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 don’t know yet because I want to come out to them when the time is right.

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

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 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. (On a side note, 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 on 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!)

In addition to books and links, I’d like personal stories.

To be truthful, I’m not sure what I will do with these stories yet. That might be determined by how many of you share them with me. I might want to publish them in an eBook. Or simply share them on this blog. Or on Tumblr. As far as I know, this book has not been written, despite how helpful I think it might be. I know performers who have had beautiful coming out stories with their families, and some who have not. I know performers who are parents themselves, and so coming out involves age appropriate information for youth.  I also have youth in my life who I will someday decide to share some level of information about what I do. I’d rather they hear it from me than their friends. So, what was your experience like? Or what information do you withhold? If you or someone in your family hasn’t done porn, do you talk about watching it? Or do you protect your files? Are there other coming out stories you think are relevant? I want very much to hear about experiences other than my own, so I’m putting out a call for submissions.

Coming Out About Porn

Please send me your porn coming out story. You can write anonymously, you can share your book or other resources with me.

Submissions should be approximately 1000 words.

Email word documents to jiz@jizlee.com.

Feel free to submit work you’ve already published, or work you’re planning to publish.

I will reply to everyone by the end of March.  Feel free to repost.

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!

Image: Photographer Hal

Photo: Rae Threat/Fleshbot.com

It pretty much started with Stoya and a shaved head, in bed. January was the 2011 AVN Awards and I was happy to travel to Las Vegas to attend, thanks to generous supporters: Njoy, ASLAN Leather, TwistedMonk, and several fans who bought autographed films to help pay the way of myself and several members of the Queer Porn Mafia, including: Shine Louise Houston, Syd Blakovich, Dylan Ryan, Courtney Trouble, and Tina Horn. Your help allowed us to travel, sleep, and eat. I was proud to walk the Red Carpet with Shine, who’s website CrashPadSeries.com was nominated “Best Alternative Website”.

Photo: Jeff Koga

2011 was a pivotal year for my college travels. I joined forces with some other queer porn performers such as Sophia St. James and James Darling to speak on the topics of Queer Pornography at Evergreen. I also traveled to speak about my experiences in porn, present screenings, and teach queer sex at Scripps College, UC Davis, Long Beach LGBT Center, and Harvard University. Other travel brought me to Good For Her’s Feminist Porn Awards in Toronto — to my surprise, I was featured in TWELVE nominations! I also traveled to Germany for the Berlin Porn Film Festival, where I was featured in SIX films and was also a panelist on queer and lesbian pornography, as well as participating as a celebrity judge for the Short Film Competition.

Photo: Nick Strite

2011 was a big year for fundraising, as local women/trans health clinic Lyon-Martin had a desperate call for help, and I was able to donate over $1200. I also was able to participate in the Shibaricon fundraiser for the Red Cross to help aid Japan with a signed framed image of myself by Shilo McCabe, as well as gift $1,000 to a girls’ program in Oakland through my work with Girlfriend’s films donation program.

My own philanthropic porn experiment Karma Pervs saw several updates benefiting programs such as SWING (Service Workers in Group, Thailand) with images by twincest (RIP), the LGBT Center (SF), a ghost shower for The LGBT Center, autofellating for the Center for Sexual Health & Pleasure, piss and brick for the Leather Alliance, masturbating in the Pacific Ocean, and posing as an angel for 3 secret organizations (2 youth projects and a wolf & wilderness organization). Thanks to photographers Tristan Crane, N. Maxwell Lander, Micheal Rosen, Shilo McCabe, and Aeric Meredith-Goujon. I’m going to consolidate Karma Pervs to quarterly updates starting 2012 so that I can spend more time helping to promote the cause. It’s still a really great project and I’m thrilled with some of the creative collaborations so far.

Photo: Michael Rosen & Karma Pervs

I fell in love with Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School, taking to the stage to pose as Spider Jerusalem in a Transmet Tribute with proceeds going to the Comic Legal Defense Fund, and joined by the lovely Ryan Keely. Turns out a snippet from backstage appears in Patrick Meaney’s documentary on Warren Ellis, Captured Ghosts. Shortly after, I returned to pose again with Stoya for a Jack the Ripper themed Dr. Sketchy’s, using the topic to bring awareness to violence against sex workers.

