THE SKINNY centers on a group of four young, black, gay men — Magnus, Sebastian, Kyle, Joey — and their lesbian friend Langston, who meet up in New York City after a year after graduation from Brown University. From skinnythemovie.com: “Drinking, drugs, hidden desire and the demands of promiscuity put friendship, trust and even lives at risk. In between sharp one-liners and a great soundtrack there’s a few important lessons that these pleasure-seekers must learn for themselves. Written with a real sense of the demands of urban living, these bright and believable characters will remind you of someone you know. Remaining true to his past work, Polk addresses issues in THE SKINNY that face the LGBT community such as date-rape, infidelity, and HIV/AIDS awareness.”

It’s hard to watch this trailer without swelling with pride and excitement. It’s so beautiful that I’m on the verge of tears, watching and knowing that it’s really really really fucking rare to see these stories. Rare, and profoundly necessary.

One of the reasons I think queer cinema is so important is because it provides validation, and celebration, of our existence. Of our sexuality, our diversity, our desires. Queers are so often excluded from media, education, healthcare, legal systems, etc… it’s demoralizing. So to present our own images for each other exceeds simple “entertainment”. It combats stereotypes, bringing forth our humanity. It brings us to one another, brings us to life.

THE SKINNY is Patrik-Ian Polk’s 3rd film, which recently opened and has been screening across the country. In it’s opening weekend it brought in more box-office figures than the re-release of Titanic. Are you listening, Hollywood? That’s BIG news, especially coming from an independent film (Tall Skinny Black Boy Productions in partnership with The Black Aids Institute).

Being a filmmaker is very, very hard. Being a black filmmaker is really, really hard work. Being a GAY BLACK filmmaker is close to impossible. And having the balls to tell gay stories in cinema the way Patrik-Ian Polk has done is inspiring to me because I don’t have those balls yet…The work jumps off the screen. His honesty, his ability to tap into the truth with all of the characters. – Lee Daniels (Precious)

Like THE SKINNY’s fan page on Facebook, follow director Patrik-Ian Polk on Twitter. Get the film to a theater near you, and please share the news about this film!

The event will be a series of short presentations, followed by a panel on the intersections of erotic performance art and pornography. It’s a topic near and dear to my heart, as my own forays into pornography began through dance, modeling, and explicit performance art as I found my comfort-levels with my naked body and gender expression through performance. In many ways, the messages I strove to express in my early performance art days found a place within queer pornography. Naturally, there’s a lot more I could say on the subject, but perhaps that can be a blog post for another date. In the meantime, if you’re in Austin, Texas, come to the event!

Details below. But first, an image from the days of twincest.

INTERSECTIONS OF EROTIC PERFORMANCE ART & PORNOGRAPHY

MARCH 12
8:00 pm 
THE BUTTERFLY BAR
thebutterflybaraustin.com
2307 Manor Road
Austin, TX 78722

Femina Potens Art Gallery is on the road, and the first stop is SXSW! 

Join our panel of feminists, queer artists, activists, counter-culture renegades and performance artists for a night of interactive performance art, film screenings, and artist panel discussion on the Intersections of Erotic Performance Art & Pornography.

Where does conceptual performance work end and where does our libido begin?  Is queer feminist pornography inherently progressive? How do queer performance artists who are also in radical pornography decipher the difference between what is art and what is porn? These are just some of the questions we will examine through film, art, and performance.

Performers include Coral Aorta,  Jiz Lee, Kitty Stryker, with films by  Madison Young, Too Much Pussy by  Emilie Jouvet, and Tooth and Nail by Rozen Debowe and Dylan Ryan, as well as a photo documentary of Maxine Holloway.

Panel discussion will be hosted by Julie Gillis of Austin’s  BedPost Confessions.

Buy Tickets

Facebook Event Page

PRESENTER BIOS

Coral Aorta, a shape-shifting femme creature, has been making erotic work since she was legal to do so (and some before then).  She currently earns her rent as a cam show performer at Kink.com and nude dancer at The Lusty Lady peepshow in San Francisco.  When not hustling live or digital customers, Coral works with the art organization Femina Potens, performs at BDSM and burlesque shows, wrestles in lube, and tools with the various ways to translate her sexually surreal existence into an art context.

