Ms Naughty Porn for Women Blog
Ms Naughty looks at porn for women, the adult industry and sex in general.
Sexy Science: Female Orgasms In An MRI
Thursday, November 17th, 2011
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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Porn Research: Younger Women More Likely To Use Porn
Wednesday, October 19th, 2011In February I met Dr Clarissa Smith who told me about the massive research project into porn that she was undertaking with collegues Feona Attwood and Martin Barker. Not long after they put out the call for porn users to participate in their survey which aimed to look at porn use in a non-judgemental way.
They received 5,490 responses to their questionaire and a heap of extended emails. They’re currently working their way through a mountain of information (over 1.2 million words) and expect it will take some time to reach any extensive conclusions. Nonetheless, they’ve put out a preliminary report of the survey, with some useful statistics and information.
Naturally I was interested in their demographic data, particularly when it came to women. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the survey threw up the same “one third” figure that repeatedly appears in statistics about porn. In this case, 31.6% of respondents were female, a figure that is pretty similar to the Nielsen Netratings’ 2003 report which is regularly quoted in the media (and on this blog). What’s really interesting is how much age is a factor in porn use for women:
As you can see, women aged 18-25 are far more likely to use porn than their older counterparts.
The authors make this interesting point:
What we can’t tell,from this snapshot, is whether this is simply a ‘passing phase’ for them, or whether it signals that wider generational shift we think we have identified – something which over time will reduce the overall differences between male and female interest in pornography.
It’s only an opinion (and largely anecdotal) but I think they’re on the right track. From what I’ve seen online, today’s young women have no problem with porn and a lot of them embrace it just as easily as their male friends. Previously there’s been a cultural difference in how women were brought up – there was no entrenched culture of sharing porn among the women of twenty or even ten years ago. Now, with the ubiquity of online porn, the male-female divide has weakened.
Of course, the majority of porn is still aimed at men and I think that partly accounts for the disparity in usage rates between men and women.
The report goes on to say that men attach more importance to porn and use it more frequently. When it comes to why people use porn, simple sexual gratification was the most popular reason. A user feels horny, they satisfy the urge with porn. Interestingly, they also found that a lot more women used porn to induce arousal than men.
Among the other results: DVDs are on the way out, tube sites are hugely popular and pop-up ads don’t convince people to look at porn. Also, amateur porn sites are far more popular than a lot of upmarket studio-produced porn sites.
I can’t wait to see the extended results. It will be incredibly useful to have this kind of research available, especially as there really isn’t enough unbiased information about porn use out there.
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“Women Prefer Funny To Flawless”
Monday, March 7th, 2011
The SMH is reporting a survey by soap company Dove which asked women what they found attractive in a man. The big winner is a good sense of humour:
“Sixty five per cent of women surveyed said they are turned off by guys seeking physical perfection, with 86 per cent citing vanity as one of the biggest turn-offs in a man.
“Although one in four men view a muscular tanned physique as desirable, women prefer a man with a warm inner glow to hot looks.
“A convincing 99 per cent of women would in fact prefer a funny guy with good manners to the perfect Paragon.”
I have to agree, a guy who makes you laugh is very appealing. Of course, if you’re just out for a perve, this may take a back seat. The other thing about this is it’s a soap company survey so you have to take it with a pinch of.. um, soap.
The comments underneath that article are a whole other can of worms. The first ten of so are from guys vowing that it’s not true, that all women are shallow and self obsessed and will only go for good looking guys. As a later commenter wrote: “It’s good to see that no one here harbours any kind of resentment from rejection.”
This pic is an “outtake” from the photo shoot we did with male stripper Jay a few years ago. As you can see, Jay is a man who knows how to laugh. He’s also hot. One doesn’t preclude the other.
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The “Pornified” Woman?
Monday, January 17th, 2011So while I’ve been off enjoying a break and then enduring flooding, anti-porn author Gail Dines has continued to wave her promotional flag, heavy as it is with assumptions and untruths. Unfortunately The Guardian likes to give her lots of space to do this. Her latest salvo was from the AVN expo in Las Vegas. Aside from her usual generalisations, she offered this particuarlly offensive paragraph:
One of the seminars at this year’s expo is called In the Company of Women. Here academics will mix with pornographers to share ideas on how to develop niche products targeted to women. I’m sure there will be lots of talk about how women can be empowered by watching porn, because the pornographers, being the savvy businessmen they are, like nothing more than telling women that porn is actually good for them. This is their “trick”, and one we must resist if we want to replace the plasticised, formulaic and generic images of the pornographers with an authentic sexuality based on our own experiences, longings, and desires.
