Porn is easier than ever to find and consume. Yet, with the proliferation of amateur porn sites and "hub" channels, it's often hard to figure out where our porn comes from, who made it, and whether everyone was treated fairly and ethically. If these are things that matter to you, there's been a growing movement in ethical pornography. Here are some great independent erotic film artists who are doing things differently.
Ethical porn shows real people having real sex and showcases performers who are treated fairly and ethically.
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While many may question the idea that any kind of porn can be ethical, those who make ethical pornography adhere to a basic set of principles:
- Respect for those involved. Actors in ethical porn movies consent to every activity (sometimes even make all the decisions about what happens), are given options to prevent STIs and unwanted pregnancies, and are paid fairly for their work.
- Show real sex. The thing about most mainstream porn is that it's obviously fake. In fact, that's one of the major criticisms about pornography - that it doesn't show what real sex and real pleasure look like. In ethical pornography, the goal is to show real sex and real pleasure, not fake moans. There's also no expectation that orgasms will occur (although they often do!)
- Display diversity. Mainstream porn is definitely not diverse. Ethical porn commits to diversity by working with people of a variety of sizes, abilities, gender identities, sexualities, and ethnicities. Everyone deserves to be represented when it comes to pleasure.
Now that we know some of the principles these people work with, here are a few well-known ethical and feminist porn companies to get you started. Note that the links to the sites featured are NSFW!
Crash Pad Series
A popular ethical porn website that I often see mentioned on Twitter and via other sex bloggers, Crash Pad Series presents porn that encompasses queer people of all kinds meeting in a San Francisco apartment to have hot, anonymous sex. The website is amazing for its wide variety of kinks, orientations, genders, ethnicities and body types.
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Candida Royalle
Mostly aimed at heterosexual women and couples, Candida Royalle features the softer side of sex, with movies aimed mostly at sensuality, female pleasure and romance. You won't find any explicit close-ups or rough stuff in here. Also, it's mostly white couples, although there are a few movies featuring other cultures and ethnicities as well.
Smart Ass Productions
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Tristan Taormino is one of my favorite sex educators and bloggers. Smart Ass Productions is her very own movie production company! Her movies are part erotic movies, part sex education. Of special interest is her Rough Sex series, which features some of my favorite kinky porn stars.
Heavenly Spire
With a name like Heavenly Spire, you can probably guess what these movies are about. That's right, they're all about male beauty and sexuality. Performers are cis and trans, gay and straight; you can watch solo play or coupled fun. This one's excellent when you need a nice dose of the male body.
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Pink Label TV
Queer, body-positive, inclusive, and fiercely feminist, Pink Label TV features some of the best independent queer pornography around. The best part is, you don't have to commit to entire movies and can purchase on a scene-by-scene basis.
Sweetheart Video
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Sweetheart Video focuses on girl-on-girl action with a mostly white (but becoming more diverse) cast. What's really special about these movies is their exploration of more taboo topics and fantasies. The flavour is definitely mainstream, but with ethical values.
Permission4Pleasure
They say you're never too old for anything, and it seems this applies to porn too! At 47, Morgana Muses decided to start making porn, and she hasn't looked back since. On Permission4Pleasure, you can watch a real woman with a real body, enjoy real pleasure. Porn doesn't get more real than that!
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Lust Cinema
With new movies every Friday, you'll want to keep a night free for the movies of Lust Cinema. Featuring mostly white, cis, and straight performers, these exquisitely artistic movies definitely have a different visual flavor than most porn. Now that you have a few ideas about where to go looking for ethical porn, there's something else you should know: You'll have to pay for it. Having access to ethical porn is only one side of the equation. You should consume your porn ethically too. I know it's easy to get free porn anywhere on the internet, but just as with the decline of journalism, not paying for your porn means you'll get low-quality, exploitative stuff. If you want to do your part to support ethical pornography, you should pay for it. Ethical porn producers and performers are doing their part to make Internet porn better. You can support them by paying them for their efforts. Do you have a favorite ethical porn producer that we missed? Share it in the comments!
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Anabelle Bernard Fournier
Anabelle is orignally from Montréal, Canada and is currently living in Victoria. She speaks and writes fluent French as well as English. She loves to write about a variety of topics, from home decor and social media to books and sex.
She currently doesn't have a pet, but she's working on that. In the meantime, she's learning to write stories and hopefully novels so that she will one day see her name in print. She tends to think her life is pretty boring, so she fills it with reading books about people whose lives are so much more interesting.
Anabelle is also an avid knitter and crocheter and loves to drink wine. Lots of it.
