How feminist porn equalizes the pervert in all of us

Sex By Lindsey Kline

When porn is produced by straight men, for straight men, you'll often see depictions of the domination and degradation of women. You’ll see a submissive little schoolgirl getting dick-slapped. You’ll watch two men tell a young lady she’s a “nasty little whore” while they double-penetrate her. You’ll see 12 hot loads of jizz on a woman’s face at the conclusion of a gang bang.

As the cultural perception goes, women are vessels of chastity who don’t truly enjoy sex, while men are hyper-horny animals who would hump a microwaved mango. But, some studies indicate that women are actually the hornier gender, and that they enjoy porn just as much as the next guy. In fact, one in three adults browsing Internet porn sites are women, according to Nielsen ratings. So, it’s no surprise that women are beginning to do what they do best: fixing men’s mistakes. This time, it's by making porn that caters to ladies.

Feminist porn is often characterized by empowered female roles and an overt focus on fulfilling the women’s desires. The objective is to use porn to reclaim women’s sexuality; to enlighten the porn community that ladies love a good trip to pound-town.

A prime example of how feminist porn differs from standard porn is its effort to appeal to the visual needs of women. Most straight male porn is shot from a man’s perspective, focusing the camera angle on what men typically look at while bumping uglies – his lady friend’s titties, bootyhole, and the like. All the while, any visuals of the male partner are almost entirely absent, and any and all fucking seems to be performed by a disembodied penis. This is because most porn is shot so as to allow the male viewer to project himself into the scene.

Feminist porn aims to overcome this common theme by subverting the notion that sex is something men do to women or that women do for men. It shows the entire bodies of both the man and the woman in order to portray them as equal partners. It expresses passion and tenderness by showing kissing, touching, and caressing. It makes clear that the male character genuinely cares about his female partner and her pleasure. It gives just as much attention, if not more, to the sexual stimulation of the woman. You might even witness a real-life orgasm!

As feminist porn director Tristan Taormino explained to Salon, “I prioritize female desire, pleasure, orgasm, because all too often they aren’t prioritized in other porn.”

Annie Sprinkle is a modern “Renaissance Woman of Porn," working as the eight-armed power beast that is a pornographic performer, writer, photographer, producer, and director who's been working in the porn industry for 43 years. She’s the first porn star to have earned her PhD in human sexuality, and she now fancies herself a sexual educator.

In her interview with the Rooster, Annie claims, “Feminist porn is supposed to arouse you intellectually. If it turns you on, that’s good. If you learn something from it, that’s even better.”

Annie defines feminist porn as simply this: porn produced by feminists. Yet, while many feminist producers may fixate on female pleasure, feminist porn is under no obligation to do so.

Annie wants to make it perfectly clear that feminist porn is not always soft and sensual; it can be raunchy and viscerally filthy. It can involve BDSM or rape scenes, so long as the actors engage in the act consensually. In Annie’s eyes, feminist porn doesn’t even need to involve a female character. A video of three gay men and a couple lubed-up reach-arounds can be feminist porn, so long as a feminist produced it.

“Feminist porn is like human sexuality in all its different colors and flavors. It’s about exploring the boundaries of what sex is," she says.

I wanted to see for myself the variety that feminist porn had to offer, so for research purposes, I watched the Feminist Porn Award winning film for “Best BDSM Scene.”

The events unfolded as such: Good old chums Pandora Blake and Parker Marx bump into each other while exploring Berlin and head back to her flat for tea and cakes. But quickly enough, tea time takes a turn for the kinky, and spanking, rimming, anal play with butt plugs, pegging, breast play, cunnilingus, and fisting ensue. But this film is unique in the way that a decent chunk of time is committed to bringing the woman to orgasm. Also, surprisingly absent from the film were some major porn pillars: shots of female penetration and the famous money shot – the man exploding his load all over his lady’s face. These examples illustrate the overarching motif that the video was not designed to appeal to men who get off on female submission. The video was designed to allure men and women to find arousal in a kinky fuck between two equal partners.

"Feminist porn is so empowering because it highlights alternative forms of sexuality," Rooster Magazine’s former sex editor says. "Not everyone likes to get pounded in the vagina on a casting couch by a six-foot bald man with tribal tattoos named Mike D., and, while not all typical porn depicts that, it does tend to repeat certain motifs like the cum shot or the obligatory blow job that make sex seem mistakenly standardized and routine. Sexuality is far more nuanced and individual than typical porn gives it credit for being, so seeing scenes where atypical sexual scenarios (like, holy shit, a blissfully non-fetishized interracial scene between lesbians who are actually gay and have given implicit consent before the fisting begins). Feminist porn teaches us that sex can be anything you make it, not just what's on the YouPorn homepage."

Feminist porn aims to promote healthy visualizations of sex, and portray women as men’s sexual collaborators rather than men’s sexual conquests. It’s produced by self-proclaimed feminists that advocate for women’s equality and want to reinforce that notion within their work. If this appeals to you and you’re looking to find some feminist porn for your own viewing pleasure, check out Annie Sprinkle’s work or the work of any of the artists in the periodic table of feminist porn.

And, keep in mind: feminist porn isn’t supposed to appeal only to women. Gender equality in our filthy flicks is something we can all get off to.

[originally published Augist 01, 2017]