Ms Naughty Porn for Women Blog
Ms Naughty looks at porn for women, the adult industry and sex in general.
I’m In Best Women’s Erotica 2012
Monday, December 5th, 2011
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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The Thought Of Her – Trailer
Thursday, July 28th, 2011The Thought Of Her - Trailer from Louise Lush on Vimeo.
A month ago I made a new short film. It’s a male-masturbation video called “The Thought Of Her” and it features the gorgeous Adam. I tried to go beyond the standard jerk off video and include something of the mental processes involved in self-pleasure. I did this via a monologue, detailing what might go through a man’s mind as he masturbates.
I also decided to go for more arty close ups and strong cross lighting with a black background, similar to Fucking Is The Only Prayer. What can I say, I like how it looks.
The film is currently available in full at For The Girls. I’m also going to create a longer version of it in the near future.
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Women And Male-Male Erotic Fiction
Tuesday, July 5th, 2011
The Sydney Morning Herald has featured an article about the popularity of male-male erotic fiction (slash, yaoi or gay male romance) with straight women. It features quotes from me, using my Louise Lush pseudonym. The journalist (Alyssa McDonald) has treated the subject well, talking to various different sources and not descending into sex-negative language.
When Alyssa contacted me she wasn’t particularly well informed about the subject. Her main source of info was the Billion Wicked Thoughts book, which I’ve already ranted about here. I sent her a bunch of links and gave her my less-than-perfect opinion about M/M erotica (it’s not really my thing). She has written a really good summary of it and also including both my and Suraya’s criticism of the “Wicked Thoughts” book.
The comments are interesting. There’s a lot of people who are shocked by it, matched by an equal number of slash fans.
I do want to include more male-male erotica at For The Girls and create a gay category on Ms Naughty. My problem is that, as I said, it’s not really my bag, although that’s no good reason to not include it. It just means that I’ve got to learn to spot good content and to get to know what’s out there.
Also, in the past I had a “no gay” rule for the Ms Naughty linklist. This was because the adult industry used to dismiss “for women” content as being another gay niche, refusing to believe that women actually looked at porn. So I worked hard to distinguish my site from gay ones. It was the same with For The Girls. I’ve since learned how much women do enjoy gay and male-male content. It’s now just a matter of finding the time to create the category and find good content.
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The Guardian Does Porn For Women
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011
The Guardian likes to attract clicks by including articles about porn but often the articles are negative in tone and rely on the arguments of anti-porn feminists like Gail Dines. Thankfully they’ve taken a step in the right direction by offering a story on porn for women and including comments by Erika Lust, Anna Span and Petra Joy. Aside from talking about women’s porn like it’s a new thing, the piece is very positive, if a little limited in scope.
Lust says: “Pornographers are usually middle-aged straight guys, with a similar cultural background. They don’t like it when I say that I make porn for women. They say their porn is for everybody and I am the ‘tight’ one. But I just can’t have an intellectual discussion with them, because they don’t measure up. What I’m doing is criticising the kind of porn they have been making for years and offering an alternative.”
Perhaps more interesting are the 250+ comments underneath. Most claim they don’t know how porn for women would be different to other porn. Plenty trot out the usual arguments that not all women are the same or else they dismiss women’s erotica as all candles and romance. I added my own comment here but it’s impossible to really talk about the issue in any depth as a comment.
Following on from the Guardian, Salon’s Tracy Clark Flory asks Why do we care so much about ‘porn for women’?
I was writing about feminist, female-directed porn back in college for my school newspaper. In the seven or so years since then, far more female directors and feminist production companies have premiered on the scene, but we’re still asking the same fundamental question: What is “porn for women,” exactly? I’m interested in a different question, though: Why is this a perennial subject of debate?
…
Every woman has a different definition of “porn for women” based on her own finicky desires. There might be some common requests — like more kissing, more narrative — but those things are highly subjective.
So Tracy comes to the same conclusion as many others: “porn for women” is a difficult concept to codify. At least she doesn’t go on to completely dismiss the idea because of that.
By the way, the first bit of that paragraph makes me feel fucking old. When I was first building For The Girls over 7 years ago, Tracy was a student. How did that time go so fast?
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Room 33 By Erika Lust
Tuesday, March 8th, 2011Room 33 Erika Lust from boolab on Vimeo.