Major porn productions in 2011 included Rough Sex 3: Adrianna’s Dangerous Mind, with a really fun release party in NYC with Adrianna Nicole, Tristan Taormino, and Danny Wylde. I also got to see Adrianna, Tristan, as well as Sinnamon Love and others at Cinekink, where we spoke on an Ethical Porn Panel. I also had the pleasure of working with Kay Brandt for Jewelbox Films and Digital Playground on Cherry. It was great to appear with a major porn studio as an androgynous DJ and pick my co-star Andy San Dimas.

2011 also saw a lot of Nina Hartley. I was thrilled to invite her to Crash Pad Series to film the site’s 100th Episode, streamed live to level 3 members. Then recently this year, another live scene I performed with Nina was released, Courtney Trouble’s LIVE SEX SHOW which is a fundraiser for the Center for Sex & Culture, and the FIRST explicit vaginal fisting scene I have on DVD.  [If you want to buy this DVD from me, or others -- let me know!] Courtney and I collaborated on FISTING DAY, an international online and live day to honor, educate, and get off fisting. I’m very proud of our success, which includes many people being more accepting and sex positive about the act, as well as the DVD being sold by 5 courageous feminist sex toy stores: Tool Shed, Early to Bed, Fatale Media, She Bop, and Smitten Kitten, as well as directly from Courtney and myself.

A good year for art, I had the pleasure of being invited to be a co-curator of THIS IS WHAT I WANT, a guest celebrity judge of “Man as Object: Reversing the Gaze” exhibit at the SomARTS Cultural Center, and a moderator for Annie Sprinkle & Beth Stephens Ecosexual Symposium on “Ecosex & Art”. Other artful moments included Molly Crabapple’s 66 Portraits of Sixty-Six friends who Awe, inclusion in the Blindfold Project Book, reading from my blog at Writers With Drinks, and a new pornsaint rendition by Ale Senso. Aaaaand, I got to buff up my drag chops as Ritchie Valens in Rob Fatal’s “LA BAMBA 2: Hell is a Drag” campy sci-fi gore sequel.

I also did a fair share of modelling; for May was Masturbation Month I posed for Shilo McCabe’s Sex Positive Photo Project. I also posed for RH Denim, a new fashion company in Los Angeles. And a rarity for me, despite my dance degree and performance art background, is dancing on stage these days. Yet in 2011, I did it a few times. I performed a Black Swan inspired solo at a sex club called Velvet. And during SF Pride, Dylan Ryan and I collaborated to create a performance for QUEERLY BELOVED. In fact, we got so excited about it that we even made a trailer (thanks to Mickey Mod and Malory!).

The year is ending with a swell crescendo as I enjoyed my time in tights at the Fleshbot Awards, with lots of photos to prove it… and am pleased to be twice 2012 AVN Nominated for the AVN Awards as well as featured in several films and series recognized for AVN and XBiz industry awards.

I’ll wrap up this post with a New Year’s image for you all, a design from my special holiday cards, which I sent to the addresses of those who have supported my work through becoming members of Karma Pervs or purchasing DVDs and other items through me, as well as some co-stars and peers. The image below is based off a Karma Pervs photo by Courtney Trouble taken at EROS, visually redesigned by the clever and talented Vinh Luan Luu.

Happy New Queer!

Image: Vinh Luan Luu, Courtney Trouble & Karma Pervs

You ready for a monster post? Well grab your lube, lay back, and relax. It’s late on Thursday night and I’m typing this out at one of my favorite bars, El Rio. San Francisco just felt it’s second earthquake today. It makes me shiver thinking about the fragility of our lives, the great divides between the earth and our existence. And then, you know, there’s fisting. Crossing my fingers the ground below my feet withhold a mighty quake, let’s get this blog going.

Not too long ago, I was chatting with my friend and fellow pornographer Courtney Trouble, about her recent film LiveSexShow, which is a fundraiser for the Center for Sex and Culture filmed during the non-profit’s annual Masturbate-a-Thon. I performed with Nina Hartley, for an audience of pleasure activists. And the chemistry was high with me and Nina, and we jumped into each other, and we had a grand time, and during that time, her fingers and then her whole hand went inside my cunt. And then I came for the crowd and for myself, and for my friend holding a video camera for the world to see.

At least, we hope the world could see.

