Feminist pornography

Last updated

Feminist pornography is a genre of film developed by or for those within the sex-positive feminist movement. [1] It was created for the purpose of promoting gender equality by portraying more bodily movements and sexual fantasies of women and members of the LGBT community. [2]

Contents

Background

Feminists have debated pornography ever since the women's movement commenced. The debate was particularly vehement during the feminist sex wars of the 1980s, which is when feminist porn originated. It acquired momentum in the 2000s because of the Feminist Porn Awards, originated by Good For Her in Toronto in 2006. These awards spread awareness amongst a broader audience, extra media exposure, and assistance in uniting a community of filmmakers, performers, and fans. Many third-wave feminists are open to seeking freedom and rights of sexual equality through entering the adult entertainment workforce. [3] However, many second-wave feminists believe that the oppression and/or sexual objectification of women is inherent in all pornography involving them. The conflict between the two waves causes many struggles between these different feminist views of pornography. [4]

Tristan Taormino, who is a sex educator, feminist pornographer, and co-editor of The Feminist Porn Book, [5] has said: 'Feminists pornographers are committed to gender equality and social justice.' [6] Feminist pornography is porn that is produced in a fair manner, where performers are paid a reasonable salary and treated with care and esteem, their consent, safety, and well-being are vital, and what they bring to the production is appreciated. [6] [7] Feminist porn seeks to challenge ideas about desire, beauty, gratification, and power through unconventional representations, aesthetics, and film making styles. [6] [7] The overall aim of feminist porn is to educate and empower the performers who produce it and the people who view it. [6] [8]

History

Theoretical origins (c. 1975–1983)

From the mid-1970s up until 1983, it was mostly a theoretical discussion amongst feminists (including some self-identified feminist men) whether making feminist porn was even possible. Some feminists, later known as sex-positive feminists, argued that it was, but it still had to be made, sometimes giving a rough sketch of what that should or would look like (for example, Ann Garry's plot in 1983). [lower-alpha 1] Others in the middle said it may be possible, but they had not seen any examples of it yet (1981). A third group, the anti-porn feminists, maintained throughout the 1980s that it was in principle impossible, because 'feminist pornography is a contradiction in terms' [10] [11] or 'an oxymoron', [12] and that whatever was feminist but appeared to be pornographic should instead be labelled 'erotica'. [13] [14] Feminists like Gloria Steinem wrote that pornography promoted unequal power dynamics, while erotica represented sex as a positive expression of sexuality. [13] Others such as Andrea Dworkin claimed that even 'erotica' was too much like pornography to be considered feminist. [lower-alpha 2]

The majority of the feminist debates on pornography were initiated by events such as the 1976 presentation of the film Snuff , in which a woman was shown being mutilated for the audience's sexual satisfaction. Two of the first American feminists to suggest the development of feminist pornography were Deb Friedman and Lois Yankowski (members of the Feminist Alliance Against Rape) in a 1976 article in Quest: A Feminist Quarterly. Claiming that the oppression of and violence against women portrayed in pornography had gone too far (citing the recent controversy around Snuff), but considering that censorship may not be the proper tactic to deal with it, they wrote:

Finally, there is the possibility of developing our own "feminist pornography," that is, non-sexist erotica. We have set out some guidelines for determining what forms of explicit sex should be portrayed as alternatives to the current violence and sado-masochism. Although it may sound far-fetched, developing feminist pornography would help demonstrate what some of these alternatives could be.

— Deb Friedman & Lois Yankowski, "Snuffing Sexual Violence" (1976), Quest: A Feminist Quarterly [16]

The Friedman-Yankowski essay became very popular and was widely reprinted. [17] On the other hand, erroneously believing that its scenes of eroticized torture were real, [18] [ clarification needed ] Andrea Dworkin organized nightly vigils at locations where the film was being shown.[ citation needed ] She became the main theorist of the U.S. anti-pornography campaign. Well-known feminists, including Susan Brownmiller and Gloria Steinem, joined her to establish the campaign group Women Against Pornography. The anti-porn campaign escalated with Take Back the Night marches around locations such as Times Square, which contained 'adult' book stores, massage parlors (a euphemism for a brothel) and strip clubs. Dworkin and other feminists arranged conferences and lecture tours, showing slide-shows featuring hard- and soft-core porn to women's awareness groups. [19] [ time needed ]

Rise of feminist pornography (1984–1990)

Femme Productions was founded by Candida Royalle in 1984. Femme Productions logo.png
Femme Productions was founded by Candida Royalle in 1984.

