Ms Naughty Porn for Women Blog

Archive for March, 2010

I’ve never seen 30 Rock. It’s on that thing called a TV that used to entertain me before the internet.

In any case, apparently an episode of 30 Rock featured a discussion about porn for women that went like this:

Jack Donaghy (played by Alec Baldwin) is talking to a guy named Dave from Kablevision about new ideas for the network. Jack says they should do porn for women.

Dave’s response: “Jack, women hate porn. Almost as much as men hate going to outlet malls.”

Jack responds: “Yes, women hate porn. Our porn. But women do have one insatiable need — to jabber. And it doesn’t matter if you have a headache, or you’re not in the mood, or you’re about to go to Don Geiss’s funeral, they barge right into your office and start complaining about a boyfriend or a co-worker, and you’re supposed to sit there and nod and tell them they’re right. And the more you give it to them, the more they want it.”

Dave says: “I tell ya, sometimes my wife will be blathering on about something, and I’ll think, ‘I’m more than just a pair of ears, you know? I’m a person … who thinks about sex every seven seconds!’”

(Quotes taken from this blog post.)

Seems the writers of 30 Rock think “porn for women” isn’t actual porn. Rather it’s a simple matter of showing men who listen attentively. Because that’s all we women want. Because we talk so much (and isn’t that annoying?).

I’m surprised they didn’t include some witty comments about shoes while they were at it.

I could go over all the same arguments I’ve written about before when it comes to this rather tired joke about porn for women. But XKCD has done it for me.

Related Posts:

• No Related Posts

Today I was reading about the formation of the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) – the group headed by Tipper Gore responsible for creating the “Parental Advisory Explicit Lyrics” sticker. Given the current climate of censorship it’s always useful to go back and look at previous moral crusades. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, it all sounds very familiar.

In 1985 Tipper Gore decided that somebody had to think of the children after hearing Prince’s distinctly sexy song Darling Nikki on Purple Rain (featured in the vid above). She began to push for ratings on albums and made up the “Filthy Fifteen” list of songs considered to be the most objectionable. Those songs are:

1 Prince “Darling Nikki”
2 Sheena Easton “Sugar Walls”
3 Judas Priest “Eat Me Alive”
4 Vanity “Strap on Robbie Baby”
5 Mötley Crüe “Bastard”
6 AC/DC “Let Me Put My Love into You”
7 Twisted Sister “We’re Not Gonna Take It”
8 Madonna “Dress You Up”
9 W.A.S.P. “Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)”
10 Def Leppard “High ‘n’ Dry (Saturday Night)”
11 Mercyful Fate “Into the Coven”
12 Black Sabbath “Trashed”
13 Mary Jane Girls “In My House”
14 Venom “Possessed”
15 Cyndi Lauper “She Bop”

As a child of the 80s, I regularly listened to music with explicit lyrics, including many songs on that list. I seem to have survived OK. As have the millions of other people my age. I fondly recall listening to Dress You Up at age 13, thinking that it was about… well, fashion, actually. And She Bop was about dancing.

But you know, I DID understand that Darling Nikki was a sexy song. I was a little shocked to hear the word “masturbating” but that’s what made it so damn cool. It made me feel sexy and it turned me on, which was pretty much the whole point. Beyond that… well, it was only a song. I can’t say it had any negative effect on my psyche or behaviour.

The PMRC also organised a senate hearing into “porn rock”. Those keen on censorship said that music had become dangerous because it no longer talked about sex in a subtle way.

Susan Baker testified that “There certainly are many causes for these ills in our society, but it is our contention that the pervasive messages aimed at children which promote and glorify suicide, rape, sadomasochism, and so on, have to be numbered among the contributing factors.” Naturally they didn’t provide any conclusive evidence to back up their claim. The PMRC also got their knickers in a knot over backmasking and supposed subliminal messages in music.

There were three opposing witnesses: Frank Zappa, Dee Snider from Twisted Sister and… John Denver. The latter had been through his own controversy thanks to people misinterpreting Rocky Mountain High. He said he was “strongly opposed to censorship of any kind in our society or anywhere else in the world.”

The PMRC won, of course. The stickers went out and major stores such as Wal-Mart then refused to stock the albums. The “voluntary” rating created a chilling effect within the music industry, with some labels urging bands to tone down lyrics for the sake of better distribution and sales. At the same time, there was quite a backlash, with heaps of artists deliberately using explicit lyrics as a statement of defiance.

Interestingly, one of the first albums to receive an “explicit lyrics” sticker was Jazz From Hell by Frank Zappa, an instrumental album with no lyrics whatsoever.

* I’ve plundered most of this blog post from the Wikipedia entry on the PMRC which is well worth reading – especially the section on the various anti-Tipper statements made by bands.

