LOS ANGELES — The seemingly ever constant whining from mainstream “porn bloggers” about the lack of good adult content for women was somewhat put to rest — for the time being anyway — by four prominent female producers in a recent Huffington Post article.
Admitting that a previous article lamenting the lack of good women’s porn was wrong, the blogger tapped Sssh.com’s Angie Rowntree, Annie Frolicme, Erika Lust and Jackie St. James who enlightened her on how much good women’s-friendly content really exists while at the same time emphasizing the industry has a way to go.
“Don't give up — what you're looking for is out there, it's just hiding among an ocean of stuff that you may not want to see. What a lot of people call ‘female-friendly porn’ is being made by a variety of remarkable women who make truly great erotic movies,” Rowntree said.
She added, “There may not be a lot of us, but we're passionate about what we do, and we're working hard every day to provide women with porn that does appeal to them.”
The article also gave a nod to New Sensations’ St. James’ film “The Friend Zone,” lauding its acting, script, and high production values [no doubt in part thanks to the cadre of anonymous mainstream Hollywood folks who often work on porn sets].
St. James said mainstream types relate better to her efforts because she has never been a performer and that her mission is to bridge that gap with the adult world.
But not all of the comments were as positive and some still decried the same old complaint about porn created by men. Lust said “mainstream porn” (whatever that is) is overwhelmed with repetitive, unimaginative, chauvinistic films made by the same types of men. “Women are objectified, used for the pleasure. Porn has now become a dirty word associated with something tacky, ugly and embarrassing.”
She went on to say that her porn is feminist because she pursues the complete opposite goals by focusing on beauty, hedonism and intelligence.
“There is often a complexity to a woman's desires. They are bored of the overused stereotypes and want to see something different. They want realistic scenarios, identifiable characters, real pleasure. They want to share their experience with their partners. They want to participate in it. They want to get aroused. They want not just the romance bullshit with roses and satin sheets, but also the kinky, the strange and the dirty. We want everything men want, but better,” Lust said.
But St. James asked why we never ask if porn objectifies the men in an adult film? “After all, it's the male performers whose heads are frequently cut off during a scene with a primary focus being on his genitals and not his face. The men often never even get credited for their work in an adult production. The men make less money (usually). Financially, the adult industry (by and large) is much more favorable to the female performer.”
The interview did make amends from the purely subjective earlier piece by providing some solid background information, asking the group about how they began producing porn, their missions, personal porn preferences, their stance regarding porn vs. feminism, and why it’s important for women to have access to porn that resonates with them.
And despite a good amount of rehashing about the "lack of good porn for women" debate — and the glaring omission of any mention of some of the pioneers of the genre like Candida Royalle, et al — the article did establish that yes, there is in fact a good amount of porn made for women, by women.
