Lana Rhoades reveals how she moved away from the 'male gaze' since leaving porn

Lana Rhoades has spoken about her efforts to move away from the male gaze after leaving porn.

The former adult performer, 27, joined the industry at just 19 years old and quickly became one of the biggest names in adult films.

Since leaving the industry, Rhoades has been vocal in her criticism of the pornography industry and also admitted that she is now asexual and that she "didn't even like having sex."

Rhoades has moved into modelling and work in the fashion industry over recent times, and she spoke to Dazed about breaking away from the male gaze with her recent career choices.

“I think male desire is an issue which extends far beyond fashion or what women choose to wear, the make-up they choose to wear, what hair cuts they decide to have,” Rhoades said.

“I’ve recently been exposed to more news and seeing how often women are sexually abused by men because they can’t control these desires is scary – I generally walk around covered up because I don’t know that I would feel comfortable going out in public wearing something men find attractive because they scare the shit out of me. The male gaze comes down to entitlement and them still thinking they can take what they want from weaker beings.”

Rhoades added: “I think fashion is moving away from catering to the male gaze, especially in the last few years – from the bleached brows to the baby bangs, the things that are becoming popular or on trend are things that men actually hate.

When asked if she believed she had reclaimed her gaze in the fashion world, Rhoades said: “I don’t think I have reclaimed anything. I think that I have always done what I liked at the time, so if the way I was styling myself five years ago was more ‘male-approved’, say, it was because I was genuinely doing what I thought was attractive for me.

“So in that way, I don’t think there was anything to reclaim, I’ve always been very authentic and done exactly what I want – not just when it comes to my appearance, but also no one will tell me what to do when it comes to my body.”

Rhoades recently opened up about the shocking amount she got paid for a single explicit scene during her time in the porn industry.

During an interview with Curious Mike, she said that despite racking in millions of views in the NSFW realm, Rhoades revealed her rate was "$1,200 for a sex scene."

Rhoades also opened up about the dark side of the industry, saying: "There's not really anything set up to protect girls that are young and vulnerable that don't know how to say no or don't have self-respect for themselves yet or care for themselves or love themselves because they've been through so much and are like taught not to."

She claimed that she was surrounded by much older men who "know exactly like how to get you to do what [...] they want to make them money."

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