A queer porn film festival in London this weekend was forced to relocate after protests by aggressive feminists. Faced with the prospect of a picket, organisers of the festival, which describes itself as celebrating queer, feminist, radical and
experimental porn, pulled screenings from the Horse Hospital, an arts venue in Bloomsbury. The three-day event was instead be held at a new location disclosed only to ticket holders.
Despite the festival's progressive intentions, multiple
complaints about the festival had earlier been made to Camden council.
Janice Williams, chair of the activist group Object , clamed the films on show promoted degradation and oppression. In a letter to Camden council, Williams singled
out a festival strand titled Sex Work Is Work claiming the festival was to show extreme pornographic images and pornography that is likely to result in serious injury to the performers.
Festival organiser Rude Jude responded:
These are not violent or extreme in the legal definition,Some of the films show practices that some people aren't into, but that is very different.
Meanwhile the coordinators of a separate pressure
group, Women Against Pornography , spouted:
Feminist pornography is an oxymoron -- feminism is not about individualistic wishes or desires, it is about liberating all women from the oppression of males. This can
never be achieved by being tied up in a bed or by telling women that torture will make them free.
Nimue Allen, whose film Fisting Fun was shown as part of the Brazen Brits strand on Friday, says the festival has proved an
inspiration for performers. Festivals like this are so important to show that there are alternatives to the mainstream porn -- Centring people of colour, trans performers, queer sex of all types -- and allowing people to see themselves represented on
screen -- is something that needs to be done so much more often.
Offsite Comment: Progressive Porn Vs Regressive Feminists
29th April 2019. See article from reprobatepress.com
