Afluffer is a person employed to keep aporn performer's penis erect on the set.[1] After setting up the desired angle, the director asks the actors to hold position and calls for the fluffer to "fluff" the actors for the shot. These duties are considered part of the makeup department. While fluffing does not necessarily involve touching the actors, it could entail sexual acts such asfellatio ornon-penetrative sex.[2]
According to some pornographic actors, includingAurora Snow,[3]James Deen[4] andKeiran Lee,[5] fluffers are no longer needed, saying that the role might have existed in the past, but disappeared due to medical advancements, such asViagra andimplants, and with advancements in prosthetics.[6] Hunter Skott, who has worked as a fluffer, contended in an interview that they "are only used for agangbang orbukkake, not for regular [porn] movies".[2]
Film scholar Charles Burnetts, writing about theJames Bond films, uses the term to describe members of a group of women in the films whom Bond seduces earlier in the movie but who disappear by the end and serve only to keep the male "agent" aroused until the arrival of the primary sexual object, theBond girl. In particular, Burnett states that the character ofMay Day fromA View to a Kill, played by actressGrace Jones, "serves as a high-watermark for the fluffer character".[7]
Predating the pornographic usage, which came into use in the 1970s,[8][9]fluffer has been used by the real estate industry to refer to a person thatstages homes[10] and as a term for a maid or housekeeper who fluffs pillows, or in general cleans and prepares work equipment.[11]
In the 1998 video gameFallout 2, it is possible for the player to become a fluffer for a post-apocalyptic studio engaged in theporn industry.[12]
The 2001 filmThe Fluffer is about a film buff with a crush on a porn star who is straight, for whom he would end up working as a fluffer in gay porn.[13]
In episode 3 ofseason 2 ofNew Girl entitled "Fluffer",Nick Miller tells the protagonistJessica Day that he will not be her "emotional fluffer", after he realises that he is providing her sentimental stimulation which allows her to maintain a more active sex life with arecurring character named Sam Sweeney.[14]
TheoneiricslasherKnife+Heart follows a group of "low grade" gay pornographers in 1970s France. The film depicts a character named Mouth of Gold, or Mouth, who is a fluffer. In the film, he is a middle-aged man who works for free as he lives with his mother.[15]
