Once again it’s time to write a wrap-up of the news and happenings from women’s porn over the past year. Continuing financial and social insecurity have been big news in 2011 and the world of porn has also seen its share of uncertainty. Something that has become apparent over the last 12 months is that female consumers have become incredibly comfortable with adult material; the new generation of internet users see porn as their birthright and nothing to be shocked about. And alternative visions of porn are increasingly being embraced by more and more people.
News, Research and Statistics
* In October, preliminary results from the massive Porn Research project showed that younger women were more likely to use porn. Female survey participants aged 18 to 25 actually used porn twice as much as their male counterparts of the same age. They also used porn more often than older women, although those aged 26-35 used it just as much as men in that age bracket.
* In April, an article in the Wall Street Journal asserted that women’s main erotic interest remained the romance novel and that this was due to an evolutionary difference in women’s brains. A book – A Billion Wicked Thoughts – by the article’s author, Ogi Ogas, used online traffic statistics and forum discussions to draw conclusions about people’s porn-surfing habits and to make numerous assertions about gender. To the authors, women’s primary interest was in written erotic material. It didn’t take long for the “research” to attract considerable criticism. When I discovered that they authors had used dodgy and made-up statistics about For The Girls to justify their conclusions, I wrote a rather angry blog post.
* In February it was reported that Dusk, the Dutch erotic TV channel for straight women, had expanded onto the two largest cable providers and was thus available to 1.2 million viewers.
* In March The Guardian softened its usual anti-porn stance to report that – gasp – women liked porn. The article included interviews with Erika Lust, Anna Span and Petra Joy, plus the inevitable anti-porn arguments of Gail Dines. I blogged about it here. It prompted this response in Salon, asserted that “porn for women” was a null concept because women like too many different things.
* In May The Sydney Morning Herald featured a piece on feminist porn which included an interview with me, as Louise Lush. The comments by Sheila Jeffries prompted me to write the post Anti Porn Feminists Can’t Acknowledge Feminist Porn. Around the same time I was interviewed by a News Limited journalist about feminist porn but nothing came of it.
* In November, Slate made the amazing discovery that porn star James Deen had a lot of female fans (via this interview piece entitled “What Women Want: Porn and the Fronteir of Female Sexuality”). After musing that Deen’s wasn’t the typical beefcake guy, Slate acknowledged the homophobia in porn that insists that male porn stars can’t be too attractive or threatening. (Way back in 2005 I wrote about the porn industry’s fear of “catching the gay“.)
* Science finally got around to looking at female sexuality in depth this year, with a landmark study mapping the female erogenous zones in the brain via a functional MRI scan. The female subject even wrote an article about her experiences, learning to orgasm in the MRI without moving via a bell on her forehead.
Events and Happenings
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* On 22nd February blogger Rachel Rabbit White instigated Lady Porn Day, an online celebration of the erotic and women’s enjoyment of porn. The blog carnival exploded in popularity and before long Lady Porn Day was being reported on in the mainstream media. My blog post for the day was Don’t Dream It, Be It: Women Enjoying and Making Porn
* February also saw the great Cambridge Porn Debate, where a packed audience saw feminist pornographer Anna Span, sex expert Jessi Fischer and porn star Johnny Anglais go head to head with anti-porn campaigner Gail Dines, ex-porn actress Shelly Lubben and psychologist Richard Woolfson. The pro-porn team won.
* In April and May the Slutwalk movement exploded across the world as women stood up against rape and slut-shaming. In May I took part in the Brisbane Slutwalk and made this video.
* On October 21st, queer porn stars Jiz Lee and Courtney Trouble launched International Fisting Day, a blog carnival designed to celebrate to this much maligned and censored sex act.
* Queer porn star and artist Madison Young gave birth to her first child and launched a series of adult sites called the Feminist Porn Network. Her decision to include her child in an art photograph ignited an online controversy, thanks to a certain troll.
Porn Movies
* The Female Voyeur, Petra Joy’s latest and most extravagant film, had me drowning in sensuality. The film is gorgeous and dares to break several porn taboos. Its production was hampered by obstructive council officials and bad health but the result is impressive.
* Cabaret Desire is the new film by Erika Lust and shows just how well-made erotica can be. It focuses on the idea of story and takes its time building up four enthralling erotic scenarios – but doesn’t stint on the hardcore sex. Further thoughts here.
