Ms Naughty Porn for Women Blog

Boom Chicka Wow Wow: Music In Porn

I’m tits-deep in editing male masturbation scenes at present and currently feeling generally stressed about colour correction and exposure levels. Like you do. And then the other day I lost several hours perusing royalty-free music sites trying to find some ambient background music for a scene. Nothing seemed to fit. On a whim, I asked Twitter what people thought about music in porn.

It seems the resounding answer is no thanks. From what I’m seeing, porn viewers can do without having music playing over the top of sex scenes. They would infinitely prefer to hear the sounds of sex – the oohs, aahs and sundry squelching – than listen to the director’s latest musical thang. I did a bit of Googling and found similar thoughts here, here and here. Dutch women’s porn channel Dusk also said their surveys had found something similar. No music, thanks.

Obviously this isn’t a universal thing – some people don’t mind music if it adds to the general buildup or atmosphere. And others are real fans of the old boom chicka wow wow 70s stuff (although here’s a long rant against it).

I’ve used music in several of my porn scenes and I sometimes edit it into pre-existing non-exclusive porn clips. There’s a couple of reasons for using music. One is that it can add an extra emotional or dramatic element to a scene. I’ve got one male solo scene that’s been made moodier and more sensual thanks to a quiet backing track, one that could perhaps be described as an ambient drone. I’ve also seen indie porn scenes where the blaring rock song in the background helps to identify the location or the characters within the scene. In Petra Joy’s The Female Voyeur, the medieval orgy scene is made more exotic thanks to its intense, Middle-Eastern inspired soundtrack. In these cases the music rarely covers the sounds of sex; it’s there to complement rather than detract.

The other reason for using music is to cover up cuts and dodgy sound. In some cases the director may be issuing orders in the background which tends to spoil the fantasy a little. I’ve seen some clips where there’s no natural sound at all, just the music.

I can see why that would be annoying. And because many people listen to their own music while surfing – be it porn or something else – a standard backing track can be a hassle. It can also be jarring to have someone else’s musical taste inflicted on you.

This little bit of research has been useful to me. I still want to use music when it’s appropriate and when it enhances the scene. But if most people aren’t that keen on it, I’ll be looking to edit more “natural” soundscapes from now on. If nothing else this will save time and money, and that’s always a good thing.

By the way… is it Bow Chicka Wow Wow? Boom Chicka Wah Wah? Or Wakka Chikka Wakka Chicka? Whatever, I’ve included a vid of the classic 70s porn music above. Worth a listen just for the way Ron Jeremy talks about “a happy ass” at the start.

In searching for an image for this post I’ve found numerous porn music albums on Amazon. So here they are:

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Porn Does Not Cause Rape

For years, anti-porn activists have campaigned against porn on the basis that it increases acts of violence against women. In essence, they say that porn causes rape.

Today I thought I might sit down and compile a few resources that refute that claim. Because as far as I’m aware, there is still no reliable evidence to suggest that watching pornography induces men to rape.

I think the biggest piece of evidence against the claim is self evident. In the last 15 years, internet pornography has become freely available to anyone who wishes to view it. Yet there has been no substantial increase in the rape rate in that time. Indeed, US government statistics reveal that in that time, the rate of forcible rate dropped steadily. If the “porn causes rape” claim were true, we would have seen an increase in sexual assault rates. Obviously that is a very simplistic argument but it’s one that anti-porn people need to deal with. And they don’t.

One of the more interesting academic articles dealing with this issue is by Anthony D’Amato from Northwestern University School of Law. His paper Porn Up, Rape Down discusses the idea that there was an 85% reduction in sexual violence over the 25 years to 2003 (and the rate has kept falling since the paper was published). He goes on to posit that not only does porn NOT cause rape, he suggests that it may actually reduce rape, either by serving as a release valve or by demystifying sex. He concedes that the correlation does not equal causality and suggests further research.

A similar 2006 paper by Todd Kendall entitled Pornography, Rape and the Internet points out that rape rates decreased in US states where the internet was rapidly taken up. Interestingly, the growth in internet use had no effect on the rates of other crimes. Slate summed up the research in an article How The Web Prevents Rape. The Register also covers the topic here.