Dylan Ryan, a self-proclaimed Porn Superhero and gender-bending superstar, is “making the world a better place, one porn at a time”.  Ryan has worked with a multitude of pornographers, from mainstream mega-company Hustler to BDSM aficionados Kink.com to San Francisco queer porn favorites Crash Pad Series, Nofauxxx, and Queer Porn TV.

Emilie Jouvet is a photographer and filmmaker whose personal, artistic, and political work shows her friends and lovers in their intimacy, far away from the clichés of the standard gay representations.  Her models — strong femmes, sweet butches, wild dykes, feminists and queers from the underground Parisian and European art scene — travel between genders in Jouvet’s work, which shows their sexy, troubled and confusing identities.  Her provocative art-videos are shown in international exhibitions, queer festivals, and on television.  Jouvet was a member of the art organization “QueerFactory” before founding her own queer and feminist art organizations: “Les Très Très Méchantes Filles” with D.Juncutt, and “Fem Menace” with Wendy Delorme, Louise De Ville and Judy Minx.  Since making “One Night Stand”, her first feature porn movie and the first queer porn to come out of France, Jouvet has kept a blog diary of her filming experience about interaction between Art, Gender, Feminism and Pornography.  “One Night Stand” won first prize in the Berlin Porn Film Festival 2006, the special prize of the jury at Copenhagen Film Fest 2007, the first lesbian prize in Amsterdam in 2008 and a Feminist Porn Award in 2009.  Her latest short film, “THE APPLE”, won first prize in Madrid’s festival in 2009 and Seattle’s most innovative short film awards.  Her new film, “TOO Much Pussy! FEMINIST SLUTS, A Queer X Show” is a sex-positive road movie and documentary about the wild adventures of seven women traveling around Europe in a van and recording the salacious happenings of their queegr performance art tour.

Julie Gillis is an artist, producer and social justice activist. As a parent, she believes in advocating for comprehensive age appropriate sex ed in the schools, and as a grown up she believes in sexual literacy and equal rights in relationships.  While comedy will always be part of her performance and consulting, one must never underestimate how serious she is about making this world a better place for people to love and be loved. She writes at The Austin Chronicle, Good Vibes Magazine and JulieGillis.com.

Kitty Stryker is a curvaceous courtesan splitting her time between tying people up in San Francisco alleyways and helping clients (both able-bodied and not) realize their sexual possibilities in London. In her copious free time, Kitty is an Erotic Award winner, a founding member of Kinky Salon London, a guest lecturer about sex work, and a queer femme Daddy to her boy. Kitty blogs about her professional and personal experiences at Purrversatility.

Madison Young is an international award-winning feminist porn star, director, gallerist, artist, and new mom. She has been directing and performing in erotic films for nearly a decade and has won great acclaim for her video line, Madison Young Productions, and her network of erotic web sites, the Feminist Porn Network. She has been awarded multiple feminist porn awards including “Indie Porn Pioneer” of the year and has received numerous AVN nominations for her films.  Her films have screened at film festivals throughout the States, Europe, and Australia. Young, who has been called a “sex-positive Tasmanian devil”, values sexual education in her work and has taught workshops, lectures, and acted as a panelist on the topics of sexuality, feminism and pornography, and kink across the around the world including at Yale University and UC Berkeley.  Her professional trajectory spans past performing in over a hundred adult films and directing 26 films for her own production company to include her contributions to the art world.  Under the name Madison Young, she has handled the artistic curation of over a hundred art exhibitions over the past decade, not only for Femina Potens Art Gallery but also for The National Queer Arts Festival, SOMARTS, The SF LGBT Center, and the Traveling Erotic Art Show.

Maxine Holloway is a porn performer, artist, sex-educator, webmistress and filmmaker. She creates and collaborates with the Bay Area’s hottest and the queerest. Her co-directorial debut film with Lexxx Sloan, ‘The Outlaw’, was featured and awarded in the 2010 Good Vibrations Erotic Film Festival. Certified in Sex-ED and HIV/STI Prevention, her educational workshops focus on sexual-health and sexual exploration. She recently started a live sex show performance troop with colleague Ava Solanas called ‘Cum & Glitter’.  Her favorite things to discuss are feminism, squirting, sexual fantasy, fetishes, sex worker stigmas, country music and syphilis.