In the United States, production of explicitly feminist pornography began in 1984, initiated by two independently formed groups. Dissatisfied with working in mainstream male-centred porn, Candida Royalle founded her own adult film studio Femme Productions and hired performers from the porn actresses support group 'Club 90', which originated in 1983 when they started informally talking about what they wished to change about the industry. Separately, in reaction to the 1983 Dworkin-MacKinnon Ordinance, lesbian feminists founded the sex-positive lesbian sex magazine On Our Backs. This was in reaction to feminist magazine off our backs , which had been campaigning for banning porn in preceding years, and On Our Backs started producing erotic videos the next year under the leadership of Susie Bright. Others including Annie Sprinkle followed in the years thereafter, and by 1990 a small group of feminist pornographers, some of them united in the Manhattan-based Club 90, could be distinguished. Between 1984 and 1990, sex-positive feminists claimed these directors and producers had made feminist pornography a reality, increasingly referring to their works as examples of it. [20] Anti-pornography feminists remained adamant in their opposition, claiming that these productions were either still following the patterns of 'mainstream' or 'male-dominated' porn, or were in fact erotica, a legitimate genre that was separate from pornography. [12] [14]

Meanwhile, in Europe, feminists such as Monika Treut (Germany), Cleo Uebelmann (Switzerland), Krista Beinstein (Germany and Austria) and Della Grace (England) started using sexually explicit pornography and film in order to explore themes such as female pleasure, BDSM, gender roles, and queer desire. [21]

Early industry development (1990–2005)

In the 1990s and early 2000s, many feminists perceived Dworkin and her anti-porn perspectives as excessively polarized and anti-sex. Feminists continued to debate the extent to which pornography is harmful to women. Some feminists have emphasized the way cybersex encourages its participants to play with identity, as users are able to take on diverse characteristics (e.g. gender, age, sexuality, race, and physical exterior). They point out a number of other benefits from new technologies, such as enhanced access to sex education and 'safe' sex, and opportunities for women and minorities to make contact and to manufacture and allocate their own representations. [22]

The successes of Royalle and Hartley had made an impact on the mainstream adult industry by the 1990s, leading major U.S. studios such as Vivid, VCA, and Wicked to also make couples porn, as well as developing 'a formula of softer, gentler, more romantic porn with storylines and high production values.' [23]

In 1997, the Danish company Zentropa became the first mainstream film production company in the world to make explicit porn under its Puzzy Power subsidiary, aimed at a female audience. The next year, Zentropa published the Puzzy Power Manifesto, [24] which set guidelines for creating porn for women, similar to the standards established by Royalle. [21]

In the early 2000s, a new generation of filmmakers who specifically called themselves or their work "feminist" emerged in the United States and Europe. [25] American examples included Buck Angel, Dana Dane, Shine Louise Houston, Courtney Trouble, Madison Young, and Tristan Taormino, while Europe saw the rise of sexually explicitly independent films identified as feminist pornography by filmmakers such as Erika Lust (Spain), Anna Span and Petra Joy (United Kingdom), Émilie Jouvet, Virginie Despentes, and Taiwan-born Shu Lea Cheang (France), and Mia Engberg (Sweden). [25] The Dirty Diaries (2009) were a compilation of feminist porn shorts directed by Engberg and 'famously funded by the Swedish government', [25] while Swedish-born Lust's 2004 debut The Good Girl released on the Internet for free under a Creative Commons licence, launching her career as 'one of the most celebrated feminist pornographers in the world'. [26]

Feminist Porn Awards and beyond (2006–present)

The 2006 creation of the Feminist Porn Awards (FPAs) by the Toronto-based sex toy shop Good for Her is said to have significantly spread the influence and recognition of the modern feminist porn movement. [25] [27] The launch of The Feminist Porn Book (2013) 'helped to put feminist pornography on the academic map'. [27] In the same period, some disagreements emerged about what makes certain pornography feminist, and how it may be distinguished from male-centric mainstream porn, exemplified by the controversy over whether to exclude facials [28] (always excluded by earlier feminist filmmakers such as Royalle (1984–2013), [29] [30] Ms. Naughty (since 2000), [31] and Petra Joy (since 2004), [32] excluded in the early career of Taormino (since 1999) but included in her later career, [33] and included by Lust ever since her 2004 debut [34] ).

Public discourse

Purpose and production

Tristan Taormino (2013) has stated that pornography created by women for women can give women control over what is being presented about female sexuality and how it is represented and distributed. She argued that feminist pornography allows women to have a voice in a male-dominated industry. [35] Taormino states: [36]

“Feminist porn searches to expand the ideas about desire, beauty, gratification, and power through unconventional representations, aesthetics, and filmmaking styles. The overall aim of feminist porn is to empower the performers who produce it and the people who view it.”

