not a ton of partying I can do this year. So, I’m going to focus on showing my support, post my own fun bisexual scenes and clips, and plan some stuff for the future. The community holds a strong place in my heart.
Did you know you were bisexual before you joined the industry or only afterward?
I definitely knew before -- I was in a poly relationship years before I got into porn. I think back to some of my earlier sexual experiences and they were with girls. I got to know intimacy more with females and tapped into my aggressive sexuality with males. It was a learning and growing experience on both sides, and I’m a very curious and direct person.
It’s funny because my mom and a few other people in my life thought I was a lesbian when I was younger because I was just friendly and affectionate with girls the way I was with boys. I talked to people of both genders very similarly, and I had crushes on girls the same way I did with boys, but I never thought that was weird.
When I was a kid, I was called names that confused me until I began to understand what they meant, but by the time I was teenager, I knew I was very much into both sexes. Then, when I was 19 and an exotic dancer, I dated a couple of my coworkers. I remember sitting there in the club thinking, “Man, I understand why guys come in here and just stare at beautiful women dancing around for hours.” And it’s the same thing for me with men; I can stare at men for hours, too, but then they usually think I’m a little crazy!
Courtesy of Romi Rain
Sexually fluid content has been trending more and more over the years, why do you think that is?
I’ve personally always been a big fan of threeways; I feel like those can be some of the most intense, energetic, fun scenes, especially when everyone involved actually seems to like each other.
People ask me, “What’s the secret to a good threeway or to a poly relationship?” And the answer is simple: Everybody has to like each other. It sounds a little silly, but you have to make sure people are there for the right reasons.
I’ve also noticed a much more inclusive energy in the past few years. It’s not considered as taboo for men to be in intimate scenes with other men compared to before. It seems like it’s much more acceptable and fluid now, but then again, this is a bisexual woman talking. I think there’s still a little bit of stigma, especially for men, when it comes to exploring bisexuality.
Bisexual Awareness Week is really about accelerating the acceptance of the bi-community, so how can the industry help with that? Where can we improve?
I think people need to be more honest about who they’re interested in and what they’re interested in doing. Sometimes, people hold themselves back from exploring certain sides of themselves because they don’t want to be judged. There are times when performers are afraid to lose work if they did certain scenes they wanted to do, and that’s unfortunate. I do think that is changing, though, because it’s just not cool to not be inclusive. There is more of an open dialogue and free thinking now.
Especially when performers have more of a fan base who supports and accepts them for who they are, it makes it a little easier and gives these performers more of a safety net. The more it happens, the more it’s talked about, the more people will just do what they want unapologetically. I think it’s fantastic because we can all learn from each other in so many way.
The industry has drastically changed in recent years, and having resources like social media and clip sites like Modelhub really saved our lives. I hosted a podcast where every single performer on it said the same thing, that if it wasn’t for social media and clip sites, we probably wouldn’t be as safe and secure to be as vocal. It’s incredibly important to stoke the flames and make sure you're cultivating your own fan base.
Courtesy of Romi Rain
As a female performer, how has being a bisexual performer affected your work?
Because of the cliché aspect of it, it’s not necessarily hard to be a bisexual female performer in porn. It kind of works in your favor because you’re going to be asked to do girl-on-girl or threeway scenes with another girl. No one ever really asks if you’re a lesbian if you’re in a girl-girl scene. There’s that double standard where females are almost expected to work with other females, but it’s not necessarily the same for men.
To be honest, I never really experienced too much stigma. In a lot of ways, people tend to be very happy that a female performer is actually visually into women. Even people who tend to be judgmental about certain people doing certain scenes, they would be upset if they see a girl-girl scene where they’re just poking at each other and not genuinely intimate.
People just need to loosen up a bit and be more inclusive. I would love for more male performers to be more relaxed with their brethren so I could have more penises around me!
Do you have any tips and advice for new Models and how they can grow their fan base?
Promote the crap out of yourself. I used to get teased when I was newer because I would retweet most things that had my name and face on it, and I would always tell people when I was shooting a new scene with a BTS photo. I would always be one of the first people to post when a new scene came out and link to it right away. I think it’s really important to keep your fans in the know. Even if you’re not shooting all the time or you’re not super busy, you can make it look like you are.
If you’re posting videos and photos of yourself, make sure you look good and the sound is good, because people and companies will take notice. If your fan base is growing, companies will want to be a part of that, so be sure your content looks good, clean, and professional.
As far as advice for new Models, never do anything that you wouldn’t be proud to promote. I’m very much about quality over quantity. So make sure you’re taking care of your own business first and opportunities will slowly come your way. If you want to successful, to a degree, it has to be your life and you have to take it seriously and take pride in your work and yourself.
I’ve realized that as much as sex is fun and silly, we do provide entertainment, and especially in these messed-up times, we really help people get through their day.
Follow Romi Rain on Twitter and Instagram for photos and video updates
Twitter @Romi_Rain
IG @RomiRain
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