An earlier, pre-internet paper looked at rape rates in countries that had legalised porn and came to similar conclusions. Pornography, Sex Crime and Public Policy by Berl Kutchinsky was published in 1991. He writes:

The aggregate data on rape and other violent or sexual offences from four countries where pornography, including aggressive varieties, has become widely and easily available during the period we have dealt with would seem to exclude, beyond any reasonable doubt, that this availability has had any detrimental effects in the form of increased sexual violence.

Our knowledge about the contents, the uses and the users of pornography suggests that pornography does not represent a blueprint for rape, but is essentially an aphrodisiac, that is, food for the sexual fantasy of persons – mostly males- who like to masturbate

It should also be noted that this same conclusion was reached by Richard Nixon’s first inquiry into porn in 1970. Anthony D’Amato writes about working on the commission in his “Porn Up, Rape Down” paper. He says:

The Commission [on Obscenity and Pornography] concluded that there was no causal relationship between exposure to sexually explicit materials and delinquent or criminal behavior. The President was furious when he learned of the conclusion. Later President Reagan tried the same thing, except unlike his predecessor he packed the Commission with persons who passed his ideological litmus test. (Small wonder that I was not asked to participate.) This time, Reagan’s Commission on Pornography reached the approved result: that there does exist a causal relationship between pornography and violent sex crimes.

It’s not scientific to reach a conclusion and then set out to find data that backs your case, ignoring contradictory information. That is ideology, not research.

If anti-porn activists can give me real evidence that porn does cause rape, I’ll change my mind. But at this stage, based on the simple fact of dropping rape rates, I’m not seeing it.

One more link and quote to finish this post: a summary article from Scientific American which looked at various studies into porn and found that it was not harmful.

Contrary to what many people believe, recent research shows that moderate pornography consumption does not make users more aggressive, promote sexism or harm relationships. If anything, some researchers suggest, exposure to pornography might make some people less likely to commit sexual crimes.

The most common concern about pornography is that it indirectly hurts women by encouraging sexism, raising sexual expectations and thereby harming relationships. Some people worry that it might even incite violence against women. The data, however, do not support these claims. “There’s absolutely no evidence that pornography does anything negative,” says Milton Diamond, director of the Pacific Center for Sex and Society at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. “It’s a moral issue, not a factual issue.”

PS. Even though the sample was far too small, this 2 year Canadian study of men’s porn surfing habits does provide some illumination as to the real reasons why men watch porn. What it does make clear is that porn is clearly only fantasy and that men are easily able to distinguish between porn and real life.

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Men In Corsets

In Berlin last year I happened upon this lovely postcard from TomTo (who make male corsets) and promptly pocketed it. By co-incidence, that same day @girlonetrack linked to a gorgeous male lingerie site on Twitter. I’ve been meaning to do this post ever since.

Men in corsets are hot. I don’t know why. They just are. This is personal taste, of course, but I suspect a lot of other women share this desire. Perhaps it all stems from that first tantalising glimpse of Tim Curry in the Rocky Horror Picture Show, against which – I suspect – all male corsetry hotness must be measured.

I still remember the funny ill-defined sexy feeling I got from Frank when I first accidentally saw him as a kid. He was delightfully illicit in a way I’d never seen before.

The abovementioned lingerie site XDress.com has an entire section devoted to male corsetry, thus. Here’s the Sweet Transylvania one:

And I can’t not mention the other gorgeous artistic male lingerie pics on that site, like this one:

So then I went looking for more photos of men in corsets. Here’s a few that I found:

From a photo series of Brett Reeves at Queerty:

A nice pic from the site He Wears Panties, which discusses male corsetry in detail:

Post apocalyptic corset and male skirt from AMF Korsets

This corset is by Brute Force Studios which makes steampunk outfits. I found the photo via this page of male corsets (worth a look).

I found this steampunk-inspired Ezra Sabine male corset via Etsy

This is model William Clark in the Necromonger male corset custom made by Puimond

This is an interesting outfit called “The Fallen” by indie designers Xcentricities

And this. I have no idea where this photo came from beyond this page on Tumblr. I wish people would give proper credit for photos. But it’s too cute not to include.