— Tristan Taormino, Feminist Porn Awards

Royalle (2013) rejected the notion that pornography is automatically 'feminist' whenever it is made by women: 'Rather than creating a new vision, it seems that many of today's young female directors, often working under the tutelage of the big porn distributors, seek only to prove that they can be even nastier than their male predecessors. (...) if they're not concerned with what women want, should it then be considered feminist? (...) What bothers me is the media identifying their work as feminist when it has nothing to do with speaking for women and advancing the principles of feminism.' [37]

Performers and society

Mireille Miller-Young researched the porn industry between 2003 and 2013. In addition, Miller-Young also interviewed a vast amount of performers and encountered several positive aspects of pornography in women's lives. According to Miller-Young, "For some performers, pornography is a path to college and out of poverty. For others, it is a chance to make a statement about female pleasure." [38] Miller-Young states that the women she interviewed were excited to enter the pornography industry and viewed it as a profitable opportunity as well as an accommodating job that would grant them independence. Women who had worked in retail or in nursing discovered that pornography gave them more control over their labor and greater respect in the workplace. Some women believed being part of the pornography industry had granted them the ability to escape poverty, provide for their families and attend college. Others stressed the inventive features of pornography and stated it grants them the ability to boost their economic mobility while also creating a strong statement about female sexual pleasure. Miller-Young claims that according to the performers she interviewed, the most difficult challenge they dealt with was social stigma, as well as gender and racial inequality. [38]

With regard to the performers, Royalle (2012) explained that there are some women who prefer to be in porn because they enjoy sex and deem it to be a great way of making a living. On the other hand, there are some who approach porn as a mode of acting out or coping with psychological issues, such as searching for their father's love or receiving punishment for being an immoral woman. For some women, it may be a bit of each. [39]

I'm not sure the male performers get out completely unscathed either. While they may not be judged as harshly as the women, ultimately they're viewed as freaks who make their living with their anatomy. John Holmes' fate is the ultimate cautionary tale. Perhaps if we weren't still so consumed with guilt and shame about sex, neither watching nor performing in these films would carry the weight it does. But then, perhaps we wouldn't be so interested in them, either. If the fruit were not forbidden, would anyone care to take a bite?

— Candida Royalle [40]

Labour rights

Miller-Young (2012) wrote that at both large and small pornography studios, men typically marginalize the viewpoints and concerns of women. The studios place more emphasis on what men wanted because they felt that their products would sell more. Furthermore, these companies often created a competitive environment which pit women against each other. Black performers often received only half to three-quarters of what white performers are paid. Just as in other industries, women and men of color face discrimination and disparities in structural and interpersonal forms. Porn industry workers are striving to get more control over their labor and the products they create. The Internet was by far the most efficient and rapid way to democratize the porn industry. There are a range of women from diverse backgrounds who enter the pornography business, such as soccer moms, single mothers, and college students, who filmed themselves and presented their own pornographic fantasies. The majority of women in pornography felt strongly that society should not treat porn as problematic and socially immoral. However, women in the industry highlight that conditions could be improved, particularly with regard to workers' rights. [38]

Facials

"I liked porn but I really didn't like how most of it was marketed. (...) The scenes almost always ended with a facial "pop shot" and I didn't want to see that—I thought it was degrading and also kind of stupid. The woman would often kneel with a slightly pained expression on her face, trying to look adoringly up at a man while he squirted semen in her eye. The camera never showed the man's face during orgasm, which—to me–was a travesty. Men's faces are beautiful at that moment. (...) I wanted to change that. I wanted to make porn better."

– Ms. Naughty (2013) [41]

At the 2007 Berlin Porn Film Festival, discussion over the works of such filmmakers as Erika Lust (including The Good Girl ) led to disagreements, as some other self-identified feminist pornographers questioned whether certain portrayals such as facials could ever be considered "feminist" (as the directors maintained), or were incompatible with the notion of gender equality of women and men, and thus with feminism. [32] Petra Joy argued: 'Feminism is committed to equality of the sexes, so surely "feminist porn" should show women as equals to men rather than as subservient beings... If you want to show cum on a woman's face that's fine but don't call it feminist.' [32] Lust (2007) retorted, mocking 'the Church of the Pure Feminist Porn Producers... declaring that certain sexual practices that me and other women across the world happen to like, are a sin.' [32]

Separately, as some of her critics alleged, [42] Taormino (2013) has admitted that she cannot control how certain portrayals such as facials may be received by some viewers, 'specifically that men's orgasms represent the apex of a scene (and of sex itself) and women's bodies are things to be used, controlled, and marked like territory'. [43] When making her first film, Taormino 'embraced the notion that certain depictions were turn-offs to all women, like facial cum shots. But my thinking on this has changed over time. I believe viewers appreciate consent, context, chemistry, and performer agency more than the presence or absence of a specific act.' [43]

