LOS ANGELES — Today marks the launch of the newest addition to the TroubleFilms web network, DoingItOnline.Com.
DoingItOnline.com, a collaboration between Handbasket Productions and Trouble Films, offers fresh, trans female-focused content created and curated by filmmaker and activist Tobi Hill-Meyer.
“In the media lately, it seems like everyone gets to have their say about trans women’s sexuality. Everyone except trans women themselves.” Hill-Meyer said. “DoingItOnline seeks to change that dynamic.”
"Trans women are alternately portrayed as hypersexual, deceptive and predatory, or portrayed as desexualized and pathetic," Hill-Meyer added. "The goal of this project is to create depictions of real humanity and allow trans women to take control over how their sexuality is portrayed.”
Featuring well-known trans women performers like Drew Deveaux, Hayley Fingersmith, Maya Mayhem and Hill-Meyer herself, upcoming scenes will also showcase Jiz Lee, Kimberly Kills, Chelsea Poe, Chance Armstrong and Kelli Lox throughout the summer and fall.
The original inspiration for the site came from a small, closed Internet forum where trans women shared nude photographs of themselves in a body-positive and supportive environment. In 2007, Hill-Meyer, working in collaboration with a number of trans women from that community, decided to take the concept a step further and produce indie porn.
It took three years for that plan to come to fruition with the release of “Doing It Ourselves: The Trans Women Porn Project,” which won director Hill-Meyer the Feminist Porn Award for Emerging Filmmaker of the Year.
In 2012, work was begun on the sequel, “Doing It Again,” aiming to mix documentary with adult content. Due to a successful Kickstarter campaign, “Doing it Again” became a three-volume episodic series, which scored another Feminist Porn Award this year.
Reps for the project say that the enthusiastic response to the 2012 casting call for “Doing It Again” — more 100 people from six different countries — made it clear that the need for accurate and honest representations of trans women’s sexuality was bigger than the scope of that endeavor. DoingItOnline was conceived to fill that space, and serve as a membership site that would house the entire “Doing It” series, as well as create a sustainable income source to fund further updates.
“DoingItOnline offers up true stories of love and desire, untainted by the usual tropes and stereotypes placed on trans bodies and trans relationships,” said Courtney Trouble, producer at TroubleFilms. “I love that this project goes beyond hot scenes and plays with the concept that love and relationship dynamics can be a part of sexual fantasy.
“Queer folks don't get a whole lot of realistic and positive stories written about them, and trans women even less so,” Trouble continued. “This website is providing a window into the lives of trans women in a way that we just simply don't get to see in mainstream media or porn, mainstream or even queer. We’re humbled and grateful to have Tobi heading this site under our banner as a creative and thoughtful director, who always looks for something deeper than bodies rubbing together. Her work is arousing and inspiring.”
DoingItOnline.com joins TroubleFilms sites like QueerPornTV (nominated at the 2014 XBIZ Awards), Indie Porn Revolution and FTMFucker. Its launch also comes hot on the heels of the first DVD in the Trans Grrrls film series, which won a Feminist Porn Award this year.
Signups during the current launch special will lock in an indefinite monthly price of $15. Following the special, signups will cost $23 for initial signup before dropping to $18 per month. Discounts are offered for six-month memberships and longer.