A fierce femme who knows what she wants, Rozen DeBowe is a force blazing on the porn radar. Her versatile screen presence allows her to deliver dynamic performances with all of her co-stars. She began her career with Pink & White Productions and has since worked with Kink.com, NoFauxxx, Girlfriends Films, and Juicy Pink Box. When not creating art with her body, Rozen is a music writer and a video editor/director.

PRESENTER BIOS – TWINCEST

twincest died but you can visit our website Epitaph: twincest.net

It’s a question I get asked a lot and it’s a fairly simple answer: Yes, many close family members know that I do porn, and they support me. And some of them I haven’t told yet because I want to come out to them when the time is right.

Simple enough on the surface, but there’s much more.

I am seeking submissions of personal narratives from porn performers, videographers, photographers, producers, directors, web producers, industry writers and reviewers, and anyone else who works in the field of adult videos, websites, and other explicit content. The current focus is on submissions approximately 1000 words, but longer or shorter works will be considered. (I will also accept submissions that are creative, including poetry, visual art, music and video as supplemental elements involved in the promotion of the final ebook.)

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

• Please provide your experience coming out (or not) and whatever details about the situation that feel comfortable to you and the parties involved.
• Please include name changes, pen names, or anonymous submissions.
• Submissions should be approximately 1,000 words in length.
• Writers retain rights and may publish their work at any time, as they see fit. Exclusivity is not required.
• Please send as a Word, Text, or Google Doc, or in the body of the email.
• If your work is selected, I will contact you in regards to publishing information, payment, and contracts.
• If your work is selected, I will contact you in regards to any desired biographies and website URLs.

Email: Jiz@JizLee.com
I will respond to all submissions no later than October 11th, 2012. (National Coming Out Day.)

So, what was your experience like? Or what information do you withhold? Do you work behind the camera in video, photography, editing or web production, and are you out about it? Do you generalize what you do when asked? Are you more open to disclosing your job to friends or strangers? Do your children know about your work? Do their teachers know? Do you have any advice to others? Did you find acceptance and excitement about coming out? Are there other coming out stories you think are relevant?

- – -

Without getting into too much specifics, because I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to speak on behalf of someone else with such a personal topic, I’ll share some of thoughts I’ve had since coming out a few years ago.

1. Coming out about porn can mean coming out about other things.
In my case, my porn involves a lot of aspects of my personal life. This means incorporating queer and kinky sex with many of my lovers, my gender expression, and this very website with my blog describing how I enjoy sex work and think it’s fun and healthy. That sentence alone incorporates at least five things to come out about, besides porn itself: My 1) queer sexuality; 2) Kink; 3) polyamorous lifestyle; 4) genderqueer/trans* identity; and, 5) sex work as sex-positive pleasure.

It can be difficult to come out as just one of these things, so the fact that they’re wrapped up in one another adds complications. Since my teenage years, I’ve come out as gay, then poly, and the last three all together.

2. You don’t just come out once.
As I’ve come out over the years about different things, I’ve come to understand that the act of coming out is not a one-time event. It’s not like once you’ve come out, it’s over and things are either fine or they’re not. There are the on-going discussions that come up and there’s further outings that happen (either by you or other people, sometimes accidentally). It takes an open heart to commit to being honest about the fears and anger that can arise, and to communicate these feelings in a healthy way.

I’m blessed to have a lot of love in my family. And that love is there even when there is fear or confusion.

3. There’s very few resources.
Books have been written for parents of transgender youth, for teens on coming out as queer, and BDSM lifestyles such as “When Someone You Love is Kinky“. When one of my partners and I were first exploring non-monogamy, we found “The Ethical Slut” and “Opening Up” full of helpful information. And while there are books about sex work and sex & culture, there’s not much specific to pornography. Of the sex educators and sexologists I’ve asked, it seems that this book has yet to be written.