One more pic I need to add: here’s the gorgeous Australian comedian Adam Hills when he put on the Frank n Furter outfit for an episode of Spicks and Specks. A truly fabulous moment in Aus TV

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I.M. In Love Trailer

Just before Christmas I finished my latest short film I.M. In Love and hurriedly submitted it to the Cinekink film festival in New York. Then I went on holiday.

I’m pleased to say that the film has been selected to screen at Cinekink during the “Coupling” Program on 10th February 2012. And since this has happened I had to get off my butt and edit together a little trailer for it, above. I’ve also made a page for it on my Indigo Lush film site.

I.M. In Love is a cute movie involving cybersex and geekery… but not is all as it seems.

This short film only offers a glimpse of the larger scene starring Aeryn and Theo which I am still editing together. Suffice to say it was gorgeous and full of laughter and I can’t wait to get it out into the world. In the meantime, there’s the trailer and the short film. Enjoy.

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“Excessive Genital Detail”: Photoshopped Vulvas In Men’s Mags

A while ago I went to Sexpo and came home with a showbag full of… well, I didn’t bother to look to be honest. I was too busy being interested in my new corsets. The bag got shoved into a corner of my office and ignored until I did some cleaning. Thus I discovered 3 freebie copies of softcore men’s magazines: Zoo Weekly, Picture and People.

These magazines won’t win any prizes for offering subtle or intelligent journalism. They’re really just soft porn with exclamation marks. Guys like looking at naked women and these magazines cheerfully offer that, albeit with a veneer of hur-hur-hur sexism. In the era of the internet, when you can find any kind of porn at the drop of a hat, these mags still sell. I guess it’s sometimes hard to download porn in a truckstop bathroom.

In any case, that’s not why I wanted to write a blog post. What caught my eye was the ridiculous photoshopping that these magazines perpetrate. Not just removing blemishes or thinning thighs, either. These magazines heal up vulvas. Thus:

They even “improved” porn star Tera Patrick:

And here the frontbottom has vanished, leaving a worrying gap:

These magazines don’t photoshop vulvas into smooth mounds for fun. They do it so they aren’t penalised by Australia’s censors, the Office of Film and Literature Classification. The existing guidelines say that those kinds of soft porn mags can’t show “excessive genital detail” – i.e. pink bits or inner labia. Pink bits makes it real porn, not just a “lad’s mag”. So, to ensure they don’t get into trouble with the government, they get excessively happy with the healing brush, often removing any hint of a vulval slit at all. In other cases, protruding labia are “tidied up” so all that’s left is a “perfect” pussy.

This situation isn’t new. In 2001, Australian Women’s Forum published an article decrying this type of censorship, arguing that it was encouraging women to have genital surgery to meet the unrealistic bodily standards suggested by men’s magazines. Ironically, their article illustrating the difference between photoshopped and real vulvas was itself censored for having “too much genital detail” (see image above).

In 2010 the ABC program Hungry Beast discussed this censorship issue. Watch it here:

The message that this kind of photoshopping sends is very fucked up. It says that female bodies as they occur naturally are obscene and must be “tidied up”. But the censorship rules are fucked up to begin with – witness the attitude toward female ejaculation in adult films.

There is supposed to be a review of our censorship system occurring right now. Unfortunately it seems as though the Australian Law Reform Commission has dropped the ball. They’re actually recommending MORE censorship, especially of online content, while refusing to recommend the legalisation of X-rated movies. Irene Graham from Libertus tears them a new arse in her excellent submission which points out all the assumptions and errors in their discussion paper.

Meanwhile, the UK has just taken a step into the 21st century via a court case which has challenged their definitions of obscenity. It feels as though a legal challenge is the only way we’ll get anything changed in this country.

Just as an aside, these kinds of photos remind me just how censored the female vulva has been throughout the ages. If you go to an art museum you’ll find that female nudes rarely feature realistic genitals. They were either covered up or the artist simply glossed over the details, creating the familiar “smooth mound”. Public hair was considered to be obscene. As far back as Roman times they were leaving out the all-important slit and the tradition continued up into modern times.

Hell, Barbie still has the smooth plastic mound although there are now other anatomically correct dolls on the market. Which reminds me, when I was a kid I honestly thought that grown women grew hair and then their slit healed up.