Here is Room 33, a new sexy movie by Erika Lust (as written about in this post from a few days ago). It just looks luscious.
And what I really admire is the way Erika can tell her story with minimal dialogue or none at all; she’s really good at getting ideas and emotions across through framing, editing and good acting. That’s the wonderful thing: Erika is a very talented filmmaker who has decided that her subject is sex. She has a discerning eye for sets and situations and she shoots with quality equipment like the Canon 5D. She sets a very high bar for the rest of us. I know when I’m planning my next film, I’ll be thinking about how Erika has done hers.
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Porn For Women Retrospective 2010
Thursday, December 23rd, 2010Another year has whizzed by and it’s time to do another rundown of all things porn for women in 2010. This year the adult industry has again endured tough times in the face of ever-increasing free content and the dismal global economy. Nonetheless, erotic content for women continues to grow and become more popular. There’s been a real attempt by many in the industry to try and cater to women, perhaps out of desperation. There’s also been an explosion of queer and alternative porn.
In The News
* “Hello Ladies.” In February, Isiah Mustafa first uttered the opening line to the now much-loved Old Spice ad and caused an internet sensation. The advertisement took a quirky view of masculinity and also unashamedly appealed to the sex drive of straight women, something that is still rare. Now millions of women around the world have begun to fantasise about a well-spoken black man who’s on a boat… and a horse.
* Playboy TV made headlines in November when they announced a revamp of the channel, setting their sights on female viewers. They plan to offer “softer” content with “real chemistry, nonenhanced body parts, varied body shapes and contextualized’ sex.”
* In January the Shady Lady ranch in Nevada caused a stir by getting approval to offer male prostitutes to female clients – a first. One of the new workers (”prostidudes”) called “Markus” caused a stir by comparing himself to Rosa Parks. He didn’t last long, quitting in March. The Shady Lady continued on without him.
* The Twilight books and films were so popular that some took to calling the saga “porn for women”. I disagreed.
* British women’s porn pioneer Anna Span put her filmmaking career on hold to run for parliament in March. She stood for the Liberal Democrats using her real name of Anna Arrowsmith and came in third, considerably increasing the LibDem vote.
* The ongoing saga of the .xxx domain continued and I was actually quoted in the Guardian opposing it.
* It was also a huge year for censorship – which I’ll address a little later in the post.
The Magazines Are Back
* 2010 was a bumper year for UK startup magazine Filament, with strong sales and an expansion into the US and Australia.
* Playgirl announced that it was going back into print after a year of web-only publication. The headline-grabbing nude photoshoot of Levi Johnston (Sarah Palin’s would-be son-in-law) prompted the turnaround; his pics appeared in the February edition, causing much distress because there was no full-frontal nudity.
* In January Candy Rain, another magazine for straight women, was launched. Only one issue appeared all year however a benefit has recently been held to assist in publishing the second.
New Porn for Women Movies (Straight)
* In my opinion the best film for women released this year was Erika Lust’s Life Love Lust. Her beautifully-produced vignettes have a depth and vision not usually seen in porn. She also dared to portray sex that results in… a baby. For The Girls interviewed Erika in July and I included pics from the movie here.
* Petra Joy released Her Porn 2, another compilation of erotic short films and excerpts for women. I found this important because it includes my first short film, “That’s What I Like”. Petra also completed filming her fourth feature, despite ill health and numerous production issues.
* Netherlands-based director Jennifer Lyon Bell teamed up with Belgian artist Murielle Scherre, aka La Fille D’O, to create Des Jours Plus Belles Que La Nuit, a depiction of a real couple making love in real time. It won a Feminist Porn Award for Best Direction. It is due to be released in the US soon, following the already successful Matinee.
* Mimi Balfour created a softcore erotic film called Man of My Dreams which also won a Feminist Porn Award.
* Sex advisor and author Jamye Waxman directed 101 Sex Positions For Lovers which was filmed in Jamaica and featured real-life couples.
* Larger producers Playgirl and Sweet Sinner continued to release new features aimed at straight women regularly in 2010. Major studio New Sensations also created a new line called “Romance”, aimed at women and couples.
Lesbian and Queer Porn
* Artist and porn star Madison Young had a huge year in 2010. She directed and starred in a swathe of films including Pregnant With Desire, a new film exploring the sexual aspects of pregnancy. Madison herself is expecting her first child in 2011.