Consumption

In 2012, Royalle argued that viewing pornography is not intrinsically damaging to men or women. However, she claimed that there are people who perhaps should not view porn; for example, those with poor body image or those have experienced sexual abuse. Royalle stated that some individuals may develop impractical ideas about sex or what people enjoy, and how they may be expected to perform. She added that watching porn with another individual requires permission. Counselors at times will advise it to assist people in becoming comfortable with a certain fantasy they or their partner may have. Pornography may re-energize a couple's sex life. It can offer stimulating ideas, or assist individuals and couples to get in touch with their personal fantasies. Porn can supply individuals with great satisfaction or at worst, disgust. Royalle emphasized that this all relies on what couples or individuals decide to view. She added that porn is not the issue when it comes to unhealthy sexual behaviors, but rather the compulsive personality of an individual. [39]

Some people argue that consumption of pornography can have negative mental effects. [44] The biggest concerns include increased desire for violent sexual acts, including rape, and dehumanization of women, including the actors in pornographic films. [44] This is debated, as it has been shown consumers of pornography feel aware that porn is fake and/or played up. [45] It's important to remember that women consume porn as well; it is a male-dominated field, not a male-exclusive one. The very idea that erotic films are not intriguing or pleasurable to women upholds the misogynistic idea that women do not, and should not, find erotic material pleasurable. [46]

Some women feel that feminist pornography is more realistic than mainstream pornography. [46] In the field of adult film, believability is highly prioritized. Films that feature extreme reactions to minimal interactions, or bored-looking actors, tend to bore or stress the viewer. [45] Pornography that is made by and for men, with no regard toward feminist ideals or female pleasure, tends to focus primarily on male pleasure and female submission. [47] Feminist pornography is an important resource for women, as it allows them to enjoy erotic films that not only feature, but showcase, female pleasure and a variety of erotic interests that women may have. [46] It tends to avoid the objectification of women. [46] Also, it rejects the idea that, during sexual intercourse, male parties are inherently dominant and female parties are inherently submissive. [47] Feminist pornography makes it a point to explore many different forms of sensuality and sexuality, with a prioritization of authentic and ethical pleasure. [47]

In this sense, feminist pornography can be used as a positive resource to educate women on various forms of pleasure, and to reclaim their own sexuality in a world that often teaches women their sexuality and bodies are dirty or wrong. [46] Studies have shown that increased access to pornography is positively related to sexual education, specifically in terms of understanding ones own sexual identity and interests. [46] The field of pornography is rampant with unethical treatment of actors, violent acts without proper aftercare, and other abuses of power. [46] One facet of feminist pornography is that it seeks to maintain ethics between business and employer, as well as with the viewer. Feminist porn has been reviewed with higher levels of communication shown alongside sexual acts than mainstream porn. [46]

Characteristics

Although challenging, it is not impossible to be a feminist in the artificial environment of mainstream pornography. Nor is it impossible to disrupt the inauthenticity of this staged environment through acting upon one's feminist ethos.

– Madison Young, 2014 [48]

Feminist pornography is less likely to be filmed due to a lack of audience demand since a majority of pornography viewers are male. [49] The scope of the adult entertainment industry depends on the preferences of the majority of their viewers, which creates the need for female actresses to be young and overtly sexualized. [50] The increase in this mainstream mass-produced media puts both actresses and producers of feminist pornography at a disadvantage. [51] Some misconceptions of feminist porn that add to their disadvantage are that it is only for queer women, 'vanilla', and 'man-hating'. [36] When working on feminist porn projects, Ingrid Ryberg, feminist porn producer, wanted to make sure to address these stereotypes, while also staying in the realm of feminist pornography. [52] Some producers, like Tristan Taormino, address this by staying away from stereotypical, mainstream tropes, like 'cum shots', while still respecting the expression of rougher sex. [52] The rise of on-screen appropriations, such as items like a strap-on dildo used by and for the pleasure of females during sexual intercourse, has allowed for more agency for women within the industry. [53] Annie Sprinkle is one example of a woman who chooses to partake in many forms of feminist pornography in order to counter-appropriate patriarchal mainstream pornography. [54] Films in which Sprinkle stars contain scenes of her having orgasms instead of her male on-screen partners. [54]

According to Tristan Taormino, "Feminist porn both responds to dominant images with alternative ones and creates its own iconography." [55]

What sets feminist porn from mainstream porn is its intentions. [56] Mainstream pornography is made for mass consumption, profit and arousal; feminist pornography is also made for arousal and profit, but also to create content that purposely shows agency, genuine pleasure, and challenges mainstream standards, like beauty and gender roles. [56] One way to conceptualize these differences is through defining sexual objectification and sexual agency. [56] Feminist pornography focuses on promoting sexual agency. [56]

