ABSTRACTGeneric conventions used to communicate the labour conditions of pornography within texts have become increasingly prominent in light of a focus on ethical porn production. Such conventions, which include interviews with performers, behind-the-scenes material, as well as outtakes and other instances of failed labour, blur the line between pornographic performance and documented reality. This article challenges their status as documentary evidence, suggesting instead that they be understood as elements of pornographic performance and regarded with the same scepticism and attention to skill, artistry, and power as other aspects of the performance. The article demonstrates the danger of conflating performance with reality, and asserts that doing so has the unintended consequences of effacing the labour of pornographic performance, perpetuating certain damaging understandings of such work and encouraging naive spectatorial practices. As such, ethical spectatorship cannot arise simply from consuming pornography that claims to be ethically produced, but requires critical engagement that stands in opposition to the rhetoric produced by conventions that purport to reveal the hidden labour of pornography.