The Feminist Porn Book: The Politics of Producing Pleasure (18 page)

29
. Dines, “Porn.”

30
. Lynn Comella, “Feminists Gone Wild: A Response to Porn Critic Gail Dines,”
Las Vegas Weekly,
February 2, 2011,
http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/news/2011/feb/02/feminists-gone-wild-response-porn-critic-gail-dine/
.

31
. Grossberg, “Cultural Studies,” 93.

II

WATCHING AND BEING WATCHED

A Question of Feminism

SINNAMON LOVE

Sinnamon Love
is an adult performer and fetish model. She began performing in adult films in the early 1990s, and has since appeared in approximately two hundred movies. She directed the movie
My Black Ass 4,
which received nominations at the 2001 AVN Awards for Best Ethnic-Themed Video and Best Anal Sex Scene (Video). Love was inducted into the Urban X Hall of Fame in 2009, and the AVN Hall of Fame in 2011. She was profiled in the book
Money Shot: The Wild Nights and Lonely Days Inside the Black Porn Industry
by Lawrence C. Ross Jr. Her writing has appeared in
Hos, Hookers, Call Girls, and Rent Boys: Professionals Writing on Life, Love, Money, and Sex,
edited by David Henry Sterry and R. J. Martin Jr.

I
n 2009, I sat on a panel with notable feminist academics and a feminist pornographer—all of whom were well-respected. I was put on the spot when asked, “Do you consider yourself and your work to be feminist?” I didn’t know how to answer. I tried to steady my voice as I replied, “I’ve never really given that any thought.” The other panelists gave their view of my work and what they knew about me . . . but the question, which I had to answer for myself, remained: “Am I a feminist?”

I was naive about the sexual liberation movement, and had never considered whether or not my decision to flaunt my sexuality on screen was a feminist act. I had never wondered whether fighting for the right to be both mother and sex worker was part of a greater fight for the rights of women around the world. I certainly had never given thought to whether my choice to be tied up, disciplined, and fucked by men and women on film contributed to sexual freedom. All I knew was that I alone was responsible for my body, my life, my sexuality, and my bills. It never crossed my mind that someone might tell me what I should or shouldn’t do with my body or my sex. I knew that prostitution was illegal, and had heard rumblings of the unsuccessful fight for decriminalization in the United States. I knew pornography wasn’t the same as
prostitution, by legal definition, but had no clue about the fight in courtrooms to make it so. I was like many of the porn stars of my generation who entered the adult film industry with the intent of earning a living, having a good time, or both.

When I walked onto my first adult film set at nineteen, I had never seen a porn movie or magazines or been to a strip club. I merely wanted to provide for my family and finish college. I wanted to have a kind of financial stability that I didn’t see possible as a divorced, single mother of two toddlers working two mall jobs and carrying a full load of classes. That first time, having sex with a complete stranger in his apartment wasn’t about a feminist agenda or some sort of promiscuous sexual itch I sought to scratch. It was about the best option I saw for myself at that time; it was about financial freedom.

Even years later, while embroiled in a bitter custody battle, where my decision to work in pornographic movies was a critical issue, I still didn’t consider my fight to be feminist. My angry ex-husband walked into the courtroom holding a VHS box with my image on the cover in a schoolgirl uniform, accusing me of “portraying a child” in the movie. The black female judge that mediated my divorce and subsequent custody hearing told him that my porn career was irrelevant unless there was evidence that the children were neglected or exposed to porn. Was she a feminist? I think the judge was merely following the law, and I was fortunate enough to have gone through the experience in California, where making porn has been legal since 1988.

There is no doubt in my mind today that I am a feminist. I believe first and foremost in choice—whether it’s a woman’s right to choose to work outside the home or the right to a safe, legal abortion. I believe that “no means no,” and provocative attire is never an excuse for rape. I believe in sex-positive childrearing and the right for every person to marry regardless of sexual orientation. I believe that what happens between two consenting adults behind closed doors should never be criminalized and, more importantly, that men and women who choose to engage in sex work for money should be protected, taxed, and able to receive medical benefits as in any other industry.

The question still looms about whether I consider my work to be feminist. I’m not sure I know the answer, even today. I don’t think I’ve ever walked on a video set, turned on my webcam, or worked as a dominatrix with the thought of making a political statement. I’ve set a goal to enjoy my work so that my fans will enjoy it as well. I find myself more concerned with the representation of black women’s sexuality than making a statement only about my gender. Perhaps this is because so many people
fight the good fight on behalf of (white) women and so few are fighting for black women like me. For example, there are countless examples of white women’s sexualities portrayed in porn, but very limited images of African American women. And when you do see black women in porn, they are often stereotyped or demeaned.

When I first started in the industry, I quickly saw that the images of women of color in porn were directly related to what the predominantly white male directors thought was sexy and what they believed their (predominantly white) male audience would find sexy. As a result, the majority of African American women on screen were put into one of two categories: assimilated to appear as close to white as possible (“they are almost one of us”) or completely ghettoized to reflect debased images of black culture (it doesn’t matter because “they are only one of them”). The first group was easy to spot: long hair weaves, lighter skin, thinner physical frames, enhanced busts, and smaller hips and butts. These women could also be cast in larger budget movies. Women with bigger butts, curvier bodies, darker complexions, and more African features were relegated to movies with lower production values and often-offensive titles. It wasn’t until female and black directors and producers began to influence the marketplace that porn videos started to showcase other aspects of black life and black and/or interracial couples in a more diverse light.

