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Winners of the 2014 Good For Her Feminist Porn Awards

Apr 072014

Good For Her is proud to announce the winners of the 2014 Good For Her Feminist Porn Awards!

Courtney Trouble, winner of Best Dyke Film and Most Tantalizing Trans Film

Toronto, ON, April 5, 2014: On Friday April 4th, Toronto’s 9th annual Feminist Porn Awards, sponsored by Slixa once again attracted directors and performers from around the globe, each vying for a prestigious Feminist Porn Award. The Castlefield Event Theatre was filled with steamy porn clips, sexy performances and a powerful room of feminists of all genders celebrating sex on screen. Twenty-three awards in total were handed out in categories ranging from Smutty Schoolteacher Award for Sex Education to Steamiest Straight Movie at this annual event, now in its ninth year.

“Good For Her began organizing the Feminist Porn Awards in 1996 to celebrate the growing diversity of porn where everyone can see their bodies and desires reflected,” said Carlyle Jansen, founder of Good for Her and producer of the Feminist Porn Awards. “Feminist Porn is rapidly eclipsing mainstream options for its fair trade labour practices and inclusivity for everyday people. The festival showcases an increased level of sophistication and cinematography that appeals to both the mainstream porn audience as well as to those who feel left out of porn’s traditional style of eroticism.”

Responding to feedback that they want to “see more porn”, the events also included a screening event called Public Provocative Porn: The Year’s Best in Feminist Film, giving audiences a chance to see more of these incredible films as well as the opportunity to engage with filmmakers with their questions. Held at the Bloor Hot Docs Theatre in Toronto on April 3rd, over 500 people gathered to watch selections from Feminist Porn Award nominated films. French film maker Ovidie, Amsterdam based Jennifer Lyon Bell, Australia’s Zahra Stardust, Barcelona’s Lucie Blush, Americans Paul Deeb, Courtney Trouble and Shine Louise Houston, as well as local film makers Carey Gray and Sonya Barnett were on the panel to share their experiences, goals and processes in filmmaking. These selections of films shattered assumptions about the porn aesthetic, from folks who used an iPhone to those with big budgets, from soft to edgy, artsy and political.

The 2014 Good For Her Feminist Porn Award winners are:

Sexiest Short
No Artificial Sweeteners
The Madame

Sexiest Short
Trains
Paul Deeb

Steamiest Straight Movie
The Temptation of Eve
Jacky St. James

Golden Beaver for Canadian Content
Power at Play
Carey Gray

Best Direction
Liberte Sexuelle/Sexual Freedom: Sex Stories 3
Ovidie

Smutty Schoolteacher Award for Sex Education
Tristan Taormino’s Guide to Bondage For Couples
Tristan Taormino

Hottest Dyke Film
Lesbian Curves 2: Hard Femme
Courtney Trouble

2014 Indie Porn Icon
Carlos Batts

Most Tantalizing Trans Film
Trans Grrrls
Courtney Trouble

Hottest Kink Movie
Rubber Bordello
Soma Snakeoil

Hottest Straight Vignette
Xconfessions
Erika Lust

Hottest Lesbian Vignette
Women Reclaiming Sex on Film
Madison Young

Steamiest Romantic Movie
The Submission of Emma Marx
Jacky St. James

Best Boygasm
Bed Party
Shine Louise Houston

Heartthrob Of The Year
Zahra Stardust

Slixa Movie Of The Year
Silver Shoes
Jennifer Lyon Bell

2014 Honoured Websites
www.wendywilliamsxxx.com
www.naughtynatural.com

www.juicypinkbox.com

www.welovegoodsex.com

2014 Honourable Mentions
Something Better: Performers Talk About Feminism and Porn
Ms. Naughty

Doing It Again: Playful Awakenings
Tobi Hill-Meyer

Best Slumber Party Ever
Samuel Shanahoy

Kitty Stryker, Courtney Trouble, Wolf Hudson, and Drew DeVeaux

Good For Her is proud to have now celebrated nine years as producers of the Good For Her Feminist Porn Awards, the largest and longest running celebration of feminist porn in the world. Since 1997, Good For Her has been creating a nurturing environment where everyone can feel comfortable learning about sex and pleasure. Good For Her takes pride in providing quality sex toys, erotic and educational books as well as DVDs and workshops that empower and celebrate the diversity of everyone’s sexuality.

The Feminist Porn Awards Events took place at:

Public Provocative Porn Thursday April 3rd at the Bloor Cinema at 506 Bloor Street West

Good For Her Feminist Porn Awards Friday April 4th at the Castlefield Theatre at 2492 Yonge Street

All photos credit to Kristy Boyce.

