Porn’s Not All Bad

There are a lot of strong opinions about porn out there, especially amongst feminist circles.

But I have always said that porn’s not all bad and the Guardian published an article that can help me explain why.

In an ideal world, we would want to know that all the women in the porn have volunteered to be part of it and aren’t suffering any abuse. The problem is that we don’t know, so we often look at it all as suspect. And that’s fair enough.

But the Guardian interviewed several women who make porn whose main target audience is women. One of them, Erika Lust, says:

• I want people with an open sexuality who want to work here. I don’t want anybody doing this because they don’t have another choice. During the shooting I want them to have good sex and it’s my job to find the images. For me it is a tense moment, because things happen only once and it’s a moment of hard work. Is not a party behind the camera.

Anna Span has been making female-friendly porn for twelve years. She says she has “fought long and hard for women’s right to sexual expression and consumption, as well as for freedom of speech.”

There’s also a Feminist Porn Awards, and a Dutch television channel that broadcasts feminist porn 24/7.

Essentially, watching people have sex is a turn on, no matter what your opinion of porn might be. So these women have found a way to make images and videos of sex in a way they consider to be ethical and female-friendly.

So maybe, instead of demonizing all porn, people should realize the world is not that black and white. If you take the time to learn about the companies behind the camera, you can make the distinction between ethical and non-ethical porn production methods. Once you’ve done that, you can enjoy without guilt.

Contact the author here: mack@morningquickie.com