In the 1990s, I had a conversation with the owner (a white guy) of a video company that produced mainly videos featuring black actors, but the women were always skinny, light-skinned girls. He told me his product was produced for the people who bought his movies: white men. He said black men are renters, not buyers. One of the biggest mistakes mainstream pornographers makes is thinking their market is not interested in any other images of black women except these outrageously stereotyped ones. The industry also does not understand why black consumers might want to rent porn rather than buy. The lack of market research allows directors and producers to remain uninformed, and to cater only to their own sexual likes and dislikes. One would think, especially in today’s oversaturated marketplace, that pornographers would seek to produce for both the current buying population and those who have yet to be convinced to spend their money.

Female directors have an advantage in producing adult movies because of their unique perspectives. Understanding the female body—the importance of the little things, from hair and makeup, to location and shooting from flattering angles—creates a better product. It’s easy to look at directors like Joanna Angel, Belladonna, Julie Simone, and Chanta Rose and witness how they manage to produce beautiful
images of women but still get these women to push their limits in intense scenes. Perhaps some women feel more comfortable with a woman behind the camera asking them to do things that might be deemed degrading if asked by a male director. Some women might feel more at ease with their egos massaged by showing up on the set to find accommodations for wardrobe, makeup, and hair, and food available. These considerations, which often fall to the performers to provide in order to save on the budget, make a world of difference in getting a performer to give her all.

As a performer and director, I want to show varied sexual dynamics between African American couples, especially more images of black men and women practicing BDSM. The majority of black-on-black porn is generally limited to boy/girl or girl/girl sex scenes, gangbangs, or orgies. Rarely do you see more intense hardcore, blowbangs, rough sex, and/or fetish content featuring all black actors. These types of scenes are more likely to be interracial and feature a submissive white woman paired with a dominant/aggressive black man taking charge and/or advantage of her—or a submissive yet hypersexual black female is paired with an aggressive white male performer.

As a black woman in porn, my experiences were unique. I came into the industry at a time when there was only a handful of African American women performing in films. I didn’t fit into any existing category. As a “barely legal” looking nineteen year old, I was often cast in films with older white men and women and older black or Latin men. Throughout the 1990s, I found myself in videos with titles like
South Central Hookers #10,
or ones taken from popular rap songs like “Pumps’n da Rump.” I attribute my varied experience in working for both larger production houses on feature films and for smaller companies with equally smaller budgets to the fact that I have Caucasian features, light skin, and a cheery attitude, and speak in standard English. I found that movies featuring all black casts would have derogatory titles but movies with interracial casts would have sexier names. Directors often told me that I wasn’t “ghetto” enough or expressed surprise that I couldn’t “shake my ass” like other stars. I had to stress to a director that I wasn’t comfortable standing on a street corner in a short skirt and high heels while he drove around the block for a “pickup shot” for my scene. And it wasn’t only white directors who demeaned black actors. A few years ago, a black director asked me to eat a slice of watermelon for a scene with a white co-star who was playing a “country bumpkin.” I refused. My co-star was so uncomfortable with the “step and fetch it” routine that the director wanted me to portray that he offered to take the bite instead.

But racist instances like this are not the norm. I have had more positive experiences in the industry than negative ones. When people ask me, “Is there racism in porn?” I respond that it exists no more in porn than in other industries. I don’t think people go out of their way to disrespect others. Of course, it is difficult to watch the industry celebrate only a handful of men and women of color each year at its biggest awards shows—but it isn’t a surprise. I see the adult industry as no different from mainstream Hollywood where they pick and choose which actors of color or women or gay actors to applaud each year and which to ignore . . . despite how amazing they are.

When I started in porn, I didn’t have a stage name. I was given the name “Sinnamon.” I had no idea how difficult it would be later to market myself with this name when I wanted to potentially act beyond the adult world. Black and Latina women in porn are very often given names of food, cars, inanimate objects, countries, and spices: Chocolate, Champagne, Mocha, Mercedes, Toy, Persia, Africa, India, and yes, Sinnamon. No one ever told me, or many women of my generation, how important it was to have a name that was a real woman’s name, something that would allow you to market yourself outside porn and to a wider audience. The Jennas, Janines, Brittanys of my generation certainly had greater success. Notably so, Heather Hunter, Dominique Simone, Lana Sands, and later Crystal Knight, Lacey Duvalle, Marie Luv, and Nyomi Banxxx are all women of color who were more successful than previous women in the industry. They had two things in common: they had “real” names and they fit white standards of beauty.

Even with the explosion of the porn star agent and the staggering growth of Internet companies, many black adult stars still show up as either the token black girl in a video or appear exclusively in all black videos. The same faces can be found in interracial scenes with white men, and only a handful will appear in fetish and BDSM videos for companies like
Kink.com
. Having been the first black woman that companies like
Kink.com
(then called Cybernet) shot, I recall having long conversations with directors about my personal relationship with BDSM. They hesitated to film me because they feared the fallout of putting a black woman in bondage in their movies. Oddly enough, when I worked for the late Bruce Seven in the early 1990s, that conversation never came up, but Bruce Seven was ahead of his time and understood BDSM as more than a different niche of film. I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how much has changed, with more and more women of color appearing in submissive positions on BDSM sites. But I’m still waiting for black men to be able to take the lead in those scenes with black women.