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Dear Reader, trans women have been filmed, fetishized, adored, ignored, and celebrated since before porn became the well-lit algorithm machine it is today. You don’t have to squint too hard to see it. Behind the free sites, the tag categories, the high-def transitions, and X/Twitter thirst threads, there’s a gritty, glorious, deeply uncredited lineage of trans pioneers who were creating erotic art, breaking barriers, and redefining pleasure decades before “visibility” had a budget. This is trans porn history.
Let’s flash back to the 1970s. Porn had just made the leap from back alleys to billboards. Deep Throat was making headlines, pubic hair was making cinematic appearances, and Linda Lovelace became a household name during the so-called “Golden Age of Porn.” But in that golden line-up, something (or someone) was missing.
While straight, white, cis pleasure was getting all the mainstream claps, trans porn existed quietly underground, tucked into adult bookstores, discretely labeled film canisters, and niche magazines you had to be “in the know” to uncover. The 1970s and 80s saw a surge in underground smut starring trans women. It was often raw, explicit, unapologetic, and deeply revolutionary.
It was being made, distributed, and consumed without ads or general acceptance. These weren't porn "performers" produced by sanitized studios. They were icons in hiding, erotic trailblazers whose names you probably won’t find on mainstream porn timelines, although you should.
Let’s be clear: “first” is usually inaccurate. Trans presence in erotica goes back further than camera reels. From medical fetish photography to staged burlesque and gender-bending performances in interwar cabarets. But once film and video hit, a few stars began to rise out of the underground.
Image Credit: WonderClub
One was Sulka, arguably one of the most famous male-to-female trans adult performers of the late 70s and early 80s. She was born in 1962 in Los Angeles, California. Her videos became cult classics in certain circles; rough, stylish, often taboo in every direction, and legendary for their refusal to conform.
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And no conversation about early trans porn would be complete without Kim Christy, one of the most influential behind-the-scenes figures in trans erotic publishing. She transitioned in the 1960s, posing for Exotique, and later edited magazines like Female Mimics and Exotique Special, which centered on feminine, male-presenting, and trans bodies before that was even a cohesive genre. Sulka met Christy in 1979, and she was then featured on the cover of New Female Mimics. These publications trafficked in everything from softcore drag aesthetic to hardcore kink; all of it existing outside cis approval. Kim Christy was later inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame as a "pioneer" of fetish and transgender erotica. Deeply deserved.
As porn shifted from film to VHS, then DVD, trans porn became a more solidified niche. Studios like Grooby (founded in 1996) began producing pornography specifically featuring trans women for audiences explicitly seeking it. Steve Grooby is considered one of the architects of the “TS” porn category, helping formalize an entire branch of adult media that previously existed only in blurry bootlegs.
It’s important to be honest here. Some aspects of the industry were genuinely groundbreaking, while others were exploitative, over-fetishizing bodies, and marketing performers in ways that perpetuated harmful tropes. Trans performers were often treated as novelties or taboo extremes, rather than people with agency, nuance, and careers.
But what persisted, against all odds, were the performers themselves. Who were they? They were models, sex workers, and innovators. Some embraced visibility. Others were deeply private. Many hustled, created, self-shot, self-directed, and carved out their identities in an industry that didn’t exactly give them a blueprint. And many were beloved. Just rarely credited.
The dot-com boom democratized porn, but it also broke it wide open in messy, brilliant, unpredictable ways. DIY pornographers started thriving. Piracy rose. And trans performers suddenly had what they never had before: control.
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Social media, webcams, and fan-funded platforms gave trans women the chance to bypass creepy producers and go directly to their audiences. Enter the rise of trans adult creators on Clips4Sale, ManyVids, Chaturbate, and of course, OnlyFans. For the first time, a performer could choose how to label their own body, set their own price, block whomever they wanted, and curate safety. This shift was more significant than just a business move. It was growth.
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Porn stopped being “performed” for the gaze of someone else. It became an authentic erotic expression. Trans stars like Venus Lux, TS Foxxy, Natalie Mars, and Buck Angel gained huge followings, not as novelties, but as brands, auteurs, and personalities. And some, like Daisy Taylor, parlayed porn careers into full-fledged fan empires, blending humor, hotness, and intelligence.
Because the truth is, trans porn history is queer history, sex work history, media history, and resistance history. Trans women have long been central to the adult industry, yet are frequently marginalized within it. Their work has been used, viewed, downloaded, and shared millions of times, yet the people behind the work have rarely received respect, agency, or mainstream recognition.
“Trans porn” isn’t some fringe curiosity. Trans porn history is a powerful part of erotic culture for more than half a century, and it’s been shaping desire, challenging norms, and breaking binaries the whole damn time. Today’s trans porn isn’t just visibility. It’s legacy. It’s ownership. It’s expression without a cis middleman.
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