TonioTimeDaily

“Those who identify as feminist pornographers are primarily independent, sole operators and performers, creating their own vision of good porn. Very few work with the larger US companies, although there have been a few such as Tristan Taormino who have made films for the big labels, hoping to encourage change within those organizations. But primarily we are still a small group working for ourselves. We don’t tend to phone Steven Hirsch at Vivid and say “Hey, you know you should start calling your films feminist, you’ll make millions!” The pornography we make is hugely varied and covers the entire spectrum of human sexuality. It seeks to represent all bodies, all genders, all fantasies — and that can include kinky sex that is often misrepresented as being “violent” and “harmful” in research. The common element you’ll see in feminist porn is a focus on respect, consent and pleasure. One of the key things that unite feminist pornographers is that we don’t just make porn; we are also a community and we talk about things. We have conferences and we critically think about all aspects of pornography. We participate in academic studies, we write for Porn Studies, we blog, we read, we get together and talk about what’s wrong with porn and what we can do to change that. We are being the change we want to see in the world. We also talk about ethical production methods and sex work. Part of the feminist porn movement is a discussion about labour and how producers and performers can work together for mutual benefit. Of course, ethical production is by no means exclusive to those who identify as feminist within the porn world. What is different is that we are bringing this issue into the conversation and making our ethics and methods explicit to the audience, seeking to dispel any concerns that they may have about how that porn was made. McNally talks of “trade” but she doesn’t speak of the exploratory nature of feminist porn. Some of us may be straight-up capitalists and others are doing it for political reasons, for personal reasons, for charity, for love. Some of us are making a profit, some are struggling to pay the rent. Some of us are finding new ways to interact with the public and to create a user-generated experience that centres the viewer and their desires and politics. Some of us are crowdfunding, some are trying to create a sustainable non-profit payment model for porn, others are developing payment models that profit-share with performers. And here’s the thing that Laura McNally dismissed in her article: we may be small but we are making a difference. Feminist porn is becoming a “brand” of sorts. The media is increasingly reporting on it. Consumers are becoming more aware of the possibility of a more positive kind of porn. More importantly, the US mainstream porn industry IS taking notice. Industry awards night XBiz has introduced a “Feminist Porn Release” category and have been hosting panels on feminist and women-made porn for several years at their annual conference and trade show. Similarly, AVN has come on board with a feminist porn discussion at their conference. There is an increasing awareness in the industry of consumer demand for ethical porn. Better still, a new performer advocacy group has formed — APAC USA. Not quite a union, it is still a vital step toward a more transparent and ethical porn industry. APAC aims to “provide representation for performers in the adult film industry and to protect performers’ rights to a safer and more professional work environment.” Sure, some of these changes may well just be “femwashing”. And yes, a lot of porn remains sexist and sex-negative, especially what you see on free tube sites. But change is happening and it is worth celebrating.” Links: https://medium.com/@msnaughty/how-to-be-an-anti-porn-campaigner-a9b492a5756e and https://medium.com/@msnaughty/how-the-porn-industry-can-lift-its-game-on-consent-9aad11aa0efd.

--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/antonio-myers4/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/antonio-myers4/support