Feminist Porn: An Introduction

Apr 042014

Feminist porn is a genre of adult film and a growing movement which traces its roots back to the 1980s and the work of pioneering performers and producers like Annie Sprinkle , Susie Bright, Nan Kinney , Deborah Sundahl, Carol Queen, Candida Royalle, Nina Hartley, On Our Backs, and Fatale Media.

Today, feminist pornographers are organized around creating work that is ethical, diverse, political, and empowering. Feminist porn is ethically-produced, which means the working conditions are safe and performers are paid a fair wage and treated with respect. Feminist porn places emphasis on consent, performer agency, and authentic depictions of desire and sexuality; they often take the lead or collaborate in the creation of their scenes, and everyone is encouraged to experience real pleasure and orgasms. The films of feminist pornographers respond to and challenge stereotypes seen in other kinds of porn, and attempt to move beyond one-dimensional depictions of gender and sexuality. Feminist porn offers alternative representations and aesthetics and often features historically underrepresented or misrepresented people and practices. Feminist porn challenges repetitive, reductive images to create more diverse, complex, and nuanced depictions of sex, lust, fantasy, power, and pleasure.

What’s the difference between feminist porn, couples porn, and porn for women? Is this a fancy name for romance and softer sex? How do I know if the porn I’m watching is feminist? For the answers to these questions and more, read the rest of this article at my GoodVibes Blog!

Join Courtney Trouble’s Fan Club!

Apr 022014

Welcome to the Courtney Trouble Fan Club, where you’ll get FULL VIP ACCESS to the exclusive content on both of her award-winning porn sites IndiePornRevolution.Com and QueerPorn.TV – as well as a bunch of special treats that only my favorite groupies will get. Most of all, you’ll rock out to the 3-5 updates a week, making this the best and biggest way to be a part of her little world. Welcome to the largest library of indie, queer, feminist, and fun porn on the internet, please, jump on over that velvet rope and play with Courtney!

Become a groupie today!

Shape Magazine, Nerve, Porn Studies, and 50 Shades of Kink

Apr 022014

TTpromoheadshot

Shape Magazine interviewed me for their article “The New Porn That Will Transform Your Sex Life“:

“Feminist porn prioritizes authentic depiction of desire and pleasure, and shows authentic orgasms,” she says. “You’re not going to see a cookie-cutter repetition of ‘one way’ to be for men or for women, or ‘one way’ to have a sexual dynamic. You’re much more likely to see a diversity of bodies, desires, fantasies, and power dynamics.”

Read the whole article here, it also mentions Dusk!TV and Reid Mihalko.

I’m also quoted in the Nerve article by Lux Alptraum, “When Queer People Make Straight Porn.”

Furthermore, shooting heterosexual sex offered her the chance to directly challenge the misogyny and sexism that often comes bundled with ideas about straight porn. “You’re contending with this history of what we see men and women constantly engaging in… It’s actually more challenging for me…to work with the power dynamics when the sex is heterosexual.”

I went to Knoxville to speak at University of Tennessee’s Sex Week and despite legislators trying to stop the events, student attendance went up.

“Colleen Ryan, member of the SEAT executive board and freshman global studies, said Tristan Taormino, a sex educator and pornographic film director, was another favorite. However, he noted, it is typically the edgier events that draw fire from the public and the legislature.”

This weekend I’ll be in Toronto for the Feminist Porn Awards and the Feminist Porn Conference I’m producing. Here’s a mention in the Daily Xtra about both events.

If you can’t make it to the conference this weekend, you can spend some time studying porn at home – the first issue of Porn Studies was released and is available for free online for a limited time! Porn Studies is the first dedicated, international, peer-reviewed journal to critically explore those cultural products and services designated as pornographic. It will develop knowledge of the history, modes, aesthetics, genres and subgenres of pornography, examining pornography’s institutional and industrial structures, its consumption and regulation.

Topics covered in the inaugural issue include research methods, psychology and pornography, and fair-trade and porn. Alongside articles, the journal includes a scholarly forum devoted to shorter observations, developments and issues in porn studies, designed to encourage exchange and debate. The first issue will be free to view at www.tandfonline.com until 31st May, after which it will be available via subscription only. All future issues will also be via subscription only.

And finally, check out the latest reviews of my kink book, 50 Shades of Kink. Released as an e-book last year, it’s now available in paper!

From BexTalksSex.com: “It needs to be in the nightstands of every housewife in middle America, next to the fuzzy handcuffs and Ben Wa Balls bought from the sleezy sex shop down the road; and then they need to read it and throw away the fuzzy handcuffs.”

From NightOwlReviews.com: “This is a must read book for anyone wanting to know more about BDSM.”

From ReviewsByAmosLassen.com: “..we now have a nonfiction account that shows us how to make our fantasies become realities.”

For advanced kinksters (or when you’re ready to take it to the next level), Krissy Novacaine talks about my other book, The Ultimate Guide to Kink.

