Women's Porn Mag Cockblocked in UK

This is news from last year but Filament, a women's erotica magazine, was cockblocked by their printer for pictures of erect penises in their second issue. Apparently their first issue, released last year, had three sets of pics of hot lads without dropping their pants. That in itself surprises me.


On hearing the reader demand for hard cocks, the Filament team included some fine boneage in their second issue only to have their printer refuse, "citing potential objections from 'the women's/religious sectors.'"

Uhhh...what? Can you imagine a printer refusing to publish one of the thousands of porn mags for men because "men's/religious sectors" might object?

Kristina Lloyd and Mathilde Madden make some good points in the Guardian article about the whole debacle, including this gem:

While some contend the lack of female-oriented erotica reflects a lack of demand, claiming the free market would prevail if women wanted such material, Filament's experience of cockblocking proves otherwise. Perhaps what's most insidious in this saga is that the market's refusal to admit Filament reinforces an idea of female sexuality which justifies that very refusal. The absence of visual erotica for women on shelves crammed with magazines where women are products for male consumers, reduces female desire to the less-interested counterpart of male desire. The deficit positions women as the providers of sex for perpetually horny dudes. And so, runs the self-fulfilling logic, of course women don't want magazines targeting their desire. Women don't have desire, see? They merely receive it.

You might be wondering why I'm blogging about another porn magazine for women on the PoolBoy Magazine blog. Isn't that our competition, you may be wondering? Honestly, I'm just psyched to see there are other women producing porn mags. That's just more variety for ladies. It gets so old having to look at the same porn, and men don't seem to have this problem because there are tons of different mags and movies for them to look at. Women have less than a handful. Plus, how could you not love a magazine whose slogan is "the thinking woman's crumpet?"

Luckily the British magazine is now on it's 5th issue, proving that ladies all over the world love man meat.

Women Like to Watch Porn, Deal with It

In response to a Stop Porn Culture conference held in Boston by the Stop Porn Coalition, a group that claims to be feminist but is actually rooted in fundamentalist Christian organizations (though this fact is hidden on their website and other materials), Violet Blue created Our Porn, Ourselves. The Our Porn, Ourselves mission statement says:

We women are tired of people trying to control our sexuality by telling us what we should or shouldn’t like sexually (porn) based on what someone else thinks is best for us. It’s like keeping women in a perpetual state of being children about sex. And women who say they are feminists make it worse by discounting all the women who find porn to be an empowering sex toy. Or if not, to at least give us the benefit of the doubt that we can make that decision for ourselves, thank you very much.

It's about time there was a counter argument to the anti-porn feminists. I'm not about to tell someone they're not feminist for being against porn, especially if they're exposure to porn is all the violent shit out there. But I'm also not about to judge anyone for what turns them on or tell other women that they shouldn't explore their sexuality to see what exactly does turn them on. There's a great quote by Sarah Estrella, from the Sex & Relationship Examiner, that addresses the compatibility of the feminist label and porn:

...To that I’d add that feminism and pornography are no longer incompatible, if they ever were, and both are becoming more progressive than you might imagine (witness such phenomena as the recent 5th annual Feminist Pornography Awards). As one set of feminists are returning to the old right wing rallying cries of Andrea Dworkin, another set is increasingly participating in the means and ways of production of adult entertainment, and becoming a significant portion of the audience for pornographic material as consumers. As a result, the old charges that pornography is about a male-centric and sexist objectification of women are falling apart. To be sure, there is still plenty to talk about, plenty to protest, and plenty to change for the better in the adult enterainment industry – particularly around violence against and exploitation of women, to the extent that each still exist – but the argument that feminism is by definition anti-porn just doesn’t hold up anymore.

That's what PoolBoy Magazine is all about, acknowledging and accepting that women are sexual and enjoy being so. Instead of being sexualized by the media and society, PoolBoy asserts that women should be sexual and address what gets them hot. How are women to enjoy sex if they're not allowed to explore what it is exactly that turns them on? Or just be judged by what gets them going? Perhaps the underlying message of anti-porn groups are that women are not supposed to enjoy sex, or only be the means that they deem acceptable. Sad face.

Anyway, porn is cool and people, men or women, telling other women that they shouldn't watch it are just as bad as men making laws about what women can or cannot do with their bodies. Why don't you just let decide for themselves? Or, if you don't like the porn that's out there, make your own!