For a brief history on the beginnings of the porn industry as we know it, check out Michael Stabile’s documentary “SMUT CAPITAL OF AMERICA“. A strange fact is that the very people I’m coming out to have been alive longer than the industry itself. Porn — at least the kind that’s sold online and in stores for personal viewing — hasn’t been around for very long. Perhaps the fact that it’s still so new is one reason why there’s not a lot published on the subject.

Another reason of course, is the subject itself.

4. Porn is a four-letter word.
One of the reasons it took me so long to come out was my fear that I would be judged and I would lose my family’s love. No matter how brilliant and loving someone is, I still am afraid that coming out to them will cause them to think poorly of me, pulling from society’s stereotypes of sex workers being naive or damaged victims, powerless or coerced. There’s so much shame around sex in our culture, that even though it’s legal and very common, there’s stigma around P-O-R-N. Many of the people I’ve worked with refuse to call their work “porn” because of these terrible associations. For myself though, I think that breaking down the stereotypes is part of the process. While much of the work I do can be described as erotic, sexual documentary and adult cinema, and my intentions can gravitate towards sex-positive representation and alternative views of healthy sexuality through working primarily with people whom I’ve loved… at the end of the day: I did porn.

5. The Internet is Forever.
Part of my organic, “self-agent process” entails my decisions to meet directors and co-stars before agreeing to do a project. And if that can’t happen for whatever reason, they must come with strong references or recommendation from people I know. When you perform in porn, you sign the rights of your image over to a producer. When a sexual image of you is published online, it’s there forever. It’s downloaded to user’s computers, it’s shared on Tumblr, and as much as you might try to control it… once it’s done, it’s done. This is the reason I try to work with directors and producers who I feel understand and respect me and my identity. The process of putting myself out there in ways I have some control over, establishing my identity and creating representations of people like me, outweigh the dangers of people behaving with malicious or exploitative intentions. It’s a known risk, and one I’m willing to take even though it can be frightening, especially for loved ones. It can also mean that you can be outed through an image online at any given time… regardless if it’s flattering or not.

So where am I now?

Honestly, I think I’m still the same place I was before I first came out, only now I can share my excitement and pride in my accomplishments. How GOOD it feels to not have to tell white lies about my trips abroad, traveling half-way around the world to “visit friends”. I hate lying. I feel more shame in the fact that I lied to my family, than I ever will about the sex I had on film.

And coming out hasn’t changed my decisions about doing porn. (Although knowing that my family can read my blog means I’ll try to remember to proofread.) As always, I’ll continue to do projects which I think are satisfying to me while exploring the genre — in a way that is safe and sustainable, and teaches me and others about sex and pleasure. From the beginning, each project I do is a choice. Even though I can’t claim that they’ve all been brilliant, shining examples of my sex-positive philosophy, and that sometimes I work with a production that probably wasn’t the best fit, each project has been lesson in helping me define and articulate the power I have of my own sexuality and autonomy.

So, I feel proud about all this. And, I want to ask for your help.

I wrote this blog post in hopes that it will help me form my thoughts about coming out, and maybe it can offer something to you. But I need more resources. Do you know a good book or blog post I can use to create a “syllabus” of supporting materials to help other performers, families and friends find the information and validation they need to come out? (This information will help me and my own family too, that’s for certain!)

Thank you everyone, for the support you’ve given to me through your emails and messages, for purchasing my work, for respecting my gender pronouns and sexuality, for inspiring me to write and share my experiences, and more. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

So much Gay!

Every June San Francisco’s Queer Arts Festival bursts with events. Being gay, it’s always a super busy month! Here’s what I’ve got going on, you ready?

Wednesday June 22nd
SF Bay June Queer/Leather Happy Hour – Pride Edition
The Mix SF

Come to happy hour at the Mix and celebrate being gay as shit with some old friends and maybe make some new ones too. Ms SF Leather 2010 Leo Peralta will be hosting and IMsL Producer Emeritus Levi Halberstadt will be in the house. Ms Alameda County Leather 2010 Trinity, Mr. SF Leather 2011 Daren Bondy, International Ms Leather Owner and Producer Glenda Rider, Ms Alameda County Leather 2009 Deborah Isadorah, International Ms Bootblack 2008 Q and Sexy Ass Queer SF Porn Star Jiz Lee. American Leather Woman 2008 may make it out too… the list goes on and on! There will be cruising, hot perverts, and as much pride as you can handle. All genders and nice people welcome.