Best example: the sticker that appeared on Metallica’s 1986 album Master of Puppets which read: ‘THE ONLY TRACK YOU PROBABLY WON’T WANT TO PLAY IS “DAMAGE, INC.” DUE TO THE MULTIPLE USE OF THE INFAMOUS “F” WORD. OTHERWISE, THERE AREN’T ANY “SHITS,” “FUCKS,” “PISSES,” “CUNTS,” “MOTHERFUCKERS,” OR “COCKSUCKERS” ANYWHERE ON THIS RECORD’

Related Posts:

• “Excessive Genital Detail”: Photoshopped Vulvas In Men’s Mags
• “A Real, As Opposed To A Fanciful, Risk Of Harm”
• A Need For Privacy Makes This “Debate” One-Sided
• Quick! Censor The Non-Existent Boobs!

Stumbling today I came across the work of artist Cal Lane, who meticulously carves lace-like shapes into metal, creating a fascinating juxtaposition between delicacy and strength. There’s an interesting element of male vs female in them as well. This is the only one I could find with overt sexual imagery and it really caught my attention.

You’ll find more of her work at her official website and the original image came from here.

Related Posts:

• First They Came For The Pornographers…
• The Artistic Male Centerfold

Since returning from the Berlin Porn Film Festival last October I’ve been working on a new site called Sexy Short Films. I’ve only updated it in dribs and drabs because finding, researching and posting the videos takes up a lot of time but I think it’s been worth the effort.

I’ve been holding off on launching it because I wanted to have a decent selection of films to start. There’s now 37 in the database. Not huge but a decent enough beginning.

The idea behind Sexy Short Films is to offer a form of online erotic film festival; an internet version of the fun I had in Berlin, essentially. These movies explore eroticism, sexuality and relationships in diverse ways. There’s a lot of humour but I’ve also included some darker and experimental pieces that can be a little unsettling. There’s not a lot of explicit sex to be had – almost all the short films on offer were available on Youtube or other free video sites so they tend to abide by the rather tame guidelines. Still, there’s plenty of sensuality to be had and more importantly, numerous arousing scenarios that stimulate the mind.

I’ve done my best to credit the creators and provide a link to their official sites. Also added Paypal donation buttons when the directors had them. I want to encourage directors who are daring to make smart films about sex.

I’ve also done my best to list all of the erotic film festivals that currently exist around the world. Hopefully I’ll be able to add more to the list.

The video above is called “Vibra Call”. It’s from Brazil and was directed by Esmir Filho. It’s a cute short film that features one female orgasm and no dialogue. Good times.

Related Posts:

• Films From The Berlin Porn Film Festival
• I.M. In Love Trailer
• Cabaret Desire Is Like Visual Erotic Fiction
• New Porn For Women Movies

Once again, cartoonist XKCD nails it.

Related Posts:

• No Related Posts

A couple of weeks ago Hungry Beast on the ABC did a great job of exposing the insanity of Australia’s classification laws, focusing on the rule that forbids “too much genital detail” in photos of naked women in magazines. Essentially, the rule means that any glimpse of a woman’s inner labia is considered to be obscene and thus the mag has to be classified as “restricted” and be wrapped in plastic in some places.

This rule has been in force for over ten years. The end result is that soft porn magazines like People and Penthouse regularly adjust photos of women’s genitalia with Photoshop, “healing” any stray pink bits to ensure the pussy looks “neat and tidy”.

Never mind that women’s pussies are rarely “neat and tidy” or that uneven or protruding inner labia are perfectly normal, our government ensures that the average person can’t see them in a unrestricted magazine. The result, of course, is that anyone looking at these pictures may develop a warped view of how women’s vulvas are supposed to look.

This issue last surfaced in 2001 when Australian Women’s Forum featured an article on labiaplasty and discussed the effects of airbrushed porn on women’s self esteem. It sought to include “before” and “after” photos revealing how the Photoshopping occurs… but then the Classification Board stepped in and ruled that the article contained “too much genital detail.” Even though the photos were absolutely relevant to the story.

I watched this and snarled, especially at the clueless representative of the Board who hedged and said had no real idea as to what met the guidelines and what didn’t. Of course, he was lying. He knows that pink bits are bad. That’s the way it’s been done for the last ten years. The publishing industry knows it and have adjusted their practices accordingly.

I’m hoping that this report helped to raise awareness among younger people about the nonsense that is our censorship system. Maybe this combined with the R-rated games issue and net filtering will get people finally thinking about why the government thinks adults are unable to deal with inner labia, or violent video games, or fetishes.

Related Posts:

• “Excessive Genital Detail”: Photoshopped Vulvas In Men’s Mags
• “A Real, As Opposed To A Fanciful, Risk Of Harm”
• A Need For Privacy Makes This “Debate” One-Sided
• Quick! Censor The Non-Existent Boobs!

