The Feminist Porn Book

I went to a reading of The Feminist Porn Book, which is exactly what it sounds like—various porn stars (all self-identified feminists, either now or when they were working in the industry) submitted pieces to the collection, explaining their experiences as women in the porn industry, a predominantly male-dominated business. Three of the contributors came to the reading: Candida Royalle, the “godmother” of feminist porn; Sinnamon Love, an African-American pornographic actress and fetish model; and Tristan Taormino, a director and active contributor to the emerging genre of “feminist porn.”

By far, Sinnamon Love and Tristan Taormino were the two more interesting women to hear from—Candida Royalle was interesting in her own right, but Love’s experiences as a woman of color (a group often left out of even mainstream feminism, not to even touch sex work) and her discussions of her advances as an individual were amazing and eye-opening to listen to. In the piece she read, she claimed she struggled with the idea of whether or not her work could be feminist, even though she herself was; this was the recurring theme of the night and the book both. Tristan Taormino, with her expertise in production, was also a delight to listen to. She touched upon sex positivity for women in porn, as well as directorial tactics that she chooses to employ in her films.

All in all, it was a really enlightening night; I knew vaguely of the topic, albeit not the book, going in, and hearing from women who had worked and are still working in the industry and genuinely believe that feminism and porn can come together (though they had different opinions on how to do it, challenging each other to consider different forms of progress) was inspiring, and I would love to buy the book and support their advances once I get some extra cash. (Make sure you go to Bluestockings if you can and get a copy, rather than buying it on Amazon—who doesn't love supporting activist indie bookstores?!)