Brazilian feminist porn professionals talk about challenges and achievements

About 20 years ago, Swedish Erika Lust realized that there were more women with the same impression (and irritation) as her. A consumer of porn films, the filmmaker was not aroused by scenes of predictable and performative sex in which jackhammer men in a position of superiority grossly fuck actresses with perfect bodies —except in cases of specific and often bizarre fetishes, objectifying them even more .

Aesthetically crude, the productions ignored the possibility of generating a spark that was horny in the actresses and those who watched them — and they didn’t even have this intention. The focus was the pleasure of the man. In response to this mainstream porn, Lust released feminist versions of erotic films in the early 2000s.

The term “feminist porn” or “pink porn” still causes controversy, but the fact is that productions with aesthetic refinement and that disseminate the message of a favorably feminine sexuality arrived soon after in Brazil, a country where the national average of women who access pornography channels (33%) is higher than the world average (25%), according to recent data from the USP sexuality studies program.

Breaking this universe down a little further, the numbers help to understand the female audience that consumes porn in the country. Paulistas and cariocas are the majority (21%) among the subscribers of the Sexy Hot site, one of the main explicit sex channels in the country, and where women represent 40% of the clientele. The group between 18 and 24 years old accesses its content the most (29%).

To attract their attention, the channel had to readjust. “We had to look and bring new possibilities and show female pleasure to generate identification for men and women”, says Cinthia Fajardo, who worked for 11 years at Grupo Playboy do Brasil, the last three in the direction of the brand, responsible for the Sexy Hot channels , Playboy TV, Sextreme and Venus.

Bringing a plurality of bodies was also a condition imposed on this market. Surveys showed what many people had already noticed: women wanted to see themselves in movies, they were fed up with nymphomaniac twins, insatiable hotties and unrealistic characters.

“It was important to get away from stereotypes. The women were always hot, the men fit; so fat, thin, tall, short and with natural breasts also became part of the cast. Not in the position of a fetish, but showing it in a way more natural, in an attempt to seek a more real sex”, says Cinthia.

In addition to the more realistic cast, the content itself underwent a necessary overhaul, based on the precepts of pioneer Erika Lust. “If you look at the slightly older films, it was always the man ejaculating on the woman’s face or chest, almost never portraying female pleasure. Apart from that today there is also this issue of women giving themselves pleasure”, she comments.

She adds that the old maxim that women like porn “with history” makes sense, especially among those who are married or in long-term relationships. “Many times they use the film as an audiovisual stimulus, to generate an atmosphere. It is a moment of inspiration”.

Producer and director of porn films, Mila Spook agrees, in terms, with the former executive of Sexy Hot, and avoids elaborating theories about the preferences of each gender. “A man may like a more elaborate production with a more sensitive story, and a woman may like brutal sex with jealousy”, she analyzes. She says that, as a consumer, she likes “a little story to put sex in context,” but otherwise her preferences vary. “Sometimes I like something more loving, sometimes something heavier”.

Soft porn, a less explicit porn, is the ideal formula for Lis Del Castilho, 25, an erotic film actress since she was 19. She says she already entered this market in a transition period, so she didn’t live the heyday of macho porn. “Even though porn is more focused on men, women are also becoming more consumers. So I felt a greater concern with the type of content”. She also says that she has the autonomy to choose her partners or refuse to do certain scenes. “I’ve never done anything I didn’t want to do and I’ve never recorded with people I didn’t want to.”

This interaction is really important, says director Mila. To bring a little more truth to the scenes and avoid forced faces and mouths and artificial groans, she looks for a cast in which actors feel some attraction to each other. This is the ideal scenario. “I try to put two people together who are really interested in each other, have a crush on each other. It’s sex with a more real touch, you know? I want them to love each other”.