You may have noticed that my blog was kinda dead for a week. That’s because I’d tripped off to Melbourne to attend the Global Atheist Conference.

I wasn’t going to write about it on this blog. After all, it should be about porn, right? And I don’t want to alienate any of my readers who may be religious in their own way. But I feel the need to have a bit of a ramble about myself and what I experienced at the convention because it touches on the two things that define this blog: feminism and porn.

As a teenager I was a Christian but we never went to church. My family were very liberal in their beliefs and we didn’t go in for all the hymn-singing and praying stuff. As the years went by I whittled down my idea of religion into a fairly nebulous blob of “spirituality”. I thought that I’d probably go to heaven when I died because I was nice and surely God would see that. Beyond that, I didn’t think about it much. I’d read my bible, knew a lot of it was horribly violent and nonsensical but figured I liked the philosophy of Jesus. He was a good guy, like Ghandi. Still, I had serious problems with his followers and their idea of morality, particularly sexual morality.

It all changed when I read the God Delusion last year. I couldn’t fault the argument of Richard Dawkins against the existence of God/gods. I realised that I was actually an atheist but I hadn’t really examined my beliefs properly up until that point. It was confronting to realise that yes, I was going to die and that would be the end of me. At the same time, that realisation is rather freeing. I’ve got one life, I need to make the best of it. When I die, my non-existence will be exactly the same as it was before I was born.

SO… what’s this got to do with porn and feminism?

Fact is, religion is a major factor in the way we approach sex and gender. Unfortunately, the impact of religion on sexuality has been largely negative. The Christian/Jewish/Muslim view of sex as being sinful and dirty informs how we construct our own sexuality; it shapes what we find to be sexy. The idea of women as either Madonnas or whores is reflected in porn’s treatment of women.

You see the results in the very language of porn: how women are sluts and whores, how porn titles often use the words sinful, secret, dirty, filthy. I’ve seen people say that sex is best when it’s dirty. There’s so much guilt and shame surrounding the act that we rope in these emotions and fetishize them. The result is sexual expression that is often problematic, sexist, unrealistic and demeaning.

On top of that, so much of the opposition to porn comes from religious people and is informed by a religious morality that dictates a very narrow view of sexuality: that monogomy is the only acceptable form of relationship; that homosexuality is wrong; that “promiscuity” is sinful; that certain sex acts such as anal sex are evil; that masturbation is harmful. The push to label all porn as “addictive” has its roots in the desire of some religious people to control the sex lives of others.

Similarly, I find that the lives of women the world over are negatively affected by religion. All the monotheistic religions, Hinduism and even some strands of Buddhism teach that women are inferior. The entire basis of Islam seems to rest on the idea that men cannot control their sexual desires but it is women who are responsible for the sexual behaviour of men. Across the world oppression, violence and rape are regularly perpetrated against women in the name of God.

One of the best things about the atheist convention was that it was openly feminist. There was no animosity towards the concept of feminism whatsoever. The equality of men and women was accepted as self evident by everyone there. It occurred to me that I’ve rarely felt so comfortable with expressing feminist ideas. There was no animosity, no nervousness from the guys, no hesitant expressions of “I’m not a feminist but…” It was all relaxed and intelligent. Imagine how far we could get if all discourses on feminism were like that?

One of the highlights for me was the speech by Bangladeshi author and feminist Taslima Nasrin who is currently in exile from her home country and under the threat of several fatwas from Islamic fundamentalists. She was forced out of India in 2007 because she dared to write an article criticizing the burka and the way women are treated by Islam. She said: “Religion is made for the pleasure and comfort of men. I don’t know why any woman would subscribe to it.” For her, there is no compromise between Islam and feminism. She believes that a woman who wears the veil cannot call herself a feminist because she hasn’t properly analysed the religion that seeks to oppress her. This is from a woman who was brought up as a Muslim.

As she described the pain of living in exile and the constant fear of assassination, I blinked back tears. The audience gave her a standing ovation. Here is what feminism is really about, I thought. Here is a woman risking death in order to speak her mind, speaking out against women’s oppression.

And then I thought, I’m a feminist because I’m an atheist and I’m an atheist because I’m a feminist.

At the convention, we discussed a lot of things: philosophy, ethics, evolutionary biology, science and politics. While there was a huge diversity of opinion on show, one thing we all agreed on is the idea of a secular society. Church and state need to be separate. Political action should be based on evidence and reason, not personal belief.

Everyone has the right to their own religion (or lack thereof) but they should keep it to themselves. When we start telling each other how to behave according to religious beliefs, conflict and oppression are the inevitable result.

