Free Porn Is Probably Not Feminist Porn—No Matter What It Looks Like
The concept of feminist porn—that is, adult entertainment that’s ethical and non-exploitative while still being hot—has been gaining traction. Because more women are willing to spend money on porn they like, more porn for women can be made, and as a result, a crop of great, feminist sites are popping up and enjoying newfound popularity. Which is why we were excited when, on February 15 of this year, a new website called Bellesa was launched. The site’s account tweeted: “We’re turning one of the most misogynistic industries in the world on its head,” and in a YouTube video created for the occasion, the site’s founder, Michelle Shnaidman, hypothesized, “If we could change the type of sex that people are watching, maybe we can change a whole lot more.” Bellesa called itself, “A platform on which women are empowered to celebrate their sexuality,” and began allowing its primarily-female users to upload content that turned them on—articles, sexy stories, hot photos, and pornographic videos—and share it in a supportive community of like-minded individuals.
Which all sounded great! But apparently, the key to this empowerment-studded shakeup of the status quo involved working around what Bustle called the “pesky paywall” problem. Bellessa “found a way to bring women porn they’ll actually enjoy without draining their bank accounts.” Unfortunately, what’s being described sounds a whole lot like piracy.
Schnaidman said that after finding lots of sexist and male-oriented porn online, Bellesa’s goal was to “help improve on the gender disparity in the industry.” A noble cause, except for one important detail: Bellesa didn’t actually connect itself to the industry. In fact, despite claims that the Bellesa team did “extensive research” on the industry, very few actual content creators were even aware of the site until last week, when they read an effusive article about it.
And they were not happy.
These videos cost money to make, but were pirated and posted online without paying the people who made them.
Bellesa had concerned itself exclusively with providing a female-friendly porn viewing experience for its users. In so doing, it had ignored the people who made the porn videos that were the backbone of the site. These videos cost money to make, but were pirated and posted online without paying—or even acknowledging—the people who made them.
Porn performers, directors, and fans were quick to point out this hole in the site’s feminist reasoning on Twitter, as well as in a number of articles scattered around all over the internet.
Genderqueer performer and industry stalwart Jiz Lee tweeted, “Stealing porn empowers no one. And to pirate specifically from female producers in the branding of ‘porn for women’…Shame on @BellesaCo.”
By September 21, Bellesa had taken down the video and pictures segments of the website and issued a somewhat confused-sounding apology:
What everyone has written on Twitter and sent to our inbox was
heard—loud and clear. I am sorry. I am sorry to those who feel like
Belessa [sic] disempowered them, disrespected them, or placed our
interests above theirs…I am making a firm commitment, right now, to
transition the entirety of the video section of Bellesa to feature
exclusively videos that are in direct partnership with studios, and
that compensate all fairly for their contribution.
Industry insiders were glad to see the pirated content taken down, particularly after such a rare show of solidarity from industry ranks. “I think they underestimated the power of our community, and I think that this is a great teachable moment for not only companies that try to do this to us but also for content producers and performers,” says jessica drake, a contracted star for Wicked Pictures who has performed, written, directed, and produced dozens of adult films. “I’d love to see greater efforts in the future from our industry coming together to let the public know that theft is not acceptable.”
“Porn is entertainment. It is a product, a commodity. It is not free to produce, it is not free to consume.”
Some in the porn industry have offered to work with Bellesa—as long as they’re being fairly compensated for their work. The truth is, free porn is a sad but nearly unavoidable fact for today’s porn-makers, and Bellesa was just one of thousands of websites that allow users to upload pirated porn (Pornhub, YouPorn, xHamster, and Spankbang are a few examples). Partnerships, ad shares, and other arrangements have become a common way for both free streaming tube sites and porn makers to turn a buck. But it’s important to note that many feminist and other ethical porn makers who produce content with non-male audiences in mind choose not to partner with free porn streaming sites, since many allow stolen content. The fact that Bellesa sold itself as a feminist entity while blatantly stealing the fruits of female labor and profiting from them made this free porn site a particularly gross offender.
Kim Cums, an Australian porn performer and producer, who was one of the first to call Bellesa out on Twitter, says, “What Shnaidman did was create a feminist-looking website, but the supporting structure had no ethical foundation.”
But the controversy around Bellesa embodies an ideological misstep that goes beyond porn—one that plenty of companies of all kinds have attempted to capitalize on by declaring themselves “feminist” and then failing to show receipts. One of feminism’s fundamental tenets is that women should be paid fairly for their labor. Sex-positive feminism posits that women (and others) be compensated just as fairly for their sexual labor as anyone else. That’s why watching that content for free, without permission, is actually explicitly un-feminist.
“Paying for porn means you’re supporting the performers.”
Kayden Kross, an adult performer and the co-founder of ethical porn company TRENCHCOATx, said that Bellesa’s acceptance of piracy was “[the] most unethical thing you can do to a content creator while throwing around the buzzwords that appeal to the very consumers looking for businesses that factor ethics into the equation.” By stealing work that Kross poured months of work and a lot of money into, Shnaidman “picked up something she has no right to and asked other people to give her the money for it instead of me. She has decided, effectively, that I will work for her for free and against my consent.”
It’s behavior that also plays into the insidious and widespread idea that sex work doesn’t deserve fair compensation. “We have been so conditioned to see porn as a boogeyman threatening our public health and relationships that people forget to see porn as a neutral media entity: as content that is produced by humans, that involves human labor,” says Tina Horn, host and producer of the sexuality podcast Why Are People Into That?! and two-time Feminist Porn Award–winning adult filmmaker and producer.
“The progression and widespread acceptance of piracy is due in large part to society’s collective opinion that adult entertainment is not a ‘legitimate’ business, regardless of the same society’s rampant consumption of adult content,” says jessica drake. “Porn is entertainment. It is a product, a commodity. It is not free to produce, it is not free to consume.”
Meanwhile, “Paying for porn means you’re supporting the performers,” says Ms. Naughty, an Australian feminist porn producer. “You’re contributing to a model that ensures they’re paid properly for their work—because sex work is work.”
The takeaway here is simple: You can’t call yourself a feminist if you’re stealing porn from the women (and others) who make it. Porn workers—from performers to producers to marketers to camera operators to editors—have lost a lot because of free sites. “These are real people who work real jobs to support their families, and pay taxes,” says jessica drake. “In my years in the business, I have watched as very popular companies have fallen by the wayside, not having the means to combat piracy fast enough.”
Angie Rowntree, the founder of one of the oldest porn sites for women, Sssh.com, continues drake’s thought: “Every time one of our movies is compromised it hurts all of us,” she says. “Nothing in life occurs without cost. By not paying for porn, the public is contributing to the decimation of ethical standards in our industry and in wider society overall.”
So buy your porn! If you’re interested in watching amazing feminist adult entertainment—and contributing to its continued production—here are 17 great pay sites you can check out right now: