Opinion - You Can’t Escape the Past: How Minami Aizawa/PIXY is Moving Away from Porn

From Minami to PIXY

Recently, Minami Aizawa announced that she would not be using that name anymore to move on from her Adult Video persona. Citing mounting questions and inquiries about her AV status, if she would be coming back, and references to her as a ‘former AV actress’. After a small break, she has come back to the public eye as PIXY and has essentially removed traces of her AV past within her social media. Going as far as canceling her work engagements as Minami. Below is a short excerpt from a now deleted post with her explanation.

“It has been over a year since I retired from being an AV actress. I am truly grateful for those who have continued to support me during this time. However, I have no intention of returning to the AV industry. No matter what I do “Minami Aizawa,” I am always referred as a “former AV actress,” and every interview revolves around my past or questions about coming back. I feel as if I am clinging to past glories, which has caused me to completely lose the motivation to continue my activities as “Minami Aizawa” “

Cake Meet Eat and Want

I am sympathetic to Minami’s problem with her porn past especially when trolls are harping on it while she is trying to move on with a mainstream persona. AV and porn actresses are often looked down on for their job and when they want to move on people are still looked down on and stigmatize them. They have difficulty finding work with the danger of being outed always a possibility. The JAV industry with de-listing does help talent get away from their past that is if they choose to stay out of the public eye. For someone like Minami who was a star during her time and had the clout to become an entertainer after it, it’s not so easy.

Moving Forward Post Porn

Minami isn’t the first Adult actress to try to make it after retiring from porn and she won’t be the last. Kaoru Kuroki, a name from ages ago, became a late-night TV regular and an icon for female sexuality. From today we have Mana Sakura and the prolific writing with works adapted into mainstream film. However, for figures that broke into mainstream entertainment post-porn, there are even more examples. There’s Sora Aoi, Maria Ozawa, Kirara Asuka, Ai Uehara, and Yua Mikami. In western porn, we have Sasha Grey, Stoya, and Adrianna Chechik who have stayed in the public eye but away from adult work.

Lose/Lose Situation

It’s easy for me to say she’s making a mistake but Minami is in a no-win situation as a former adult actress trying to make it as a mainstream personality. If she keeps the name, people will still expect Minami the AV actress and if she loses the name, people will still see her as Minami the AV actress. Still in my opinion I think her name change will only makes things more difficult for her in the future not less. While I may have been critiquing Minami’s name change decision, I am still rooting for her. I was a big fan of her AV work and want to see her succeed in the future be that as Minami, PIXY, or whoever.