Ms Naughty Porn for Women Blog

Vice blog has some fascinatingg interviews with four of the main stars of the new wave of authentic lesbian porn – Dylan Ryan, Syd Blakovich, Madison Young and Jiz Lee. These women dish the dirt on what it’s really like to be a porn star, share anecdotes about bodily fluid mishaps and also give their views of feminist porn. Worth reading.

Here’s some quotes from Jiz Lee:

So you’re sincerely turned on when you’re working.
Yes, and I wouldn’t do it any other way. Being turned on and having a good time filming is one of the [major] reasons I do what I do. I also do it consciously knowing that I represent queer homo hapa faggy soft-butch dykes…

Even down to aesthetics like hair–I have hair, and I like the way it looks. Every now and then I’ll shave it ’cause I want to play, not because that’s the way beauty has to be. I’d say “Fuck The Man” but lots of straight dudes dig my work and my hairy asshole. I have words for them: All my pubes are my feelers, and the hair around my asshole is my wizard. And it is very, very wise. Some folks say that “disco bush” is back in style. Mine is “disco gutter.”

Here’s a relatively long video report from the Feminist Porn Awards, held on the 25th April. The video is by Xtra which is a queer friendly site and it gives some great interviews from award participants.

What it doesn’t do, however, is give the viewer a complete picture of the awards, mainly because it focuses solely on the queer performers. And I’ve noticed that in the last week, almost all the reports, blog posts and Tweets concerned themselves with the lesbian, trans and queer films that received awards. Even my recent blog post about how the lesbians are creating amazing porn was in the same vein.

But you know what? I feel like this isn’t quite right. Sure, the queer films that won are fantastic and deserve to be lauded, but I feel as if the straight films didn’t really get much of a look in.

Mimi Balfour made an appearance at the awards and her film Man of My Dreams received a special award but she’s rarely been mentioned in the reports I’ve read. Tony Comstock has received his third Feminist Porn Award for Bill and Desiree but you wouldn’t know it unless you check back through the previous award pages. Intense Desires by Lennox Films won Sexiest Straight Film but I’ve got no idea what it’s about and no-one seems to have written about it whatsoever.

There’s a few reasons for the queer emphasis this year. One is that more queer and lesbian films won awards than straight films. That’s not a problem, as the Feminist Porn Awards have always had a large variety of categories that recognise the diversity of new wave porn. The award night itself was heavily attended by the creators and stars of queer and lesbian movies such as Syd Blakovich, Madison Young, Courtney Trouble and Dylan Ryan. Also, the people doing a lot of the blogging about this subject are lesbian or queer so that’s where their interest lies.

Even so, I feel the urge to wave the flag for some of the straight films that won awards and received honorable mentions (especially Jennifer Lyon Bell’s Matinee and Erika Lust’s Barcelona Sex Project). And I also hope that straight women new to the awards don’t write it off as a “gay event”, something that doesn’t involve them. Because that’s exactly the kind of division we don’t need or want.

I love the idea of the Feminist Porn Awards – that’s why For The Girls ended up sponsoring it this year. It’s an inclusive event that recognises ethics and excellence in adult films of all kinds – and yes, that includes straight movies as well.

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while. The results of the 2009 Feminist Porn Awards have given me a bit more motivation.

It seems to me that the new wave of queer and dyke porn is showing the rest of the adult industry how porn should work. From the way they treat their talent and audience to the content that is produced, the lesbians are doing things differently.

I’m not talking about your standard “girl-girl” stuff, of course. I’m talking about the authentic dyke and queer porn as created by Shine Louise Houston’s Pink and White Productions, or the Good Dyke Porn website, or NoFauxxx, or Madison Young or Nica Noelle or Maria Beatty. These are people, companies and websites who are blazing a new trail, ignoring the old rules about what porn should look like and how it should be made.

The big thing that strikes me is the huge difference in attitude within the lesbian community when it comes to appearing in porn. Apparently the waiting list to appear in Shine’s The Crash Pad Series is enormous. Women are actually queueing for their chance to be in a lesbian porno.

And when they do have their moment in the spotlight, they’re damned proud of it, thank you very much. And their community looks up to them for doing it. There’s no shame, no stigma, no embarrassment. Appearing in lesbian porn is considered to be an exploration of sexuality or an interesting life experience. They are treated extremely well by the filmmakers and are often part of a larger porn-oriented community that supports each other. And dyke porn doesn’t stick to stereotypical body types. Doesn’t matter how you look so long as you’re a good lover on screen.

