{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Short description|One who keeps a pornographic actor's penis erect on-set}} {{About|the pornographic film crew position||Fluffing (disambiguation){{!}}Fluffing}} thumb|A fluffer on set of a gay pornographic movie. A '''fluffer''' is a person employed to keep a porn performer's penis erect on the set.<ref>[http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/fluffer "Definition of 'fluffer'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429141411/http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/fluffer |date=29 April 2021 }}. ''Collins English Dictionary''. Retrieved 8 May 2015.</ref> 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 as fellatio or non-penetrative sex.<ref name=nervesucks>{{cite web |url=http://www.nerve.com/content/a-lifes-work-this-job-sucks |title=A Life's Work: This Job Sucks |first=Grant |last=Stoddard |date=2 September 2002 |work=Nerve |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120220155146/http://www.nerve.com/content/a-lifes-work-this-job-sucks |archive-date=20 February 2012 }}</ref>
According to some pornographic actors, including Aurora Snow,<ref>{{cite news|url= http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/18/blood-sweat-and-sex-my-hard-life-in-porn.html|title= Blood, Sweat and Sex: My Hard Life in Porn|access-date= 4 March 2014|author= Aurora Snow|author-link= Aurora Snow|date= 18 March 2013|website= The Daily Beast|archive-date= 4 March 2014|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140304165727/http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/18/blood-sweat-and-sex-my-hard-life-in-porn.html|url-status= live}}</ref> James Deen<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.australianpenthouse.com.au/28456/interview-james-deen |title=Interview: James Deen |access-date=4 March 2014 |author=Suzan Ryan |date=25 March 2013 |magazine=Australian Penthouse |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131025154752/http://www.australianpenthouse.com.au/28456/interview-james-deen |archive-date=25 October 2013 }}</ref> and Keiran Lee,<ref>{{cite magazine|url= http://www.playboy.com/playground/view/10-secrets-from-a-male-pornstar|title= 10 Things A Male Pornstar Will Never Tell You|access-date= 6 October 2014|author= Jonathan Stewart|date= 30 April 2014|magazine= Playboy|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141006124424/http://www.playboy.com/playground/view/10-secrets-from-a-male-pornstar|archive-date= 6 October 2014}}</ref> fluffers are no longer needed, saying that the role might have existed in the past, but disappeared due to medical advancements, such as Viagra and implants, and with advancements in prosthetics.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thoughtcatalog.com/eric-redding/2015/07/porn-stories-they-dont-want-to-know/|title=22 Industry Insiders And Pornstars Tell The Behind-The-Scenes Secrets Porn Viewers Don't Want To Know (NSFL)|website=Thought Catalog|date=28 July 2015|access-date=2 August 2018|archive-date=5 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405163356/https://thoughtcatalog.com/eric-redding/2015/07/porn-stories-they-dont-want-to-know/|url-status=live}}</ref> Hunter Skott, who has worked as a fluffer, contended in an interview that they "are only used for a gangbang or bukkake, not for regular [porn] movies".<ref name=nervesucks/>
Film scholar Charles Burnetts, writing about the James 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, the Bond girl. In particular, Burnetts states that the character of May Day from ''A View to a Kill'', played by actress Grace Jones, "serves as a high-watermark for the fluffer character".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Burnetts |first1=Charles |title=For His Eyes Only: The Women of James Bond |date=2015 |publisher=Columbia University Press |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=auaECgAAQBAJ&pg=PA61 |page=61 |access-date=24 August 2022 |chapter=Bond's Bit On The Side: Race, Exoticism and the Bond "Fluffer" Character|isbn=9780231850926 }}</ref>
Predating the pornographic usage, which came into use in the 1970s,<ref name="google2">{{cite book|title=Ron Jeremy: The Life and Times of a Porn Star|author=Jeremy, R.|year=2009|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=9780061841774|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h3vQJvIWPF8C}}</ref><ref name="google3">{{cite book|title=The Complete Idiot's Guide to Weird Word Origins|author=McFedries, P.|year=2008|publisher=Alpha Books|isbn=9781592577811|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zwxmGXmOZqwC}}</ref> ''fluffer'' has been used by the real estate industry to refer to a person that stages homes<ref name="google">{{cite book|title=At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays|author=Fadiman, A.|year=2008|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|isbn=9781429922968|url=https://archive.org/details/atlargeatsmallfa00fadi|url-access=registration}}</ref> and as a term for a maid or housekeeper who fluffs pillows, or in general cleans and prepares work equipment.<ref name="britishpathe">{{cite web|url=http://www.britishpathe.com/video/a-city-sleeps-aka-tube-fluffers|title=A CITY SLEEPS aka TUBE "FLUFFERS" - British Pathé|publisher=britishpathe.com|access-date=14 January 2014|archive-date=29 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029195329/http://www.britishpathe.com/video/a-city-sleeps-aka-tube-fluffers|url-status=live}}</ref>
== In popular culture ==
In the 1998 video game ''Fallout 2'', it is possible for the player to become a fluffer for a post-apocalyptic studio engaged in the porn industry.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Good|first1=Owen|title=Lots of Bad Career Choices in Fallout|url=https://kotaku.com/lots-of-bad-career-choices-in-fallout-5289763|website=Kotaku|date=14 June 2009|access-date=28 October 2017|archive-date=28 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171028200902/https://kotaku.com/5289763/lots-of-bad-career-choices-in-fallout|url-status=live}}</ref>
The 2001 film ''The 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.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B03E1DC173BF935A25752C1A9679C8B63 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080612112203/https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B03E1DC173BF935A25752C1A9679C8B63 |archive-date=12 June 2008 |title=Film Review; O.K., Just Tell Your Folks It's Artistic Work, in Films |newspaper=The New York Times |date=16 November 2001 |access-date=20 February 2024 |first=A.O. |last=Scott |author-link=A. O. Scott}}{{cbignore}}</ref> In episode 3 of season 2 of ''New Girl'' entitled "Fluffer", Nick Miller tells the protagonist Jessica 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 a recurring character named Sam Sweeney.<ref>{{cite news|last=Adams|first=Erik|title=Fluffer|url=https://www.avclub.com/new-girl-fluffer-1798174430|newspaper=The A.V. Club|access-date=21 March 2013|archive-date=4 February 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130204204114/http://www.avclub.com/articles/fluffer,85870/|url-status=live}}</ref>
The oneiric slasher ''Knife+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.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gonzalez |first1=Yann |title=Knife+Heart |url=https://www.alteredinnocence.net/knife |website=Altered Innocence |ref=4 |access-date=25 March 2020 |archive-date=26 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200626210029/https://www.alteredinnocence.net/knife |url-status=live }}</ref>
== See also == {{Portal|Pornography|Sex work}} * Erection
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Sexual slang}}
Category:Filmmaking occupations Category:Pornography terminology Category:Sex workers