“The concept of obscenity is a totalitarian tool to reduce women, ultimately, to a piece of flesh.” -Catherine Breillat
Virginie Despentes, known for the controversial New French Extremism film Baise-moi (2000, meaning “Fuck me,” but sometimes titled as “Rape me”), created this made-for-TV documentary about sex-positive, pro-porn feminism. She interviews a wide range of subjects across the U.S., and in Paris and Barcelona. This movement, which began in the U.S. in the ‘80s and flourished in the ‘90s and ‘00s, embraces sex work and pornography as potentially pro-feminist, rather than the conventional feminist view that these things debase women. Female artists, writers, filmmakers, pornographers and performance artists began reclaiming sex and pleasure, as well as advocating for sex workers. Many of the artists and filmmakers interviewed are or were sex workers: prostitutes, call girls, porn actresses, strippers, etc. Despentes, herself a former prostitute and porn critic, interviews a wide range of subjects and focuses on the growth of the movement and the works produced within it.
Her interview subjects include many notable women. Here a few you should know:
French director Catherine Breillat (one of my favorites) is known for sexually explicit films that explore female sexuality, such as Romance, Fat Girl, Sex is Comedy, and Anatomy of Hell. She is also a novelist and professor at the European Graduate School. Lydia Lunch, one of my only female role models growing up, is a musician, writer, performer, actress, and one of the most important and famous members of the New York No Wave movement that spanned music, literature and film.
Stripper, porn actress, performance artist, sex educator, editor, writer and producer Annie Sprinkle is a very important member of the pro-sex, pro-porn feminist movement and has created such amazing pieces as Public Cervix Announcement, where she inserted a speculum into her vagina and allowed audience members to look at her cervix with the aid of a flashlight. Learn more about her here. Carol Leigh aka the Scarlet Harlot is responsible for coining the term “sex worker” and is an artist, writer, activist and filmmaker. Sex worker activist Norma Jean Almodovar began with a career as a traffic cop for the LAPD and later become a sex worker in Beverly Hills after becoming disgusted with the level of corruption in the police department. She wrote Cop to Call Girl and founded the International Sex Worker Foundation for Art, Culture and Education.
Dr. Siobhan Brooks is an ex-peep show worker, sociologist and academic who focuses on the place of African American sex workers within the industry. She was involved in the documentary Live Nude Girls UNITE! and wrote about her sex work unionizing efforts in Organizing From Behind the Glass, in addition to many other academic articles and a book, Unequal Desires: Race and Erotic Capital in the Stripping Industry.
Californian trans musician and writer Lynn Breedlove helped found the dyke-themed punk band Tribe 8, has done spoken word performances at a number of LGBT festivals, has authored a novel, acted in a few films, created a comedy show, etc. Swiss-born erotic wrestling enthusiast Sondra Goodwin makes pornography for women and was involved in HBO’s Real Sex. New York producer, director, and actor and Maria Beatty is known for her black and white BDSM and fetish films. Coralie Trinh Thi is a former porn actress and co-directed Baise-moi with Virginie Despentes. American writer, editor, producer, sociologist and sexologist Carol Queen has written Real Live Nude Girl: Chronicles of Sex-Positive Culture, among many other instructional sex books, and a novel, as well as organizing instructional sex-positive events and workshops, such as Bend Over Boyfriend (about pegging).
Though this documentary has its flaws, it covers important subject matter and its heart is definitely in the right place. Despentes encourages viewers and interviewees to question the meaning of pornography, sexuality, gender, feminism, sex work, etc. The movement’s examination of what makes someone a feminist was particularly relevant and interesting to me. Though I am female, I’ve never considered myself feminist -- due in large part to the fact that the only self-asserted feminists I met growing up were definitely anti-porn. When I finally found out about this movement, it was a huge breath of fresh air. Sex, pleasure, and pornography are all things that can and should be liberating, a means to express, embrace and understand the self.
Despite some initial reservations, I couldn’t help but enjoy and appreciate Mutantes. It is available on DVD from Solaris. This film is intellectual, sexy, and amusing. Those unfamiliar with the movement will likely learn a lot and come away with many things to think about. Be forewarned that the documentary includes many clips of movies and archived live performances, many of which will be shocking for the casual, non-porn friendly viewers, as the wide range of subject matter includes S&M and pornography.
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