In times when sex and sexuality are finally getting some attention and are being openly discussed, porn, for its most part is still looked at as some sort of a perversion, which should be enjoyed in secrecy. Most of the time we either deny that porn could have any benefit to a person's sex life, or avoid the topic altogether. Fact is that, with nonexisting or simply bad sex education, kids use porn to learn about sex and this is creating a wrong perception in young people about what people enjoy in bed (not to mention it is fucked up). A lot of times rightfully, porn has been criticized for being derogative and degrading towards women, creating non-realistic expectations and false stereotypes towards sex for both genders (like women can easily come from vaginal intercourse, or all women love cum on their face).

It is true a lot of mainstream porn is catered towards the male audience and is all that mentioned above. But, in the past few years, a lot of alternative porn forms are emerging to challenge the status quo and to show sex and sexual interactions in a different than the existing way.

Feminist porn takes a lead role in this growing movement and is created to change the paradigm, to confront the cliches and negativity of mainstream porn, and bring something better to the table. Feminist porn is inclusive, realistic, and diverse, and fights the role women are assigned in the porn industry. It includes diverse body types and skin colors, shows female orgasm as much as man's (or if this is not the case at least shows the female receiving pleasure as much as the male). It also is not necessarily soft, it could be hardcore and BDSM, but in general it shows play as play, and not everyday behavior (specifically the way some hardcore/rough/aggressive sex is shown as a regular practice in mainstream porn and the more informed and realistic perspective on it in feminist porn). Feminist porn fights slut shaming and empowers women by portraying their sexuality as a strong and powerful gift to enjoy.

Here is a TED Talk from erotic movie creator Erika Lust, explaining very well what feminist porn is and why its necessary:

Erika Lust is one of the pioneers on new feminist porn, although it originally started its existence in the 80s, when Candida Royalle started her production company Femme productions. HBO's Candy from The Deuce is loosely based on Candida Royalle and does a pretty good job in showing how badass she was.

Then the feminist sex wars followed (most of the 1970s and 1980s) when anti-porn feminists and sex-positive feminists stood against each other in battles that continue today. These debates were not simply on pornography but included different views on prostitution and sadomasochism. In October 1980 the National Organization for Women identified what became known as the "Big Four" through declaring that "Pederasty, pornography, sadomasochism and public sex" were about "exploitation, violence or invasion of privacy" and not "sexual preference or orientation". Unfortunately, the stereotypes and taboos these wars created are very much real today, but Third wave feminism and the rise of personal, individualized views on gender-related issues are changing the way we perceive them.

At Sluttish we think feminist porn is crucial for changing the paradigm and challenging the way women are seen in porn, sex, and well in life. We will be featuring creators, such as Erika Lust, performers like Amarna Miller and studios here, so you can get familiar with feminist porn and hopefully start enjoying it more than the mainstream product.

Lede photo from one of Erika Lust's movies