Contrast this with the way the mainstream, heterosexual industry works. Women are still paid more than men because there’s a stigma attached to being in porn. Actresses are still treated with a lot less respect by a lot of porn companies. There are heirarchies of sex acts to negotiate (”her first anal!”), cosmetic surgery to consider and the growing fear of being washed up at 23. Meanwhile, anti-porn feminists will refuse to believe that mainstream porn actresses are anything other than victims.

When it comes to the content of lesbian porn, things are different again. There are no cliches or rules to be followed. What appears on screen is what lesbians actually do in bed. There’s a sense of realism and a determination to depict sex in honest and meaningful ways. On top of that, there’s no hesitation when it comes to kink or hardcore. Dyke porn can get as dirty as it likes.

There also seems to be a real connection with the audience in queer and dyke porn, an attempt to listen and reflect what the audience wants to see. Contrast this with the endless race to the bottom that is occurring with mainstream porn, the repetition and lack of quality that is regularly churned out.

The ethics and groundbreaking qualities of lesbian and queer pornographers and not unique to those people, of course. There are plenty of other filmmakers and webmasters trying to do things differently. I like to think that I’m one of them. There’s a real desire to create meaningful, ethical porn and I’m sure there’s also a huge audience waiting for it.

And yet I can’t help but feel a little jealous of the lesbians at the moment. They are just going gangbusters. Their audience can’t get enough of the content they create. And damn, they’ve got women waiting months to fuck on camera for them. I’ve got no idea where I’m going to find talent for my next scene!

Imagine a future where all porn was like the current wave of lesbian porn. No sleaze, no stigma, good ethics, decent pay, happy filmmakers, happy talent and happy customers.

I hope it happens one day.

It’s nearly here. My cousin’s lesbian wedding (ooh, sorry, commitment ceremony) is this Saturday. Which means I’m going to be off with the bridesmaid fairies for a little over a week. I’m going to organise some advance blog posts to keep you entertained, but don’t expect anything pithy.

And thus, these shoes. My god. Aren’t they beautiful and terrible? These are the shoes I am wearing as a bridesmaid at the lesbian wedding. Remember that thing about how lesbians were supposed to wear sensible shoes? Forget it.

I’m very, very worried about these shoes. I really like the look of them, but if you read this blog regularly you know that me and high heels get along about as well President Obama and Ann Coulter. And in this metaphor, I get to be Obama and the shoes are Coulter: kind of svelte but also tight, pinchy and seriously unstable.

And this is an outdoor wedding. Beside a lake. I, with my big, square hobbit feet, am being asked to somehow balance myself on 4 inch heels across grass and mud, and look fabulous at the same time.

I will do it of course. This wedding is just so important. It’s a statement of love and acceptance. And it’s an occasion when my extended family will get together and party and prove that all our differences can be overcome through shared experience and ongoing affection.

Wish me luck.

A survey by a site called Gaydar Girls has found that lesbians want to watch more porn, but they find that most of the stuff on offer sucks.

Why am I not surprised?

This press release says:

According to a survey conducted by the leading lesbian networking portal gaydargirls.com, women like their films to be feminine and sexy, with a something of a plot or storyline and loads of on screen chemistry between the women.

And a whopping 70 per cent said they would buy more porn if the sex was targeted properly at lesbians, which suggests that girl-on-girl porn films could potentially become a massive new spectator sport given a lot more innovation and investment.

The site did a survey about what kind of stuff lesbians and bi girls wanted to see:

• 82.2 per cent want plenty of foreplay
• 72.8 per cent want to see oral sex
• 68.8 per cent want more clitoral stimulation
• 59.9 per cent want to see more chemistry and tension between the stars
• 58.3 per cent like to see sex toys
• 54.5 per cent want more of a build up/anticipation in films

They need to visit my authentic lesbian porn page at Porn Movies for Women to find the good stuff.

I’ve just finished watching The Black Glove to review it for For The Girls, and I just have to blog about how fantastic the films of Maria Beatty are. This gorgeous filmmaker creates lesbian BDSM movies that are extraordinarily well crafted with a distinct artistic sensibility.

The Black Glove has an amazing ethereal quality to it, like you’re watching someone’s dark fantasy come to life.

I’m pleased to say that Maria now has her own lovely site where you can watch her large collection of erotic films.

I’ve made a list of her films here at Porn Movies For Women. Or you can watch them individually at Hot Movies.

If you want to know more about Maria, check out this fab interview with her in Eros Zine.

