Petra Joy has posted her comments about the Good Porn for Good Girls seminar on her blog.
An excerpt:
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Our tastes on what we find sexy in the bedroom or on film differ. I believe that any female filmmaker has he right to show whatever she wants in her films but we should be cautious with our content if we claim to make “feminist porn”. I would like to empower women and this is why I choose to focus on women receiving pleasure rather than just giving it… A woman receiving head, a woman fucking a guy with a strap-on, a guy tasting his own cum and also to feature female ejaculation – those techniques that show a woman in control might be “feminist porn”. If you want to show cum on a woman’s face that’s fine but don’t call it feminist.
Audacia Ray has also posted her diary of the Berlin Porn Festival at her blog, including comments about her experiences at the seminar.
An excerpt:
The American porn industry is amazingly influential in good and bad ways, and most of the women on the panel spoke of their attempt to make images that counter the mainstream, crummy, male-centered stuff being made in the United States. At the same time, the directors on the panel were envious of the distribution and support networks available in the US. And while in the US it seems to be generally accepted that women watch porn and enjoy a wide variety of screen action, judging by a lot of the audience questions, it seems like Europeans are pretty unconvinced that women are interested in seeing hardcore sex on screen. I guess all cultures have their hang ups.
I wish I could have been there.
Update: I’ve finally written my thoughts about these comments and the debate here.
Can’t a feminist enjoy a blowjob???
I participated in a debate about women and porn in the last Berlin PornFilmFestival together with other female filmmakers, and as usual when speaking about sex, porn, feminism, porn for women and porn by women we didn’t quite all agree on all matters. I think that it’s great to see new women entering the porn business and showing their points of view behind the cameras as creators, directors and producers. These women should be able to express their sexuality without limits, the same way as male directors have been doing for ages.
But it’s a pity that certain women devote their time and energy pulling down the work of other women, instead of focusing on empowering our different approaches and points of view. It is not the first time and it won’t be the last time that a woman disapproves how other women are obtaining power and voice in a world still dominated by men. This new female porn war is not as the pro-sex feminists against no-porn feminists war, now it’s about what is considered to be the right kind of sex for a feminist… (is there such a thing as “right†sex and “wrong†sex???)
After the debate, Petra Joy, a female porn producer, wrote in her in her Blog:
“I believe that any female filmmaker has he right to show whatever she wants in her films but we should be cautious with our content if we claim to make “feminist pornâ€. I would like to empower women and this is why I choose to focus on women receiving pleasure rather than just giving it, and I also prefer to show orgasms in different ways such as showing the lover’s faces, rather than ending every scene with a male cum-shot over the woman’s body. If we produce films and call them “female friendly†or “feminist†yet the actual sexual content still focuses mainly on male pleasure and copies a commercially successful mainstream porn formula, then the powerful words that should have a very deep meaning are being mocked and hijacked as a marketing gimmick. Feminism is committed to equality of the sexes, so surely “feminist porn†should show women as equals to men rather than as subservient beings. A woman receiving head, a woman fucking a guy with a strap-on, a guy tasting his own cum and also to feature female ejaculation – those techniques that show a woman in control might be “feminist pornâ€. If you want to show cum on a woman’s face that’s fine but don’t call it feminist.â€
Isn’t it funny? We have a new fundamentalist movement going on here: the Church of the Pure Feminist Porn Producers, and they are declaring that certain sexual practices that me and other women across the world happen to like, are a sin, and that we should be expelled from their pure circle. Well, guess what? I do not want to be part of a club that tells me what it’s ok to do in my bedroom or to portrait in my films, because last time I checked that was called censorship.
Ehh, it all makes me kind of wanna quit feminism and just be a HUMAN BEING, for me this is the goal of feminism anyway. But “being a feminist†is for me as obvious as that white and black people should have the same rights.
I don’t believe that the word “feminist†can be applied on sexual practices. That’s like saying that red is a feminist color and blue isn’t or fish is feminist but not meat. According to Petra, it’s feminist to suck dildos, but it’s not feminist to suck cocks??? And if there’s a man in the scene, he should be fucked up his butt – a man fucked up his butt is feminist, but a woman fucked up her butt is not? Come on!
I consider myself a feminist no matter my sexual activities. I believe that feminism is about equality of the sexes, about women having the same rights and possibilities as men, about women having the right to be looked upon as human beings at firsthand and not defined by what is supposed to be feminine. For me “feminist porn†is porn that shows real women and real men having real sex, not just women obedient to men reproducing classic power structures, not just objectified women, not just women giving pleasure but also receiving pleasure. It’s all about not falling into the stereotyping of characters that most porn filmmakers use, not every woman has to be a prostitute and not every man a mafia gangster. For me feminist porn should portray women’s fantasies and desires – all of them. I certainly know that a woman can be a strong feminist and still wanting to be taken strongly by a man or enjoying blowing a man’s cock or having his cum all over her face.
Erika Lust
It all breaks out when I’m away… I’ve only just logged on and approved your comment, Erika, sorry about the delay. And thanks so much for it too!
I wish I had time to make a proper comment but I’m on a crap connection right now and a long way from home… Ah well, I’ll back into the swing of things soon enough.