Come celebrate the beginning of a long and beautiful weekend with me!

Friday June 24th
Original Plumbing Magazine’s UNOFFICIAL II Trans Pride Party

Come celebrate Trans Pride UNOFFICIALLY at Original Plumbing’s 2nd annual after party: UNOFFICIAL! Just blocks away from Dolores Park, post-Trans March, upstairs at the Elbo Room on Valencia Street. DJ RapidFire and DJ Bunnystyle spinning all the jams! Hosted by Hailey Laws / Young Zed! JM mans the manic merch table — hocking OP’s new GREEN issue, which features a spread starring Go Go Faun of the evening, Puck Goodfellow! doorLADY Starr Violet ! Hot Go Go’s *JIZ Lee *KELLY Lovemonster *PUCK Goodfellow and *MORE Trans cruising (!) musing (*) bruising (?) Bump and grind and find a cutie to celebrate with for the rest of the weekend. Transsexualizing what “Pride” means to us. 2 years in a row. Join the community in celebration. Promote trans visibility in a space for trans people, allies and loves of all genders.

I’m Go-Go Dancing around midnight! There will be underwear involved.

Saturday June 25th
Dyke March Pink Saturday
Rally in Dolores Park 3–7 pm
The San Francisco Dyke March is for dykes. Dykes gather at the Dyke March to celebrate our love and passion for women and for ALL dykes. We celebrate our queerness in all its manifestations. We understand dyke identity to include those of us who are questioning and challenging gender constructs and the social definitions of women: transdyke, MTF, transfeminine, transmasculine, genderqueer, and gender fluid dykes. We also welcome all women who want to support dykes to march with us. Celebrate dyke diversity!

I’ll be there, bumping into dykes.

Pride Sunday June 26th
Queerly Beloved 3-8pm EL RIO
Buying tickets through brownpapertickets.com will garner you as a VIP for the event, which means you’ll get a giftbag full of goodies, and you’ll be ON THE LIST, you don’t have to stand in line! These tickets will only be $8 for the first week of sales, so order now before they go up!!!

ICY LYTES (girl/boy queer hip hop duo from Los Angeles), ALOTTA BOUTTE performing her legendary burleqsue!!! DJ Jenna Riot & DJ Bianca Oblivion spinning dance club, top 40, hip hop, and nasty jams to grind to! Performance by ledgendary queer Porn Stars JIZ LEE and DYLAN RYAN, Queer, all-gender Wet T Shirt Contest! Wet, Hot, Go-Go Dancers, Hosted by queer porn icon Courtney Trouble & drag superstar Dommenique St. Putain.

Did you like the video above? Mickey Mod filmed the Queerly Beloved promo video for me and Dylan Ryan (with fluffer help from his lovely assistant, B). We will be performing around 6pm that day. You know you want to watch us.

Pride Sunday June 27th-29th
THIS IS WHAT I WANT
Simply stated – This is What I want is a 4 day festival of new work that deal with sex created by SF/Bay Area dance and performance artists. Within this forum, a bunch of exceedingly smart and crafty artists get together and tell the truth about some things that otherwise might be kept silent. Produced by: Jesse Hewit, Rachael Dichter and THEOFFCENTER; Curated by: Jesse Hewit, Rachael Dichter, Keith Hennessy, Jiz Lee, and Michelle Tea. (Read all about it.)

I was honored to help curate this show, a difficult job — proof that the desire for this kind of performative dialog is loud and strong. Join me in watching thirteen artists show us what they want. I want you to come.

Last year I attended the 1st Ecosexual Symposium held in Los Angeles, presenting on Green Porn with director Carlos Batts and his muse (and my doll) April Flores. We showed a clip from the waterfall scene in Dangerous Curves featuring April, Syd Blakovich, and myself. The scene was also presented for this year’s symposium events at an ecosexual queer porn screening. It was a pleasure to watch it again in a garden at night with a bunch of queers, beers, and blankets. Kitty Stryker was there and blogged about it on PurrVersatility. By the way, you can watch the Dangerous Curves trailer, and buy it at GoodVibes.com or order a custom signed copy through emailing me at jiz @ jizlee . com.

