Porn actor Johnny Sins gets candid about sex work, taboo and Kamasutra in a chat with Tanmay Bhat

Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh (left) and porn star Johnny Sins in an ad for men's sexual wellness brand Bold Care. (Screen grabs)

In a casual conversation with Tanmay Bhat, published on his channel Honestly by Tanmay Bhat, days after he broke the internet by appearing in a spoof ad for men’s sexual wellness brand ‘Bold Care’, Johnny Sins (screen name) got candid about his personal life, work, sexuality and performance anxiety. Sins, who claims he is single and has worked in the industry for more than 15 years, admits that dating outside of the industry is trickier. The judgement comes with the space and usually when he has dated in the past, it has been with people from within the industry.

One of the key insights the porn star provides is the growing number of women who watch porn and the fact that male porn stars are also an attraction for gay and bi-sexual men. “I think that’s probably 50 percent of my audience; part of the fantasy there is that you can turn this straight man,” he says about the idea of flipping a straight man.

Sins, who worked as a contractor before joining the pornography industry, bust taboos about bogus penis enlargement claims and performance anxiety on Tanmay Bhat's show. The pressure to perform and do a ‘good job’ is always there, but it’s really a category where the woman is always the star, he says. “Male stars are for the background, so to speak. It’s more about the woman’s performance. But you still have to do your bit well,” he says.

Sins became a household phenomenon after he entered the meme-verse. Tanmay Bhat and his co-interviewer comedian Kenny Sebastian, admit that even though porn websites remain the most consumed form of content on the internet, people still aren’t comfortable with acknowledging it. The conversation veers between intriguing and bizarre, and perhaps the most sub-culturally relevant part arrives when Bhat asks Sins to review a few positions from the Kamasutra. You’d be surprised to know how many of them Sins believes are near undoable.