See how important it is to show bits as they really are?

* Note: The last pic is from People magazine 25 July 2011. The ones above it are from Picture magazine 27 July 2011.

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Porn For Women Retrospective 2011

Once again it’s time to write a wrap-up of the news and happenings from women’s porn over the past year. Continuing financial and social insecurity have been big news in 2011 and the world of porn has also seen its share of uncertainty. Something that has become apparent over the last 12 months is that female consumers have become incredibly comfortable with adult material; the new generation of internet users see porn as their birthright and nothing to be shocked about. And alternative visions of porn are increasingly being embraced by more and more people.

News, Research and Statistics

* In October, preliminary results from the massive Porn Research project showed that younger women were more likely to use porn. Female survey participants aged 18 to 25 actually used porn twice as much as their male counterparts of the same age. They also used porn more often than older women, although those aged 26-35 used it just as much as men in that age bracket.

* In April, an article in the Wall Street Journal asserted that women’s main erotic interest remained the romance novel and that this was due to an evolutionary difference in women’s brains. A book – A Billion Wicked Thoughts – by the article’s author, Ogi Ogas, used online traffic statistics and forum discussions to draw conclusions about people’s porn-surfing habits and to make numerous assertions about gender. To the authors, women’s primary interest was in written erotic material. It didn’t take long for the “research” to attract considerable criticism. When I discovered that they authors had used dodgy and made-up statistics about For The Girls to justify their conclusions, I wrote a rather angry blog post.

* In February it was reported that Dusk, the Dutch erotic TV channel for straight women, had expanded onto the two largest cable providers and was thus available to 1.2 million viewers.

* In March The Guardian softened its usual anti-porn stance to report that – gasp – women liked porn. The article included interviews with Erika Lust, Anna Span and Petra Joy, plus the inevitable anti-porn arguments of Gail Dines. I blogged about it here. It prompted this response in Salon, asserted that “porn for women” was a null concept because women like too many different things.

* In May The Sydney Morning Herald featured a piece on feminist porn which included an interview with me, as Louise Lush. The comments by Sheila Jeffries prompted me to write the post Anti Porn Feminists Can’t Acknowledge Feminist Porn. Around the same time I was interviewed by a News Limited journalist about feminist porn but nothing came of it.

* In November, Slate made the amazing discovery that porn star James Deen had a lot of female fans (via this interview piece entitled “What Women Want: Porn and the Fronteir of Female Sexuality”). After musing that Deen’s wasn’t the typical beefcake guy, Slate acknowledged the homophobia in porn that insists that male porn stars can’t be too attractive or threatening. (Way back in 2005 I wrote about the porn industry’s fear of “catching the gay“.)

* Science finally got around to looking at female sexuality in depth this year, with a landmark study mapping the female erogenous zones in the brain via a functional MRI scan. The female subject even wrote an article about her experiences, learning to orgasm in the MRI without moving via a bell on her forehead.

Events and Happenings

* On 22nd February blogger Rachel Rabbit White instigated Lady Porn Day, an online celebration of the erotic and women’s enjoyment of porn. The blog carnival exploded in popularity and before long Lady Porn Day was being reported on in the mainstream media. My blog post for the day was Don’t Dream It, Be It: Women Enjoying and Making Porn

* February also saw the great Cambridge Porn Debate, where a packed audience saw feminist pornographer Anna Span, sex expert Jessi Fischer and porn star Johnny Anglais go head to head with anti-porn campaigner Gail Dines, ex-porn actress Shelly Lubben and psychologist Richard Woolfson. The pro-porn team won.

* In April and May the Slutwalk movement exploded across the world as women stood up against rape and slut-shaming. In May I took part in the Brisbane Slutwalk and made this video.

* On October 21st, queer porn stars Jiz Lee and Courtney Trouble launched International Fisting Day, a blog carnival designed to celebrate to this much maligned and censored sex act.

* Queer porn star and artist Madison Young gave birth to her first child and launched a series of adult sites called the Feminist Porn Network. Her decision to include her child in an art photograph ignited an online controversy, thanks to a certain troll.

Porn Movies

* The Female Voyeur, Petra Joy’s latest and most extravagant film, had me drowning in sensuality. The film is gorgeous and dares to break several porn taboos. Its production was hampered by obstructive council officials and bad health but the result is impressive.

