Do women have to watch porn? How often does a woman need to watch and engage in pornographic activities? How beneficial is pornography to a woman? This article talks about feminist porn and explains empowering women's rights to create and view porn.

Something really exciting has been happening in porn, and you may not have noticed it. There's been an uptick in women being involved in the creation of porn and an increase in the availability of feminist porn, pornography that seeks to empower women rather than objectify them. This article will explore why feminist porn is on the rise, what kind of content can be categorized as feminist porn, and why more women are embracing the idea of watching pornography (and creating it) that doesn't demean or paint them as second-class citizens.

What Is Feminist Porn?

With the sharp rise in the consumption of porn to the larger population due to technological advancement, it is even easier to access pornographic material. It has also led to people becoming more desensitized about it, leading to a demand for more erotic and hardcore porn. It might seriously affect the population watching, and there is a need for action to counter this problem. Stewart (2019) stated that feminist porn is an emerging genre of film developed to counter such problems; it is developed mainly to encourage and empower the actors who produce it and those watching. The genre encourages women who have their self-belief to have a stand through pleasure and entertainment. 

How Does Feminist Porn Build Self-Esteem?

By its name, you can understand how feminist porn will empower women's rights and empower men's right to view different kinds of sex acts. There should be no discrimination regarding sex, whether you are male or female. With mainstream porn having a one-sided view of porn and the portrayed characters, feminist porn seeks to level the playing field. Gillespie (2019) explained that feminist porn allows matters that are not usually expressed in mainstream porn to be expressed and normalized in this new form of entertainment. All body types are expressed more than the carefully picked performers in mainstream porn to fit a specific type of porn category. Feminist porn drives away from the mainstream fetishization of female body types and invites all body types and races to be more expressed. Women are not just viewed as sex objects, but rather as real people and not portrayed to have the perfect body type in other porn films. Borgogna et al. (2020) explained that people are rather encouraged to view women's bodies as natural, leading to more acceptance of women in real life rather than setting a high standard for what men expect women to look like in real life. This exaggerated need to look like the perfect pornstars in pornography films can bring unnecessary pressure and might even lead to people not being satisfied with how they look like. Feminist porn, however, brings in a different view, which can help women of all body types have increased self-esteem. The idea behind feminist porn is to build up confidence within women about their bodies and allow them to express themselves sexually without any shame whatsoever. The key point here lies in viewing yourself as a sexual being who has every right to explore your sexuality through pornography if you so choose. We must create spaces to allow ourselves to explore our sexualities without feeling ashamed or guilty.

How Does Feminist Porn Increase Sexual Expression?

Different from what most of the porn out there portrays, feminist porn seeks to express sexual pleasure as something that can be enjoyed by both genders and not just lean on one side. Ashley (2016) explained that mainstream porn has a biased view of sexual pleasure, with the women portrayed as a sex objects and just there to satisfy the man. It has led to an even more dangerous perspective, such as the thought of punishing women through sex and more vigorous actions such as spanking and forcefully fucking. It has led to female pleasure being ignored and replaced by unrealistic female pleasure in mainstream porn. Contrary to these, this new type of film focuses more on what females love and seeks to show real sexual pleasure rather than exaggerated films; feminist porn focuses more on the aesthetic beauty of the sexual act and not just the action itself. It showcases lust and intimacy while not just focusing on the female body but also showcasing the beauty of the male body and desire. Feminist porn allows women to express their desires, feeling free about their sexuality and less scared about expressing it. It also helps women find their fetish and explore it without fear or guilt. Feminist porn provides a way for people from all walks of life (not just straight white men) to have access to and view content that they would otherwise not have enjoyed or watched because they were previously seen as unacceptable in society. By doing so, it is helping people realize how diverse sexuality is with more focus on seeing sex outside of heteronormativity.

Who Makes This Type of Erotica?

As its name suggests, the main people leading the frontline in making these expressive sexual films are women who are mostly tired of the degradation of women in the mainstream porn field that men mostly control. Rather, they want to create films that showcase a neutral gender bias, show people what real sexual pleasure is, and almost express the feeling through the videos. An example of such a director of these films is Erica lust, who has had much success in the field, having multiple awards for her erotic films. These directors are careful to provide a safe working environment for the performers of these films, with most of the crew being female. They are also careful to pick open-minded male actors; the women are chosen carefully to ensure they are venturing into the field not because they don't have another option but because they want and enjoy being part of it.

Why are we talking about this now?

With porn being easily available through laptops and video games, it is important to combat the dangerous growing normalization of degradation and violent sexual acts towards women. It will have already started to hurt children and most of the population that watch porn. Rogers (2016) stated it is also the right time to move away from the exaggerated view of women's bodies and sexual pleasure. People must accept and appreciate the real natural body and pleasure that has been gradually lost through years of mainstream porn. The goal of feminist pornographers is to showcase genuine female pleasure and create content that empowers women to explore their sexuality.

Conclusion

 Feminist pornography depicts authentic female orgasms rather than staged ones; it gives performers control over what they do, how they do it, and who they work with; it shows sex without any objectification or dehumanization of performers; it includes people of all genders in equal measure; it strives for consent at every step; and it champions diversity in terms of age, race, size, ability and gender identity.

References

Ashley, V. (2016). Porn–artifice–performance–and the problem of authenticity. Porn Studies, 3(2), 187-190.

Borgogna, N. C., McDermott, R. C., Berry, A. T., & Browning, B. R. (2020). Masculinity and problematic pornography viewing: The moderating role of self-esteem. Psychology of Men & Masculinities, 21(1), 81.

Gillespie, A. L. (2019). Impacts of Pornography Acceptance and Use on Self-esteem, Sexual Satisfaction, and Overall Relationship Satisfaction (Doctoral dissertation, Purdue University Graduate School).

Rogers, V. (2016). We need to talk about pornography: A resource to educate young people about the potential impact of pornography and sexualized images on relationships, body image, and self-esteem. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Stewart, R. S. (2019). Is feminist porn possible?. Sexuality & Culture, 23(1), 254-270.