Alison Lee

The 2nd Annual Feminist Porn Awards

by Alison Lee on May 30, 2007 · View Comments

While a lot of art has been called pornography, is pornography necessarily art? Chanelle Gallant, manager of Toronto's Good For Her, who are organizing the Feminist Porn Awards thinks that “all cultural production is art”, regardless of whether that art is considered “good” or not.

Now in their second year, The Emmas (named for feminist godmother Emma Goldman), will be handing out more shiny glass butt plug trophies for films and videos in categories like Smutty School Teacher (for educational titles), Hottest Trans Sex Scene, Indie Porn Pioneer and Hottest Diverse Cast.

This celebration doesn't just recognize the good work being done by filmmakers and actors though – it's also continuing the Shine Louise Houston, director of The Crash Pad, SuperFreak and In Search of the Wild Kingdom (and the only queer woman of colour with a distribution deal as of yet), Anna Span, who has filmed more than 185 scenes in the U.K., Simone Valentino, actress extraordinaire in titles including AfroDite Superstar and The Bi Apple, and Peggy Comstock, who along with partner Tony Comstock produces raunchy documentaries with real-life couples.

While many more women and feminists are embracing pornography and erotic expression (with or without caveats) there is still plenty of debate surrounding issues of representation within dirty movies, with some question still to what an event like this hopes to achieve. All in all, Gallant says that the Feminist Porn Awards are set up with multiple goals in mind: “One, to celebrate feminist porn filmmakers who don't otherwise get much recognition for the fact that their work is feminist [...] and to let people know that they have choices when it comes to the porn that they watch. People think that what the mainstream porn industry offers is all that there is, but in fact there are a lot more options out there”. And with more events like the Feminist Porn Awards, more discussion, and more thoughtful, engaged, critical artists making hump films, the future for sexy and feminist porno looks pretty bright.

The Feminist Porn Awards will be doling out trophies, accolades, screenings and music Friday, June 1st at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto. Tickets are $15 advance or $18 at the door, and can be purchased through Good For Her's website or at their store (175 Harbord Street).

Also of interest:
Sexist by design: Mattel and American Airlines
Feminism(s): film, video and politics symposium

Want: hot sex and disabled queers on film

by Alison Lee on May 24, 2007 · View Comments

Loree Erickson's short film Want explores issues surrounding sex, sexuality and disability, as well as the difficulties in navigating the world at large. During the last six years, Erickson has had most of her care provided by a rotating collective of friends and community members after dealing with sex-negative attitudes from some professional care attendants in addition to difficulty finding funding for care.

Contrasting discriminatory attitudes towards the sex lives of disabled people, Want opens with explicit scenes of Erickson and her partners, but the film also includes more mundane activities like navigating supermarkets and public transit. Showing sexuality as another aspect of being able to live a full life, not something that should be relegated to a minor concern (if it is included within a full understanding of disabled people's lives at all) makes Want a deliciously dirty documentary.

The scenes here are accentuated with Erickson's own voice over, which speaks out her desires, and lands somewhere between plaintive requests and outright demands. Erickson may want to be the girl you fuck, but she also wants to be the girl you respect. If her activism and work within the area of disability and sexuality isn't enough to get you there, then the vision of her fucking by an open window with her head thrown back in delight ought to do the trick. Her own goals of “replac(ing) the gawking, gazing and glaring people with disabilities encounter on a daily basis with beholding, recognizing and reacting when people with disabilities are red fucking hot” are thoroughly confirmed here.

Want screens as part of Toronto's Inside Out Lesbian and Gay Film Festival on May 25th. Erickson is also launching a photography exhibit, Revealing Femmegimp, at Come as You Are in Toronto running from June 4th to July 31st, in addition to organizing Reclaiming the Gaze: A performance Evening Exploring Desire and Disability at Tallulah's Cabaret (11 Alexander St., Toronto) on July 21st.

Topping off all of this sexiness is Acsexxxable, an accessible sex party currently being planned for August. If you'd like to help out planning for this, email monstergrrrl@gmail.com, and email Loree at femmegimp@hotmail.com for more information about her work or to book or purchase artwork or films.