* Tristan Taormino’s Expert Guide to Female Orgasms was officially released mid December 2010 but I’m going to include it in the best of 2011’s films. It’s a tour-de-force of female pleasure. Tristan also released Rough Sex 3: Adrianna’s Dirty Mind and the Expert Guide to Advanced Anal Sex
* Major adult studio Wicked’s launched a new series of films aimed at couples – Wicked Passions. These films have high production values, a romantic slant and slightly less cliched sex scenes. They are similar to the New Sensations Romance series which won an AVN award and has some of the most professional, Hollywood-style boxcovers I’ve seen.
* Director Nica Noelle left Sweet Sinner productions and started a new company, Sweet Sinema, which aims to produce erotic re-interpretations of classic films. Nica also created the Adult Performers Association, an advocacy and rights group for porn stars.
* Queer film director Courtney Trouble launched Trouble Films, her own production line, in December, along with Live Sex Show, a gang-bang featuring Jiz Lee and Nina Hartley. Her previous distributor Good Releasing appears to have stopped production of further alternative titles this year.
The Written Word
* At the end of November, editor Suraya Singh disappointed a legion of female fans by announcing the closure of Filament Magazine. Despite two years of growth and many eager subscribers, the magazine was closed for personal reasons.
* Ebooks continued their incredible growth this year, particularly within the genre of women’s erotica. New erotica publishing companies have popped up on the web, including longtime women’s erotica site Oysters and Chocolate. In May it was reported that Amazon was removing Yaoi titles from its Kindle store.
Awards and Festivals
* This year I attended the Berlin Porn Film Festival where my short film was screening. I had a ball, met Jiz Lee, Adrianna Nicole and Aiden Star and had fun with old porny friends. My mini documentary of the event is here and my report is here.
* The Feminist Porn Awards celebrated their 6th year with another awards ceremony, film screening and party. Erika Lust’s Life Love Lust won film of the year. The full list of winners is here.
* Cinekink had another successful year in February and I’m pleased to say my short film Fucking Is The Only Prayer was selected to screen. Vivian Darkbloom’s film Indietro won the audience award for Best Narrative Feature.
* The inaugural Eros Shine Awards were held in Melbourne in November. For The Girls was nominated for Best Adult Website. My report and video are here.
Ms Naughty in 2011
The Thought Of Her - Trailer from Louise Lush on Vimeo.
Like last year, 2011 was marred with the ongoing drama of the For The Girls site revamp. No, it’s still not finished, and we’re into the 3rd year now. Our new programmer was caught up in the Christchurch earthquake and ended up quitting with the thing 95% done. We can’t find a replacement Drupal programmer as most companies refuse to work for an adult site. The saga continues.
Still, I managed to progress my filmmaking career this year, with my short film Fucking Is The Only Prayer screening at several festivals and being nominated for a Feminist Porn Award. The male masturbation film I made in June, The Thought of Her, screened in Berlin. In November I shot some more scenes which I’m currently editing and I’m hoping to have a DVD out in 2012. More info at Indigo Lush.
In February I attended the Erotic Screen and Sound Conference in Brisbane and gave a presentation on the history of porn for women. In October my article on feminist porn appeared in the German film magazine Schnitt. I also wrote a 6000 word essay for an upcoming book on feminist porn, edited by Tristan Taormino and several others. It will appear in 2013. My short story Tweetup was selected for Best Women’s Erotica 2012. And my very tame trailer for That’s What I Like was censored by Youtube in July.
I also mucked up by going to France and eating lots of chocolate eclairs. And I developed a serious thing for True Blood.
Some Longer Posts From 2011
Let’s Talk About Extreme Porn – In which I discuss the fact that bad porn does exist and get picked up on my use of the word “extreme” in the comments.
Am I Queer? – In which I ponder labels, definitions, monogamy and giant penis floats.
A Need For Privacy Makes This “Debate” One Sided – Why it’s hard to speak out against anti-porn feminists
Beware These Skewed Statistics About Porn “Addiction” – Dodgy stats used to justify censorship
My Encounter with a Flasher – My run-in with an unwanted French penis
The Artistic Male Centerfold – I had fun photoshopping our nude hunk Martin
Now, on to 2012, huzzah!
Have I left anything out? Comment or email me, msnaughty at msnaughty dot com