* Cabaret Desire is the new film by Erika Lust and shows just how well-made erotica can be. It focuses on the idea of story and takes its time building up four enthralling erotic scenarios – but doesn’t stint on the hardcore sex. Further thoughts here.

* Tristan Taormino’s Expert Guide to Female Orgasms was officially released mid December 2010 but I’m going to include it in the best of 2011’s films. It’s a tour-de-force of female pleasure. Tristan also released Rough Sex 3: Adrianna’s Dirty Mind and the Expert Guide to Advanced Anal Sex

* Major adult studio Wicked’s launched a new series of films aimed at couples – Wicked Passions. These films have high production values, a romantic slant and slightly less cliched sex scenes. They are similar to the New Sensations Romance series which won an AVN award and has some of the most professional, Hollywood-style boxcovers I’ve seen.

* Director Nica Noelle left Sweet Sinner productions and started a new company, Sweet Sinema, which aims to produce erotic re-interpretations of classic films. Nica also created the Adult Performers Association, an advocacy and rights group for porn stars.

* Queer film director Courtney Trouble launched Trouble Films, her own production line, in December, along with Live Sex Show, a gang-bang featuring Jiz Lee and Nina Hartley. Her previous distributor Good Releasing appears to have stopped production of further alternative titles this year.

The Written Word

* At the end of November, editor Suraya Singh disappointed a legion of female fans by announcing the closure of Filament Magazine. Despite two years of growth and many eager subscribers, the magazine was closed for personal reasons.

* Ebooks continued their incredible growth this year, particularly within the genre of women’s erotica. New erotica publishing companies have popped up on the web, including longtime women’s erotica site Oysters and Chocolate. In May it was reported that Amazon was removing Yaoi titles from its Kindle store.

Awards and Festivals

* This year I attended the Berlin Porn Film Festival where my short film was screening. I had a ball, met Jiz Lee, Adrianna Nicole and Aiden Star and had fun with old porny friends. My mini documentary of the event is here and my report is here.

* The Feminist Porn Awards celebrated their 6th year with another awards ceremony, film screening and party. Erika Lust’s Life Love Lust won film of the year. The full list of winners is here.

* Cinekink had another successful year in February and I’m pleased to say my short film Fucking Is The Only Prayer was selected to screen. Vivian Darkbloom’s film Indietro won the audience award for Best Narrative Feature.

* The inaugural Eros Shine Awards were held in Melbourne in November. For The Girls was nominated for Best Adult Website. My report and video are here.

Ms Naughty in 2011

The Thought Of Her - Trailer from Louise Lush on Vimeo.

Like last year, 2011 was marred with the ongoing drama of the For The Girls site revamp. No, it’s still not finished, and we’re into the 3rd year now. Our new programmer was caught up in the Christchurch earthquake and ended up quitting with the thing 95% done. We can’t find a replacement Drupal programmer as most companies refuse to work for an adult site. The saga continues.

Still, I managed to progress my filmmaking career this year, with my short film Fucking Is The Only Prayer screening at several festivals and being nominated for a Feminist Porn Award. The male masturbation film I made in June, The Thought of Her, screened in Berlin. In November I shot some more scenes which I’m currently editing and I’m hoping to have a DVD out in 2012. More info at Indigo Lush.

In February I attended the Erotic Screen and Sound Conference in Brisbane and gave a presentation on the history of porn for women. In October my article on feminist porn appeared in the German film magazine Schnitt. I also wrote a 6000 word essay for an upcoming book on feminist porn, edited by Tristan Taormino and several others. It will appear in 2013. My short story Tweetup was selected for Best Women’s Erotica 2012. And my very tame trailer for That’s What I Like was censored by Youtube in July.

I also mucked up by going to France and eating lots of chocolate eclairs. And I developed a serious thing for True Blood.

