Ms Naughty Porn for Women Blog

Archive for December, 2011

As a writer and editor of erotic fiction, I’m a big fan of sexy stories. Written erotica is at its best when it has the freedom to build characters, emotions and motivation before the inevitable sex scene, allowing the reader’s imagination to colour the scenario with fabulous detail.

Alas, the same can rarely be said for porn films. If the creators bother with any kind of plot, it’s often arbitrary and shallow. The “story” usually exists only to throw together flimsy reasons as to why people should fuck. There might be 3 minutes of “plot” before the inevitable 20 minutes of sex.

Cabaret Desire, the latest film from Erika Lust, is different. Here, the story is the main attraction. The film features stories about sex, to be sure, but the sex is part of the journey, not necessarily the ultimate goal. In switching the focus to the more traditional filmic aim of telling a story, Erika Lust shows us just how good – and how arousing – porn movies can be.

Cabaret Desire is set in an uber-trendy Bohemian salon called the Poetry Brothel. Patrons pay the poetry “whores” to tell them erotic stories. As the cocktails are served and the cool jazz continues, we settle in to hear four different sexy adventures, each told via means of a voiceover and luscious cinematography. We meet a queer woman having simultaneous affairs, a woman with a full-body gimp outfit and a passion for theft, a young woman given a tantalizing birthday gift and an estranged couple meeting for a fresh date. Each story quickly introduces its characters but doesn’t stint on building atmosphere and tension. When the protagonists have sex, you know exactly why they are doing it and how they feel about it. Naturally this makes it a more compelling experience.

The sex itself is hardcore but doesn’t linger on gonzo style shots. Indeed, the editing is just right. You never get bored with endless pumping.

The sets are sumptuous, the lighting and cinematography high-class, the music stylish and well suited. The actors are natural, good looking in their own way and never stilted or self-conscious.

In short, I really enjoyed Cabaret Desire. It’s like collection of women’s erotic fiction with an added visual element, beautifully told and executed with an artistic flourish. I am a fan of Erika Lust’s work and I think this movie is her best yet. Certainly it raises the bar in terms of what can be accomplished with erotic film. I watched it and wondered how I can ever make porn this good. I guess the best I can do is try.

You can download or buy Cabaret Desire at Erika’s site Lust Cinema.

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Filament, the hard-copy women’s magazine that set out to bring naked men to the masses, is closing down.

Launched in June 2009, Filament branded itself as “the thinking woman’s crumpet” and championed the cause of the female gaze. It featured full frontal nude photos of a variety of men, most of them average guys, not the standard beefcake seen in Playgirl magazine. It also featured erotic fiction, articles about sex and politics and even recipes.

At the end of November, editor Suraya Singh released this statement saying she was closing the magazine for personal reasons. It seems that the magazine will not continue on in any fashion but the website will feature all previous content.

I’m sad to see this happen as I’ve considered Filament to be a great thing for porn-loving women. It certainly attracted a lot of devoted fans and gained its fair share of media attention. It showed what a broad range of erotic tastes women can have. And it reminded me that I’m getting on a bit and need to stay in touch with what young women are thinking.

It’s tempting to speculate as to the reasons behind its demise. It may simply be a matter of economics – perhaps the money it was making didn’t justify the amount of work required to run it. I know that it featured a lot of unpaid contributions because it didn’t have the cash to pay staff and many contributors were perfectly happy with that. If it became too stressful with not enough reward, I could see why it would be time to end it.

When Filament first started, I was a little skeptical as to how it would go. Not because it was women’s erotica but because of the choice to be a hard copy magazine. In the era of the internet, it was a big call to go with paper and all the associated production and distribution costs (and subsequent censorship by printers). I think Suraya was very pleased to prove me wrong. Plenty of people were happy to subscribe, pay cash and get their subscription in the mail. Over time, Filament began to appear on newsagent and bookshop shelves across the globe. It really did seem that Filament had made it – up until now.

They are still selling the final issue, though there’s not many left. I’m pleased to say I was involved with this last issue as I judged the erotic fiction competition. You can read one of the runner-up stories here.

I consider Suraya a friend and I wish her well in whatever she does next.

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The Best Women’s Erotica books from Cleis Press are one of the longest-running erotica series. Violet Blue has been the editor since 2006 and she’s shown herself to be quite the talented curator of dirty stories.

The 2012 edition is out tomorrow (6th Dec) and I’m pleased to say that a story of mine made the grade this year. My story Tweetup is listed second and appears under my Louise Lush pseudonym.

Here’s a small excerpt:

“I should have recognised you,” Scott said as he handed me my glass.

“How?”

“Your hoop earrings. You wrote you always wore them. A few weeks ago?

I thought for a moment. “That’s right, I did. Gee, you pay attention.”

He smiled. “I like your tweets.”

I laughed. “Now there’s a 21st century compliment.”

We fell into a very easy conversation, comparing thoughts on politics, computers and whether Stephen Fry was worth following anymore. Scott seemed to hang on every word I said, eager to hear my opinion, his eyes always on me, seemingly oblivious to the rest of the room. I felt flattered by his attention and found myself responding in kind, drawn to his presence, keen to hear what he had to say. The wine had started to kick in and I felt warm and happy in his company. I also felt more than a little flirtatious.

“Are you married, Geekguy?” I asked.

“Uh, no, not yet,” he said. “IT guy, remember? That means lots of lonely nights at home eating two minute noodles and playing World of Warcraft.”

I nodded, laughing at the stereotype. “Yeah, me too. Just me and the frogs.”

“And the porn.”

I shrugged, blushing. “Uh, yeah, the porn.”

“I like how you tweet about porn.”

Best Women’s Erotica 2012 is available from Amazon.

