Don’t Blame Pornography; Blame The Pornographer! or: Why Women are Fighting Back Against Mainstream Sex Films

Why does mainstream pornography depict men and women in this way?

Sadly, the problems caused by such depictions are self-replicating. People see these images and become comfortable with them, and then expect certain images. People who find such images distasteful do not become involved in the production process meaning that only those who do continue to make pornographic films and thus the cycle repeats. And since a lot of women are not interested in the sorts of films currently available, men with certain ideas about sexuality continue to dominate the adult film industry, as they have done since its emergence as an industry proper in the androcentric days of the Victorians.

But this doesn’t have to be the case.

The rise of feminist pornography

In recent years, sex-positive feminists have made real progress in creating positive erotic imagery and in breaking down many of the myths that surround the subject, proving that women are interested in visual stimuli; that women aren’t only interested in soft-core, vanilla “erotica”, and, crucially, that women are interested in sex. It should be pointed out that not all “porn for women” or “female-friendly porn” is feminist porn: a lot of images marketed at women, particularly those featuring oiled and muscular men, are in fact taken from gay men’s magazines, while others work simply on assumptions that women will be aroused by certain things. Nor can all erotic material created by women be considered feminist. Feminist pornographers instead try to produce material that is not only genuinely exciting but to also focus on genuine desire, consent and pleasure, whether it is straight or queer, and whether it focuses on vanilla or on fetish sex. The inclusion of BDSM and hardcore is key to the movement: the problem is not with the explicit nature of the material, or the fantasies enacted, but in intent and content of the scene.

Sex-positive attitudes have come from both outside and within the adult industry, with performers like Nina Hartley and Annie Sprinkle becoming vocal advocates of the genre, while directors like Erika Lust and Candida Royalle have made porn films from a decidedly female perspective. The internet has also allowed for a rise in the number of supporters. Toronto-based sex-shop Good For Her have run “Feminist Porn Awards” online since 2006, while blogs like Erotica Cover Watch have criticised conventions of erotic fiction. UK magazine Filament also used the internet as a springboard and to petition for the right to show an erection when they met with resistance from publishers.