Ashley Fires blames politics and white male privilege for injustices modern women continue to endure.

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Though it was four years ago when she first spoke out, encouraging numerous other women to share their own similar experiences with Deen, Fires feels it’s just as relevant and important today as it was then: “I never stopped talking about it, and I never will stop talking about it. I’m always going to talk about this because this matters. Every couple of years there should be a new article about James Deen. If people don’t know about it, it’s just this tongue-in-cheek taboo thing and nobody cares and we’re just like these not-real subhuman-type sex dolls.”

Despite the impact it’s had on her career, Fires doesn’t regret sharing her own encounter but does lament the role she played in rallying other women. “There were a few women who’d reached out to me privately before going public,” says Fires. “I knew I wasn’t responsible in a way but I felt I shouldn’t have urged these women, and said things like, ‘We’re stronger together, we have strength in numbers’ and ‘The more people who come forward, the more they’ll believe us.’ I said things like that to them.”

Most of the nearly dozen women who went public struggled under the scrutiny, fighting for their own identities and careers, along with the stigma of being mainly known as a Deen accuser.

“People I had worked with for years no longer wanted to work with me because they thought I might be a problem for them on set,” says Fires. “Now when I go on a set there are #MeToo jokes. I did a scene last December and the director put his hand on me and said, ‘Is this okay? Are you going to tell people? Are you going to #MeToo me?’ It’s things like that. Little things like ‘careful with this one,’ ‘Is this consensual, Ashley? Is this okay?’ and people make jokes about it.”

Frustrated with the lack of accountability, Fires blames American politics and white male privilege for injustices modern women continue to endure. “Women don’t want to speak up because they’ll be labeled as difficult; their opportunities dry up if they speak out about any unsafe work environment or on-set assault. Women are punished for speaking the truth yet this white male privilege guy James Deen can just go on like no big deal,” says Fires. “I really think it’s because of the unique reality we are living in right now, this normalization. You have Trump—look at how many women have gone public? Yeah, no big deal. He can just grab ‘em by the pussy, and it’s on tape, but no big deal, whatever, let’s reward the guy, make him president.”

That same attitude of rewarding bad behavior is reflected in the porn industry’s 2020 AVN and XBIZ Award nominations, says Fires, where Deen is nominated for 14 awards total. “It’s a boy’s club, business as usual,” offers Fires. “I think he’s back. More and more people are like, ‘Oh poor James Deen, he’s such a nice guy.’ People are like, ‘Why don’t you like him? He’s so nice,” and I’m like, ‘Well, rapists don’t rape everyone…’”