I’m just back from a two week trip where I appeared on a couple of panels to discuss feminist porn. It’s pretty standard practice to begin these panels (and most articles about feminist porn) with a discussion of definitions, to whit: feminist porn, what even iz it? Typically we end up discussing ideas of ethical production and “fair trade porn”, we express criticism of some aspects of the mainstream industry and then we talk about the need for a broader representation of gender, body types, sexualities and ethnicities. In short, feminist porn should be about celebrating sex, respecting performers and showcasing different types of bodies and ways of expressing sexuality.
While I do follow my own professional path, I like to identify as a feminist pornographer and I like to think that my site Bright Desire has feminist-aligned principles. I may be doing things a little differently to others but then that’s typical of the feminist porn movement. It’s kinda all over the place in terms of what is out there and what people are creating.
But here’s the thing about Bright Desire: almost all the performers are white, at least in the films that I’ve personally made. Not such a good look for a site that is claiming to be feminist and diverse. What’s the deal here?
I want to say, it’s not for lack of trying that Bright Desire is less diverse than other sites. I’m not deliberately avoiding using people of colour in my productions. It’s simply that I’ve been limited to the small pool of performers available to me in Australia and, quite frankly, we’re a pretty whitebread lot.
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I was talking to black performer and writer Sinnamon Love in Toronto about her experiences when she traveled here last year. “My god,” she said. “Where are all the black people?” She said she felt like she really stood out when walking down the street because there just isn’t the same percentage of what she would call African Americans here. And it’s true. Australia is still a fairly “white” country. There is ethnic diversity, of course, with 1 in 4 of us born elsewhere, though the largest percentage of people have British or European ancestry. People with Asian backgrounds make up the highest percentage of non-white population which means that Asian people are our largest ethnic minority. When it comes to black people… well, they’re still relatively rare.
And yes, that includes our indigenous population. Thanks to our dreadfully racist history, only 2.5% of Australia’s population identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
So take those statistics and then apply that to the very small pool of adult performers who are currently working here and any high ideals of diversity hit a bit of a reality roadblock. In my experience, there aren’t that many non-white performers out there; certainly not on the sites where I’m searching or in the personal networks where people are recommended to me. And those that are, aren’t necessarily available for porn.
I’m writing this because I was actually lined up to shoot my first black performer last week. I had forked out for a nice hotel and was looking forward to working with him. Especially because, yes! I was finally going to have someone of colour on Bright Desire. Sure, he’d only one person but it would be better than nothing.
Alas, he changed his mind at the last minute. Thus, there’s still no black people on Bright Desire.
I would personally love to shoot with one or more Aboriginal people. There are no representations of kooris in porn that I’m aware of, unless they’re in the “homegirl” Picture and People magazine titles. Given the negative way that Aboriginal people are often depicted in mainstream culture, it would be great to work with them to make something sexually positive.
Unfortunately that’s a really fraught idea for a number of reasons. As a white filmmaker, I’m not sure it would be my job to do this (though I’d love to in a purely collaborative way). I’d also be in danger of accusations of exploitation or racism just by doing it; I can only assume the paternalistic assumptions that lead people to think all female porn performers are victims would be doubly applied to Aboriginal performers.
On top of that there is the dreadful legal situation in our country where indigenous people in the Northern Territory are not allowed to possess pornography. Thanks to the racist and ill-thought-out “intervention” legislation, black people can’t own porn magazines in remote communities in the NT but white people can. It’s not a nationwide law but it’s a shameful situation nonetheless. With this legal framework still in place, it seems almost shallow to want to make porn starring Aboriginal people (although it also has some serious “fuck you” potential). So for now, there is no koori porn. At least, none made by me.
One of the issues we had wanted to talk about at the Perv Film Festival panel was about the fact that all four panel members were female and white and what that meant. We didn’t get a chance to go there because other topics dominated. Still, I think the issue of race and porn in Australia is an interesting one that needs to be discussed, especially in the context of the wider feminist porn movement. Can we hope to meet ideals of “diversity” when our cultural and racial situations are different to those of the US and Europe? Should we be trying harder to be racially diverse or is it simply impractical given the incredibly small size of Australia’s cottage porn industry? And how do we balance ethical ideals against artistic or commercial realities?
I will say that Bright Desire is not completely white. I have worked with a number of Asian performers and hope to do so again. And if there are any people of colour – including indigenous-identified Australians – who want to make erotic films with me, please get in touch! In the meantime, I’ll keep searching for good performers – of any kind – who will work well with me and who share my vision for Bright Desire.
Pic is from a licensed set (not shot by me) which I included at BD because I loved the playful, smiling nature of the sex. I own very few photo sets featuring people of colour simply because mainstream porn typically depicts them in racist or stereotypical ways.