The Lesbians Are Making The Porn Of The Future

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while. The results of the 2009 Feminist Porn Awards have given me a bit more motivation.

It seems to me that the new wave of queer and dyke porn is showing the rest of the adult industry how porn should work. From the way they treat their talent and audience to the content that is produced, the lesbians are doing things differently.

I’m not talking about your standard “girl-girl” stuff, of course. I’m talking about the authentic dyke and queer porn as created by Shine Louise Houston’s Pink and White Productions, or the Good Dyke Porn website, or NoFauxxx, or Madison Young or Nica Noelle or Maria Beatty. These are people, companies and websites who are blazing a new trail, ignoring the old rules about what porn should look like and how it should be made.

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The big thing that strikes me is the huge difference in attitude within the lesbian community when it comes to appearing in porn. Apparently the waiting list to appear in Shine’s The Crash Pad Series is enormous. Women are actually queueing for their chance to be in a lesbian porno.

And when they do have their moment in the spotlight, they’re damned proud of it, thank you very much. And their community looks up to them for doing it. There’s no shame, no stigma, no embarrassment. Appearing in lesbian porn is considered to be an exploration of sexuality or an interesting life experience. They are treated extremely well by the filmmakers and are often part of a larger porn-oriented community that supports each other. And dyke porn doesn’t stick to stereotypical body types. Doesn’t matter how you look so long as you’re a good lover on screen.

Contrast this with the way the mainstream, heterosexual industry works. Women are still paid more than men because there’s a stigma attached to being in porn. Actresses are still treated with a lot less respect by a lot of porn companies. There are heirarchies of sex acts to negotiate (“her first anal!”), cosmetic surgery to consider and the growing fear of being washed up at 23. Meanwhile, anti-porn feminists will refuse to believe that mainstream porn actresses are anything other than victims.

When it comes to the content of lesbian porn, things are different again. There are no cliches or rules to be followed. What appears on screen is what lesbians actually do in bed. There’s a sense of realism and a determination to depict sex in honest and meaningful ways. On top of that, there’s no hesitation when it comes to kink or hardcore. Dyke porn can get as dirty as it likes.

There also seems to be a real connection with the audience in queer and dyke porn, an attempt to listen and reflect what the audience wants to see. Contrast this with the endless race to the bottom that is occurring with mainstream porn, the repetition and lack of quality that is regularly churned out.

The ethics and groundbreaking qualities of lesbian and queer pornographers and not unique to those people, of course. There are plenty of other filmmakers and webmasters trying to do things differently. I like to think that I’m one of them. There’s a real desire to create meaningful, ethical porn and I’m sure there’s also a huge audience waiting for it.

And yet I can’t help but feel a little jealous of the lesbians at the moment. They are just going gangbusters. Their audience can’t get enough of the content they create. And damn, they’ve got women waiting months to fuck on camera for them. I’ve got no idea where I’m going to find talent for my next scene!

Imagine a future where all porn was like the current wave of lesbian porn. No sleaze, no stigma, good ethics, decent pay, happy filmmakers, happy talent and happy customers.

I hope it happens one day.