Every day I see examples of the way that religion is exerting too much influence on our society and causing harm. The bans on gay marriage, the growth of abstinence-based sex education in the US, the Catholic church’s sex abuse scandals, the Pope saying that condoms are not the answer to AIDS, the plan to censor the internet in Australia, the ongoing oppression of women in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan and Iran, the widespread practice of female genital mutilation, the attacks on reproductive choice and the right to abortion for women, the tax-free status given to churches so they can prosletyse, the death threats against those who speak out against Islam. The murder of Dr Tiller. The whole Arab/Israeli conflict. 9/11… I could go on.

Because I oppose these things, I’m an atheist. And it’s part of my larger philosophy, one that includes feminism and what the psychologists stupidly call “erotophilia” – an enjoyment of sex without shame. I’m also a humanist; I believe in a secular society, freedom of speech and universal human rights.

I hope that there are religious people out there who also believe in these things and will stand up for them. In that we have lots of common ground.

I hope this post hasn’t put off any of my readers; I realise this is one of those issues that can be confronting and I certainly didn’t want to upset anyone with it. Rather, it’s simply a statement of where I’m at right now, and why I felt it important to attend that convention.

I think that the path to atheism is a very personal thing; you can’t really “convert” people to this way of thinking. They have to be ready to go there themselves. There’s no dazzling miracles on display, no mystical experiences to be had. Only the wonder of the physical universe and life on Earth and a sense of amazement at the improbable fact of your own existence.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled porn.

Related Posts:

• Porn Does Not Cause Rape
• Cabaret Desire Is Like Visual Erotic Fiction
• Berlin Porn Film Festival Documentary
• The Amazing, Inspiring Berlin Porn Film Festival 2011

I’m a little late with this news: British porn film director Anna Span, now going by her real name of Anna Arrowsmith, is running for parliament at the upcoming British elections, due to be held in May. Anna is standing as a candidate for the Liberal Democrats party in her home electorate of Gravesend.

It’s perhaps not surprising that the mainstream media have leapt on the story with a vengeance. A few of the articles reporting her candidacy:
Would-be MP: I’m proud of my porn films – Independent
Porn career? It won’t worry my collegues says Anna Arrowsmith – Times Online
Sex movie boss Anna Arrowsmith porn-again Lib Dem – The Mirror
Nick Clegg defends former porn director Anna Arrowsmith – The Guardian

Anna has had her own say here:
Why I’ve gone from porn to politics – Anna’s piece in the Guardian
The comments are pretty sarcastic, unfortunately.

I met Anna in Berlin last year and have reviewed several of her films. While they’re not necessarily my thing, I’ve long considered Anna to be a pioneer of feminist porn and worth supporting. Her fight against the UK classification board over female ejaculation showed her determination to stand up for women’s rights.

I think she’s going to face a baptism of fire by putting herself out there like this; she’s very brave. I applaud her tenacity and determination to follow through with her beliefs and I hope she does well. Who knows, maybe she’ll get in and show the conservatives in the UK that not everyone is as uptight about sex as they are.

I’m now wondering… is this it for Anna Span the porn director and Easy on the Eye? Anna has started a new line called “Women Love Porn” which features other directors. Perhaps she’s settling into the background now.

Related Posts:

• A Need For Privacy Makes This “Debate” One-Sided

Best. Science Headline. Ever.

It had to happen. Someone’s fingers slipped while writing about the large HADRON collider in Switzerland. I rather like the idea. Two cocks smashing together in an attempt to find out the meaning of life, the universe and everything. Existential gay porn.

Pic via Skepchick.

Related Posts:

• No Related Posts

If you’ve seen any porn in the last 25 years, you’ve probably encountered adult legend Nina Hartley. Nina has starred in countless porn films and created her famous line of instructional videos.

She’s due to give a talk at SXSW on the 15th March about sex and social networking. The offficial blurb says she’ll be “discussing how the web has been both a blessing and a curse for industry players and how that’s now changing thanks to social networking technology.”

Nina is also about to launch her own social networking site called SexWise, an online space for discussions about all aspects of sex and sexuality (but one that won’t have porn on it).

Ahead of all this, Nina is giving interviews. And voila, I’m pleased to present a quick five minute encounter with La Nina just to whet your appetite.

You’re part of a panel at SXSW talking about sex and social networking. Why has this topic got you excited?

Sex education and promoting adult conversations about sex and sexuality is what my whole career has been about. Social media is just the newest, and potentially the most effective, way to do this. Only those who want to participate are included and even if I don’t have an answer to a particular question, the odds are good that one of the other people in the conversation will.

What possibilities to do you see for the future of social networking and human relationships?

Social media is so new I don’t think we’ve started to scratch the surface of what’s possible. I can have a conversation with someone half way around the world, in real time, about anything at all. This is amazing on the face of it. We can grow our circle of friends, even those who live on other continents. It seems like old-fashioned pen pals on steroids, since we can communicate with so many more people at one time, so quickly. No more waiting for that letter from Peru or Scotland to arrive in the mailbox!

