By Stevie Mackenzie-Smith for Dazed. Originally published on October 9th, 2015.
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It’s no secret that women are consumers of online porn. This year, mainstream porn streaming site Pornhub.com announced that 1 in 5 of their users are women. But culturally, the idea of women getting off to sexy videos online still isn’t as normalised as it is for men. There’s a huge disconnect in the sexuality British society likes to project onto women, and acceptance of female sexual desire expressed by women. It’s even codified in law: a 2014 amendment to the 2003 Communications Act censored a number of sex acts from being shown in online pornography produced within the UK, and in the process deemed certain expressions of female sexual pleasure unacceptable.
The suitability of certain sexual tastes is being decided for us. When spanking, female ejaculation and face-sitting within UK porn were deemed amongst ‘content that is not acceptable’ by the British Board of Film Censors, a societal truth revealed itself. That female ejaculation has been banned from being shown, and the visual cue of a man cumming on a woman’s face remains the hallmark of mainstream heterosexual pornography, reveals a startling injustice.
How is it that being a woman and publicly admitting to watching porn still feels like a coming out? In the past year I’ve shared hot-cheeked, affirming chats with female friends in pubs in which we get progressively drunker and more forthcoming about our online viewing habits. At the time, sharing truths about female sexual desire within a safe circle felt personally revolutionary. Over time, talking openly about watching porn has become less daunting. But as a woman – incredibly – it still feels taboo.
How can consumers know they’re watching ethical porn produced by consenting participants? Are there clues to look out for in order to avoid supporting exploitation?
Erika: Look for the faces behind ethical porn. If you can’t find them then be suspicious. A number of “female relevant” erotic sites claim to be made by women with fake names and profiles on Twitter but you don’t see the faces of the directors behind the films. Their “profiles” are general shots of people with their faces complete emitted. That means they are very unlikely to actually be females at all.
Clarissa: If you want ethical porn you’ll need to pay for it. Porn stars, directors, camera operators and make up artists are no different from other workers – they need to be paid for their work and time.
Sarah, MakeLoveNotPorn.tv champions “real world sex” through videos uploaded by the public. Can you talk about your role as curator, and how your relationship with contributors plays into it?
Sarah: MakeLoveNotPorn is pro-sex, pro-porn, pro-knowing the difference. I review every video submitted to Make Love Not Porn in order to ensure that it’s non-performative, consensual, contextualized and porn-cliche free. Bonus points if #condomhot, our tag for videos showing how condom usage can enhance sex.
Most of the people on our site have never shot themselves having sex before, let alone uploaded it to the internet, so sometimes I’ll Skype with prospective MLNPstars to answer their questions. I ask people to pull the camera back and do as little editing as possible. A lot of my initial work with contributors is about giving them permission to appreciate their real world sex and real world bodies. People will still want to watch their video even if hardcore penetration isn’t present at all times, as it so often is in porn. I sometimes liken my job to being equal parts sherpa, handholder, and diehard fan.
Go check read the rest of this panel featuring so many badass women talking about such important things here!
