You may be surprised to discover that October 21 is International Fisting Day. This is a day to celebrate and raise awareness of a sex act that is considered to be too obscene for porn. It was created last year by queer porn stars Jiz Lee and Courtney Trouble in an effort to draw attention to the issues surrounding fisting.
If you don’t know, fisting involves inserting your hand (four fingers and thumb) into a vagina or anus. The “fisting” term is a little misleading; there’s nothing violent about it. Indeed, fisting is a very slow, careful and intimate sex act that requires lots of patience, lube and love. In theory it can be performed on anyone although it’s something you do need to learn about and prepare for. It’s not to everyone’s taste but it is a sex act enjoyed by a large number of lesbian and queer people.
Unfortunately, in the USA fisting is considered to be too obscene to be shown in porn. It’s part of the Cambria List, an unofficial list of sex acts considered to be “dangerous” by the porn industry because they may invite obscenity prosecution by the government. Most major porn companies won’t publish or distribute porn if it involves fisting. The result of this self-censorship is that a regular and enjoyable part of queer sex is considered to be perverted or wrong. And by making it invisible it’s denying the lived experience of many people.
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Porn star and director Jincey Lumpkin does a great job of discussing the issue in the Huffington Post. She reveals that her distributor expressly forbids her from including fisting scenes in her porn.
The thing I find so strange is that there is a serious double standard when it comes to what is and isn’t allowed distribution.
Why is it that double anal penetration, bukake and fart porn are OK to ship out all over the country? Upon viewing the Forbidden Lesbian Sex Act, I’d lay money on the fact that most people would find it far less offensive than a lot of what is sold on the shelves right now.
But people never get the chance to see full-hand sex, so the whole concept remains stigmatized and closeted. When normal, natural things are classified as “bad,” they become tainted with shame. There is nothing shameful about slipping a thumb in. In fact, there is nothing shameful about any kind of consensual sex between adults, and yet, the fear about sexuality persists.
I’ve long campaigned against censorship on my blog and this issue reminds me of the similar censorship of female ejaculation in Australia (see The Strange Politics Of “Obscene” Bodily Fluids). There’s no reason for it beyond ignorant attitudes about sex.
I don’t feature fisting in my porn (not yet, anyway) but I did have a fantastic encounter with it at the Berlin Porn Film Festival a couple of years ago. Porn performers Judy Minx and Wendy Delorme did a fisting act live onstage at a nightclub and it was rather wondrous to behold. Judy was slow and careful and Wendy’s cunt expanded in an almost magical way. Wendy then invited other people up to fist her and I found myself very eager to give it a try. Unfortunately I didn’t volunteer fast enough and thus missed my chance to see what it felt like to have a hand in someone’s vagina. All I got was a souvenir rubber glove.
Even if fisting isn’t your thing, today is a day to think about the ongoing fight against prudery, censorship and sex negativity. Here’s a few other posts worth reading:
It’s My Party and I’ll Fist If I Want To – Courtney Trouble
Happy Firsting Day – Kendra Holliday (great fisting photos)
International Fisting Day Matters, Even To You: Part 1 Obscenity Laws – Queerie Bradshaw
Thanks a lot for writing about fisting day and including a link to my piece in your post! I hope it brings about a change in both laws and thinking.