Mercedes Carrera, the aerospace and telecommunications engineer turned adult film star and free speech advocate, is especially gratified by her latest accomplishment.
Sunday, Carrera rallied fans and supporters to come to the aid of former adult star Cytherea, who was robbed and sexually assaulted in a brutal home invasion in Las Vegas last month.
As Carrera told The Daily Dot, she was inspired to help Cytherea after reading about her story and her YouCaring fundraiser page on adult news site TRPWL, and decided to spearhead a campaign in support of the ex-performer. “I thought the easiest way to raise money quickly was to do cam shows and donate the proceeds,” Carrera said.
Carrera began lining up other performers for benefit shows on adult cam site Streamate (NSFW). She also took to Twitter and her YouTube channel to rally donors and, as The Daily Dot reports, talk about “the many frustrations she had with the media, particularly how the media covers the abuse of sex workers.” Carrera was outraged at the lack of interest in Cytherea’s story from mainstream media.
Following Carrera’s appeals, donations to Cytherea’s online fundraiser tripled in under 24 hours, topping its original $10,000 USD goal with 43 days to spare.
“I’m elated at the already tremendous outcome of the fundraiser,” Carrera said. “It’s a massive victory that as we speak the fundraiser has already raised $12,131. We are proud that Cytherea will be able to see how many people are supporting her in the face of this tragic event, and my heart goes out to her and her family. I want to thank everyone who donated to this most worthy cause, and thanks to Rebecca Love for initiating the fundraising effort on youcaring.com.”However, it wasn’t only adult industry members and their fans who stepped up to rally behind the survivor of a vicious attack; they were joined by a controversial ally: Gamergaters.
The alliance of gamers and porn is not as unlikely as it might appear, says outspoken Gamergate proponent Carrera, because both porn and video games come under fire from feminists and so-called ‘social justice warriors’. The movement’s leading foe, feminist Anita Sarkeesian, is considered ‘sex-negative’ and views female sex workers as ‘prostituted women’.
Sarkeesian, Carrera said, did not respond to a request to donate to the Cytherea fundraiser. “Here you have a woman who’s a real victim of a real rape and a real assault and those same women who claim they care about women’s rights have done nothing.”
“I’ve said from the beginning that the gaming community, and GamerGate supporters in particular, are calling for a more ethical media not for harassment of women. The lies perpetuated by the mainstream media libeling gamers as misogynistic abusers has been disproven for months as GamerGate supporters have raised over $100,000 for various charities. (http://gamergate.me/charity/) For the GamerGate community to step up to support Cytherea goes to show that the group is not about hating women and certainly not about hating sex workers.””Some of the most generous donations towards Cytherea’s campaign have come from GamerGate supporters,” Carrera added. “In reality, most gamers (including myself) are tired of the errant and damaging rhetoric being spewed by the sex-negative professional victim subset which has leveraged the anti-GamerGate community for media appearance opportunities and profiteering.
“When real world traumatic events occur, good people from all walks of life come forward to offer support, and we saw this in the case of Cytherea. It was the support of people in the adult industry as well as fans, gamers, you-tubers and other internet friends that have made this fundraiser a smashing success thus far. People from multiple communities have come together to support a woman in her time of need. Good people never allow politics to trump empathy, but instead through trauma find opportunities to bond via commonalities.”
The Cytherea fundraising campaign is not Carrera’s first philanthropic endeavor.
In December, after charity organization AbleGamers declined funds she had raised via an adult streaming event, a frustrated Mercedes decided to take matters into her own hands. She soon made headlines for organizing charity cam shows to benefit a disabled gamer, and founding The Porn Charity, an organization that offers merit-based STEM scholarships to eligible students. Their January cam event raised over $11,000 USD.
The multi-talented Carrera, who recently displayed her comedic side in a Funny Or Die video titled 5 Reasons Pornstars Hate 50 Shades Of Grey, intends to continue raising funds for Cytherea via benefit adult cam shows.
About Mercedes Carrera: A card-carrying member of the Illuminaughty, Mercedes joins the adult industry with a background in mainstream modeling and acting as well as education and work experience in engineering. She was scouted to one of the most prestigious fashion modeling agencies at the age of 13, earned her SAG/AFTRA membership as a teenager, and worked consistently for large commercial print magazines, catalogs and commercials.
After returning to university and majoring in manufacturing engineering with an emphasis on systems quality assurance, she worked in aerospace systems specializing in thermal testing for space based optics. She also worked as a telecommunications engineer and trainer, and in mainstream technical photography and film production.
She’s excited to join the adult industry and brings 17 years of performance talents to pornography. She still is actively involved in technology in her spare time, and enjoys video games, chess and playing the piano, in addition to being an all-around irritant to anti-sex radicals. Mercedes is also an active philanthropist and donates her time and money to various causes on an ongoing basis.
Mercedes can be booked through ATMLA. (http://atmla.com/atmla2/tour/