The downside, of course, is how easy it is to misrepresent oneself in an online forum, or to lie outright. This can lead to a lot of hurt feelings. If one is looking for romance, in the end we’ll still have to meet face to face and be able to navigate that platform.

You’re a legend in the porn industry and something of a fairy godmother to the new wave of alternative and feminist erotica. Did you ever expect to last so long in adult? What’s your secret?

Actually, I did. My secret is that I’m here for more than just the party. I got into adult entertainment for many reasons, not the least of which was to get my message about sex, sexuality and sexual expression out into the world. I’m a nurse, as well, so I’m here to set an example of healthy sexuality, as well as to help others find their best sexual place/expression. I act as an advocate to those who aren’t at liberty to be as out about their sexuality as I am. If I had been here only for the attention or the money I’d have burned out long ago. I’m also exceptionally well-suited psychologically for a career in sex work, as it happens. I’m bisexual, non-monogamous, kinky, exhibitionistic and enjoy sex without having to be in love. Adult entertainment is NOT for everyone, but it is for me.

What are your plans for the future?

To continue advocating for sexual literacy and sexual freedom for all adults. To take the conversation about sex, sexuality and sexual expression to a wider audience. To do stand up about sex, sexuality and sexual expression (believe me, sex is also funny as hell). I’d like to go on TV and talk to the likes of Joy Behar, Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, the women of The View. I want to continue speaking to colleges and universities about sex and sexuality and sexual expression. I want to engage as many people as are interested in the conversation to join it in my new community, SexWise, which is a safe place to discuss all aspects of consensual adult activity.

In short, I’ll be doing in the future what I’ve been doing for the past 26 years. I’ll just be taking it to a wider audience.
**

Thanks to Nina for her time!

Pic is from Nina’s Facebook page.

Related Posts:

• No Related Posts

A few more sexy pics for your viewing pleasure, while I’m AWOL

Related Posts:

• Hot Male Centerfolds From FTG
• Cabaret Desire Is Like Visual Erotic Fiction
• New Porn For Women Movies
• The Female Voyeur – Sneak Peek

So, since I’m being nostalgic, allow me to introduce you to this amazing timeline: the history of internet memes. It traces the rise and fall of the various web fads that have kept us amused over the years.

Remember Mr T Ate My Balls? Or Bert Is Evil? How about the Dancing Baby or the Hamster Dance or Numa Numa? Badger Badger Badger Badger! Bananaphone! Wharbargl!

And of course, anything is possible at Zombo.com (damn, that site still makes me giggle).

If I needed anything to prove that I’m getting on a bit, this site is probably it. There’s part of me thinking: how can you feel nostalgic about the internet? It’s this bright, shiny new thing where you can… oh… yeah. That’s right.

Related Posts:

• And Now The UK Plans To Censor All Internet Porn

Good For Her have announced the official list of nominees for the 2010 Feminist Porn Awards. I’m pleased to say that For The Girls has been nominated for Best Website.

Here’s some info from their press release:

But wait, what is feminism doing getting into bed with porn? At Good For Her, we are feminists and we sell and rent porn. In 2006 we decided that it’s not enough to criticize adult films for not adequately representing women’s – and in many cases, men’s – sexuality. So we decided to do something about it. As porn star and performance artist Annie Sprinkle famously said, “The answer to bad porn isn’t no porn…it’s to try and make better porn!” Good For Her couldn’t agree more. We believe the world is inundated with cheesy, cliche, degrading, and patronizing porn. But we also believe that erotic fantasy is powerful, and that women and marginalized communities deserve to put their dreams and desires on film, too. As feminists and sex-positive people, we want to showcase and honour those who are creating erotic media with a feminist sensibility.

The nominees on this year’s list continue to strive to provide erotic entertainment that is smart, sexy, and continues to appreciate women as viewers. In addition to featuring 51 nominations in total – the highest number of nominated films and websites ever – this year’s nominee list also includes movies from more countries than previous years, and includes filmmakers from: Great Britain, Spain, The Netherlands, France, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, and of course, the porn epicenter of the world, The United States. Canada is also represented among the nominee list with erotic website, GoodDykePorn.com, and “Kiwi-Canuck” Astrid Glitter.

