Petra's Blog
A unique insight into the day-to-day life of Petra Joy as she chronicles the fun, frolics and frustrations of an independent female porn producer.
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Women behind the camera!
Posted: 04 March 2009
Did you know that only 6% if Hollywood directors are female and no female director has ever won an Oscar? This percentage falls even more when it comes to erotic films and awards - women directing sex films and wining adult industry awards for them are still a tiny, creative minority.
All our life we are being told that “women are just not visual”. It is one of the most annoying prejudices I have ever heard. As a photographer and filmmaker I am highly visual and always have been. I got my first camera on my 6th birthday and spent many weekends of my teenage years in the darkroom processing my photography. But then I had been lucky because my parents never told me that as a female I was not visual but fed me a huge variety of visual art and most importantly encouraged me to make express myself with my own images.
I think the reason why a many women relate more to literature than films – be it porn, documentaries or feature films is not because they “are not visual” but because most of the films we see have been produced and directed by men. They feature heroes rather than heroines and show the world through the eyes of a man. No matter if it is a porn or a feature film – these films do not express what women dream and fantasize about and therefore so many of us can’t identify with them and don’t enjoy watching them. At least if you read a book you can create your own images in your mind when you bring the characters to live rather than having to just consume how a film represents the leading female and male characters. There is such a big difference between the female and male gaze. If you let a male and a female cameraperson shoot a fashion show you will end up with completely different footage. This different perspective is enhanced in porn where female fantasies are often the opposite of straight make fantasies: women would like to see two guys going down on them in a threesome, men would like to see two women giving a guy a blowjob. Straight men would like to see a woman masturbate or two girls having sex; straight women would like to watch a man masturbate and two guys making out. The straight female gaze is a lot closer to the gay male point of view: for both of them men are the objects of desire.
For so long women always have been the objects of desire especially in porn that now when we see a man in that position it causes a stir in the (porn) film industry. The reality is that women ware voyeurs too but until more and more women are starting to direct and shoot films we will still see the world from a male perspective.
I am just as annoyed by porn that reduces women to a canvas of male cum as I am with the wave of recent so called “chick flicks” (all produced and directed by men”) such as “Confessions of a Shopaholic” or “He is not that into you” that reduce women to mindless, needy and week creatures who just want a husband and the latest pair of designer shoes. Where are on the big screen and in porn films representations of women like me and my girlfriends: successful and independent women who know exactly what they want and get it not by submitting to male fantasies of what it means to be female but by living out their own fantasies and making their own dreams come true?
We live in a visual day and age where we perceive most of our information and entertainment not through words but images. So not to know how to create images is a form of “illiteracy” and leaves women speech- and visionless. Over 50% of humankind is female – so in an ideal world at least 50% of films should be created by women reflecting the female perspective on life, love and sex.
It is therefore with great pleasure that I can confirm that the woman’s film festival “Birdseyeview” in London has invited me to take part in a panel discussion on “Sex on the screen”. The festival, celebrating female filmmakers, kicks off on the 5.3 and my panel discussion happens at the ICA on the 11.3. at 9 pm. More info on the film festival here: www.birdseyeview.co.uk
