Page 68 - AVN September 2018

by and for lesbians (1984-1996)
with the tagline “Entertainment for
the Adventurous Lesbian.” Annie
Sprinkle started in the mid 1970s
as a porn performer, shifting to
directing her own films, such as
Deep Inside Annie Sprinkle. By
the 1990s she was a feminist
performance artist and porn
director. In 2004 she produced
Annie Sprinkle’s Amazing World
of Orgasm, which was all about
women’s big O’s. She has since
become a PhD and sexologist—
and this year she released a book,
The Explorer’s Guide to Planet
Orgasm: For Every Body (Greenery
Press).
Other feminist porn directors
include Courtney Trouble, Madison
Young, Shine Louise Houston,
Ovidie and Jincey Lumpkin. An
attorney turned director from
New York City, Lumpkin founded
the lesbian site JuicyPinkBox.
Calling her films “lesbian sex with
cinematic luster,” she goes for
a glamorous fashion aesthetic.
“I’m trying to achieve sensuality,
glamour and real sex,” she says,
but ironically reports that although
she produces and directs the
movies for other women, “men are
my main clientele.”
The genre saw a rise in popularity
in the 2000s when the Feminist
6 8 A V N . C O M | 9 . 1 8 | S P O T L I G H T
“Explore your authentic
desires, fantasies, and
boundaries, and nurture
them”
Porn Awards were given out by
the woman-owned Good For
Her sex toy shop in Toronto. The
awards have been renamed the
Toronto International Porn Festival,
rebranded to “broaden the
conversation about positive porn.
... These films are for people of all
genders, sexualities, bodies and
pleasures.”
Tristan Taormino’s Sexy Sex Ed
“As a feminist pornographer,
I create erotic imagery that
challenges, contradicts, and re-i
magines dominant porn icono-
graphy,” says Tristan Taormino. “I
let actors choose with whom they
work, what they do, and what piece
of their sexuality they’d like to share
with the camera. This gives them
an opportunity to participate in
their own representation. My works
as a feminist in the adult industry
is part of a growing movement of
filmmakers and activists.”
She shot her first film in 1997,
Tristan Taormino’s The Ultimate
Guide to Anal Sex for Women
(Evil Angel, 1997) and did triple
penetration as a director/producer/
performer. She has produced a
number of educational movies
since then, including titles for Vivid
Entertainment.
As a sex educator, she wants
to “challenge mainstream media
representations of sex and rela-
tionships, how they distort what we
think about ourselves and others.”
Create relationships based in
reality, not fairy tales, she teaches
her audiences. “Explore your
authentic desires, fantasies, and
boundaries, and nurture them.” For
more, visit TristanTaormino.com.
The ‘It Girl’ of Feminist Porn
Erika Lust is a “woman with a
mission.” In her own words she is
a “Swedish indie adult filmmaker.”
As a college student, she studied
“political science, feminism, and
gender studies,” she says. Then
one day her boyfriend asked if
she wanted to watch some porn.
Her reactions were mixed. At first
she felt “cheated” that the movie
was all about the man’s pleasure.
But she also felt aroused. “I was
confused,” she said. So I blamed
my boyfriend,” she jokes.
Next, she read Linda Williams’
books (Hard Core and Porn
Studies), which analyzed the effect
of pornography, and realized that
“porn is actually a discourse,”