Some pornographic actresses such as Nina Hartley, [57] Ovidie, [58] and Madison Young are also self-described sex-positive feminists, and state that they do not see themselves as victims of sexism. They defend their decision to perform in pornography as freely chosen, and argue that much of what they do on camera is an expression of their sexuality. It has also been pointed out that in pornography, women generally earn more than their male counterparts. [59] Hartley is active in the sex workers' rights movement. [57]

Festivals and awards

Since 2006, [60] the Feminist Porn Awards have been held annually in Toronto, [61] sponsored by a local feminist sex toy business, Good for Her. The awards are given in a number of categories and have three guiding criteria: [62]

  1. A woman had a hand in the production, writing, direction, etc. of the work.
  2. It depicts genuine female pleasure.
  3. It expands the boundaries of sexual representation on film and challenges stereotypes that are often found in mainstream porn.

However, the Feminist Porn Awards have not been held since 2015. [62]

In Europe since 2009, the best films are nominated with the PorYes-Award every other year. [63]

Feminist artist Jasmin Hagendorfer and her team are organizing the Porn Film Festival Vienna, an event dedicated to feminist and queer approaches to pornography. [64]

Documentaries and films

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 'Ann Garry has suggested that it is possible to walk this fine line and to produce a feminist pornography which would not need to be censored. She has been kind enough to suggest a possible plot (1983: 77–78)'. [9]
  2. ↑ "Erotica is simply high-class pornography: better produced, better conceived, better executed, better packaged, designed for a better class of consumer." [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erotica</span> Category of sexually stimulating media

Erotica is literature or art that deals substantively with subject matter that is erotic, sexually stimulating or sexually arousing. Some critics regard pornography as a type of erotica, but many consider it to be different. Erotic art may use any artistic form to depict erotic content, including painting, sculpture, drama, film or music. Erotic literature and erotic photography have become genres in their own right. Erotica also exists in a number of subgenres including gay, lesbian, women's, bondage, monster and tentacle erotica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annie Sprinkle</span> American pornographic actress and sex educator

Annie M. Sprinkle is an American certified sexologist, performance artist, former sex worker, and advocate for sex work and health care. Sprinkle has worked as a prostitute, sex educator, feminist stripper, pornographic film actress, and sex film producer and director. In 1996, she became the first known porn star to get a doctoral degree, earning a PhD in human sexuality from the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco. Identifying as ecosexual, Sprinkle is best known for her self-help style of pornography, teaching individuals about pleasure, and for her conventional pornographic film Deep Inside Annie Sprinkle (1981). Through the production of feminist based pornographic content, include understanding of female genitalia and pornography based on women's desires, Sprinkle has contributed to feminist pornography and the larger social movement of feminism; she is also known for contributing to the rise of the post-porn movement and bisexual/lesbian pornography. Sprinkle, a bisexual woman and member of the LGBTQ+ community, married her long-time partner Beth Stephens in Canada on January 14, 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nina Hartley</span> American pornographic actress (born 1959)

Marie Louise Hartman, known professionally as Nina Hartley, is an American pornographic film actress and sex educator. By 2017 she had appeared in more than one thousand adult films. She has been described by Las Vegas Weekly as an "outspoken feminist" and "advocate for sexual freedom", and by CNBC as "a legend in the adult world".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Facial (sexual act)</span> Sexual activity involving ejaculating on the face of another

A facial is a sexual activity in which a man ejaculates semen onto the face of one or more sexual partners. A facial is a form of non-penetrative sex, though it is generally performed after some other means of sexual stimulation, such as vaginal sex, anal sex, oral sex, manual sex or masturbation. Facials are regularly portrayed in pornographic films and videos, often as a way to close a scene.

Sex-positive feminism, also known as pro-sex feminism, sex-radical feminism, or sexually liberal feminism, is a feminist movement centering on the idea that sexual freedom is an essential component of women's freedom. They oppose legal or social efforts to control sexual activities between consenting adults, whether they are initiated by the government, other feminists, opponents of feminism, or any other institution. They embrace sexual minority groups, endorsing the value of coalition-building with marginalized groups. Sex-positive feminism is connected with the sex-positive movement. Sex-positive feminism brings together anti-censorship activists, LGBT activists, feminist scholars, producers of pornography and erotica, among others. Sex-positive feminists believe that prostitution can be a positive experience if workers are treated with respect, and agree that sex work should not be criminalized.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Candida Royalle</span> American pornographic filmmaker (1950–2015)

Candida Royalle was an American producer and director of couples-oriented pornography, pornographic actress, sex educator, and sex-positive feminist. She was a member of the XRCO and the AVN Halls of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tristan Taormino</span> American author, columnist and adult film director

Tristan Taormino is an American feminist author, columnist, sex educator, activist, editor, speaker, radio host, and pornographic film director. She is most recently known for her book Opening Up: A Guide to Creating and Sustaining Open Relationships, which is often recommended as a starter guide to polyamory and non-monogamy.