Gail Dines seems to think that the porn industry is exclusively run by men and that attempting to create erotica for women is some kind of dirty capitalist trick to fool women.
As a woman who has worked for ten years to create alternative porn that does depict our own experiences, longings and desires, I feel pretty pissed off at this ridiculous claim. And no doubt all the other female directors and webmasters and happy porn performers would agree. I originally discovered this article via British filmmaker Petra Joy who wrote:
It negates the existence of any female porn directors, events such as the feminist porn awards and also the (increasing) number of women who enjoy watching porn. This article therefore victimizes and patronizes all women. It is an angle on porn which is very dated, stuck in the eighties, rather than embracing all the new trends in porn.
What about the women who choose to express themselves in porn or the women who watch and enjoy porn because it inspires them or turns them on? Gail says we do not exist and all porn is bad when she has only seen the tip of the iceberg. If you go to the most commercial adult event on the planet such as the AVN show, don’t be surprised if you get the ultra mainstream and commercial end of the stick.
Meanwhile, Violet Blue has pointed me towards an opinion piece in Salon which says that many women aren’t “pornified” as the commentators would suggest. They make their own decisions and many aren’t very interested in porn at all.
Those of us in our 20s and early 30s who were the first to come of age with free hardcore porn at our fingertips were said to be taking pole-dancing classes, waxing our nether regions and sticking our tongues down each other’s throats for show. We were supposedly “having sex like men” and “screwing like porn stars.” Our sexual coat of arms would feature a “Girls Gone Wild” T-shirt, a stripper heel and a MacBook live-streaming hardcore action. There is some truth there — yet many young women are remarkably unfamiliar with actual porn, and a gulf still remains between the sexes in talking about it.
Given that the article by Gail Dines relates an unsupported anecdote about women using pubic hair to avoid sex, Salon makes a good point. There’s plenty of moral panic about the idea that women are being persuaded to do porny things in the bedroom against their will, but is it really true? Where’s the evidence?
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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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Mainstream Movies Ignore Women: The Bechdel Test
Thursday, July 29th, 2010This great video details The Bechdel Test, which is a way of measuring how mainstream movies treat women. To pass the test, a movie has to:
(1) have at least two women in it, who (2) who talk to each other, about (3) something besides a man.
The test first appeared in 1985 in Alison Bechdel’s comic Dykes to Watch Out For.
This site has a growing list of films that do pass the test. Films from 2010 include: Toy Story 3, Sex and the City 2 and, perhaps surprisingly, The Karate Kid. What’s more interesting is applying the test to your favourite movies. It makes you realise that the male point of view has become so normalised that we’re often blind to the marginalisation of women in films. Worse still, this whole attitude seems to be entrenched in Hollywood and is actually taught in film schools.
The idea of applying the Bechdel Test to porn films seems almost ludicrous; porn films are usually about one or more women “discussing” a man, nice and hard. Still, it’s another useful way of revealing just how male-oriented most porn can be.
via Erika Lust.
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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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Australia Has Its First Female Prime Minister
Thursday, June 24th, 2010
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you… Fanta Pants.” – Marieke Hardy
It’s been a bit of a whirlwind 24 hours. I’ve got no work done at all because I’ve been glued to Twitter, news sites and the TV as the Australian political landscape shifted before my eyes.
Australia now has its first female prime minister, Julia Gillard. She was not directly elected to this role; rather, she’s now in the top job after a leadership spill that saw members of the ruling Labor party vote for her rather than Kevin Rudd. Our Westminster style of government can be brutal like this and part of me is a little sad that it all had to happen this way.
Nonetheless, as I watched Julia being sworn in as PM by our first ever female Governor-General, I felt a little shiver. I was watching a defining moment in our history. Finally, a woman holds the highest political office in the land. As someone said on Twitter: “At last, Australia has moved in to the 20th Century.”
Australia was only the second country in the world to give women the vote in 1901 so we’re overdue for this. A timeline of other first female leaders shows that 43 other nations have installed women as prime ministers or presidents before us. The very first was Sri Lankan Sirimavo Bandaranaike in 1960; Margaret Thatcher was the 6th.
Julia Gillard has been in parliament since 1998 and was Deputy Prime Minister from 2007 til now. I’m not sure if she’s going to make any of the political changes I desperately want her to make, like dumping the internet filter policy or properly implementing policies to prevent further climate change. In theory she’s a leftie but the last couple of years have shown that she’s really a political pragmatist with a strong predilection for spin. Politically, she could well be a huge disappointment for me.
Still, I’m feeling far too happy that she’s got the job. Only 3 days ago Kevin Rudd was kowtowing to the Christian Right via a closed webcast to churches. Julia has gone on record as saying she’s “non-religious” which means we might see an end to the increasingly disturbing sway of Christians over our government.
Demographically, Julia is also very unusual… and my kind of girl. She’s unmarried (but in a happy de facto relationship) and made the decision not to have children. This is groundbreaking stuff if you consider she’s flouted the prevailing wisdom of “family values”. She’s been abused for being “barren” and therefore not understanding the lives and needs of Australian women and naturally I call bullshit on that. I do think however, that her decision not to have kids has helped her get to the top job. I think politics is such a nasty business that you have to give it all your attention; most men in power leave child-raising to their wives and do this without criticism. She should be offered the same respect. She made a decision that would mean she didn’t have to make compromises with her career or family and I absolutely admire her for that.
Of course, I can’t help but feel supportive of her because she’s a redhead like me. We’re a minority and easily picked on in this country. The twitter feed was awash with bluey, ginger and ranga jokes (”I for one welcome our new ranga overlords” was popular). And hell, even I like to use the term “Fanta Pants” because it’s one of the more amusing phrases. We redheads don’t get that many role models – the best I could do was Sarah Ferguson in the 80s – so it’s great to see one of us up there. Julia even mentioned it in her speech, that she might be the first redhead PM (not true, though, that was James Scullin in the 20s). One of the more amusing cartoon depictions labels her as the Powerfox, a name which seems rather apt.
The hair is one thing. It will be interesting to see if the media gives in and starts making comments on her clothes and general appearance. I hope she doesn’t let them get away with it. Whatever her politics, Julia Gillard is a very clever and powerful woman who does not deserve to be marginalised because of her gender.
Still, she’s already been called an ugly, witchy, shrill bitch. All the usual terms for a powerful woman. I’m sure she’s used to it by now.
So there it is. In spite of my happiness with Julia’s elevation, I still won’t be supporting Labor. I still think anyone who cares about free speech and human rights should vote for The Sex Party in the Senate and the Greens in the lower house.
Now, back to your regularly scheduled smut.
Pics from the SMH, News.com.au and Crikey.
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Found: Victorian-Era Sex Survey Of Women
Friday, April 9th, 2010
Stanford Magazine reports on the extraordiary discovery of a sex survey conducted in the 1890s by Dr. Clelia Duel Mosher, a professor at that university. The good Dr. collected questionaires asking women to reveal their intimate thoughts on sex. It’s now the earliest known sex survey on record and reveals some surprising information about Victorian-era women.
The Mosher Survey recorded not only women’s sexual habits and appetites, but also their thinking about spousal relationships, children and contraception. Perhaps, it hinted, Victorian women weren’t so Victorian after all.
Indeed, many of the surveyed women were decidedly unshrinking. One, born in 1844, called sex “a normal desire” and observed that “a rational use of it tends to keep people healthier.” Offered another, born in 1862, “The highest devotion is based upon it, a very beautiful thing, and I am glad nature gave it to us.”
…
Slightly more than half of these educated women claimed to have known nothing of sex prior to marriage; the better informed said they’d gotten their information from books, talks with older women and natural observations like “watching farm animals.” Yet no matter how sheltered they’d initially been, these women had—and enjoyed—sex. Of the 45 women, 35 said they desired sex; 34 said they had experienced orgasms; 24 felt that pleasure for both sexes was a reason for intercourse; and about three-quarters of them engaged in it at least once a week.
Dr. Mosher was a very determined woman and an early feminist. The article is well worth reading.
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Women Are Watching More Porn Than Ever
Thursday, February 18th, 2010
Women are watching more porn than ever. At least, that’s the conclusion if you read The Sun’s latest survey (and I will admit, The Sun must be taken far less seriously than other newspapers).
Around 76 per cent of women now admit* to using porn – a ten per cent rise on the two-thirds of girls who admitted to watching porn with their partners in a survey last year.
The most popular format is online porn, which is watched by 61 per cent of couples. Just one couple in 20 looks at magazines, while 18 per cent get their kicks watching porn DVDs on the telly.
The survey of 4,200 women also revealed four in five women like to dress up for their other halves and indulge in role play.
The most popular outfit is a French maid, used by 42 per cent, followed by nurses, chosen by a quarter of women.
The survey was actually by a site called Netmums which gives you an idea of the demographics. Apparently women have a lot less time and energy for sex at the moment but they’re putting more effort into it when they get the chance.
* I hate how newspaper use the word “admit” like porn use is a crime. It casts the whole thing into a negative light. Thankfully the article includes interviews with (and photos of) three typical porn-loving women. This is a really positive thing to include because it shows that women who like a bit of porn are just everyday, normal chicks who want to enjoy their sex lives using whatever tools are available to them.