This year I’m also moderating the “Ecosex & Art” Panel, which will be held at the Center for Sex & Culture 2:30-4pm today.

What defines ecosexual art, or ecorotic art? Green Porn? The Urban Dictionary defines “Ecosexual” as: A term describing a person, in a dating sense, who is social and environmentally conscious. Similar to metrosexual, but for someone who wears and buys organic items and drives a hybrid car.
ie: I would love to date an ecosexual person so we can go to the farmers market together.

In our fast food culture, we consume fast sex. If there’s a slow foods movement, what would a slow sex movement look like? As Annie says, “We aim to make the environmental movement more fun, sexy, and diverse.” Bringing art into the equation is the key and Ecosexual is where art meets theory, meets practice, meets activism. Keith Bowers writes in the SF Weekly, Ecosex “involves using sex and sexuality to raise awareness about environmental and sustainability issues. More than “doing it green,” they say, it’s a way to make the movement itself more sexy and fun.” I see the ecosexual movement as a beautiful and highly creative way to bring awareness to the joys of sexual pleasure and human life. Though you may have found this blog through porn, I also have a background in art and performance, and am from Hawai`i where the connection to the land (`Aina) was a large part of my upbringing. So I’m thrilled to participate in the symposium and introduce Ecosex & Art’s panelists Tessa Wills, Penny Slinger, Tania Hammidi, and Dylan Bolles & Sasha Hom.

Tessa Wills: Anal Ecology; A Dedication to the Earth
Penny Slinger: The Dakinis as EcoSexual Ambassadors
Tania Hammidi Ph.D.: Olive Tree Hug
Dylan Bolles & Sasha Hom: The Myth of Ten Thousand Things

Here are their bios, as posted on sexecology.org:

Artists:

Tessa Wills is a choreographer and a Live Artist. Her current concerns in practice are wounds, punctures, liminality and the movement organizing principles of birds. She is honoured to continue her working relationship with Stephens and Sprinkle by restaging this collaboration with Harold Burns as a dedication to the Earth. Burns is a Bay Area performer, activist and educator, and member of the offcentre (theoffcenter.org). This duet is was origionally inspired by Chaignord and Bengolea’s performance “Paqurette”. Costumes by Honey McMoney (honeymcmoney.com). Equipment and education from Eve Minax (eveminax.com) Madame Pele (madamegoddess.com) and Kirk Read (kirkread.com). Burns and Wills next perform for the festival ‘This is What I Want” in June, and premier a new full length piece at Counterpulse on August 12th and 13th. tessawills.com Tessa is supporting the feild of the providers ally; a resource for professionals. lillyally.com

Wills and Burns will present “Anal Ecology; A Dedication to the Earth” on the EcoSex Art Panel.

 

Penny Slinger is an artist, writer and filmmaker who has not only championed the liberation of sexuality and the feminine, but actively forged new paths. Her art and techniques have been on the cutting edge of new realities since she emerged onto the London art scene at the end of the 1960s. Using herself as her own muse, she stripped away the layers of the feminine psyche as ‘the ultimate expose’ in photocollages and sculptures featuring life casts. Her artwork has been widely exhibited and a number of books and videos of her work have been published. She co-authored and illustrated ‘Sexual Secrets, The Alchemy of Ecstasy’ (1979), a seminal work bringing Tantra to a wider audience. Her current work, the 64 Dakini Oracle, has been many years in the making. The images are highly detailed digital collages, which Penny recognizes as a new medium for fine art. The oracle comprises 64 Divine Feminine archetypes in the form of a Goddess Temple for our time. pennyslinger.com and 64dakinioracle.org

Penny Slinger will present “The Dakinis as EcoSexual Ambassadors”on the EcoSex Art Panel.

 

Tania Hammidi is a conceptual artist, educator, and freelance writer. She teaches design and queer theory at California College of Art and the University of California, Davis. She holds a Ph.D. in Critical Dance Studies, curates LGBTQ fashion events, and likes trees … a lot. More info: taniahammidi.com (Photo by Blanca Muñoz.)

