Fluffing

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A fluffer is a hired member of the crew of a pornographic movie whose role on the set is to sexually arouse the male participants prior to the filming of scenes requiring erections. Presumably, the name arose, at least in part, as a mocking reference to the hair-fluffing make-up artists who kept the starlets in non-pornographic movies looking their very best in every scene.

On gay movies fluffers are typically male, but sometimes shemale, while on heterosexual movies they are usually female. However, straight men will often star in gay porn for the higher pay and therefore require a female fluffer. The occupation is frequently depicted as demeaning and contemptible, usually far more so than a porn star, with an insinuation that the fluffer is not attractive enough to perform on camera. In the movie Swordfish, for example, Halle Berry provokes Hugh Jackman by suggesting his pre-adolescent daughter might wind up as a fluffer under the influence of her stepfather, a producer of adult movies.

Many porn stars today maintain that fluffers are a thing of the past, needed in the '70s and '80s when the crew, shooting on celluloid, needed much more time to prepare a shot. Erectile dysfunction drugs such as Viagra have also taken part in replacing fluffers. Brittany Andrews states on her website that fluffers are now utilized only in "gang bang" scenarios.

There have been two movies titled The Fluffer. The first [3], a 2001 release, about a bisexual man with a crush on a gay porn star who is heterosexual outside of his video career. There is also a 2003 film [4] that has received less attention.

[edit] Other definitions

• On a TV show set or in a comedy club setting, "fluffer" can refer to a warm-up act, whose task it is to engage the audience prior to the arrival of the main attraction.

• Fluffing is also a slang term used in acting. An actor who misreads his/her lines but continues on in character is said to have "fluffed" their lines. This term is primarily used in the United Kingdom.

• In call centers (such as Convergys), fluffing can be used to describe call avoidance, often by offering incomplete solutions or referring the caller to another provider.

• "Fluffing" can also be used to describe the artificial inflation of another's ego for personal gain and/or insincere promotion of ideals or policies.

• "Fluffing" is also a euphemism used to refer to farting.

• "Fluffer" can refer to a staff officer who won't let an issue or program die as they've been instructed to.

• "Fluffers" or "Fluffies" has been used as a name for workers on the London Underground who would clean hair, dirt and dust from the tunnels at night when no tube trains run.^[1] The work was often done by hand by female workers.^[2]

[edit] References

1. ^ [1] ITN Source "Fluffers" obtained on 3 December 2006.
2. ^ [2] Science and Society Picture Library web site obtained on 3 December 2006