When I first showed a former colleague some of the re-visioned porn I write about in my book, his response was: "But this isn't porn! It's film!" Others have since reacted the same way and many have asked me, "Why do you keep calling it porn? Why not call it 'erotic' or 'explicit,' 'adult' or 'sensual,' or whatever, just not 'porn'? You're going to turn people away from your work," they would warn me.So why do I insist on using the "porn" word?
Porn has gotten a bad rap for good reasons. And in fact, several of the female (porn) filmmakers whose work I look at in my book stay clear of the “porn” word lest they turn their targeted audience away from their work. Instead they label their films with the terms that I have been recommended to use too.
But others refuse to allow men free rein in defining porn, and therefore claim the “porn” word as a way to subversively change its meaning.
This position appeals the most to me. Because words can hold a lot of power. – Whore. Prude. Slut. Women and men are cursed by words. And women and men have been cruelly labeled by words. In turn, some women and men have claimed words to deny their derogatory undertones.
"Porn” is a loaded word that brings up a lot of negative imageries in our pornified culture. “That’s so ‘porn’” has today become an expression to describe excessive or trashy taste. But imagine if the content and connotations, and even the effects of porn were different: positive and empowering rather than negative and degrading. That’s what I’ve discovered to be the potential of re-visioned and transformed porn by women.