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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.
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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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IGAD! International Gynae Awareness Day
Monday, October 12th, 2009
I’m disappointed I missed it this year: International Gynae Awareness Day (and week) was on September 10. It aims primarily to encourage the breaking down of entrenched social, and cultural taboos, still surrounding most things ‘gynaecological’.
It was founded by Kath Mazella, who 15 years ago endured radical surgery to overcome vulval cancer; she had her vulva and clitoris removed to save her life. She’s now working to make sure this doesn’t have to happen to other women.
Now I considered myself to be fairly well informed about sexual health matters so I’m amazed I’d never heard of vulval cancer. And to be honest, it scares the crap out of me. Cervical cancer, ovarian cancer… we all know about those. But this? Losing your clit? That’s fucking dreadful! How do we check for this? Do doctors even know anything about it?
Thankfully, the GAIN site has information here.
One of the things Kath campaigns on is the correct usage of the word “vulva” to describe the female genitals. She, like me, is sick of people calling it the vagina.
Even today, we find it difficult to talk about our genitalia, and to use the correct name for these precious parts of our own bodies. The founder of GAIN – Kath Mazzella, a survivor of vulval cancer was surprised, then angry, and finally frustrated, to continually hear many, many women, the world over, refer to their “vulva” as their “vagina”!
Shockingly, Kath has even been told by government funding agencies to tone down her language because the word “vulva” is pornographic. “Vagina”, however, is OK. Can you believe the nonsense some people perpetuate?
In any case, this post is a plug for Kath and her good work. And also to show off that spectacular logo: isn’t it cute?
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The “Real Reasons” Why Women Have Sex?
Wednesday, September 9th, 2009The Murdoch Newspapers have this week been plugging a book called Why Women Have Sex by Cindy Meston and David Buss. After surveying 1000 women they authors claim they know the “real reasons” why women have sex and say that desire, lust or attraction come a long way down the list.
The 1,006 women interviewed as research for the book gave some very surprising answers. One claimed she did it for a spiritual experience, because it is “the closest thing to God”. Others listed “cure for stress headache”, “to make my sexual skills better” and “for a clearer complexion”.
But the majority, 84 per cent, admit they have sex to ensure a quiet life or to bargain for their partners to carry out household chores. One said: “I have sex to relieve the boredom. Because it’s easier than fighting. Plus it gives me something to do.”
I’m not sure what to make of this research. I don’t doubt that women do have sex for a variety of reasons including keeping their husband happy. But this quote makes me a little suspicious:
“Research has shown that most men find most women at least somewhat sexually attractive, whereas most women do not find most men sexually attractive at all,” the authors, who are both psychology professors at the University of Texas, conclude.
Um, what research is that? Because I’ve never heard of it and it seems a ridiculously broad thing to say about “most women.”
Add to that the way that the Murdoch papers, such as this report in the Courier Mail, seem keen to ramp up the idea that all women are just manipulating men using sex. It’s also shocked that a woman would have sex for sheer pleasure. “Rather than love or romance, for many women sex is just about fun,” says their report. No, really? You’re kidding me?
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Nightline’s Women And Porn Show Finally Airs
Thursday, August 13th, 2009
Back in June I reported that ABC’s Nightline was going to show a report women’s interest in porn and sex toys. The piece was bumped several times and it’s only just been broadcast. The report included appearances by Candida Royalle and Nica Noelle. For The Girls was initially contacted by the show but we never heard back from them.
In any case, there’s a longish article to accompany the report on the ABC website. I can only groan at the ubiquitous mention of Sex and the City but it does have some nice quotes from Candida and Nica.
“Women generally want to know why two people are having sex,” said Nica Noelle, a top porn director. “They want to know what the relationship is between those two people. … They want to feel that it’s a relationship that matters to both of the characters. And that the sex is passionate and intimate. And none of those things were really being portrayed in the porn that was out there.”
Update 14th August
Nightline has put the report online so I’ve had a chance to watch it. The yoga thing felt like a waste of space but otherwise I think it was a good, positive piece. Candida and Nica were great. What’s interesting is their focus on the amount of time spent on plot vs sex, as if this is the way to define porn for women. There was also the usual emphasis on relationships, realism and intimacy which will no doubt fire up a backlash among some porn loving women.
I was very pleased to see my site Porn Movies For Women appear, albeit briefly. Here’s a screenshot:
It’s interesting that, once again, the focus is on films rather than websites, even though the statistics quoted relate to internet porn.
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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 ...