* Queersexual personality Jiz Lee was everywhere this year, appearing in many indie and alt films as well as popping up in more mainstream productions. She also set up her own charity website, Karma Pervs and appeared in a massive queer orgy for her 30th birthday on Crash Pad Series. For The Girls interviewed her in November.
* Courtney Trouble was also a queer filmmaking powerhouse this year, releasing numerous films through the Reel Queer Productions label including several titles in the Roulette series and Seven Minutes In Heaven. She also maintained her stable of queer porn sites including NoFauxxx.
* French director Emilie Jouvet took a group of queer friends on a sex tour of Europe and released Too Much Pussy: Feminist Sluts on the QueerX Roadshow, an erotic documentary of their trip.
* Triangle Films made waves with their major production River Rock Women’s Prison which won several awards.
Statistics and Surveys
* In February the Sun reported that more women were watching porn than ever with 76% of readers “admitting” to enjoying porn.
* In June, Cosmopolitan reported on a survey of their readers and found that 60% of their readers enjoyed porn, either alone or as part of their relationship. Another 15% said they hadn’t seen it but were open to the idea.
Awards and Festivals
* In April the fifth annual Feminist Porn Awards were announced with gongs handed out to a variety of groundbreaking straight and queer films. The list of nominations was substantial, revealing just how much the female-friendly and alt porn movement has grown. 2010 saw the first Emerging Filmmaker award handed out to Tobi Hill Meyer.
* The AVN Awards continued to mostly ignore alternative films, concentrating on the mainstream industry. Tristan Taormino won Best Educational Release for her Expert Guide to Threesomes but that was about it. The awards night was attended by the “Queer Porn Mafia” (Jiz Lee, Dylan Ryan, Amber Flores, Madison Young and Courtney Trouble among others – see pic above).
* The Pornutopia erotic film festival held in Albuquerque was cancelled after local authorities told them they were breaking zoning laws. The city maintains it isn’t censorship but the festival directors aren’t convinced.
* I didn’t get to attend the Berlin Porn Film Festival this year which was a pity as they had a record-breaking attendance. Jennifer Lyon Bell conducted a workshop on porn and feminism and Emile Jouvet’s film Much More Pussy received an honourable mention.
* Cinekink, the kinky film festival based in New York, toured the US throughout the year. I’m pleased to say my film That’s What I Like featured at a number of screenings.
Our Porn, Ourselves and The Anti-Porn Brigade
* 2010 saw a major increase in campaigning against pornography, thanks mostly to Gail Dines who was flogging her anti-porn book Pornland to anyone who’d listen. Dines uses shock tactics and generalisations to argue that porn was “hijacking our sexuality” and ultimately should be prohibited. Dines said “Women defending porn are likely deluded by the near trillion dollar industry.” My reply to that is here.
* Religious groups are also moving to ban porn using the dodgy concept of “addiction”. In May I looked at Dirty Girls Ministries, a site that charges women money to help cure their “addiction” to masturbation and porn.
* Blogger and author Violet Blue fought back against the anti-porn movement, creating Our Porn, Ourselves, a gathering of pro-porn activists including many women who enjoy explicit material. Violet’s Facebook page had over 3000 members when Facebook shut it down without warning or explanation in July.
* Moral panic about the “sexualisation of children” has also spurred numerous calls for censorship. In July a conference in the UK attended by Australian academic Catharine Lumby sought to cut through the nonsense and properly study the issue. They pointed out that most of the “research” on the issue is biased or poorly conceived. I wrote about the issue here.
Other Censorship
Looking back at my blog posts over the last year, it’s depressing to see how often censorship and anti-porn campaigning comes up. Perhaps its a personal obsession but I think it’s part of an overall trend. The governments of the world have woken up and they want to control the internet. Part of that is a panic over online porn and a demand for increased censorship. Here in Australia, the nanny state has gotten worse in 2010 with numerous arrests and crackdowns on adult material.
* In January a storm erupted in cyberspace over reports that Australia had banned the depiction of small breasts in porn and were also banning female ejaculation. The news came from The Sex Party and I wrote about it on this blog post. Within days the story had gone viral and turned up in mainstream media. The censors eventually denied that this was the case, although it did publicse the fact that material can be considered child porn if the models *look* underage.
