I'm not a fan of the commercialisation of Valentine's Day, so was reluctant to join the throngs of marketeers insisting that the primary objective of the 14th of February was to have hot romantic sex with a lover, and their product could best help you achieve this. On the other hand, the date provided an ideal opportunity to step up the steaminess on my website a notch or two.
Posted in D, D/S, Dreams of Spanking, Fairtrade porn, Featured, Photos 
Tags: cane, ruler, Tricia Sullivan 
9 Comments »A little while ago I wrote an article in which I attempted to define what “fairtrade” porn would look like. There obviously isn’t an international standard for fairtrade porn, but perhaps there should be. Production ethics are something I’d love to see more producers publically talking about, especially the ones who are already doing things right.
As a feminist, I’m not only interested in ethical production in general, but also the specific ways in which porn can be compatible with feminist values. (My feminism is post-third wave sex positive trans/queer feminism, which holds no innate incompability with explicit sexual imagery and self-expression.) Not all producers are interested in being feminist, and that’s okay: I’m not saying that those studios are unethical. But if you do identify as a feminist, how does that affect the porn you make?
It’s not quite as simple as that feminist porn should be woman-positive, while fairtrade porn should be human-positive: it’s more that I think feminist porn takes extra care with gender expression, and strives to be explicitly gender egalitarian in its approach. Quizzical Mama has proposed some good guidelines, but they don’t leave space for low-budget/homegrown productions, nor for feminists who wish to explore their kinky, violent or nonconsensual fantasies in a progressive way.
Images via Sex is not the enemy
Although my own porn is kinky, I’ve tried to come up with a general set of principles which would apply to any kind of production. As always, I’m mostly interested in the realities of production, rather than the type of fantasy explored on screen. It’s informed by the good work already done by feminist pornographers: I’m not trying to re-invent the wheel here. My aim is to boost signal for good ideas, and extend the conversation.
Obviously any feminist pornographer has their own understanding, and I’m not trying to police anyone else’s feminism. This stab at a definition reflects my own process as a newbie pornographer: at this point in time, what does feminist porn mean to me?
I’ve just published a two part article on the Dreams of Spanking blog about making radical porn.
In part 1 I ask: is gender segregation in porn as intolerant as race segregation would be, and is it okay to discriminate on gender lines because it’s “not your kink”? To what extent can we hold individual producers responsible for being complicit in segregation and inequality in porn? How much social responsibility do porn producers have, anyway? I also question the tendency to defer to “market forces” as an excuse for maintaining an unfair status quo.
In part 2 I look at the duty website owners have to cater to the taste of their members, and the extent to which all businesses choose their audience. I also examine the tension between quality/originality and marketability/profitability and the assessment and balancing of risks which is inherent in all creative entrepreneurship, and the role economic and social privilege plays in this. Finally, I examine my own privilege in an unfair society – and why I’ve made the choices I have.
This article is the culmination of quite a lot of thinking on the social and economic issues involved in pushing the boundaries of porn production. I’d be very interested to hear what people have to say.
I woke up to a fantastic piece of news on Friday, which will bring delight to anyone who has similar taste in porn to me. Nimue‘s own kinky paysite, Nimue’s World, is now live and open to members.
You may have seen Nimue getting spanked on Northern Spanking, English Spankers and Spanking Sarah, and her performance work also includes extreme BDSM and bondage, camming and getting naked in public. She brings all her interests together in Nimue’s World, a groundbreaking website which not only bridges the genres of spanking, BDSM, bondage and queer sex, but is one of the very few UK porn sites singlehandedly produced and directed by a female spankee.
Nimue’s World features Nimue being both submissive and dominant in a variety of kinky situations; explicit lesbian scenes; extreme bondage and hardcore BDSM; creative scenarios with willing performers; a range of body types; genuine dominance and submission between her and her real life Daddy/Owner (known on the site as “The Boss”).
The site is artistically designed, and already includes twenty scenarios with both photo galleries and videos, and promises two updates a week. There’s a tantalising F/F BDSM scene showing Nimue domming Adele Haze, and future updates will include the spanking and BDSM scenes Nimue and I shot together. In addition, the member’s area offers access to Nimue’s private video blog, a forum, model interviews and exclusive monthly cam shows where members can direct the action.
If you want to see more spanking porn made by women and by spankees, more porn which breaks out of the conventional boxes and spans genres to fully represent the desires of the primary performer, more real D/S and real kinky relationships captured on camera, and more independent sites prepared to take creative risks, you should show Nimue your support and enter her world.
Posted in Body positivity, D/S, Fairtrade porn, Female gaze, Nimue, Nimue's World, Performers & producers, Photos, Sites & studios Tags: BDSM, bondage, making a scene, other pictures, otk spanking 4 Comments »Here is the text and video recording of my talk at German fetish advocacy conference BDSMtag. Many thanks to Ludwig for asking the interview questions and providing many interesting conversations about BDSM, society and politics over the course of the weekend.
The first minute and a half of the video is Ludwig’s introduction to the German speaking audience, but the rest of the video is in English.
For those who prefer a written version, here are my notes in full. (This is the text I produced while preparing the talk, not a transcript of the video, so there are some discrepancies between the two.)