The feminist sex wars, also known as the lesbian sex wars, sex wars or porn wars, are terms used to refer to collective debates amongst feminists regarding a number of issues broadly relating to sexuality and sexual activity. Differences of opinion on matters of sexuality deeply polarized the feminist movement, particularly leading feminist thinkers, in the late 1970s and early 1980s and continue to influence debate amongst feminists to this day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pornography</span> Portrayal of sexual subject matter

Pornography has been defined as sexual subject material "such as a picture, video, or text" that is intended for sexual arousal. Intended for consumption by adults, pornography depictions have evolved from cave paintings, some forty millennia ago, to virtual reality presentations. A general distinction of adult content is made classifying it as pornography or erotica.

Women's erotica is any erotic material that caters specifically to women target-demographic of various sexual preferences. When erotica is specifically directed at lesbians, it is referred to as lesbian erotica. Women's erotica is available from a variety of media including video games, websites, books, comics, short stories, films, photography, magazines, audio, anime and manga. The content may cover many aspects of sexuality, from relationships to fetishes; the main idea being to convey sex-positivism from a woman's perspective, or to feature female empowerment and sexual fantasies.

<i>The Good Girl</i> (2004 film) 2004 Spanish film

The Good Girl is a 2004 Spanish independent pornographic short film directed by Erika Lust and produced by Lust Films. The story is a traditional "pizza delivery guy" cliché, but takes place from a female perspective, and makes fun of typical porn clichés by subversion. The duration of the film is 21 minutes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erika Lust</span> Swedish pornographic film director

Erika Lust is a Swedish erotic film director, screenwriter and producer. Since the debut of her first indie erotic film The Good Girl in 2004, Lust has been cited as one of the current leading participants in the feminist pornography movement, asserting that an ethical production process sets her company apart from mainstream pornography sites. Lust has stated that she finds no issue in calling her films porn, since she expects viewers to be sexually aroused, unlike other directors of erotic films who make a distinction between their work and porn even when both types contain sexually explicit scenes. In addition to directing and producing a number of award-winning films, she has written several books.

Petra Joy is a German feminist film director, film producer, TV producer, distributor, author, and photographer. She lives in Brighton, England. Along with Candida Royalle, Annie Sprinkle, Maria Beatty, and others, she is one of the pioneers in producing pornography for women. Her genre is described as "art-core," meaning the focus is on sexuality from the female perspective, female pleasure, and creative, sensual play. Common themes in her erotic films include safe sex, men seen as sexual objects, female fantasies, and male bisexuality.

Feminist views on pornography range from total condemnation of the medium as an inherent form of violence against women to an embracing of some forms as a medium of feminist expression. This debate reflects larger concerns surrounding feminist views on sexuality, and is closely related to those on prostitution, BDSM, and other issues. Pornography has been one of the most divisive issues in feminism, particularly in Anglophone (English-speaking) countries. This division was exemplified in the feminist sex wars of the 1980s, which pitted anti-pornography activists against pro-pornography ones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feminist Porn Award</span> Annual adult film awards

The Feminist Porn Awards (FPAs) is an annual adult film awards ceremony that began in 2006, and was initially organized by the Good for Her adult store in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Until 2014, the ceremony was officially known as the Good for Her Feminist Porn Awards.

Queer pornography depicts performers with various gender identities and sexual orientations interacting and exploring genres of desire and pleasure in unique ways. These conveyed interactions distinctively seek to challenge the conventional modes of portraying and experiencing sexually explicit content. Scholar Ingrid Ryberg additionally includes two main objectives of queer pornography in her definition as "interrogating and troubling gender and sexual categories and aiming at sexual arousal."

Dusk! is a monthly subscription adult film television channel and website dedicated to "porn for women". Based in the Netherlands, Dusk! is available on all Dutch cable operators, 15 other European countries and the United States. The channel broadcasts 24/7 and is owned by 2GrapesMedia.

Feminist views on sexuality widely vary. Many feminists, particularly radical feminists, are highly critical of what they see as sexual objectification and sexual exploitation in the media and society. Radical feminists are often opposed to the sex industry, including opposition to prostitution and pornography. Other feminists define themselves as sex-positive feminists and believe that a wide variety of expressions of female sexuality can be empowering to women when they are freely chosen. Some feminists support efforts to reform the sex industry to become less sexist, such as the feminist pornography movement.