Nonetheless, it rapidly became an established internet “fact” and even resulted in web vigilantes Anonymous attacking the Australian parliament in “Operation Titstorm” as part of a protest against the proprosed mandatory internet filter.
* In March TV show Hungry Beast raised awareness of censorship with their report on the way magazines alter images of female genitalia to meet classification guidelines: “Too Much Genital Detail”
* In May Garion Hall, the owner of AbbyWinters.com, was found guilty of “making an objectionable film” – even though the magistrate didn’t watch the film or ask for anyone else to classify it. It was the first conviction of its kind in Australia. Abby Winters has now moved all operations to The Netherlands.
* Also in May, an adult shop owner was sent to prison for three months for selling X-rated films in Sydney. Since then there have been numerous raids on sex shops and a crackdown on selling explicit porn in several states. It is not illegal to own or buy X-rated films in Australian states but it is illegal to sell them. NSW has since given police the power to decide if a film is illegal on the spot, rather than handing it over to classifiers.
* In July Australian Senator Stephen Conroy announced that the planned mandatory internet filter would be delayed pending a review of the classification categories. The subsequent federal election saw a minority Labor government with the filter still on the cards.
* In the US in April, adult director and author Tristan Taormino faced protests from a “family” group before giving a presentation on porn at Princeton University.
* In December, the UK parliament decided they wanted to jump on the censorship bandwagon, looking at a plan to ban online porn unless adults “opt in”.
Ms Naughty In 2010
Professionally, this year hasn’t been the best for me. The biggest problem has been neverending delays with the upgrade of For The Girls. You can read the full, painful story here. I still haven’t got a refund and I lost so much time waiting, putting things off. I also held off on my plans for more erotic films. So it’s been very frustrating.
Indeed, writing this retrospective based on my blog posts has been difficult simply because I haven’t posted as much this year. Twitter is partly to blame but I’ve also been spending time doing other things.
Still, the last couple of months have seen me get back on track. I’m still editing the footage I shot in November and I also took part in a fabulous male model shoot at the start of December for FTG. The results are fantastic.
2010 marked my 10th anniversary creating porn online. It’s kind of hard to believe I’ve been doing this for so long. I have been suffering a bit of porn fatigue lately but I’m also motivated to head into the new year with a fresh mind and try new things. Lots to do!
Perhaps my biggest non-porn achievement of the year was cycling 500km over 9 days in September. I also attended the Rise of Atheism conference in Melbourne which was inspiring and interesting. And I handed out “how to votes” for the Sex Party which was more fun than I expected.
Some larger blog posts from 2010
Defining the harm of porn – a look at Michael Flood’s research and why it’s flawed
What Oprah didn’t tell you about porn for women – I wrote a guest piece for Good Vibrations blog on my favourite topic.
Dear kinky people, cut vanilla a break, will ya? – A somewhat controversial post about how vanilla sex is sometimes derided as boring or repressed.
It Gets Better… But why should it be bad in the first place? – Are teenagers forever doomed to be horrible to each other?
In 2010, a prosecution for procuring an abortion – My thoughts on abortion.
Fiona Patten reveals how the NVE classification was derailed – a video from the Humanist Conference detailing how porn was almost legalised in 1999.
How sex with your head in a toilet bowl can be OK – Not all porn is degrading
The female gaze does not exist? – Another bit of musing (and arguing) on the terms “porn for women” and “the female gaze”.
Eye Candy Posts
Admiring the mankini
The Dirk Diggler dick from Boogie Nights’ last scene
In defence of facial hair
Previous End Of Year Posts
Porn for women retrospective 2009
Porn for women retrospective 2008
Porn for women retrospective 2007
Porn for women retrospective 2006
Image Credit
Pic of the Queer Porn Mafia by Courtney Trouble from here.
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Stills From My New Film
Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010
It’s been a long time between drinks but I have finally gone out and done a bit of filming. As you can see, I was going for dramatic, artistic and erotic visuals. I have yet to do any editing but I can’t wait to put this together and put it on For The Girls. It doesn’t even have a title yet.
Enjoy. I’ll post more about this film when it’s closer to being finished.
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New Site: Real Sex Films
Sunday, October 31st, 2010I’ve recently put together a small site that features erotic movies that feature real sex.