Hammidi will present on the EcoSex and Art Panel. Hammidi’s talk is entitled “Olive Tree Hug”

 

Myth of Ten Thousand Things is a family project. In poetic song-like
structures Sasha Hom speaks of all the impossible places we make our
homes, while Dylan Bolles plays various instruments, sometimes
singing. We work in the mess and see what happens. Dylan Bolles makes performances with people and environments, many of
which involve the design and construction of new musical instruments
 and the cultivation of co-creative relationships through listening
 practice. Sasha Hom writes all kinds of things, but most of her time is spent chasing after her daughters. Sometimes she writes about this too. To check out more of her work and see her publications: SashaHom.com

Bolles and Hom will present on the EcoSex Art Panel. Their presentation is entitled ” The Myth of Ten Thousand Things.”

Moderator:

Jiz Lee is genderqueer pornstar known for an androgynous gender-bending appearance, copious female ejaculation, champion fisting, cock slinging, and light-hearted attitude about sex. The Feminist Porn Award-winning performer works with celebrated female filmmakers and advocates ethical porn as an author and speaker. With one foot in the Bay Area arts scene, Jiz holds a BA in Dance and has a background in arts management and performance as one-half of the art duo Twincest (RIP). At last year’s Ecosex Symposium, Jiz presented “Dangerous Curves” by Carlos Batts and April Flores, where the road to beautiful, hard to reach places was metaphorically portrayed through hardcore sex in luscious natural environments. This year Jiz is honored to moderate the Ecosex & Art Panel. (Photo: Tristan Crane/Karma Pervs)

Please come if you can, and if you’re not able, do check out the websites of these artists and other participants of the Ecosexual Symposium II.

Also, I would be remiss to not include in this post one of my favorite ecosexual art happenings on the internet, Isabella Rossellini’s “Green Porno” on the Sundance Channel!

The series is called Cherry, and it’s from a new endeavor by Digital Playground with strong director/writer Kay Brandt and JewelBox Films. While many lesbian porn fans are familiar with high production shoots, the series marks a new direction for DP  as their very first “Girl/Girl” film after years in the industry. The storyline is complex and commanded beautifully by mainstream crossover actress Judy Thompson, who I loved getting to know on set. Fans of the L Word who wished for more sex will eat this up, and appreciate a convincing cast. In addition to contract star Riley Steele, it also casts strong lesbian sex performers such as Sinn Sage (who I shot with for Belladonna’s Strapped Dykes), Kimberly Kane, and I had the pleasure of meeting and flirting on set with Celeste Star and Missy Martinez.

While in my work in this, like my work with other Los Angeles companies, is labeled as “G/G”, I hail from a more gender fluid genre of queer porn and personally identify as androgynous/genderqueer. So even though I’m not necessarily a “girl”, my participation in these films is a marked difference from their past productions and the aesthetic of traditional porn models.

And it feels different than shooting queer porn, but the experience was very unique and important. Even the act of walking on set with a shaved head felt like a special occasion. I’ve heard from many female models in the industry that they wish they could cut their hair shorter but are pressured not to do it for fear of loosing work. It’s definitely a big deal for models who rely on their careers and booked shoots. Because I have other careers running parallel to my performances in porn, I have the privellege of being able to look how I like, and be pretty picky about what projects I decide to do. I’ve turned down several mainstream opportunities in the past because I didn’t feel they were the right involvement for me. While working with Digital Playground was something I would have never thought I’d be doing, Kay’s project with Jewelbox Films felt important and I was honored to be invited. I feel that my presence in the work is highly visible and creates more possibility within gender expression in pornography, that I hope can be a trend in mainstream production.

I’m proud to be a part of it, to explain my identity in the Behind the Scenes Trailers, and to meet and work with some really sweet people. So far there have been two releases: I have some cameo shots in Cherry 1, and a fantastic sex scene in Cherry 2 with down-to-earth BABE and my chosen co-star, Andy San Dimas.

