All About Feminist Porn

Feminist porn is porn that’s, well, feminist of course.

The term “feminist porn” has been around for a while now. It first rose to prominence with the 2006 Feminist Porn Awards, held in Toronto. Until then, “porn for women” was a more commonly used to term to describe non-mainstream, female-friendly porn. Feminist porn gained traction because it was seen as more inclusive. And it also got the attention of the press.

Second wave feminists of the 70s and 80s were known for being anti-porn. This became so entrenched that the idea of “feminist porn” was considered to be impossible. In actual fact that there were people making porn at the time who identified as feminists – Candida Royalle, Annie Sprinkle, Nan Kinney and Susie Bright to name a few. They wanted to make porn that reflected their own experiences. There were also a few feminist publications that embraced the erotic: Playgirl, Australian Women’s Forum, Viva. Even so, it wasn’t until the 2000s that this type of porn became better known.

After the first edition of the Feminist Porn Awards, the term became popular and was a handy way for people making alternative porn to describe themselves. Naturally the sceptical press wanted to know what feminist porn was.

Defining Feminist Porn

There is no one definition of feminist porn, just as there’s no single defining example of it. It can be an ideology, a method or a genre of sorts. Typically the people making it identify as feminist and this could be an easy way of spotting it; if it’s called feminist porn, then it is. The motivations behind it can be more complicated.

As Ideology

Often those making feminist porn subscribe to a set of ideals and are looking to bring that into their creation of porn. Feminism has traditionally been about equality and this can be seen in the way feminist porn depicts sex: it is sex-positive and doesn’t rely on sexist tropes or reinforce narrow ideals of beauty. It is happy to feature equal pleasure or focus on female pleasure. It offers a female gaze – a viewpoint that centres the experiences and perspectives of women. It focuses on enthusiastic consent.

It is also intersectional. It is diverse and inclusive. It features the experiences and perspectives of a wide range of people beyond the usual white, straight male gaze seen in mainstream porn. Thus, it includes queer, trans and non-binary people, people of colour and people with a disability. This inclusivity means that feminist porn embraces all kinds of sexualities, consensual sex acts, kinks, body types and ways of getting off. This is part of the wider ideal of being sex-positive.

As A Method

As discussion around the idea of feminist porn expanded, the term “ethical porn” became popular. Encouraged by performer groups and the ongoing concern that porn exploited people, feminists have focused on how the porn is made – i.e. the methods used. Ethical porn methods typically aim to create porn fairly, consensually and respectfully. This includes things like fair pay, equal pay for male and female performers, safe sex and safe working conditions. It means ensuring there is lots of communication and respect on set, firm boundaries and clear expectations.

Feminist porn may also embrace different cinematic methods and depictions as part of its goals. Mainstream porn follows a familiar set of visual tropes; feminist porn often rejects these ways of filming and showing sex. It might mean dispensing with the “money shot” as the final act of the scene. It might be a way of shooting the scene that doesn’t focus only on the female performer. It might be through the use of voiceovers and point-of-view shots. Or it might be via surreal imagery, music or breaking the fourth wall. This method of filming could be called the female gaze, or it might simply be considered an “alternative gaze”.

As A Genre

Using the term “genre” to describe feminist porn may not be totally accurate. Typically film genres like horror, western or comedy have a set style and expectations of what type of content you’ll see. Feminist porn, on the other hand, can include wildly different types of pornography: it can be feature film, short film or “gonzo”, high budget or amateur, plot-based or “reality-style”. The type of sex you see can be pretty much anything consensual, ranging from hardcore to soft romance and full BDSM / kink. It can even include things that some feminists consider “degrading”, provided the sex acts are all consensual.

The main thing defining feminist porn as a genre is that it labels itself as such – and it seeks to differentiate itself from the mainstream. Even though that’s very vague, it’s reasonable to say that it IS a genre, if only because it’s a way of labelling adult content that is different.

The Feminist Porn Awards and PorYes

As mentioned above, the Feminist Porn Awards were an event that ran from 2006 to 2015. Organized by Toronto adult store Good For Her, the annual awards recognized pornography that was different – inclusive, alternative and female-friendly. The awards were handed out in April each year at a ceremony honoring the awardees. This grew in size and scope until it became a major event, attended by hundreds of porn performers, creators and fans. The awards took the form of a mounted glass butt plug with engraving.

In 2014 the awards were followed by the Feminist Porn Conference (see below).

The awards took a hiatus in 2016 and then returned in 2017 as the Toronto International Porn Festival. After this, however, the organizers decided to retire the event. By this stage, debate over definitions and inclusions meant the awards had become the focus of criticism.

You’ll find all the winners of the awards listed here.

In Europe, the PorYes Feminist Porn Awards have been held every two years in Berlin. Founded by sex shop owner Laura Merritt, the event features an award ceremony and a discussion panel. The name “PorYes” is meant to be a play on the word “porno” and implies a positive embracing of pornography by feminists. The event is run by Freudenfluss Netzwerk- a loose network of volunteers and activists. The most recent awards were held in 2023 and honored five recipients including queer porn pioneer Deborah Sundahl.

The Feminist Porn Book and Conference

In 2013, authors Tristan Taormino, Constance Penley, Celine Parrenas Shimizu, and Mireille Miller-Young launched The Feminist Porn Book. This anthology of essays featured the voices of many different porn performers and creators such as Candida Royalle, Susie Bright, Betty Dodson, Buck Angel, Nina Hartley, April Flores and Loree Erickson. It also featured essays from academics who work in the field of pornography. The book set out to discuss porn from a more nuanced and inclusive perspective. It included essays from people of colour, queer, trans and disabled porn performers and creators. The work didn’t shy from criticizing the porn industry but it took a pro- sex work pro-porn stance. Critic Melissa Harris-Perry wrote:

The authors do not assume that the porn industry as it exists is the one essential and only possible incarnation of porn. Instead, they assume that when feminists engage, intervene in, produce, and study pornography, they can radically alter its formations and meanings.

Inspired by the success of the book, the authors organized the 2013 Feminist Porn Conference, held in Toronto following the Feminist Porn Awards. It saw academics, directors and performers gather to discuss the various aspects of what had become a movement. The conference included panel discussions about definitions, porn history, consent, queer porn, sex work, privacy and ethics among other topics. The event was well attended and it solidified many of the ideals and hopes of the movement. A year later a second conference was held with even more discussions and more than 250 people attending over two days.

Where To Find It

There are now plenty of adult filmmakers and websites that describe themselves as feminist. You can start by checking out the list of feminist porn award winners or visiting the sites recommended by this site. If you’re on a performer-focused site like OnlyFans check the performer / director bio and see what they say about their ideals. The same goes for social media sites. Be aware these can be censored and the individual may be advising that you go to a link tree to find their real content. You should also check out the films at Pink Label, which is a curated site that features directors and performers who identify as feminist / ethical. And of course please visit Bright Desire, our main sponsor site, which has always been a feminist erotic site.

(Be aware that some of the tube sites have appropriated the term and used it to attract traffic from Google and other search engines. These pages aren’t curated and mainly feature content that has been tagged that way purely to get views.)

Overall, the feminist porn movement has always aimed to make better porn. It’s been about women taking the means of production for ourselves and reflecting our own experiences and desires. It’s been about capturing aspects of sex, sexuality and identity that haven’t previously been visible. And it’s about ensuring that porn is a force for good.