CYBERSPACE — MindBrowse.com announced today that feminist performer, sexuality educator and social worker Dylan Ryan will be among the women addressing the question “Feminism and Porn: Can They Coexist?” during a live online discussion coming up on Tuesday, Sept. 30 at 3 p.m. EST.
“Dylan comes to the show with a deep and passionate understanding of feminism and how that plays a role in today's porn,” said Sssh.com owner and founder Angie Rowntree. “Her range of experiences allows her to bring a unique perspective that will greatly benefit the conversation.”
Ryan has made a career performing, teaching people about sex, and writing works for a variety of print publishers and online media such as Bitch magazine, Huffington Post and CNN. She has also contributed to academic and mainstream titles such as “The Feminist Porn Book” and “Johns, Marks, Tricks and Chickenhawks: Sex workers writing about their lives and experiences.”
In her daily professional life, Ryan is a romatic sex therapist and coach, committed to aiding people in their journey toward more fulfilling sex lives. A dedicated supporter of the sex work community, Dylan volunteers at harm reduction-focused organizations and aims to use her academic background to foment change in how sex workers are seen and received.
"I did not fully identify as a feminist until the spring of 2009," Ryan said. "As I sat in my seat at the Feminist Porn Awards in Toronto, I felt ecstatic. I was surrounded by friends and loved ones, people in the industry whom I had worked with, people I respected deeply. What we all had in common was our desire to make pornography that broke boundaries of tradition and showed authentic, empowered sex. And then my name was called from the stage. It was at some point in those next few moments, on stage in front of hundreds, that I came to see myself as so many others had already: I performed in feminist porn, I was a feminist porn performer. I was a feminist."
“In all those years of crafting my work to represent empowerment, awareness, positive female sexuality, women's choice, I was representing feminist ideals about sex," Ryan continued. "It was also the moment I realized I am a feminist porn performer."
Produced by Sssh.com, “Feminism and Porn: Can They Coexist?” will be the third live show hosted by MindBrowse.com. The first two events, “Women in Porn – Shattering the Myths” and “An Intimate Conversation with Nina Hartley and Ernest Greene,” are archived on the site, as well as on YouTube.
The discussion will also be live-tweeted and monitored at @ssshforwomen under the hashtag #sextalktuesday. Viewers may interact during the event and pose their own questions and points under #sextalktuesday for panelists to address.
For more information, visit MindBrowse.com.