I am picky about what books I recommend to others for kink. I want the whole book to give out sound (safe) advice while still holding on to the erotic element of the subject matter. This is the best book I have ever read to balance those two things.
– Full review here.

Apri 4: Epiphora on Testing Sex Toys and Writing with Honesty & Snark

Apr 012014

EPIPHORA-SUPERHERO3

This Friday, April 4th at 8 pm ET / 5 pm on Sex Out Loud is the first episode of the CatalystCon East 2014 series featuring a live interview before a studio audience, with sex blogger Epiphora who’s known for her honest writing and cheeky reviews of sex toys on her site, Hey Epiphora. Epiphora talks about her own journey into sex writing, offers insights to sex toy makers, and shows how to be both snarky and trustworthy.

Epiphora has a very discerning vagina. For six years, she has been testing sex toys and writing about them on the internet. Her popular blog, Hey Epiphora, is filled to the brim with relentlessly honest sex toy reviews, matter-of-fact masturbation journals, industry critiques, and sex blogging tips. Highly trusted and well-known for her snarky style, she is the antidote to the coy, euphemistic sugar-coating that plagues bad sex writing. Many loyal readers entrust their future orgasms to her. As a trusted voice in the sex toy landscape, Epiphora has been featured on Playboy, Bitch, Slate, and VICE, interviewed in XBIZ Premiere magazine, and quoted in Tristan Taormino’s book, The Secrets of Great G-Spot Orgasms and Female Ejaculation. She was also named Kinkly’s #1 Sex Blogging Superhero of 2013.

Sex Out Loud airs every Friday at 5 pm PT / 8 pm ET on the VoiceAmerica Variety channel. You can listen on your computer, phone, or tablet, find all the ways here!

Mar 28: Madison Young on Heroes, Fantasy, and the Search for Daddy

Mar 262014

authorphoto

This Friday, March 28th at 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT on Sex Out Loud radio, I’ll be live with artist, author, activist, educator and filmmaker Madison Young talking about the release of her new memoir, Daddy. Daddy explores Young’s interwoven relationships with the men in her life from the fraught relationship with her biological father to the BDSM “leather daddies” that lead her on a journey of sexual revelation, both on and off camera. When Young finally finds the Daddy that she has been searching for, her fairytale quest is shattered with the flawed realities of human nature that exists outside of this little girl’s fantasy. Find out why Michelle Tea said: “This lady has done more in the first quarter of her life than most people do in a generation.”

This week’s show is LIVE, which means we’ll be giving away a Sportsheets prize to a lucky fan. Find out all the ways to listen here so you can call in with questions and comments at 1-866-472-5788, join the discussion on Facebook or Twitter, or e-mail me via tristan(at)puckerup.com and I’ll read them live on the air – you could be chosen to win!

MADISON YOUNG is an artist and activist dedicated to creating space for love. This sexpert grew up in the suburban landscape of Southern Ohio before moving to San Francisco, California in 2000. Since then this mid-western gal has dedicated her days to facilitating safe space to dialogue on the topic of fringe identities and cultures as well as documenting healthy expression of sexuality. Young’s breadth of work in the realm of sexuality spans from documenting our sexual culture in her feminist erotic films to serving as the Artistic Director of the forward thinking non-profit arts organization, Femina Potens Art Gallery. Young values sexual education in her work and has taught workshops, lectures, and acted as a panelist on the topics of sexuality, feminist porn studies, and the politics of BDSM around the world including at Yale University, Hampshire College, Northwestern University, University of Toronto, University of Minnesota, and UC Berkeley. Her writings have been published in books such as The Ultimate Guide to Kink, Baby Remember My Name, Rope, Bondage, and Power, Best Sex Writing of 2013, and John’s Marks, Tricks, and Chickenhawks. Madison Young lives in Berkeley, California with her partner James and child, Em. She is currently pursuing her doctorate in clinical sexology at the Institute of Advanced Studies for Human Sexuality.

Sex Out Loud airs every Friday at 5 pm PT / 8 pm ET on the VoiceAmerica Variety channel. You can listen on your computer, phone, or tablet, find all the ways here!

The Struggle for Sex Positivity at Sex Week

Mar 192014

Tristan at UTK Sex Week 2014

I just returned from Sex Week at the University of Tennessee, and all I can say is: wow. Before I arrived, I knew all about last year’s de-funding debacle and this year’s continued controversy, which included the state legislature passing an official resolution that condemned Sex Week’s student organizers for organizing the event as well as further threats to cut university funding if Sex Week went on. In one poll, 59% of people said Sex Week should be cancelled. I read the Concerned Women of America’s terrifying press release (favorite quote: “The F.B.I. field office has been notified of planned illegal distribution of pornographic material to minors on campus”) and knew that there wasn’t exactly going to be a marching band to celebrate my arrival. I’ve had students and community members protest my college appearances before, so I was ready for whatever push-back might come my way. I wasn’t prepared for what I discovered: a sexual culture so steeped in shame and stigma that students are afraid to be seen at Sex Week events.

