Hooking Up with The Feminist Porn Awards 2011

Like many young people, I was fascinated by all things sexual, including pornography. When I was underage I rarely got to see any porn but when I was in university it was around. However, it was more comical to me than hot. I saw girls who looked like Barbie dolls making stagy faces and noises with greasy-haired men sporting improbably-sized penises. While it was kind of arousing because hey, they are actually doing it, it mostly just seemed silly. And it didn’t seem like any sex I’d had or any sex I’d want to have.

Then, as I got older and queerer and the Internet became more of a thing I discovered feminist porn.

I will never forget the first Feminist Porn Awards. It was 2006 and the entire event was held at the Gladstone. The vibe, the panel discussion, and the porn itself were all so inspiring and invigorating. It felt like the start of something revolutionary—and it was.

Good For Her started the Feminist Porn Awards because they “decided that it wasn’t enough to criticize the porn that didn’t respond to women as viewers—we needed to celebrate the porn that included female pleasure and diversity.” And women have responded: we are watching porn more than ever and today the FPAs span three nights at three different venues.

The launch party is April 13th at Toronto's Granny Boots, the queer weekly at the Gladstone who so graciously hosted Sexlife Canada's anniversary party recently. It features film screenings, DJing by Sasha Van Bon Bon and a performance from porn star Sophia St. James. I follow Sophia on twitter and she’s been saying it’s going to be burlesque. I’m pretty excited about this.

Then on April 14th there is the screening at the Bloor Cinema. They show clips from some of the nominated films, and if you’ve never seen porn on the big screen you really should. There will also be a Q & A with Carlos Batts, Cheryl Dunye, Jaiya and Drew Deveaux with a special introduction by Tristan Taormino.

The awards themselves are on April 15th at the Berkeley Church. They are hosted by Jane Luk and Ryan G. Hinds and there will be entertainment from Boylesque T.O., and CoCo La Crème. The acceptance speeches are always very entertaining themselves!

I’ve always found the feminist porn stars and directors to be very approachable and these events provide the venue to approach them—particularly the launch party and the awards, as there’s more milling about than in a cinema. So bring your Sharpie so you can ask them to sign... something... for you. They probably will. And maybe you’ll keep your cool better than I did last year when I got to meet Jiz Lee, which turned me into a bit of a blithering idiot.

See the full list of nominees here.

If you’re looking at this schedule and thinking “But what am I going to do Saturday night”, especially if you’re queer and/or kinky, I’ve got good news for you: Aslan Leather is holding one of their Switch queer play parties, especially for the Feminist Porn Awards.

I will be at all of these events. Every single one. Oh yes.