Posted in Extreme porn legislation, Fairtrade porn, Kink activism, Northern Spanking, Politics, Videos Tags: BDSMtag 6 Comments »One of the concepts I’ve been talking about a lot lately is that of “fairtrade” porn. This contrasts with feminist porn, which has a specific gender political agenda: whether porn is fairtrade or not does not to refer to the content of the porn, but rather how it was produced and the relationship between performers and producers.
The simplest type of fairtrade porn is homegrown – ‘amateur’ movies produced by couples, or solo performers running all aspects of their own business. When director, performer, producer and web salesperson are all the same person, chances are no-one’s being exploited or treated disrespectfully. The bigger the company and the more employees it has, the harder this sort of thing is to manage.
Personally speaking, I am enthusiastic about making feminist AND fairtrade porn. But if I’m watching porn, my first concern is the ethics of its production. I think this is the primary concern for a lot of consumers, and I’d like to see it become an industry standard to which porn producers are upheld.
So what exactly does it mean? I imagine people will have different ideas, and if we were to try and pin down a trade standard it would take a lot of discussion. But in trying to arrive at a code of conduct for my own business practices, I’ve done a lot of thinking about what has been most important to me as a performer, and what is most important to me as a viewer. I’ve come up with the following list:
Which covers the shoot process (how contracted performers are treated), pay and marketing … but is there anything I’ve missed? If you care about how porn is made – whether it was produced safely, consensually, whether the people making it had fun – what is most important to you? While it is valuable to clarify my own priorities, I am also trying to come up with a set of ethical principles which will reassure viewers that the edgy, severe scenarios I film are fantasy, not reality. I want to explicitly make porn which answers the question “how can I tell if this is consensual?” So how would you define fairtrade porn, and if you wanted to be confident that a website was sound, what would you look for?
As some of you will have seen, this week has seen Kink.com come under scrutiny for the press release starting to be known as “Hymen-gate”, in which the ceremonial deflowering of young model Nicki Blue was marketed using sexist and damaging language. It’s been an enlightening conversation for all sorts of reasons. Here’s the lowdown:
The offending press release, as reposted across the adult web.
Kink.com model Maggie Mayhem wrote a comprehensive and balanced critique of the press release, complete with educational material on vaginal anatomy and why these details are socially and ethically important. She has just published an inspiring follow-up post in which she credits Kink for responding quickly and positively to the criticism and talks about the ways in which small things can change the world.
The post on the Kink forums in which Nicki Blue announced her desire to experience her first vaginal penetration on video. It’s interesting that Nicki seems to have initiated the problematic language about “taking her virginity” and “breaking her hymen” – either her forum post is deeply ‘in character’ of her virgin fantasy, or she could perhaps benefit from a little sex education herself.
Adele Haze explains why, although this isn’t okay, it isn’t surprising given Kink’s track record with affiliate promos that are demeaning to women (which is weird, given this trend really isn’t reflected in the scenes themselves).
Maybe Maimed roundly condemns Kink for their mode of porn-selling, if not their mode of porn-making; his post contains a number of links to other discussions of this issue, if you’re interested.
This discussion has been fascinating for its revelations into Kink’s workings. Like Maggie, they were one of the first BDSM websites I came across, and I always felt comfortable with the extremity of their scenarios because of their overt focus on consent, the enjoyment and limits of the models, and transparency. In the presentation of scenes on the site the promo text is usually “out of character” and praises the models’ professionalism, courage, endurance, beauty and horniness. Even in the free previews you get a happy smiling post-scene shot, and the videos are supplemented by forum discussions and a lot of behind the scenes content. It’s great to be reassured that this impression is upheld by outspoken feminist performers who have worked for them.
At the same time, the models who support them don’t do so unconditionally. Being able to honestly and publicly critique a studio you hope to work for again is hell of a brave thing to do, and I’m full of respect not only for models like Maggie who are prepared to do so firmly and politely, but also for a studio that can listen, take the criticism on board and not take offence. That’s got to be healthy, and it’s the sort of dialogue I’d like to see between more models and producers in an open and respectful way.
This is why the internet has revolutionalised porn; because it facilitates exactly this sort of conversation. This is why blogging, online commentary and interaction between viewers, performers and producers will be instrumental to transforming the porn industry into the safe, respectful, thoughtful and sex-positive place we want it to be.
Posted in Adele Haze, Fairtrade porn, Gender politics, Kink.com, Maggie Mayhem, Politics Tags: making a scene 20 Comments »This is exciting! Award-winning adult performer, feminist and pornographer Madison Young (whose work you’ve probably enjoyed on Kink.com) has launched a new porn project called The Woman’s POV. It’s part paysite and part open resource, combining free articles, sex toy, book and DVD reviews with photosets and videos inside a member’s area, all exploring the [...]
Posted in Fairtrade porn, Female gaze, Gender politics, Madison Young, Politics Tags: other pictures, Violet Blue 5 Comments »Kaelah has written a fascinating post on the subject of online exhibitionism, exploring what she is comfortable with, what she isn’t, and why: I’m not afraid of anyone looking at a picture or clip and just saying: “Wow, this is beautiful.” My fear is that someone uses or abuses me mentally. Which means first of [...]
A short while ago my friend J mentioned to me that he and his partner had watched Erika Lust’s short film Handcuffs, and been completely blown away by it. I saw it for the first time yesterday, and I have to say I agree. This is one of the most stylish, sensual, tense, beautifully filmed [...]
The view from the bottom: An insider's take on spanking, S&M and the new porn law
Guest article for Heresy Corner by Pandora Blake
