For Lady Porn Day, I decided to go to the real experts–the porn performers themselves– and ask what their experiences were. Jiz Lee is a genderqueer pornstar changing the game. Using sex work as a window to social activism and championing equal gender agency in pornography, Jiz works to start conversations about traditional gender in a way that challenges conventional thinking and creates space for those who do not fit the binary gender mold. Consider Jiz your newest porn crush. Or mine.

Why can watching porn be feminist?

There is an underlaying cultural belief that women — and really, anyone who is feminine — is incapable of owning their sexual pleasure. This idea carries over into assumptions that sexually active or sex-positive women are victims, dis-empowered, naive, stupid, or otherwise mentally or emotionally compromised from enjoying or desiring sex in any healthy way. I call BS! How can watching porn be feminist? I think porn can be as feminist as the people creating and watching it because there’s a consciousness about taking ownership/viewer-ship of our sexual pleasure.

What don’t anti porn feminists understand?

Sexual power can be owned by all of us. We are entitled to our choices to create and/or consume pornography. The more education and ethical practices there are within the porn industry, the less exploitation and misinformation. Porn and sex work will always exist; why not stake a claim in it and work to create more liberties and spaces for our own representations? As Annie Sprinkle has said, “The Answer to bad porn isn’t no porn… it’s to try and make better porn!” (And for me, this means more porn.)

Do you think porn has changed the way current generations have sex?

What a juicy question. I would say yes. Porn is education and while sometimes this can be a dangerous thing, it can also be lifesaving. Here’s my point: Queer sexuality is something that isn’t taught in schools. If we’re lucky, we get a sex education that includes condoms. Many people learn how to have sex through watching pornography. (Of course what they learn is dependent upon what they watch.) In the gay community, we can learn about safer sex practices by examples in pornography. Following the AIDS epidemic of the 80′s, such practices are still integrated within gay porn. Queer porn in general depicts safer sex practices. Some co-stars are fluid-bonded and others practice safer sex through combinations of STI testing, latex/non-latex barriers, and sexual activities. This is the aspect of porn that I feel is validating and empowering to marginalized communities. I’ve also experienced porn giving validation to the viewer in terms of their gender identity and sexual orientation. I have received emails from people who felt so empowered by seeing themselves represented, that they were able to come out of the closet, were able to get out of abusive relationships that did not respect their orientations. Were able to find more satisfying lives, simply because of porn. So in this case, porn becomes a powerful medium that shows more authenticity in queer stories than Hollywood. It educates, empowers, and dispels myths. It has the potential to be a medium for our most intimate lives

Do you remember the first porn that you saw?

My earliest memories are scrambled soft-core porn from television. The video feed would occasionally clear for a moment and a good third of the tv screen would reveal the soft lit curve of belly, or glimpse of a pert nipple. However the sound was always clear so there was a lot left to the imagination.

What can we do as consumers, if we are scared that porn actors are being co-ersed or objectified?

Research. One of the traits of ethical porn is the company’s commitment to provide context within its community and memberships. You’ll see this in behind-the-scene interviews, mission statements, and testimonials by the models. A simple search on the internet will let you know if a company does not live up to it’s supposed image. Models talk.

**BONUS** How can porn be feminist? Shine Louise Houston Asks and Jiz Lee answers– more interviews with Crash Pad series stars on Shine’s YouTube channel!