Porn for women, women's porn or women's pornography is pornography aimed specifically at the female market, and often produced by women. It rejects the view that pornography is only for men, and seeks to make porn that women enjoy watching instead of what is being offered in male-centric mainstream pornography.

Shine Louise Houston is a filmmaker and the founding director and producer of Pink and White Productions, an independent production company creating queer pornography in San Francisco. Houston makes feature-length pornographic films in addition to producing, directing, and shooting hundreds of installments for her queer porn membership site CrashPadSeries.com. Houston distributes her own work and that of other indie adult filmmakers through PinkLabel.tv, catering to different sexual communities.

References

  1. ↑ Schuessler, Jennifer (March 11, 2024). "The Woman Who Tried to Make Porn Safe for Feminism - How the archive of Candida Royalle, a porn star turned pioneering director, landed at Harvard — and inspired a new book challenging the conventional history of the sexual revolution". The New York Times . Archived from the original on March 12, 2024. Retrieved March 11, 2024.
  2. ↑ Snyder-Hall 2010, pp. 255.
  3. ↑ Snyder-Hall 2010, pp. 256.
  4. ↑ Snyder-Hall 2010, pp. 257.
  5. ↑ Taormino et al. 2013.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Breslaw, Anna. "So, what is feminist porn? Find out from a woman who makes it". Cosmopolitan . Archived from the original on 2013-06-07. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
  7. 1 2 Taormino et al. 2013, p. 11.
  8. ↑ Taormino et al. 2013, p. 19.
  9. ↑ Schwartz, Martin D. (1 May 1987). "Censorship of Sexual Violence: Is The Problem Sex or Violence?". Humanity & Society. Association for Humanist Sociology: 217. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  10. ↑ Raven, Arlene (1984). "Star Studded: Porn Stars Perform". High Performance Magazine . 7 (4). Astro Artz: 24–27, 90–91. Retrieved 27 September 2020. But feminist pornography is a contradiction in terms – specifically the terms in which feminist activist author Andrea Dworkin and attorney Catharine MacKinnon have legally redefined pornography.
  11. ↑ Stratton, Jon (1987). The Virgin Text: Fiction, Sexuality & Ideology. Harvester. p. 99. ISBN   9780710811516 . Retrieved 27 September 2020. The conclusion of this argument is that feminist pornography could not exist in bourgeois society. It is a contradiction in terms. That some pornography appeals to some women is indisputable. However, I would argue that these are the women who have most accepted the dominant (male) sexual ideology with its positioning of 'women' as object and, in turn, as fetish.
  12. 1 2 Lucas, Christee L. (June 1990). "Feminists & Porn". Mother Jones . 15 (4): 2. Retrieved 27 September 2020. Feminist pornography really is an oxymoron if you go with even broad definitions of feminism as it relates to pornography.
  13. 1 2 Steinem 1983
  14. 1 2 Pip Christmass (November 1996). "Anäis Nin's Erotica: Written for the Male Voyeur?". Outskirts: feminisms along the edge . University of Western Australia. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  15. ↑ Dworkin 1981, Preface p. 10
  16. ↑ Friedman, Deb; Yankowski, Lois (Fall 1976). "Snuffing Sexual Violence". Quest: A Feminist Quarterly. 3 (2). Washington, D.C.: Quest, a feminist quarterly, Inc.: 24–30. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  17. ↑ Bronstein, Carolyn (2011). Battling Pornography: The American Feminist Anti-Pornography Movement, 1976–1986. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 97. ISBN   9781139498715 . Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  18. ↑ Grant, Judith (2006-06-01). "Andrea Dworkin and the Social Construction of Gender: A Retrospective". Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. 31 (4): 967–993. doi:10.1086/500603. ISSN   0097-9740. S2CID   144908666.
  19. ↑ "Streaming Delivery Service: Dworkin, Andrea". sds.lib.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2021-11-23.
  20. ↑ Fraser, Laura (February–March 1990). "Nasty Girls [The New Feminist Pornography]". Mother Jones . 15 (2): 32–35, 48–50. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  21. 1 2 Taormino et al. 2013, p. 23.
  22. ↑ Ciclitira 2004.
  23. ↑ Taormino et al. 2013, p. 13.