Imagine yourself at a dance club, where a smoking hot and seemingly inapproachable DJ is playing all the right songs, and you wish more than anything you could catch their attention and lure them away from the booth for just a moment…

That fantasy is played out in my scene with Andy, a fast fuck that takes place in-between my DJ sets long enough to pull her dress up and screw her against a hallway wall. We don’t even have time to take our clothes off, let alone lift up our shirts. Which if you’ve ever had sex on the dance floor or tucked in the corner of a club, seems pretty realistic to me. We have great chemistry and you can catch moments of our shoot in the trailer.

The second installment of Digital Playground’s all-vagina soap opera brings us much joy, many orgasms, and most importantly, the one and only Jiz Lee as a DJ with serious strap-on skills. …Jiz wields a cock with style and aplomb, and even when they have to fuck a standing Andy from behind with their pants around their ankles, they simply go into a backbend and find the perfect angle of penetration. Why is Jiz so good at this? … a little confidence and creativity make it feel natural and then everybody gets sweaty and exhausted.
- Ottimo Massimo, Fleshbot.com

Order Cherry 1 & 2 from GoodVibes.com.

Image: J-Bird. Click for larger view.

Many of you may remember my work with photographer Shilo McCabe in the book “The New Lesbian Sex Book, 3rd Edition“. And recently, I’m featured in more of her photography in the German book “Mein Heimliches Auge” 2011 from Konkursbuch. Shilo also was the photographer of one of my most recent Karma Pervs fundraiser which benefited to anonymous youth organizations, and we also contributed an image for ShibariReleif, which donated auction bids to the Red Cross for the relief efforts in Japan. Needless to say, she’s a brilliant photographer and I’m thoroughly impressed with her newest project with collaborator Airial Clark, The Sex Positive Photo Project.

Celebrating May is National Masturbation Month, Shilo posted an image of masturbation each day to the photo blog, capturing people from many wanks of life, as well as their thoughts on masturbation in a short statement accompanying each photo. I was tickled pink to be the blog’s final 31st day. And the shoot we did was phenomenal — I really love posing outdoors!

It was a beautiful day. Here’s some photos I took during the trip.

And here is just one of the many images taken from the shoot itself, which I’m happy to say will be one of the future Karma Pervs updates! That day I also used a Nobessence wooden dildo on the shore, took my waterproof mystic wand vibrator into the chilling Pacific Ocean tide. Just wait till you see  the rest…

I masturbate for thrill, for release, for relaxation, for a hangover cure, for fun, and for art… and for sex-positive masturbation photo projects! Check out the rest of my statement (and some never before shared masturbation memories) at The Sex Positive Photo Project… Day 31!.

The issue examines the “Male Gaze”, something which I’d like to write about soon because I feel there’s a lot to unpack in that term. Until then however, let’s appreciate this very masculine approach to my stunningly gorgeous friend.

Photos by Steven Klein for Richardson Magazine Issue A5. See more at Fleshbot.com.

Flamed by gender-bending controversy, the supermodel has walked the runway in men and womens’ designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier. At 19 years old, he has a great attitude about his opportunities and it’s refreshing to see such a strong connection and support between him and his family.

Most recently, the model’s image has faced censorship in American magazine outlets, as reported by Sociological Images and other publications.

Andrej is male-bodied and identified, yet unlike standard, cisgender beauty ideals, his look is extremely feminine. His genderqueer appearance on the cover of Dossier Journal caused the magazine to be protected in opaque covers in stores such as Barnes & Noble. Mainstream American retailers often cater to what they predict will appeal to “Middle America”. And conceal that which might be deamed as obscene.

While we are well aware of censorship by corporations based on these assumptions, what’s particularly alluring in this case is how gender comes into play. In Andrej’s situation, the overt sexualization of female figures creates a rift in gender presentation and expectations. His body is read as female, causing censorship and uncertainty. And also raising questions about gender and nudity.

I am fascinated by the conversation around his gender-bending, as someone who finds beauty and comfort, and revelation, within androgyny. I look forward to more media coverage and dialog concerning nudity and censorship, particularly in the ways that nudity is gendered and sexualized. It was once believed that the bikini would never catch on in America. Here’s hoping that androgyny too, is fashion forward.