Some Longer Posts From 2011

Let’s Talk About Extreme Porn – In which I discuss the fact that bad porn does exist and get picked up on my use of the word “extreme” in the comments.
Am I Queer? – In which I ponder labels, definitions, monogamy and giant penis floats.
A Need For Privacy Makes This “Debate” One Sided – Why it’s hard to speak out against anti-porn feminists
Beware These Skewed Statistics About Porn “Addiction” – Dodgy stats used to justify censorship
My Encounter with a Flasher – My run-in with an unwanted French penis
The Artistic Male Centerfold – I had fun photoshopping our nude hunk Martin

Now, on to 2012, huzzah!

Have I left anything out? Comment or email me, msnaughty at msnaughty dot com

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Cabaret Desire Is Like Visual Erotic Fiction

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 Says Goodbye

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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I’m In Best Women’s Erotica 2012

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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“Ladies” Versus “Girls”

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?

Related Posts:

• The French Phrasebook Guide To Sex
• Can You Guess Which Words I Use Most Often?
• Porn For Women – The Backlash

Eros Shine Awards 2011

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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New Porn For Women Movies

I finally got around to updating my Porn Movies For Women Site and ended up adding more than 20 new titles. I thought I’d share a few of the new female-friendly films that are now available.

The Female Voyeur
Petra Joy’s latest film is an incredible journey into sensuality and female fantasy. This erotic and sumptuous film breaks porn taboos by including a threesome where the two guys are bi (mainstream porn won’t allow this unless the title is officially “bi” or “gay”). There’s also a cheeky male beauty pageant where three guys compete to impress the panel of horny female judges. The main attraction, though, is the intense, 40 minute orgy scene where a Queen is pleasured by her multiple slaves. Think all the debauchery of Caligula but from a female perspective. It’s a feast for the senses and is accompanied by an amazing soundtrack. I’ve never seen anything like it in porn before and I love it. Petra works hard to create erotic films that women will enjoy and I think this is her best movie so far.
Available From
Good Vibrations: Download
Gamelink: Download

Cabaret Desire
Erika Lust’s latest film isn’t quite live yet (it will be online in the next few days). Cabaret Desire tells the story of a magic and behomian place where people go at night to be told erotic stories. Each guest is assigned a lady or gentleman by a Madame and prepare themselves for the poetic trip they’re about to take. Words flow and desire smoothly invades every corner. This film seeks to intertwine erotic poetry with sexual images and made use of the Poetry Brothel, a Spanish group of performers and writers. This film is Erika Lust’s biggest project so far. Her films feature very high quality cinematography and a distinctly artistic flavour, though they are also very sexy.
Available From
Lust Cinema: DVD or Download

A Touch Of Seduction
Major porn studio Wicked have tried their hand at romantic couples porn with the Wicked Passion series. A Touch Of Seduction is the first film that features only people of colour and it’s actually a little bit groundbreaking because it – gasp – doesn’t portray them in a racist way. This film simply features sexy black couples getting it on in a realistic way. They’re all big-name porn stars and the sex can sometimes stray into porny territory but there’s also lots of foreplay, kissing and real chemistry involved.
Available From
Gamelink: DVD or download
Ms Naughty Store: DVD
Good Vibrations: DVD

Tristan Taormino’s Rough Sex 3: Adrianna’s Dirty Mind
I met Adrianna Nicole in Berlin and she’s a wonderful, smart woman who really enjoys sex. This film is a thorough exploration of her dirty fantasies and delves into the darker parts of sexuality. She creates the scenes. She chooses her partners. She controls what happens. In this film she tests her own boundaries, and rides the seductive line between pleasure and pain. Rough sex is not everybody’s cup of tea but here it’s done properly, with context and care. Award winning director Tristan Taormino also includes interviews with the performers so you get a good idea of the fantasies, emotions and motives behind each scene.
Available From
Ms Naughty store: DVD
Gamelink: DVD or Download
Good Vibrations: DVD
Lust Cinema: DVD or Download

Expert Guide To Advanced Anal Sex
Another Tristan Taomino film, this one takes anal instruction a step further. Like previous “Expert Guide” films, this movie features comprehensive explanations about the best ways to have anal sex and includes instruction in sex toys, advanced positions, g-spot stimulation and male anal pleasure. Then we get to see the techniques in action. Like all of Tristan’s films, the sex scenes are realistic, include vibrator and lube use and focus on female pleasure. If you’re a fan of anal you’ll love this film. I would also recommend the Expert Guide to Female Orgasms as a great female-friendly porn film.
Available From
Ms Naughty: DVD
Gamelink: DVD or Download
Good Vibrations: DVD or Download