I sometimes muse about the way that the nude male body is hidden from public view, but the female form is considered to be public property.

Apparently this is not the case in the gay community. MCV has a piece discussing the fact that advertisers targeting gay men almost always resort to using beefcake to sell their wares. Doesn’t matter what the product is, chances are it will be accompanied by images of naked men.

The author ponders what this says about the gay community and how it is perceived by advertisers. She also questions whether gay men are being conditioned to accept it. Are they being “dumbed down” by advertising?

It’s hard for a lesbian to imagine being targeted in this way. The mainstream may consider us ugly, but never dumb.

In fact, I have a gay travel book which pictorially depicts lesbians at art galleries, restaurants and places of historical interest, but the boys are always beachside, resplendent in their Speedos.

Advertising always seems to be about stereotypes, doesn’t it?

I did a little search on “gay advertising” and found the Commercial Closet Association which aims to help advertisers be a little less obvious in their messages.

If nothing else, this story has given me an excuse to post that hilarious gay hot dog ad. I got it from this page which features a number of amusing gay ads. I also like the “We’re just as excited as you are” Volvo ad.

No, that title doesn’t mean your usual girl-girl, long fingernail stuff. I’m talking about real life lesbians, making porn that reflects their sexuality.

Today I stumbled on a rather extensive academic essay entitled The Politics Of Lesbian Pornography. The author looks at the contrast between anti-porn feminism and the work of lesbian filmmakers such as SIR and Fatale Video. The essay seems to date from about 2001. I skimmed through it, partly because of the awful layout (white text on black background) but it does seem worth reading. For a start, it’s chock a block full of good quotes about porn and feminism. E.g.

The political engagement of S.I.R. demonstrates the need to look beyond the academy in the study of pornography. As we have seen, popular culture can produce theorists. These theorists deserve legitimation within feminism. Women who work in or intersect with pornography in some way have the most to tell us about its effects. Declaring them anti-feminist and their views irrelevant silences the voices of the experts. These women deserve not to be barred from or “black-listed” by the movement. How are we ever to truly know the effects of pornography on women unless we open academic forums to those who are most affected by it?

So… now I’ve been all academic, it’s time to recommend some good lesbian porn.

Adult film producer Shine Louise Houston now has her own porn site, The Crash Pad series. It’s a sequel of sorts to the award-winning film The Crash Pad.

Another authentic lesbian paysite has been launched. Good Dyke Porn is the creation of Canadian filmmaker Bren Ryder. Bren has already created a feature film of the same name and has now decided to make those scenes plus new ones available via a membership site.

It’s also got a blog and a few freebie clips. The former is already a good read and the latter are pretty hot. It’s the sort of stuff I saw on Ashley and Kisha so I know it’s authentic dyke sex.

Canadian news site Xtra has a feature about Bren and her new site. Says Bren:

“Dyke porn is a genre. I just made up that genre because it doesn’t really exist,” Ryder explains when asked about classifying her films. “There’s lesbian porn that’s girl on girl, that’s totally different. That’s produced by men and doesn’t resemble what women do together. Dyke porn is like queer porn because it includes trans men and it’s very fluid with sexuality and gender. So it’s hard to specifically classify it as dyke porn, but I do because I want to include all those things in the word dyke.”

Interestingly, Bren not only works behind the camera but also gets involved in scenes with her models. Now that’s being immersed in your work!

Previous posts:
A new authentic lesbian porn site (Crash Pad Series)
Authentic lesbian porn (Cyberdyke)

When it comes to porn on the internet, the ratios go something like this*: 99.9% of it is produced for men (gay or straight), about 0.95% of it is for straight women and the remaining 0.05% is aimed at a lesbian audience. Up until now there’s only been one full paysite made explicitly for dykes.

That’s now changed. Shine Louise Houston, the woman behind indie film company Pink and White Productions (previous posts here and here), has extended the idea of her award-winning film The Crash Pad to include a website. The Crash Pad Series lets you enjoy new hardcore lesbian scenes on your PC.

The premise behind the Crash Pad is that it’s a place for lesbian couples to get it on, no holds barred. These are real-life lesbians who often make love to their real-life partners on camera with none of the ridiculous theatrics that so often accompany girl-girl scenes in porn. This is serious dyke porn, complete with strap-ons and fisting.

The Crash Pad won best lesbian sex scene at the 2006 Feminist Porn Awards in Toronto.

* Of course, I just made those percentages up, I have no idea of the real figures, but for the sake of this post let’s just pretend they’re something like that.