The Nominees for the 2010 Good For Her Feminist Porn Awards are (in alphabetical order – film title first)

48) 101 Positions for Lovers – Jamye Waxman – Sensual Couples
49) A Man With a Maid: Tales of Victorian Lust – Nica Noelle – Sweet Sinner Video
50) Art of Female Self-Pleasure – Jaiya – New World Sex Education
51) Be My Boy Toy – Anna Span – Easy on the Eye Productions
52) Behind the Red Door – Carlos Batts – HeartCore Films
53) Bordello – Courtney Trouble – Reel Queer Productions
54) Buck Angel’s Ultimate Fucking Club – Buck Angel – Buck Angel Entertainment
55) Cocksucker – Julie Simone – Julie Simone Productions
56) Couch Surfers 2: Trans Men in Action – Brazen Garage Squad –Trannywood Pictures
57) Crash Pad Series 4: Ropeburn – Shine Louise Houston – Blowfish Video
58) Crash Pad Series 5: The Revolving Door – Shine Louise Houston – Blowfish Video
59) Dangerous Curves – Carlos Batts – HeartCore Films
60) Des Jours Plus Belles Que La Nuit – Jennifer Lyon Bell + Murielle Scherre – Blue Artichoke Films
61) Dirty Diaries: 12 Shorts of Feminist Porn – Mia Engberg (producer) — Njuta Films
62) Fluid: Men Redefining Sexuality – Madison Young – Reel Queer Productions
63) Fluid: Women Redefining Sexuality – Madison Young – Reel Queer Productions
64) Glamazons – Carlos Batts – HeartCore Films
65) Handcuffs – Erika Lust – Lust Films
66) Honey Bunny – Vena Virago – Vivid Alt
67) John — Astrid Glitter– Glitter Films
68) Lesbian Adventures: Victorian Love Letters – Nica Noelle – Sweetheart Video
69) Lesbian Hitchhikers – Nica Noelle – Sweetheart Video
70) Maneater: The Prelude – Damali Dares – Desire Street Productions
71) My Daughter’s Boyfriend – Nica Noelle – Sweet Sinner Video
72) Penny Flame’s Expert Guide to Rough Sex – Tristan Taormino & Penny Flame – Vivid Ed/Smart Ass Video
73) Perversions of Lesbian Lust Vol. 2 – Madison Young – Madison Young Productions
74) Queer Manor – Madison Young – Reel Queer Productions
75) River Rock Women’s Prison – Kathryn Annelle – Triangle Films
76) Rock Hard: For Music and Cock Lovers Everywhere – Jelena Lakic – Easy on the Eye
77) Roulette: Berlin – Courtney Trouble – Reel Queer Productions
78) Sensual Massage for Pregnancy – Jaiya – New World Sex Education
79) Seven Minutes in Heaven: Coming Out – Courtney Trouble – Reel Queer Productions
80) Seven Minutes in Heaven: Tender Hearted – Courtney Trouble – Reel Queer Productions
81) Speakeasy – Courtney Trouble – Reel Queer Productions
82) Stories of Sexes – Ovidie & Jack Tyler – French Lover TV
83) Sylvia – Madison Young – Madison Young Productions
84) The Band – Anna Brownfield – Hungry Films
85) The Deviant – Nica Noelle – Sweet Sinner Video
86) Tristan Taormino’s Expert Guide to Anal Sex for Men – Tristan Taormino – Vivid Ed/Smart Ass Video
87) Tristan Taormino’s Expert Guide to Threesomes – Tristan Taormino – Vivid Ed/ Smart Ass Video
88) Tristan Taormino’s Rough Sex – Tristan Taormino – Vivid / Smart Ass Video
89) Women Love Porn – Anna Span (producer) – Easy on the Eye Productions
90) Women Love Porn: Apocalypse Angels – Katie Coxxx – Easy on the Eye
91) XXX Vignettes – Astrid Glitter – Glitter Films

Website Nominations:

www.RubysDiary.com
www.JuicyPinkBox.com
www.ShotWithDesire.com
www.NoFauxxx.com
www.GoodDykePorn
www.ForTheGirls.com
www.OnMyPeriod.com

Congratulations to all the nominees. There’s a lot of great films in there and also some new ones I haven’t heard of; I’ll have to look into where I can get them for review.

I’m not certain but I’m hoping to be able to attend this year’s awards. It will be a bit last-minute if I go but I’m sure it will be worth it.

Here’s the main Feminist Porn Awards 2010 page.

Related Posts:

• Cabaret Desire Is Like Visual Erotic Fiction
• New Porn For Women Movies
• “A Real, As Opposed To A Fanciful, Risk Of Harm”
• I’ve Been Nominated For A Feminist Porn Award

It’s now ten years since I bought my first domain name.

This means I’ve been creating erotica online for a whole decade – 2000 to 2010. When I started out I never imagined I’d be doing it for this long, nor that it would take me as far as it has.

In the last ten years I’ve seen the online adult industry evolve from single images on slow dial-up to a million free streaming movies. It’s gone from an initial startup phase, through a goldrush and into a major bust. It’s has moved from “tease” to full-on hardcore and seriously nasty stuff at every turn. It’s also seen numerous attempts to legislate it out of existence.

