A fluffer is a person employed to keep a porn performer's penis erect on the set. After setting up the desired angle, the director asks the actors to hold position and calls for the fluffer to "fluff" the actors for the shot. These duties are considered part of the makeup department. While fluffing does not necessarily involve touching the actors, it could entail sexual acts such as fellatio or non-penetrative sex. According to some pornographic actors, including Aurora Snow, James Deen and Keiran Lee, fluffers are no longer needed, saying that the role might have existed in the past, but disappeared due to medical advancements, such as Viagra and implants, and with advancements in prosthetics. Hunter Skott, who has worked as a fluffer, contended in an interview that they "are only used for a gangbang or bukkake, not for regular movies". Sloane Steel, formerly of Bangbros.com, said much the same. Predating the pornographic usage, which came into use in the 1970s, fluffer has been used by the real estate industry to refer to a person that stages homes and as a term for a maid who fluffs pillows, or in general cleans and prepares work equipment.
In the 1998 video gameFallout 2, it is possible for the player to become a fluffer for a post-apocalyptic studio engaged in the porn industry. The 2001 filmThe Fluffer is about a film buff with a crush on a porn star who is straight, for whom he would end up working as a fluffer in gay porn. In episode 3 of season 2 of New Girl entitled "Fluffer", Nick Miller tells the protagonistJessica Day that he will not be her "emotional fluffer", after he realises that he is providing her sentimental stimulation which allows her to maintain a more active sex life with a different man with whom she has been having sex. The oneiricslasherKnife+Heart follows a group of "low grade" gay pornographers in the 1970s France. The film depicts a character named Mouth of Gold, or Mouth, who is a fluffer. In the film, he is a middle aged man who works for free as he lives with his mother.
