The Rise of Lesbian Porn

OK, I'm cheating slightly. The Daily Beast reported this story last month but January's quiet and I never have enough lesbian stories so here we are. The newspaper site included an interview with former lawyer, now pornographer (what is it with us legal folks and sex?), Jincey Lumpkin. She runs the site Juicy Pink Box which you can view here (NSFW) and it includes what I regard as a very tame trailer on the front page.

The site describes itself in typically glowing terms:

'Juicy Pink Box isn't your Daddy's porn company. Envisioned, founded and maintained by a woman, this is real lesbian sex captured in full cinematic luster.

We produce original pornographic film series that are available exclusively on JuicyPinkBox.com. Each series is centered around a general concept. The episodes relate to the concept but can also stand alone as erotic vignettes.

We collaborate with artists and visionaries to achieve a high standard of quality. Maintaining an elevated aesthetic is central to our work. We do not script dialog; all the reactions in the films are natural. We are inspired by classic cinema, iconic photographers and progressive fashion trends.

Our work has been honored by screenings around the world, including Berlin's Porn Film Festival 2009, Cheries-Cheries LGBT Film Festival 2009 in Paris, and Cinekink 2010 in New York City. The site was a 2010 Feminist Porn Awards nominee.'

The company explicitly seeks to contrast itself with the more hardcore 'dyke' porn produced in San Francisco - think for instance of the fabulous queer performer James Darling who answered some of my students porn questions in this blog post.

That I find the front page trailer tame, dull even is a good thing. I'm not the target audience. The films are written, cast, and shot for a lesbian audience turned-off by so-called dyke porn and tired of male ideas about what makes good girl-on-girl action. The report came in the wake of a recent survey by a leading lesbian networking site in Europe which showed more than 70 percent of gay women would buy more porn if it were targeted to a lesbian audience.

Read the full interview and article here.

Strictly Lesbian

I do enjoy Strictly Come Dancing but despite its weekly serving of a large dollop of camp and queerness, the performers all find themselves in a heteronormative narrative of two dancers - one male and one female. It's depressingly out of sync with modern society. I therefore greeted some news from Israel yesterday with a loud "hurray". Dancing with the Stars - the international version of Strictly has a show in Israel and the current series includes out-lesbian Gili Shem Tov, a TV sportscaster, who has been teamed with Dorit Milman, a professional dancer assigned by the show to perform with her.

The BBC - owners of the format - apparently also had to give the Israel show the go-ahead. This presumably sets a precedent that it's OK for the British version too so let's get someone openly gay in this country strutting their stuff with someone of the same gender in the next season. Then we can get to grips with trans dancers too...

You can watch a bit of their dancing and read more here.

Family, Lesbians and Hollywood

Lip Service might be proving a bit disappointing (is it just me?) but Hollywood has a new lesbian film starring Julianne Moore. It's called 'The Kids Re Alright' - read a full review here. Check out the trailer below.

Beyond Lesbian Lip Service

The Guardian carries a big feature today on a new drama coming to BBC Three on Tuesday. The show is called 'Lip Service'. The BBC Three site describes the programme as: 'Sex, lies and true love in modern Scotland, BBC Three's new seductive relationship drama Lip Service follows the lives of a group of twenty-something lesbians'.

Interestingly, the Guardian piece suggests this is not another L Word but more like This Life (which I suspect many of you won't be familiar with, Google it). The aim is to position as it a drama that is based around lesbian characters as opposed to a drama about being a lesbian. It sounds good and the trailer below suggests it's going to work well. Will it do for Glasgow what Queer as Folk did for Manchester?

Journal Alert: LES Online

A new edition of Les Online is now available. The journal says it 'aims to contribute to the study of lesbian issues and to promote actions that improve lesbian equal opportunities and civil rights'. Papers can be presented in Portuguese, Spanish, English or French. The table for contents for the latest edition are reproduced below. The journal can be accessed here.

Vol. 2, No 1 (2010): (In)Visibilidade Lésbica | Lesbian (In)Visibility

Visibilidade lésbica - (in)visibilidades e discriminações nas diferentes áreas da vida

Lesbian Visibility – (in)visibilities and discrimination in different areas of life

Sumário

Artigos | Articles

Editorial (português)
Equipa Editorial 1-3
Editorial (english)
Editorial Team 1-3

Le cyberespace comme le tiers-espace des lesbiennes de «culture musulmane» dans le monde? | Cyberspace as the third-space of "Muslim culture" lesbians in the world?
Salima Amari 4-12

No arco-íris também há roxo: Violência conjugal nas relações lésbicas | Rainbow also has purple: Marital Violence in lesbian relationships
Helena Topa 13-21

A saúde é um direito de tod@s | Health is a right for all
Maria José Alves 22-24

To the 80's and back: Que visibilidade lésbica afinal? | To the 80's and back: What lesbian visibility after all?
Anabela Rocha 25-32

Feminismos e lesbianismo: Derrubando o mito da Lavender Menace | Feminism and lesbianism: Toppling the myth of Lavender Menace
Maria José Magalhães 33-46

Recensões | Book reviews

As estórias que estavam por ter uma história que fosse sua
António Fernando Cascais 47-49

Revisitando emancipadas e invertidas – a propósito de "Homossexuais no Estado Novo" de São José Almeida
Graça Abranches 50-61

"Homossexuais no Estado Novo": Apresentação
Ana Luísa Amaral 62-68