Obviously all of the sex in porn movies is real, not simulated, but that’s not the focus of Real Sex Films. Rather, I wanted to compile a list of movies that either depict sex in a realistic manner or else make use of real couples. “Real” sex in this sense is sex that is not done solely for the cameras via the typical porn cliches. Rather, it’s a depiction of fucking that is more intimate, passionate, realistic, “average” (in the sense that it’s how a lot of people really do have sex) and yes, even loving.
Obviously the films of Tony Comstock fit the bill here but I’ve found a number of others that were worth including. Here’s a few:
Lovers: An Intimate Portrait: Jennifer and Steve (1993)
The blurb: Jennifer, a Manhattan stripper with a perfect body and an Ivy League master’s degree, and Steve, a talented filmmaker, bring objectivity and illumination to a much misunderstood, maligned and taboo aspect of human sexuality: the exchange and interplay of power and surrender in a dominant/submissive relationship. This film was directed by artist R.C. Horsch and produced by Candida Royalle.
Available From
Hot Movies: Download
Barcelona Sex Project (2007)
The blurb: Barcelona Sex Project is a feminist adult movie, created for women by women by Spanish auteur Erika Lust. The film discloses the private lives and sexuality of six individuals. Each are interviewed before settling down to masturbate on camera. The project is based on the conviction that women desire to know a person’s inner character (their beliefs, their character, their feelings, fears and passions) before becoming drawn to them on a sexually intimate level.
Available From
Gamelink: DVD or Download
Hot Movies: Download
Good Vibrations: DVD
Real Couples (2005)
The blurb: Four real-life gay couples show us how they do it! This is their first video celebrating sex between real-life couples. They interviewed each of these couples and asked them to speak about how they met, their sex-life together, their attraction to each other… and then they filmed them going at it uncensored. Come on this journey in the bedrooms of eight handsome men. REAL COUPLES. REAL SEX.
Available From
Gamelink: DVD or Download
Ms Naughty: DVD
Real Lesbian Sex: Jay and Pike (2010)
The blurb: Jay & Pike make a sexy couple, one with flaming red hair and the other bald and tattooed. Their sex involves a lot of passionate kissing, fondling and licking and scissoring. When the flavored lube comes out and the fingering begins, you know it’s going to get good and someone is going to take an entire hand!
Available From
Hot Movies: Download
I also compiled a list of “mainstream” films that feature real sex (unsimulated sex scenes).
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Where The Hell Is My Prince Charming?
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
Gorgeous cartoon from Stuff No One Told Me, via Erika Lust.
I think we need to make this point a little more often. Romance novels are often derisively called “porn for women” and, while this is inaccurate in a lot of ways, it does make a point about unrealistic fantasies. Both porn and romance/fairytales offer a fantasy version of the opposite sex and depict sex and relationships in a very unrealistic way.
Interestingly, there isn’t the same moral panic about girls reading teenage romance novels as there is about boys looking at porn. But maybe it’s something we need to talk about more.
Just speaking from personal experience, I used to love Sweet Dreams and similar girly romance books when I was 14 and it led to plenty of confusing experiences when I finally got boys to pay attention to me. I expected them to act a certain way and floundered when they didn’t. I wouldn’t say it was a major problem, really, but it meant I was somewhat deluded about how this whole “love” thing was supposed to work.
Thankfully, it all worked out OK for me in the end and I did marry my Prince Charming. I just had to get used to the fact that he farts.*
Still, it’s a question worth asking: do romance novels encourage girls to have a warped view of men? Of relationships? Of sex? And does it feed into the general world view that sells Men Are From Mars-type books? Does it encourage the Cosmo-style idea that men are mysterious creatures who are afraid of committment and must be seduced with feminine wiles?
Or is this another case of not giving young women enough credit? Are romance novels, like porn, just a bit of easy entertainment?
And since I’m asking questions, here’s one: why don’t boys (in general) read romance? Is it because, like porn for women, there are no books that actually dare to offer male-friendly stories that focus mainly on love and relationships?
It’s an intriguing idea, romance for men. I’m now wondering what it would look like. Excuse me while I go away and see if I can find anything like it on the net.
* As do I!
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Her Porn 2 Is Out
Friday, April 30th, 2010
This, my friends, is the full cover of Petra Joy’s new DVD Her Porn 2 which has been unleashed onto the world.
Aside from the general fabulousness of this movie, which includes short films from famous directors such as Candida Royalle, Annie Sprinkle, Shine Louise Houston and Maria Beatty, it also includes my film That’s What I Like!
