Sex for Sale~Prostitution, Pornography and the Sex Industry (19 page)

1.

feminism

2.

sex positivity

3.

identity politics

While some women primarily identify as feminist, most of the women have broad activist goals that span the three categories.

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Feminism

Most of the women I interviewed (85%) identify as feminist and their feminist activism carries over into their work in pornography. A number of women are involved in various feminist organizations, including nonprofits working in women’s health and reproduction and women’s art collectives. Others have not been involved in direct feminist organizing or activism; for them, feminism is an important identification and also an influence on their work. One woman who rarely attends demonstrations told me that she believes her films are

“where I speak my politics.” However, not all feel comfortable identifying their work as feminist. Some feel this label is too limiting and others see it as a marketing no-no, as one producer told me: “We actually don’t externally do any marketing calling ourselves feminist because that would kill the video.”

Others feel that there were too many different kinds of feminism to use that term.

There are women who readily proclaim their work is feminist, however.

Many are troubled by the rise of antiporn feminism and want to proclaim that women can be feminists and make pornography and that the work they produce is feminist. Some argue their work is feminist because women are in control of the content. Renee, who was formerly a model in feminist porn, a sex educator, and now is the porn buyer for a large sex toy shop, sees this as an important part of her feminist politics:

I think having women in charge of what they’re doing and their vision and having control over how they’re portrayed or what they’re doing is the biggest shift that I see happening right now. And being proud and enthusiastic and sort of reclaiming that energy [unlike] maybe in the past . . . [when] the porn world

[was] profiting primarily off of exposure of women’s bodies. And now a lot of women embracing that and speaking out about the positive aspects of that.

One woman, previously a director of lesbian pornography, who now distributes porn made by women, offered a definition of feminist pornography that was typical of the views of other informants: I’ve heard people say, well, it’s where the women really cum. That’s one way of putting it. In general feminist pornography is made with a female viewer in mind. The guys might get off on it but it’s not made with them in mind and what they’re going to want to look at. It’s more made . . . with what women might want to look at. . . . [It] comes from a women’s own personal experience, I think, with sex that gives her her vision. And she puts it on film hoping that
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other women will appreciate her vision and be something that they can relate to or see themselves in or just get off on. [So] that they don’t feel that when they watch it the women are being taken advantage of or that the women’s feelings aren’t important. The women can look and they can see that woman and she really is having an orgasm.

In a similar vein, Trixie told me: “So I guess that feminist porn to me is porn that doesn’t lie about women. Porn that is honest about sexuality, about women’s sexuality.” Some frame the issue as one about choice. Tristan Taormino makes how-to and gonzo films and has a sex education background: Feminism for me is about choice. And that choice extends to women having choices about what to do with their bodies, about their jobs and their careers, and about their lives on basically on every level: physical, emotional, spiritual, financial, all of that.

Others believe women can be empowered both by the experience of being in porn as well as watching porn. It is around these issues that feminism intersects with sex positivity.

Sex Positivity

Out of recognition of the multiplicity of ways people can experience their sexuality, women who make pornography often embrace the philosophy of sex positivity. “Sex positive” was originally conceived of as one type of sexuality among others in different cultures, along with “sex negative,” “sex neutral,”

and “sex ambivalent.”9 Researchers use these types to understand the role of sexual repression and sexual permissiveness in different societies. Today, the term sex positive is used by a growing number of people who subscribe to the idea that as long as the activities are consensual, sexual practices are inherently healthy and sexual variation should be encouraged. The “sex-positive”

movement is dedicated to providing sex education and advocates for the valorization of all sexual acts, particularly those that have been devalued in the past. In part, sex positivity arose during the feminist “sex wars” of the 1980s as a response to antipornography factions of feminism. Andrea Dworkin and Catherine MacKinnon, who were closely associated with antiporn feminism, fought for the censorship of pornography as a vehicle for curbing violence against women. So, for some, feminism represents “a system of sexual judgment” whereby women are constructed as victims and disempowered objects rather than sexual subjects.10 Because of feminism’s close ties to
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antipornography ideology, some activists within the sex-positive community do not align themselves with feminism. Others see the possibility of working within feminism to not only articulate women’s sexual subjectivity, but also as a platform to fight for sex worker rights.

Sex-positive feminists see pornography as a vehicle to explore, expand, and enhance women’s sexuality. A longtime director and producer of pornography explained sex-positive feminism:

Sex is an important part of women’s lives and it is still negated for a lot of women; women still aren’t free to explore their sexuality like perhaps men are.

So being a pro-sex feminist means I’m working toward and believe in women’s rights to explore fully their sexuality with whatever means they have.

Pornography, then, is a way to give women access to sexual knowledge.

Those with a sex education background almost universally identify as sex positive, and women-run sex toy shops build sex positivity into their mission statements. For some, sex positivity is a philosophy that sex is natural and positive, which made them open to being involved in pornography.

Identity Politics

Many women are activists or identify with particular communities and see pornography as a place where they can put their principles of gender, sexuality, race, and community into practice. Making films from the standpoint of being a woman is an important political statement. Allison made a video with a fellow film student that was marketed as “by women for women”: I think the biggest difference is that it was women making this, not men. That’s the fundamental difference, because we grew up as women, we’ve been gendered as women. So, we set out to make it for different reasons than mainstream men who are making it. We weren’t necessarily trying to make a product, we were trying to make something that women would like.