Some older titles:

Crash Pad Series 6: Wide Open
Award winning director Shine Louise Houston continues her queer porn adventures with the latest installment in the Crash Pad Series of videos. The idea is simple: People come to the Crash Pad apartment to fuck without inhibition or complications. This movie features a broad range of queer identities, including queer women, femmes and butches, transmen, and real lesbian sex plus genderqueer expression and hot action of every kind – it’s passionate, intense, tender and edgy, but more than anything, it’s real.
Available From
Gamelink: DVD or download
Good Vibrations: DVD or Download
Or you may just want to check out the Crash Pad Series website

Dirty Diaries
Mia Engberg’s collection of short films made headlines a while ago because the Swedish government subsidised the production. I’m pleased to say the film can now be seen online via Lust Cinema. The 12 short films include hardcore action and vanilla sex, queer and straight, flashing and fucking, provocation, penetration, even poetry. Art and orgasms abound in these unique short films for open adult minds. This isn’t standard porn but it is feminist and it is from a female perspective.
Available From:
Lust Cinema: DVD or Download

Back In Time
Playgirl have now created so many titles that they’ve taken up making compilation DVDs. This one features lots of erotic scenarios set in the past. It’s heavy on the romance and courtship and naturally rife with costumes so it will come in handy for firing up those old fashioned fantasies. Be warned that Playgirl has nice setups but the sex tends to be formulaic and very similar to what you’ll find in most mainstream porn films. Features a bonus sex scene and a bonus solo scene plus behind the scenes footage and photos.
Available From
Gamelink: DVD
Ms Naughty store: DVD

The Porn Movies For Women site is desperately in need of a revamp. I created it in 2004 when there weren’t many films to choose from. Now I have over 300 titles listed and I update it all by hand. It’s hard going but it’s worth it. Please check it out for a complete listing of female-friendly movies. Beyond boy-girl vanilla stuff that is often associated with porn for women, I’ve listed queer, lesbian, instruction and kinky titles as well. I hope to expand the categories further in the future.

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Berlin Porn Film Festival Documentary

OK, it’s done. This is my mini documentary about this year’s Berlin Porn Film Festival.

Most of it was shot on a Sony Cybershot HX9V – a pocket camera that takes rather good HD video but not so good sound. I actually bought it at the airport on my way to Germany.

And thank goodness I did. Our large video camera ended up being damaged, possibly dropped when in luggage storage before we got to Berlin. A lot of the footage I shot at the festival using the big camera was half out of focus and consequently useless. You’ll probably notice that the interviews with Adrianna, Aiden and Jen look rather fuzzy. They were shot with the big camera and I did my best to salvage the footage.

We noticed that something wasn’t quite right with the camera while in Germany but it didn’t seem too bad. It’s only when I got home and uploaded the files that I saw how dodgy it was. The left side of the frame is very fuzzy but the bottom right corner is in focus. It’s incredibly frustrating to have that kind of equipment failure.

I also shot a solo male scene in Berlin and some of that footage is also no good. But the Cybershot has saved the day. Lesson learned: don’t discount the new generation of little cameras. They’re actually quite good and are worth using for B roll or as a backup.

In any case, I think I managed to capture some of the vibe of the festival in this little doco. I downloaded the film excerpts from Youtube and Vimeo so some of them aren’t the best quality. I wanted to just give a small idea of the kind of amazing films we saw in Berlin.

The films:
Smoke by Claudia Romero
Black Rose Tango by Richard Kimmel
Curuk: The Pink Report by Ulrike Bohnisch
Skallamann (Bald Guy) by Maria Bock
Orchids: My Intersex Adventure by Phoebe Hart
The Female Voyeur by Petra Joy
Gang Bang Barbie by Joanna Rytel
Festival trailer by anton Z risan

A longer version of this doco will appear at For The Girls on 29th November. It features the X-rated footage I couldn’t put on Youtube plus more interviews. And images from the amazing Chatroulette session that turned into something of a live sex show.

By the way, there’s some great photos of the festival now available at the official site.