Yes folks, it’s finally on DVD, along with the other finalists from the Petra Joy Awards. So this must mean I’m a REAL pornographer now. 10 years online and a hugely successful paysite doesn’t count. I’m now on a hard copy digital format so I must be real.
Here’s the official blurb:
This compilation celebrates the best porn made by women for women: from sensational porn classics by pioneering directors to the latest erotic flicks by new female directors from around the world.
HER PORN seduces with nearly three hours of sensual viewing pleasure.
What do women want in sex and porn? HER PORN has the answer. We hope you will enjoy the many different flavours of female-made porn – from vanilla to kinky, straight to queer and soft to hard.
The film is in the process of being distributed and I can’t really name any online places to buy it beyond the European store Openerotik.com. And of course, you can order through Petra’s site.
I’ll do another post soon with the trailer for the film, plus a bit more information. But for now, just enjoy the cover. Yes. That’s Mia and Andy right underneath the big red letters. Ooh, I feel all funny.
Related Posts:
The Eroticism Of Fashion
Thursday, February 4th, 2010This is a short film shown before Yves Saint Laurent’s 2009 fall fashion show for men.
It consists of only a full-frame shot of Michael Pitt’s face as he listens to an unseen woman talk to him erotically about clothes. “I lift up the T-shirt that peeks out from the sleeves and see underneath, you’re stark naked,” she rasps in French. “You dream of me rubbing your feet… I raise the veil from your leather belt and discover where your firm, flat stomach begins. Trousers which, though baggy, fall perfectly straight.”
Is it sexy? Well he’s certainly good looking and it feels like Jennifer Lyon Bell’s film Headshot or a Beautiful Agony video. The French voiceover sounds great although it may be seen as pretentious. I’m not sure I can read that much eroticism into clothing, I must admit, but if you like fashion, it may be a winner.
Related Posts:
Berlin Porn Film Festival 2009
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009It took five weeks but here, finally, is my little doco about the 2009 Berlin Porn Film Festival. It’s a little over 4 minutes and you’ll hear some great comments about feminist porn by some of the fab female directors I met including Shine Louise Houston, Anna Brownfield, Candida Royalle, Anna Span, Petra Joy, Jennifer Lyon Bell and Renee Pornero. Plus a quick cameo from Joe Gallant and footage from the Petra Joy Awards presentation.
A much longer version went live at For The Girls yesterday and I’ll also be uploading more footage there soon. Candida Royalle’s lecture about her films is particularly interesting – that’s waiting for a future update. I also wrote an expansive article about my experiences in Berlin for FTG.
The short blog version is that I had a ball, won an award, met lots of wonderful people and wished it could have gone for another 3 days. I didn’t get to enjoy nearly enough films because I was so busy with the Petra Joy Award but the ones I did see were amazing.
It was the people I met that really made it worthwhile. I interviewed Shine Louise Houston from the Crash Pad Series and was so impressed with her drive and knowledge. She’s a woman with a plan and she’s going to become even more of a force to be reckoned with in the future.
Well-known director Joe Gallant could well be the nicest man in the world. We talked the future of porn and hopefully we can work together at sometime next year. He said he thought I’d like Bong Water Butt Babes but I wasn’t so sure. He made me aware of how disconnected I am from the mainstream porn industry… something for which I’m kind of grateful.
Anna Brownfield is a card. We were so pleased to meet each other and had the comraderie of two Aussies lost in Europe, trying not to slip into slang when giving interviews. Her film The Band was such a standout and it shows you can easily marry explicit sex, comedy and great storytelling.
I also got to meet Lisa Vandever from Cinekink who is so much fun and easy to talk to, as is Vena Virago, a wild, pink haired artist who just happens to make porn for Vivid Alt. And I found myself getting stupidly protective towards the gorgeous Julie Simone, who is very quiet and shy, despite being a fearsome BDSM Mistress who can rock a rubber dress.
And then there’s Jennifer Lyon Bell of Blue Artichoke Films who I met last year. Jen is kind of like the social glue of the event, introducing people and arranging dinners and you couldn’t encounter a warmer, more positive person.
I even got to say hello to Candida Royalle, albeit briefly. Indeed, I cringe a little when I think about it. I was feeling a little starstruck and eagerly handed her my card which read Louise Lush. “That’s my new pretendy name,” I said.