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On Twitter today I came across an interesting discussion about the word “ladies” via The F Word UK (@thefworduk). Emma Dixon had been sent a message that said “Attention Ladies, come to our Xmas lunch.” Emma asked if there was any women who would prefer not be be addressed as “lady” or “ladies”. The replies showed that some women hate it, others don’t mind it. The same goes for “girls”.

I’ve actually been musing on this topic for a while, even since I saw this comedy sketch by Demetri Martin.

At 1:49 he says “If you want to sound like a creep, just add the word ladies to the end of things that you say. You can even say something harmless like ‘Thanks for coming to the show…. ladies.’ ‘Help, I’ve fallen into a well and I’m trapped… ladies’.”

It’s funny but it also makes a point about why women aren’t so keen on the “ladies” word. It can so easily be used in a creepy, suggestive or condescending way. “Ladies” used to be a term of respect or politeness but now it can be… sleazy. Or sexist. I’ll admit I’ve never been that keen on the word. And the other awful way it’s used is when you are called a “lady” on the street by a child or by a stranger. “Look at that lady.” “Get out of the lady’s way, darling.” I knew I was old when someone called me a “lady” for the first time.

Way back when I got started in women’s porn there were a few adult sites that attempted to cater to women and more often than not, the tem “ladies” was used. Ladies Secret. Just For Ladies. Ladies Only Porn. A lot of those sites were run by mainstream companies trying to cater to a newly emerging women’s porn market, not sure what to do. To me, there was often an element of condescension to them and the name reflected that. You could say the same thing about “Ladies Nights”. Even if it’s meant to be a female friendly event, the word suggests an “otherness”. Ladies nights are about attracting women to a location, perhaps to bring on the sexytimes…. ladies.

Compare this with the word “girls” as a way of addressing a group of women. It too can be problematic, especially if it’s a guy that’s using the word. And yet I want to defend it, not least because I have a paysite called For The Girls (more on that in a bit).

One of the triumphs of the feminist movement in the 70s was their insistence that grown women not be called girls, as was often the case in workplaces and at home. And rightly so; the term infantilised women and took away their power. It didn’t matter if you were 50 and had been working somewhere for years, you were still the girl who brought the coffee. It’s good that that changed. And today, it’s still a no-no for a man to refer to a woman as a girl.

And yet when women use the word “girls” to refer to their friends or their family, it’s about comeraderie. “Come on girls, let’s go.” A “girl’s night out” is about women getting together to have a good time. Even the phrase “you go girl!” (which I personally don’t like) has an element of empowerment. Girl power.

When we named For The Girls in 2003, we wanted to capture that feeling of female inclusiveness. We wanted to be a porn loving girl’s club, a fun time with like-minded women, a girl’s night out online. No restraints, no need to be “ladylike”. I suspect that when Violet Blue started her Smart Girl’s Porn Club she was thinking the same thing.

I’ve since wondered about the suitability of For The Girls as a name. Perhaps some find it as bad as “ladies”. And goodness knows I don’t want anyone to think that it’s somehow catering to underage females. Perhaps “For Women” or something similar may have been better, although I must admit, we were working with pre-existing domain names so that restricted our choices at the time. Nonetheless, I do think that the intention of comeraderie remains. For The Girls is about a special women’s space, by women, for women. In that context, using “girls” is OK.

Shall I also muse on the word “chick”? I used to hate it but I’ve come to accept it because it’s a relatively non-derogatory female word, similar to “guy”. It’s usually referring to young women but not necessarily so. I think I’d prefer strangers called me a “chick” rather than a “lady”. Then I can pretend I’m young and groovy.

Yes, there’s chick lit and chick flicks. Both of these things are derided because women enjoy them but the term “chick” in and of itself isn’t the problem. Originally those phrases were positive things. I think the way they’re now used negatively reveals volumes about how society discounts the experiences and stories of women.

What are your thoughts? Do you find “ladies”, “girls” or “chick” offensive or are you OK with them?

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On the 23rd November I attended the inaugural Eros Shine awards night in Melbourne. I went for a couple of reasons. One was to meet other industry people and do a bit of socialising/networking. The other was because For The Girls had been nominated for Best Website.

Alas, FTG didn’t win, although it seems we were a runner-up of sorts. The award went to Adult Voyeur, a new startup that is far more obviously Australian than us (they’ve even got an “AU” in their domain). I was happy for them and it was good to meet the guys behind it.

The night itself was something of a mixed bag. The highlight was definitely the burlesque and strip performances which were innovative, classy and a lot of fun. Suzie Q and Toby’s trapeze act was truly breathtaking and Sina King’s quirky performance with paint was sassy. Unfortunately the Hunkmania strippers – the token “women’s entertainment” – only took their shirts off and the act resembled a boy band. I found myself longing for some real male burlesque, something not so cliched and more genuinely artistic.

The evening was let down by the compere who took every opportunity to make sexist, sniggering jokes. At one point he announced that all women over 30 were unattractive because our boobs went saggy. That’s when I got mad. He really lowered the tone of the night, a shame given that this was an attempt to showcase our professional, grown-up adult industry.

The show also featured a number of American porn star imports such as Jessica Drake and Michelle Bombshell McGee. I grabbed Jessica towards the end of the night and got a very short comment from her – as you can see on the video, the sound is atrocious. I was only using my little Cybershot camera.

Overall the event felt incredibly “mainstream” and I felt like I didn’t belong there. Australia has made a name overseas as the place for realistic, natural, alternative porn but there was no hint of that at the awards night. Maybe next year will be more inclusive.

In any case, have a look at the vid. I’ve tried to highlight the performances and give an idea of just how impressive they were.

Here’s another view of the night by filmmaker Gina Hanrahan.

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