Read the entire story on GoodVibes blog.

Mar 21: In Studio with Susie Bright

Mar 182014

susie bright

On Friday at 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT on Sex Out Loud radio, I will be live in the studio with my friend and colleague, Susie Bright! Author, editor, professor, screenwriter, and audio book maven, Susie Bright is the go-to expert on all things sexual politics. For the first time in Sex Out Loud history, the show will be airing live with me and a guest together in the same room and this intimate, raucous, informative conversation is not one you will want to miss. We’ll be taking questions from the audience, so call in to have a chance to talk with me and “Susie Sexpert” about any topic related to sex and relationships.

Best-selling author Susie Bright, the country’s preeminent feminist sex writer, is one of the world’s most respected voices on sexual politics, as well as an award-winning author who has edited and published hundreds of the finest writers and journalists working in American literature and progressive activism today. Bright is the author of six national best-sellers, including The Sexual State of the Union & Full Exposure. She’s the Founding Editor of On Our Backs, The Best American Erotica, and Herotica and currently Editor at Large at Audible Studios, with over 300 audiobooks and 4 Audie nominees. She’s also host of the longest-running sex-education program in broadcasting history, In Bed with Susie Bright. Follow her on twitter: @susiebright

Sex Out Loud airs every Friday at 5 pm PT / 8 pm ET on the VoiceAmerica Variety channel. You can listen on your computer, phone, or tablet, find all the ways here!

Mar 14: Allison Vivas on Making Peace with Porn

Mar 122014

Allison Vivas

This Friday on Sex Out Loud, I interview Allison Vivas, President of Pink Visual, two-time winner of XBIZ Award for adult industry Woman of the Year and recent recipient of Free Speech Coalition’s Leadership Award. Under Allison’s guidance, Pink Visual has established a strong reputation within the adult
entertainment industry as an innovative, forward-thinking brand that focuses as much on developing excellent technology as it does on creating high quality adult entertainment. She recently published the book “Making Peace With Porn: Adult Entertainment and Your Guy“, which incorporates personal stories, clinical statistics, and the history of adult entertainment to explain why porn might not be such a bad thing after all.

After completing her degree at the University of Arizona in 2001, Allison Vivas joined a startup adult website affiliate program called TopBucks at the age of 21. Allison quickly rose to the position of Marketing Director, where she oversaw a wide range of the company’s activities in marketing, sales, event coordination, and project planning, across several product lines for both the adult entertainment and ‘mainstream’ markets. In 2004, the company launched
Pink Visual to bring together its Internet, broadcast and DVD distribution efforts under a single brand. Allison was named President of the company in 2006 and since then the company has played a major role with mobile distribution and anti-piracy efforts, most recently launching the Anti-Piracy Service: DMCA Force. She penned “Making Peace with Porn” in 2013 which combined research with her own personal growth around understanding porn as a woman.

Sex Out Loud airs every Friday at 5 pm PT / 8 pm ET on the VoiceAmerica Variety channel. You can listen on your computer, phone, or tablet, find all the ways here!

Mar 7: Lux Alptraum on Sex Culture, the Adult Entertainment Industry & the Future of Sex Online

Mar 052014

lux alptraum

This Friday on Sex Out Loud radio, spend an hour with Lux Alptraum, sex educator and writer whose work you know through Nerve, WoodRocket, Fleshbot, and more. She talks about how she got into writing about sex, starting her own culture sites, how the internet has changed sex and how sex has changed the internet. Alptraum will share stories from her years of writing on the adult entertainment industry and give us an idea of what to expect from the future of sex online.

Lux Alptraum is a writer, sex educator, and consultant most frequently found at Nerve and WoodRocket. Past projects have included gigs as the editor, publisher, and CEO of Fleshbot, the web’s foremost blog about sexuality and adult entertainment; a sex educator at an adolescent pregnancy prevention program; an HIV pretest counselor; and the founder of ThatStrangeGirl, an alternative porn site, and Boinkology, a blog about sex and culture. Her writing has appeared in Cosmopolitan, Hustler, FastCompany.com, Salon.com, TheAtlantic.com, Time Out New York, Jezebel.com, SundanceChannel.com,Bizarre Magazine, Jalopnik.com, BlackbookMag.com, GOOD Magazine, and more. She has spoken about sexuality, the internet, and adult entertainment at Harvard University, Brown University, Yale University, NYU, Columbia University, Ohio State University, SXSW, and New York City’s Museum of Sex, and was recognized as one of 2008′s Heeb 100.

Sex Out Loud airs every Friday at 5 pm PT / 8 pm ET on the VoiceAmerica Variety channel. You can listen on your computer, phone, or tablet, find all the ways here!

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