Pretendy name??? Sheesh! I like to flatter myself that I have a decent vocabulary but do you think I could remember the word pseudonym for love or money at that moment? My husband has been teasing me about my pretendy name ever since.
OK, enough name dropping. Suffice to say I made lots of contacts and, as you see in the film, we all feel like we’ve found a family in Berlin.
I’ve since discovered quite a few of the short films on Youtube or other free sites around the web. I’m hoping to feature these on the blog in the future.
And as expensive as it is to travel all that way I think I’ll have to go back in 2010. The festival is too much fun and far too useful to miss out on.
Related Posts:
Violet Blue On Oprah
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009Someone has helpfully posted the segment on the Oprah show featuring Violet Blue so I’ve finally been able to watch what was said.
Violet has posted her feelings about the show on her blog and they’re overwhelmingly positive. I like this bit:
Look closely at this show and you’ll notice that Oprah has reframed the entire conversation: we women are not ‘tolerated’ or marginalized for exploring our inhibitions, voicing our desires, or owning our sexual agency — we are embraced. The 1 in 3 consumers of adult material online — women — were finally acknowledged, and with respect for a change…
Myths and stereotypes: smashed! We live in a world where women are more sexually powerful and articulate than any other time in history because of the internet and emergent communicative technologies. Oprah’s hip to it. You’re soaking in it. And that’s really, outrageously exciting for all of us.
She’s right, of course. It’s wonderful that women’s erotica got such a good airing on a mainstream TV show without the usual negativity.
I do, however, have a gripe. I feel that the show only seemed to skim the surface of the topic and it did so in a way that seemed to focus much more on the mainstream porn industry rather than the burgeoning indie/women’s porn movement that I feel is doing a better job at catering to women. I think having the interview with Jenna Jameson as the main focus meant things were skewed that way.
That moment when Oprah first asked about Violet’s recommended movies had me holding my breath, waiting to hear Tony Comstock’s name, or Nica Noelle’s, or Shine Louise Houston’s or even Candida Royalle’s. Alas, it turned into a plug for Jenna’s relatively mainstream film The Masseuse, fab though that may be.
And it’s wonderful for Playgirl and director Skye Blue to get a mention but for me that company is a prime example of mainstream porn aiming at a female market but not necessarily getting it right. The Playgirl movies I’ve seen look great and can inspire a mood but they still feature the same old porn stars having the same old porny sex. They’re nice enough but they could be so much more.
Of course, maybe I’m just jealous. Actually, I AM jealous, dammit. Once again, online porn receives much less media attention than “real” porn offered via movies (although now that DVD sales have tanked, this may change).
The main thing is, it’s a start and it was good that Oprah even dared to tackle the topic (especially given some of the negative and vitriolic reactions from viewers in the forum).
Now that Oprah has announced a new cable lifestyle channel we can look forward to a sexuality-themed TV series, one that has more time to devote to women’s erotica.
I can dream, can’t I?
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Candida Releases “Feeling It” Plus More Porn Movies For Women
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
In the last week Adam and Eve and Candida Royalle have released Petra Joy’s Feeling It to the US market. The film has a new cover, one that’s quite radically different to the old one. As you can see it features a big pic of the female stars all laughing together with champagne. They’re not nude. There are three other pics along the bottom but none are explicit. It’s an interesting idea; the cover art seems to suggest this is a fun, “girl’s night out” kind of film, rather than a porn movie. I’m wondering if it will make a difference to sales.
I think I prefer the original cover which features the gorgeous Belle blissfully caressed by a hunky black guy, their skin contrasting in an alluring way. Perhaps the mainstream people didn’t like the “interracial” overtones… because you can’t just have a black guy and white girl together. You have to label them.
Anyway, this looks like Petra’s big break into the US market which is great; she’s been stymied by difficult distributors in the past. And having Candida’s name on anything will ensure it gets out there and sells.
Meanwhile, I’ve been slaving away updating Porn Movies for Women. I’ve added new directors/companies Anna Brownfield, Courtney Trouble and Joybear plus updated the Playgirl and Sweet Sinner pages with their new titles. And I added a bunch of new names to the Female Directors of Porn page, including myself (hell, why own a huge encyclopedic website if you can’t be a bit biased towards yourself?). It’s becoming apparent that the “hall of fame” of feminist porn directors is getting decidedly large. And that’s fabulous.