For as long as I’ve done porn, distribution companies and retailers have banned the act of fisting in the films I’ve been in. It feels like it’s always been this way, but that’s not true. It’s only been a little over a decade.

Anti-porn movements, in particular the administrations which coincide with them, have had a bone to pick against pornography. For obvious reasons, I’m pro-porn, sex-positive, and a firm advocate of consensual, ethical, and artistic erotic imagery. For the circles I run in, the act of making porn is a brave, powerful, and righteous thing. We’re representing marginalized communities, taking power through creating our own images of desire. As my friend Shine Louise Houston infamously says, that as a queer woman of color, it’s especially important for her to create her own sexual images. And I completely and passionately, agree. Explicitly demonstrating our pleasure shows authenticity that rivals anything shown of queers in Hollywood films and brings examples of healthy sexuality that have long been denied in sex education classes. Safer sex? Check. Communication? Check. Equal gender agency, you bet. Lube? Right here.

Since 2005, I’ve been appearing in porn for DVD distribution that I knew would not include fisting, one of my favorite sex acts. Even my very first porn scene with my lover at the time, Syd Blakovich. It didn’t make sense that fisting couldn’t be shown, but I tossed it up to it being the fact that porn is marketed and driven by a lot of assumptions about what sells, what sex should look like, what the people who have sex should look like, yada, yada, yada. Basically all the reasons why I knew I was doing something important.

But wait, why is fisting so important? What do I like about it? Ask me? Okay, here’s some actual questions I’ve had, about fisting:

Why is fisting important to you?
My first experiences with hand sex, where my body took in the entire fist of a lover, happened around a time of galactic sexual exploration. I was in my early twenties and it was mind-blowing. The orgasms were intense and I was in an open relationship and was dating a lot of people so it was exciting for me to have sex with friends and teach them how to fist me, to fist others, and to really enjoy practicing sex in a safe way and to experience this with lovers of all kinds of genders and sexual orientations. It was so much fun. Fisting is about being really present and in your body, and ready for a good time.

Why do you love fisting?
What I love about fisting someone vaginally is feeling them take me in. There’s an moment where the person just opens up to you. Once inside, they’re so warm, wet, and every little movement you make can be felt. It’s something that may take time. Fisting is something that doesn’t necessarily happen right away. You put a finger in. Then two. Then three, four, and then… and sometimes after long gentle coaxing, the thumb. Sometimes lovers can try several times in sex before fisting happens. But once you’ve got it, it’s golden! You can angle your hand for G-Spot stimulation. You can find your lovers’ “A Spot”, which is just under the cervix and some like to feel a bit of pressure there. You can carefully stroke and “jerk-off” the cervix, as if it were a small, internal cock. Unlike using a strap-on or dildo toy, my hand can feel every motion. It’s incredibly intimate and really sexy. If the chemistry and connection with my partner is strong, can literally come from penetrating someone with my hand!

As someone who loves to receive a fist, what I enjoy about it is an unparalleled feeling of fullness. The most sensitive areas of the vagina are just within the first few inches inside the vagina, which is where I like to use my kegel and pelvic muscles to grip snugly around a lovers’ wrist, which can be compared to the girth of a medium-large dildo. Deeper inside, pressure feels good for me. I like to rock my hips against a lovers’ hand, or hold very still and squeeze hard, creating a game where I try to hold their hand tightly in place as they move against me. I do my kegel exercises and am pretty strong so I have a lot of control over my vaginal muscles and can make myself very tight, or, allow myself to stretch open. Or pulse between the two extremes. Combining clitoral and vaginal stimulation, the network of nerves and contracting of muscles orchestrate some of the most amazingly intense orgasms I’ve had.

What do you say to people who think it’s dangerous or scary?
Some people think fisting is intense in a bad way — that it hurts. But anyone who loves fisting knows that it can be the most intimate and beautifully connecting experience with a lover. Or a really fun in a three-some — I’ve held the hand, fingers locked, with a lover while the two of us have fisted a friend. I’ve also had both my fists inside two different lovers at the same time, while they kissed intensely. I’ve 69′ed with fisting, and I’ve even fisted myself!

