With the noble goal of raising money for a scholarship fund, a group of porn stars lent their talents to a charity live stream over the weekend. Proceeds raised by the performance will be used to support a hopeful student in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) field. In addition to raising funds via the stream (which remains available for purchase until the 8th of January) the charity is selling t-shirts, mugs, and a gorgeous poster featuring everyone’s favorite gaming muse, Vivian James.
According to the charity’s indiegogo page, the inspiration came from incidents in which charitable donations have been refused because of their association with the porn industry. As we reported last month, the Porn Charity itself was previously denied the opportunity to partner with the ablegamers charity. The group eventually found a good fit with the like minded group TFYC, which has a history of helping women get a foothold in videogame production.
Changing minds about what kind of people really work in the adult industry seems to be an ongoing goal of the charity’s Mercedes Carrera. Notable for having lent her support to the Gamergate hashtag, Carrera spent part of the weekend dispelling myths about the performers involved in the live stream.
Of course, anywhere a Gamergate association goes controversy is sure to follow. Chilean artist Gonzalo Ordóñez Arias , who contributed the art for the poster above, saw his webpage explode with expressions of both criticism and support.
Administration of the scholarship is to be handled by TFYC, who made the following statement:
The scholarship will be available to anyone in North America and will be awarded based on scholastic achievement, personal achievements and work in local and virtual communities. We will not discriminate based on race, age or religion, nor will we discriminate if a person’s personal achievements exist online.At the time of writing, the charity has raised over seven thousand dollars.