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Sexy Science: How We Look At Half Naked People

Scientific American reports on a psychology study about half-naked people and ideas of objectification. In six different experiments, a group of people were shown images of clothed and half-naked men and women and instructed to rate their mental capacities.

Interestingly, the ratings weren’t influenced by gender. Put simply, men don’t objectify women more. It seems to be a human trait to think differently about people with less clothing. From the article:

Subjects rated clothed people as having more self-control, better communication and better morals than half naked people. But subjects rated scantily-clad women and men as having a higher capacity for experiencing pleasure, as well as fear and pain. This latter group was also, curiously enough, thought of as more sensitive and needing more protection from fear or pain.

For example, subjects were asked if they’d administer harmless but painful electric shocks to another person. They chose to shock those fully clothed significantly more often than those exposed above the waist.

The abstract of the study (found here) has got me thinking about how this psychological perception applies to anti-porn activists.

Drawing on the distinction in mind perception between agency and experience, it is found that focusing on someone’s body reduces perceptions of agency (self-control and action) but increases perceptions of experience (emotion and sensation)… The effect of a body focus on mind perception also influenced moral intuitions, with those represented as a body seen to be less morally responsible (i.e., lesser moral agents) but more sensitive to harm.

The above paragraph sounds like a summary of how anti-porn activists judge women who appear in porn. They often tend to dismiss the intellectual abilities of performers, instead depicting them as emotionally vunerable victims or morally damaged people (e.g. “she must have been abused as a child”, “she’s a drug addict”). I find it interesting that this study was looking at the process of “objectifying” people and objectification is the most common complaint about porn. Perhaps the anti-porn campaigners are doing a fair bit of objectifying of their own.

Pic: This is the gorgeous Aeryn from Naughty Nerdy. She’s a prime example of why you shouldn’t assume porn stars are dumb. Please visit her blog for various musings on Dungeons and Dragons, gaming, politics and sex.

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Sexy Science: Female Orgasms In An MRI

Scientists at Rutger University in New Jersey have created a map of a woman’s brain during an orgasm. They monitored a woman who masturbated in a functional MRI machine and created a digital map of the results. It’s quite an impressive bit of work and may help better understand why some women can’t achieve orgasm.

The Guardian reports that activity changes in 80 different sections of the brain during stimulation and orgasm. Their description of it and sequence of sensation may sound familiar to women:

As the animation plays, activity first builds up in the genital area of the sensory cortex, a response to being touched in that region. Activity then spreads to the limbic system, a collection of brain structures involved in emotions and long-term memory.

As the orgasm arrives, activity shoots up in two parts of the brain called the cerebellum and the frontal cortex, perhaps because of greater muscle tension. During orgasm, activity reaches a peak in the hypothalamus, which releases a chemical called oxytocin that causes pleasurable sensations and stimulates the uterus to contract. Activity also peaks in the nucleus accumbens, an area linked to reward and pleasure.

After orgasm, the activity in all these regions gradually calms down.

Not only is this is an amazing scientific achievement, it’s also an impressive sexual achievement for the woman involved. MRI machines are horribly noisy, often uncomfortable and so magnetic that you can’t take anything metal in there. So no vibrators. This woman managed to get off, by hand, in a big noisy machine with lots of people watching. Bravo, I say.

In a related article, here’s Kayt Sukels first-person account of having an orgasm in an MRI for science. She reveals a particularly tricky aspect of the process – keeping still. You can’t move your head around or it will mess up the data. She actually had her face enclosed in a metal cage, on top of all the other stuff. Amazing.

I’ll be honest, I’d never previously considered the amount of movement in my orgasm habits prior to that conversation. I started to worry that I might not be up to the task. But when I mentioned my fears, Wise laughed.

“I know you can do it. Just practice,” she said. “You know what they say. Practice makes perfect!”

For the next two weeks, I did just that. To help optimise my body movement for fMRI, I attached a small bell – an ornament belonging to my cat – to my forehead with some duct tape.

Wise was right. With practice I diminished any jingling sound to something manageable, no matter how raucous I may have felt on the inside. And once she and Komisaruk had bolted me to the scanner bed, while it wasn’t easy to work up to an orgasm, I found it wasn’t quite as difficult as I had imagined.

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