And I really need to write up some new reviews but I think I’m knackered.
Edit: I did a quick review of Nica Noelle’s The Stepmother.
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The Post Oprah Washup
Monday, November 23rd, 2009
So it’s been almost a week since Oprah did her porn show. I haven’t had a chance to watch it so I can’t comment but it seems the response is not as positive as we’d like it to have been.
This seems due to the fact that the show relied heavily on an interview with Jenna Jameson. Reading comments in the Oprah forums after the show had aired, I was depressed to see so much negativity towards the topic and also toward Jenna herself. Perhaps not surprising – blonde, silicone-boobed Jenna is not exactly the sort of celebrity who appeals to your average soccor mom/Oprah viewer. She’s an example of the mainstream porn industry rather than the new alternative porn that is seeking to cater to women.
By all accounts Violet did a great job but it was Jenna who got the attention – along with Vivid founder Steve Hirsch. The show also featured the owner of an adult store. What is interesting is the number of people who weren’t interviewed.
Which brings us to Candida Royalle. She’s made a comment on Facebook saying she’s “miffed” at the Oprah show for the way it was conducted:
Anyone catch Jenna Jameson on the Oprah show? Jenna trying to take credit for ‘feminist porn’ was a joke. Only thing worse was watching Vivid founder Steve Hirsch try to take credit for the ‘couples market’. Oh really? Was he even in business when I created my Femme line for women and couples in 1984?…
So here’s the deal: I was called by the producers in June and worked with them for 5 months on that show…only to be canned at the last minute along with a bevy of other far more qualified and significant women who made a difference for women in porn…
In the end they went for the most famous, wealthiest and recognizable person who they hoped would bring in the ratings…it is after all sweeps month.
(Quote is from LukeisBack)
I do think it’s a pity that Candida and other female-friendly porn producers (and stars) couldn’t have been on the show. Hell, I’d have paid my own way over there to be on it and give my 9 years’ worth of 2 cents. But I guess it’s a mainstream show and, like Candida said, they wanted something to give them ratings and headlines.
There have been a few articles about the show:
E!Online offered this snarky short piece: Jameson to Oprah: I’m One Classy Lassie
The Examiner had several opinion pieces on the episode. Suzanne White offered this analysis of the show, concluding that it was focused on Jenna rather than on women consuming porn.
Interestingly, Google News lists Oprah/Jenna stories from such worthy tomes as The Plastic Surgery Channel and Celebrity Baby Scoop. I decided not to link to those.
Here’s the page on Oprah.com describing the show along with several other links (including, unfortunately, an article that states that “men are visual, women are textual”).
So… all in all, it hasn’t exactly been the big win I was hoping for.
Incidentally, if I had the luxury of compiling a show about women, porn and the new wave of feminist porn, I’d want to invite a massive guest list. My stars would include:
Candida Royalle, Annie Sprinkle, Nina Hartley, Veronica Hart, Shine Louise Houston, Anna Brownfield, Jennifer Lyon Bell, Tony Comstock, Petra Joy, Erika Lust, Marianna Beck, Maria Beatty, Nina Lennox, Anna Span, Nica Noelle, Jamye Waxman, Audacia Ray, Tina Tyler, Estelle Joseph, Tristan Taormino, Madison Young, Mia Engberg…
And me of course.
Now that I’ve compiled that list, it’s pretty damned impressive, actually, and nowhere near comprehensive.
Here’s hoping the Oprah show decides they haven’t given the topic enough attention and has another go.
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For The Girls Sample Galleries
Ms Naughty On Twitter- msnaughty: RT @Mistress_Fiona: #feministhopes2012 Politicians & media stop assuming all women are interested in childcare - plenty of us do not hav ...
- msnaughty: When I saw Google's privacy change emails last week it felt like they'd finally jumped the shark... I don't trust them anymore.
- msnaughty: Turning off personal results in Google. http://t.co/aOEjqDxc Now if I could just turn of geo targeting...
- msnaughty: Yay. Google did something not evil, first time in a while. You can now turn off personalised search via a radio button in search settings
- msnaughty: RT @Colvinius: I genuinely believe those two, "Don't be a dickhead", and "everything you post is public" are all you need from a social ...