Our Porn, Ourselves is having a video contest with some rad prizes. All you have to do is, "Make a short video that tells us you are pro-porn, and upload the video to your favorite video sharing website. This is where you get to tell us “I’m pro-porn and I vote!” When you’re done, Tweet the location (URL) of the video with the hashtag #proporn. The deadline is June 12, the start of the Stop Porn Culture feminist anti-porn conference." The prizes are listed on Our Porn, Ourselves so check them out and get to making your video!

Feminist Porn Awards Announces Nominations

The 2010 Good For Her Feminist Porn Awards have announced the details for this years party. Along with the impressive list of guests, the nominations are pretty drool worthy. With categories ranging from Sexiest Straight Film to Hottest Trans Scene/Film to Most Deliciously Diverse Cast there's something for every lady.

Check out the top 10 nominations below. Some of these might have to be reviewed for the next issue of PoolBoy Magazine (perhaps Be My Boy Toy?).

1) 101 Positions for Lovers – Jamye Waxman – Sensual Couples

2) A Man With a Maid: Tales of Victorian Lust – Nica Noelle – Sweet Sinner Video

3) Art of Female Self-Pleasure – Jaiya – New World Sex Education

4) Be My Boy Toy – Anna Span – Easy on the Eye Productions

5) Behind the Red Door – Carlos Batts – HeartCore Films

6) Bordello – Courtney Trouble – Reel Queer Productions

7) Buck Angel’s Ultimate Fucking Club – Buck Angel – Buck Angel Entertainment

8) Cocksucker – Julie Simone – Julie Simone Productions

9) Couch Surfers 2: Trans Men in Action – Brazen Garage Squad –Trannywood Pictures

10) Crash Pad Series 4: Ropeburn – Shine Louise Houston - Blowfish Video

European Feminist Porn Film Awards

Did you know there was a European Feminist Porn Film Awards? I didn't. According to the website, "In October 2009 the first Feminist Porn Film Award was presented in Berlin. The initiators set themselves off against sexist, mainstream pornography. “We want to revolutionize the erotic film market”, says Laura Meritt – sexpert with a doctorate in communication sciences. Awards will be given for high quality erotic movies “with a wide range of portraying female sexual lust and in which women play an important role as producers.”

The website (warning: the English version of the German site does not have the best translation) has a whole section on the background of the "Poryes" or sexpositive feminist movement that is an interesting read. The criteria that award nominees needed to meet is pretty interesting as well:

Criteria for feminist pornfilms:

• A sex-positive attitude, no de-humanising or misogynistic portrayals

• Roles in collusion with those involved / no crossing of personal borders

• Ethical work conditions / safe sex is encouraged

• Those involved will be shown in relation to one another - eye, skin, hand, and body contact, energy exchange.

• Emotions and declarations of love are encouraged, doable, and showable.

• Diverse camera settings, light and shadow games

• Variations of sexual practices in joyful transitions, not an achievement test, broadening of the stereotypically portrayed spectrum.

• A variety of body types, ages, genders, sexual orientations and ethnic backgrounds.

• Authentic sound recordings or music. No gender-stereotypical amplified dubbing of moaning.

• Portrayal of lust and pleasure, focus on female lust and its diversity.

• No schematic portrayals of the “sexual curve” – that is to say no straight zoom in on the male ejaculation, no emphasis of the male cum shot. Orgasms are not the only goal.

• Women are significantly involved in the production of the film as producers, directors, or camerawomen.


Sounds good to me. There's definitely a noticeable difference in porn made by and for men vs porn made by and for women. Props for awarding movies that actually aim to titillate women. Now when will the American feminist porn market start booming?

Ladies Porn Night

So PoolBoy Magazine just hosted it's first ever Ladies Porn Night this past Friday night at the Pool House.

We had a blast. We had wine, hors d'œuvres, green, and porn.

While waiting for Ophelia Bachs to arrive with the porn vidoes, we started the night off with watching a short feminist art movie by some ASU students called "Hysteria: A History", which was interesting and cool.

Then we got down to business and watched some porn. We watched:

Constance
Five Hot Stories for Her
All About Anna
Twinks
Marie & Jack (Comstock Films)
Ashley & Kisha (Comstock Films)

While watching the videos we ask our ladies what they thought about specific scenes, the appearances of the male and female actors, if they'd fap to the video, if they'd go out and buy the video, and overall their impression.

The whole night was very interesting and fun. It was really cool to discuss porn with a bunch of women and see what people liked and disliked. And it was interesting to hear about people's experience levels with pornography. For one of our attendees, that was the first time she had ever seen a porn video! PoolBoy Magazine was glad to be her first.

Look for the full write up from our first Ladies Porn Night in the first issue of PoolBoy Magazine!

We're almost ready to print this first issue and we're really excited!