Some of the women who make alternative pornography, particularly lesbian or queer porn, have a history of activism around LGBT issues including gay/straight alliances, sex education and outreach, ACT-UP and Queer Nation, and queer artist collectives. Some of the pioneers of lesbian pornography were on the front lines of feminist, lesbian political organizing in the 1970s and 1980s. For women like Nan Kinney and Deborah Sundahl, making pornography is directly linked to an activist agenda—changing the
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representations of lesbian sexuality. Nan Kinney, founder of
On Our Backs
magazine and owner of Fatale Media, had this to say: I felt lesbians’ sex lives were being screwed over by the antiporn movement and the antisex lesbians. I personally dated and went out with women that wouldn’t have certain kinds of sex because it was wrong. They wouldn’t even do any kind of penetration because it was influenced by the male-dominated society, and we were identifying with males if we did that and being part of their culture. To be a true lesbian you didn’t do that. And that just really upset me. I thought this is so screwed up, and I took it very personally. And I think the same with Deborah. I think our sexuality was really important to us and we found that sex is a source of power and creativity. And our way of expressing that was putting out
On Our Backs
and then the videos.

Along with portraying “real” women and “real” lesbians, some are also concerned with issues of race. Alex is a mixed-race Asian queer with fluid gender who does not feel represented in mainstream porn: Why I became involved in pornography—a lot of it’s identity politics. As a queer woman of color, there’s very few places that you see yourself out in the world or like a mirror of yourself. And one of the most abundant fields that a queer person can see themselves in [has] obviously been porn. . . . I find myself in that same kind of community and wanting to be a part of that dialogue, and so I step in on this pre-created foundation where porn really is important because of its social position in the representations in politics. And the majority of those representations are owned by affluent, white males, and they give representation to people who they are not. It’s speaking on behalf of someone else. . . . [Women-made porn has] become this path to say, look, there’s all these representations of what queers are, what queer women are, who these people are, and this is one I’m adding myself.

One final category of identity politics involves “alternative” communities or lifestyles. In the last few years there has been a proliferation of websites and DVDs that are considered “alt porn”—alternative pornography. Alt porn, as the name suggests, arose as an alternative to mainstream pornography, which was seen as inauthentic and, for many, something to which they could not relate. Situated near Hollywood, mainstream porn came to be seen as homogenized and mass produced. Whereas mainstream porn models are considered professional and interchangeable, alt porn sites tend to highlight the amateur status and diversity of the models. Alt porn is most popularly
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associated with subcultural groups like punks and Goths, where the models featured have brightly colored, dyed hair, tattoos, piercings, and other body modifications. Mainstream porn companies have taken notice of the success of these sites and have launched alt divisions. Vivid, one of the major mainstream porn companies, has now released 16 DVDs under its imprint, Vivid Alt, that focus on a punk, alternative skater aesthetic. Alt porn has expanded beyond punk music subcultures and there are now vegetarian and environmental porn websites that seek to educate and connect other like-minded people. Pixie, who has modeled for vegetarian and music-based porn sites, thinks alt porn is adding to the diversity of porn and expanding who can identify with it: Alternative is a way to group all the weirdos into one thing. . . . I mean we for the most part are going to look different than your average person. We’re going to have a lot of tattoos or weird hair or piercings. And before this whole thing started that was hard to find. When you looked at porn it was
Playboy
style or
Penthouse
style. And it was very normal looking, airbrushed girls, not that they don’t airbrush us [alt models], they do . . . but I think it’s cool that there’s porn out there for everyone.

Activism also takes place around issues of sex worker rights, racial justice, the environment, HIV, free speech, and domestic violence. While many of these issues are not directly related to pornography, they demonstrate a larger commitment to activism by the women in my study that often translates into viewing pornography as activism as well.

Art and Sex Work Backgrounds

Some women became involved in producing porn through art—as performance artists, filmmakers, painters, photographers, graphic designers, writers, and dancers. What connects these artists is their effort to explore sexuality through art, and in many cases, a sense of familiarity and comfortability with their bodies. Those with filmmaking backgrounds often used their artistic skills for activism and for publicizing their perspective. One African-American director told me: “I have to put an alternate voice out there, I have to. I don’t see that I have a choice; the story is being told. So, you can either bitch and moan about it or you can tell your own story, which is what I’m choosing to do.”

About one-third of the women found their way into porn through their involvement with other types of sex work. These were primarily peep shows, stripping, and dominatrix work, although a few were involved in escorting, phone sex, or massage parlors. Many of these women are also activists in sex
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worker rights groups or the queer community or involved in sex education.

Most also expressed having a longstanding interest in sexuality, telling me they always wanted to engage in work that involved sexuality.

Network Influences

Over one-third were introduced to the porn world through friends or lovers—

although for most this was not their exclusive route into the business. Most were already involved in sex education or activism and, through this work, made contacts in the porn world. The few women for whom networking was the exclusive route were crew members. Women who make porn used their film connections to find women to work for them, so some crew members did not set out specifically to work on porn, but through the filmmaker community took jobs making porn. While alternative porn may not have been their primary work objective, many discussed being supportive of the work, particularly as it relates to activism around gender and sexuality issues About 50% of both actors/models and directors/producers have a background in sex education, as do one-quarter of crew members. Only four of the women with a background in sex education did not go on to make educational porn. Everyone else made at least one educational video. About 60% of both directors/producers and crew members have an artist/filmmaking background, while 40% of the actors/models do. Less than 20% of directors/