  24. ↑ "Puzzy Power – Thoughts on women and pornography & The Manifesto". puzzypower.dk. Puzzy Power/Zentropa. July 1998. Archived from the original on 11 September 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  25. 1 2 3 4 Taormino et al. 2013, p. 14.
  26. ↑ Heck 2021, p. 12.
  27. 1 2 Heck 2021, p. 2.
  28. ↑ Heck 2021, p. 1–15.
  29. ↑ Heck 2021, p. 2–3.
  30. ↑ Taormino et al. 2013, p. 293.
  31. ↑ Taormino et al. 2013, p. 82–88.
  32. 1 2 3 4 Heck 2021, p. 16.
  33. ↑ Taormino et al. 2013, p. 291–293, 300.
  34. ↑ Heck 2021, p. 11–12.
  35. ↑ Clark-Flory, Tracy (24 February 2013). "The feminist pornographer". Salon . Archived from the original on 2013-05-14. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
  36. 1 2 "What is feminist porn?". Feminist Porn Awards. Retrieved 2021-11-23.
  37. ↑ Taormino et al. 2013, p. 80–81.
  38. 1 2 3 Miller-Young, Mireille. "Empowering to the Women on Screen". International New York Times . Archived from the original on 2013-03-27. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
  39. 1 2 "Pornography Can Be Good for Consumers". The New York Times. 11 November 2012. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  40. ↑ Royalle, Candida. "Great potential for great fun". International New York Times . Archived from the original on 2013-02-22. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
  41. ↑ Taormino et al. 2013, p. 83.
  42. ↑ Heck 2021, p. 15.
  43. 1 2 Taormino et al. 2013, p. 300.
  44. 1 2 Weinstein, J (1999). "The Benefits of Banning Hate Speech and Pornography". Hate Speech, Pornography & Radical Attacks on Free Speech Doctrine.
  45. 1 2 Taylor, K (2022). ""I've got to put one side aside if I want to enjoy it": Pornography, Perceived Reality, and Pornography Viewers' Negotiated Pleasures". Sexuality & Culture. 26 (4): 1215–1234. doi:10.1007/s12119-021-09939-1. S2CID   255516501.
  46. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Daskalopoulou, Athanasia (2020). "Women's Consumption of Pornography: Pleasure, Contestation, and Empowerment". Sociology. 54 (5): 969–986. doi: 10.1177/0038038520918847 . S2CID   219448186.
  47. 1 2 3 Swahnberg, Ann (1991). Public Discourse and the Sexual Self. The Annual of the Society of Christian Ethics.
  48. ↑ Young, Madison (21 March 2014). "Authenticity and its role within feminist pornography". Porn Studies . 1 (1–2): 186–188. doi:10.1080/23268743.2014.888250 . Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  49. ↑ Ciclitira 2004, pp. 297.
  50. ↑ Corsianos 2007, pp. 867.
  51. ↑ Ciclitira 2004, pp. 295–297.
  52. 1 2 3 Ryberg, Ingrid (2015-12-31), "Imagining Safe Space in Feminist Pornography", Feminisms, Amsterdam University Press, pp. 79–85, doi:10.1515/9789048523634-009, ISBN   9789048523634 , retrieved 2021-11-23
  53. ↑ Corsianos 2007, pp. 873.
  54. 1 2 Corsianos 2007, pp. 869.
  55. ↑ Vogels, Josey (21 April 2009). "Female-friendly porn". Metro. Toronto, Canada: Free Daily News Group Inc. Archived from the original on 26 March 2013. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
  56. 1 2 3 4 Fritz & Bryant 2017.
  57. 1 2 Hartley, Nina (1998), "Confessions of a feminist porno star", in Delacoste, Frédérique; Alexander, Priscilla (eds.), Sex work: writings by women in the sex industry, San Francisco, California: Cleis Press, pp.  142–144, ISBN   9781573440424.
  58. ↑ Ovidie (2004). Porno manifesto[Porn manifesto] (in French). La Musardine. ISBN   9782842712372.
  59. ↑ Faludi, Susan (2000). Stiffed: the betrayal of the American man. New York: Perennial. ISBN   9780380720453.
  60. ↑ Taormino, Tristan (6 June 2006). "Political smut makers". Village Voice . Peter Barbey. Archived from the original on 2012-09-25. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
  61. ↑ Walker, Susan (4 April 2009). "Women behind the camera for new breed of adult film". Toronto Star . Torstar. Archived from the original on 2012-07-20. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
  62. 1 2 "Feminist porn awards". goodforher.com. Good For Her. Archived from the original on 2011-11-08. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
  63. ↑ " "PorYES: 2013 Feminist Porn Film Award Europe". PinkLabelTV. 20 November 2013. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  64. ↑ Mühlparzer, Hannah. "Porn Film Festival Vienna: Festival multipler Höhepunkte". Der Standard. Archived from the original on 2018-11-28. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  65. ↑ " "Hot and Bothered: Feminist Pornography". IMDb. Retrieved December 8, 2021.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.