It all started for me in 1999 when I decided to write an article about online women’s porn. Conducting research, I went into the local library and started looking up porn sites on their internet terminal. You could get away with it back then. I found a whole bunch of gay sites and not much else – except for Purve.com, the first porn for women site.

I ended up chatting to the Australian woman who ran Purve and, after the article appeared in November 1999, she encouraged me to get into the business of adult webmastering. I set about learning the whole deal – what jpegs and gifs were, how to become an affiliate, how to make rudimentary websites. I went and bought Microsoft Front Page, despite howls of derision from my friends who all hand-coded. I didn’t care. It did the job.

The main aim was advertising. Put up a site with a few free photos, preferably small, under 20kb each and advertise paysites. Hopefully your average surfer would like what they saw and sign up for the good stuff. Back then, you could only get good quality pics and movies (occasionally) if you joined a paysite.

One of my first sites was Grandma Scrotum’s Sex Tips, originally hosted for free by a now defunct company (free hosting was the way to go in those days – bandwidth was really expensive. Unfortunately it made life difficult when the host went under and you had to keep moving your site all the time)

I also had a go at promoting mainstream porn for men but I wasn’t that interested. For me, porn for women was the main game. It presented a whole new “niche” that was being completely ignored by the “big guns” (still is).

I can still remember the day I got my first signup… and then my first cheque. The amount wasn’t huge but the thrill was substantial. I saw the potential to make some pocket money on the side while continuing to be a freelance journalist.

And then the signups kept rolling in, more each week. Suddenly it seemed I could make a living out of advertising porn. Which was cool. I tried selling books as well through Amazon but the commission of 5% could never match the 50-60% I could earn with smut. Especially since making sales was so easy.

I didn’t really tell many people what was going on. It was good for a laugh sometimes, seeing the surprised looks on their faces. Nobody expects me to be doing what I do, even today. They assume I’m some sort of serious, bookish type. Which I am, of course, with a mischievous, evil pornographer interior.

From 2000 to mid 2003 I continued to make sites advertising the five or six subscription sites that existed for straight women. (Playgirl wasn’t part of the equation; they were unable to use the Playgirl domain until 2006 thanks to a court ruling. Shady operators had used the domain for fraud. On top of that, the company seemed to dismiss the idea of the internet as a waste of time.)

I wasn’t alone in wanting to make porn for women. I was part of a small group of other female webmasters who wanted to market to females. Every day we’d chat about the subject on the Women’s Erotica Network message board, discussing what it was that women wanted to see and how best to appeal to chicks like us.

The rest of the adult webmastering sphere weren’t interested. We often had large online arguments where the guys happily pronounced: “women don’t buy porn, they’re not visual, selling to women is a waste of time.” Eventually we stopped arguing. Their loss.

The technology progressed, as did marketing techniques. In the beginning were webrings and picture posts. You could create a seriously ugly page and fill it with ads and make sales. Then came linklists, consisting of large collections of adult links, supported by advertising. Ms Naughty is one of those. The linklist rules about the structure of free sites became rather rigid, requiring a minimum number of photos and a restricted number of ads. Then we saw the emergence of Thumbnail Gallery Posts (TGPs), comprising of single pages of thumbnails rather than full sites.

More and more webmaster message boards sprang up. These became the primary place to network with others and advertise. The first online industry conventions occurred.

The main aim at that point was to get listed in Alta Vista. Number 1 on that search engine was a licence to print money. You’d also submit to Yahoo, Ask Jeeves and about 100 others. The results varied wildly from search engine to search engine. You’d also hope to get listed in the DMOZ Open Directory Project. I think it might have been 2002 when we started to prefer this “Google” thing that seemed to always give better results. I liked it straight away because my sites did better in Google than Alta Vista or Yahoo.

Then, in 2003, our little group of porn for women marketers began to go our own way. I had a disagreement with the owner of Purve, as did fellow webmistress Jane. In the aftermath we decided to set up our own adult site for women, modelling it on Australian Women’s Forum. In June 2003, For The Girls was launched.

Almost immediately we hit a snag: our credit card processor collapsed in the first month and made off with our initial profit. Thankfully we were better off than some who lost thousands. In 2003 American Express had decided to pull out of CC processing and Visa had introduced strict rules and a “danger fee” for adult sites. Not long after that Paypal announced it would not process for adult either and subsequently froze the accounts of many people, confiscating their “sinful” cash. We saved FTG by getting an account with CCBill and carrying on. Thankfully, CCBill is one of the few surviving third-party processors; at least 3 others went under in that year.

2004 saw blogs become popular in the mainstream. I launched the Ms Naughty blog that year in a very simple format; Wordpress wasn’t really an option at that time. I upgraded it to WP in 2006.

