Let's Talk About (Feminist) Porn

Where did you learn how to have sex, what sex looks like, different ways we can have sex? The answer could be a number of things, it could have been your family, your peers, or maybe you were lucky enough to have had a progressive sex ed teaching. Although you may have been given some information from the people in your life, there's a good chance you learned an overwhelmingly amount about sex from porn.

There are two very different schools of thought on the topic of pornography within feminist circles. Some folks believe that porn is an evil that is tarnishing the minds of children and turning them into violent offenders. On the other side, it is believed that the distribution of porn that is the problem and that the actual issue is with the violent content in mainstream pornography.

It is important to take a critical look at the porn being produced and the ways in which sex in represented on screen. Acts of violence against porn stars are very common in pornographic films and can be quite disturbing.

Children and youth watching porn is not the problem, the problem is that there is no explanation of what they are seeing and they may not feel like there is any place they can go to talk about it. The mainstream porn that most folks have access to doesn’t represent healthy relationships and sexuality but displays aggression and violence towards women. This violence in porn in most cases is directed towards women.

It is important to take a critical look at the porn being produced and the ways in which sex in represented on screen. Acts of violence against porn stars are very common in pornographic films and can be quite disturbing.

Mainstream porn often suggests that violence against women is sexy and since we know that youth are watching porn it is our responsibility to give youth the tools to critique media representations of gender, sex, power and aggression. We need to support and encourage young people to aspire to create and maintain relationships are respectful, mutually pleasurable and fully consenting.

Feminist porn is an alternative to mainstream porn that offers a more ethical option for those who enjoy watching porn. Feminist porn grants the power of creating images to women, queers, people of colour, transgender individuals, and other marginalized identities. Feminist porn performers are compensated for their work, their is more representation, they can act out real life desires and are able to choose their preferred co-stars.

I agree that there is a huge risk in having kids only understand sex through a porn-only education. What we need is a comprehensive sex education curriculum in elementary schools, and a culture where it feels safe to talk about porn and sexuality in general. At this point in the political climate it doesn't appear that sex education is moving forward progressively, so feminist porn might be a good place to start—what do you think?