The Kink Community Is Showing Up for Healthcare Workers by Donating Supplies

Less than a month ago, there were just over 100 videos on Pornhub that fell into the category of coronavirus porn, including at least one that used part of its five-plus-minute runtime to educate viewers about the seriousness of the respiratory illness.

"It's not just a flu, and that mask isn't even protecting you," Chase Poundher tells Little Squirtles at the beginning of their video. "It might protect other people from getting the virus if they're already infected. The only way to protect yourself is to have a good mask, N95 rated and higher. We have to be safe, we have to be protected. This is way more than a little common flu." (And, because this is Pornhub, Poundher then wears an N95 mask to perform a number of tasks that its manufacturer may or may not have ever considered.)

But, less than a month ago, there were just over 100 confirmed cases of coronavirus in 14 U.S. states. As of this writing, there are 144,672 cases total, and all 50 states have been impacted, and have been taking significant measures in attempts to slow its spread.

Pornhub now has more than 1,000 videos in its coronavirus category, and searching for "coronavirus" on the site brings up a link to the World Health Organization's latest updates about the pandemic. Last week, Pornhub announced that it would be donating 50,000 surgical masks to first responders and hospitals in the greater New York City area. Its recipients included Local 2507, which represents emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics, as well as inspectors from the Fire Department of the City of New York. (FDNY), the Uniformed Firefighters Association (UFA) Local 94, and the Mount Sinai South Nassau hospital.

The porn streaming company also pledged a donation of €50,000 ($55,090) to organizations in Germany, Italy, and Spain to facilitate the purchase of masks and medical equipment for healthcare workers in those companies. And, in an attempt to give everyone something to do while they're staying at home, it has offered free high-def Pornhub Premium "to the entire world" for the next 30 days. (Under usual circumstances, a Premium subscription would cost $9.99 per month.)

Over the weekend, medical fetish site MedFetUK announced that it had donated its entire supply of disposable scrubs to a National Health Service (NHS) hospital in the south of England. "We have been contacted this week by representatives of NHS procurement all over the country, trying to source basic protective equipment and clothing," the company wrote in a five-part Twitter thread. "When we, a tiny company set up to serve a small section of the kink community, find ourselves being sought out as a last-resort supplier to our National Health Service in a time of crisis, something is seriously wrong. In fact, it's scandalous.

"Let's be under no illusions, this is the result of a decade of chronic underfunding and cuts which has left the NHS barely able to cope under normal circumstances, much less when faced with the onslaught of a global pandemic. It did not, and should not, have to be this way."

In an update posted to its website, MedFetUK said that it would not be restocking its "infection control products" during the coronavirus outbreak. (It will continue to sell and ship its other medfet supplies, including catheters, needle play kits, and assorted medical instruments.)

"[W]e are not heroes and we don't deserve any special kudos," the company tweeted. "We just did the obvious and only right thing to do. The real heroes are the NHS staff at every level who are on the front line of this fight."