In 2004 the Bush administration, with the help of Attorney General John Ashcroft, introduced major changes to the 18 U.S.C. § 2257A law which ostensibly exists to prevent minors from appearing in porn (models must prove they are over 18). The new ruling changed the definition of “secondary producer” of adult content, making adult webmasters liable for any adult image that appeared on their site, even if they had nothing to do with originally creating that image.

The law imposed incredbily onerous compliance rules and allowed the government to essentially raid your house without notice or a warrant to “check your records.” I saw plenty of successful smaller webmasters driven out of the business by this new law, fearful of its implications. In 2005 it all went to court… and stayed there, it seems. A 2007 ruling said it was unconstitutional while another upheld it.

The 2257 thing was yet another attempt to restrict the spread of online porn. The 1998 Child Online Protection Act tried it and was struck down. The Communications Decency Act also had a go at it. There’s also been numerous prosecutions for obscenity, the most notable being John Stagliano in 2008. Nothing ever seems to stick.

Meanwhile, I just kept writing erotic fiction and searching out female-friendly pics and movies for For The Girls and my other sites. We held an annual fiction competition from 2005 to 2008 with much success.

Video On Demand sites had begun to be popular by about 2005, although AEBN had been offering their service since 2000. They began to challenge the old subscription-based paysite model in the second half of the decade.

In 2006 I remember going on to one of the adult webmaster boards and asking my peers: “What do you think of this Youtube thing? Should I embed this code on my page or will it break my site?” At the time I didn’t see that Youtube would become the future of porn. I don’t think many of us did. Yet it felt like only days before flash video was everywhere and porn tube sites sprung up like mushrooms, many offering full-length movies for free. Of course, it hasn’t ended well.

2007 and 2008 saw the Russians and the cheaters move into traditional webmastering in a big way, much to the frustration of the rest of us. A huge influx of new webmasters began catering to a dwindling number of surfers. Free porn was everywhere. The gold rush was over.

In the last two years I’ve seen an awful lot of old-timers sell up and leave the business, frustrated at constantly having to fight cheaters, liars, content thieves and scammers, seeing major companies beginning to rely on dodgy billing practices to keep themselves in profit. In the meantime the audience has come to expect that porn should always be free.

At the same time, I’ve seen the rise and rise of alternative, sex positive and feminist porn. In 2006 Good For Her started the Feminist Porn Awards and they’re due to have their fourth event in April. Early dyke porn pioneers CyberDyke have been joined by Shine Louise Houston and her Crash Pad films and site. Courtney Trouble’s No Fauxxx continues to cut across genre boundaries by offering all kinds of different erotica, gay, lesbian, straight and genderqueer. The original alt porn site Suicide Girls has had its share of trouble but other alt sites have stepped in to fill the gap. Meanwhile, the lovely Tasty Trixie has built her own adult empire, being in this business longer than me.

I’ve seen at least six porn for women paysites go out of business… which is always a pain in the arse because I have to take down ads. In 2010 there aren’t many subscription sites actively targeting straight women as their main audience; I’m proud to say that For The Girls is still going strong after nearly 7 years in the game.

Way back at the start of 2000 , when the new Milennium and the Sydney Olympics made everyone feel shiny and peaceful, I had no idea that I’d be sitting here in 2010, getting wrinkly and hunched and thick around the middle, still making a living from online porn. The internet has been very good to me; it’s provided an opportunity to become my own boss and to create a virtual magazine that publishes the quality work of many excellent writers. It has let me carve out a space where I can promote a healthy and positive version of erotica and given me a small voice for women amid a rising tide of sometimes horrible male-oriented porn.

And it’s let me do all this while wearing pyjama bottoms and daggy old t-shirts.

Will I still be doing this ten years from now? I don’t know. I can’t even think ten weeks ahead at this stage. But I don’t feel the urge to give up any time soon. I’ve still got about 20 domains waiting for me to develop them. And a feature film to make. And an internet filter to fight.

And who knows what kind of technology we’ll have in 2020? Perhaps all those promises of “virtual reality sex” will actually come true. Either that or the internet will have become so controlled and censored by world governments that online porn has become a distant memory.

I do know that we’re going to have to start re-negotiating the concept of paying for porn. The expectation that everything will be free is creating problems. As I wrote in this post, the audience can’t expect producers to keep making porn if it results in a loss. Especially if those producers are trying to break the mould and offer something positive and different. It will all grind to a halt eventually, and I don’t want to see that. I want to see change; it’s what I wanted from the moment I started in 2000. We need better, more positive porn and the way to make it happen is for the audience to get behind those people who are trying to create change.

It’s gonna be an interesting decade, I suspect.

Related Posts:

• Porn For Women Retrospective 2010
• Cabaret Desire Is Like Visual Erotic Fiction
• Christmas Porn Pics
• And Now The UK Plans To Censor All Internet Porn