Fisting isn’t any more scary than any kind of unwelcome sexual advance. However many people don’t know that much about it. We learn about sex as only being penis-vagina intercourse. But sex is so much more! We don’t learn much about sexual anatomy, how to communicate with lovers, or about pleasure. In fact, when we see a fist, we may be more inclined to think of it punching someone in the face because we see images of violence more common and at a younger age than we do sex. (ie: Cartoons show characters throwing punches and shooting guns, yet wont show even a bare breast.) In “This Film Will Not Be Rated”, we see the MPAA approve violent scenes with more leniency than they do sex scenes, especially ones featuring female pleasure. So when we as a culture are more familiar with a fist being used to harm someone, it’s no wonder that someone who hasn’t had a healthy sex-positive education about fisting would assume it is painful. In our culture we see fists as painful weapons, when I see them as revolutionary weapons of sex-positive progress. Or, you know, the ASL symbol for the letter “E”. See? That’s not so scary.

What’s your experience with fisting?
Personal love of the topic aside, my work in adult has primarily featured fisting. In fact, I fist in my films more often than I’ve worn a strap-on. This may come as a surprise to many DVD buyers, who would never see the act as it’s been edited or angled out of the scenes, with the exception of online website content for queer porn sites. And with the exception of Courtney Trouble’s new film “LiveSexShow” where I am fisting by Nina Hartley. I’ve also performed as a demo model for Fisting Demonstrations in adult classes such as Reid Mihalko’s Iron Slut: Sex Educator Showdown! and have taught it as a guest lecturer on sex ed at colleges and universities. I am also a contributor in “The Official Book of Sex, Drugs, and Rock n Roll Lists”, where I give my Top Five Songs about fisting.

So there you go. And while it’s not the first time I knew fisting couldn’t be shown in a hardcopy DVD, this year it was the first time I’ve heard of fisting being banned by a Video on Demand (VOD) company due to fisting. And here’s where some background comes into play. Because: WHY is it okay to show fisting ONLINE, but not in a hard copy DVD?

Well. Here’s what I know.

DVD distributors, retailers, and porn producers, are afraid to SELL porn if it means they might be charged with an obscenity. To date, some men are in jail or have had court orders for showing “obscene” content, such as John Stagliano and Seymore Butts. This content includes female ejaculation, enemas, and in 2001, fisting. The charges in the case of fisting were dropped with an plea bargain for a meager $1,000 fine. However this scared distributors because since that date, at least in terms of the companies who have distributed my films, fisting was NOT to be shown. If fisting was present, footage was edited out if it was visible, or left in if the camera angle was such that you couldn’t tell fisting was occurring. Why fisting?

Fisting is on the Cambria List of sex acts not allowed for inclusion in content meant for physical distribution.

From PBS:

On January 18th, 2001, Adult Video News reported on the so-called “Cambria List.”  Paul Cambria, a longtime attorney for the porn industry, was involved in the list’s preparation. The list is controversial within the industry and interpretations differ on how it was meant to be applied. Some in the industry say it represents guidelines for the box-covers of adult videos, not for the sex acts they depict. Nevertheless, there is wide agreement that the Cambria List shows how the adult industry is seeking to be more careful, fearing a potential crackdown on pornography by the Bush Administration.

The Cambria List:

Box-Cover Guidelines/Movie Production Guidelines

Before selecting a chrome please check facial expression. Do not use any shots that depict any unhappiness or pain.

Do not include any of the following:

• No shots with appearance of pain or degradation
• No facials (bodyshots are OK if shot is not nasty)
• No bukakke
• No spitting or saliva mouth to mouth
• No food used as sex object
• No peeing unless in a natural setting, e.g., field, roadside
• No coffins
• No blindfolds
• No wax dripping
• No two dicks in/near one mouth
• No shot of stretching pussy
• No fisting
• No squirting
• No bondage-type toys or gear unless very light
• No girls sharing same dildo (in mouth or pussy)
• Toys are OK if shot is not nasty
• No hands from 2 different people fingering same girl
• No male/male penetration
• No transsexuals
• No bi-sex
• No degrading dialogue, e.g., “Suck this cock, bitch” while slapping her face with a penis
• No menstruation topics
• No incest topics
• No forced sex, rape themes, etc.
• No black men-white women themes

Several things are not on this list and several things are on this list which should never have been. I mean, WTF?!

I emailed Queery Bradshaw, who has a legal background and she confirmed what I expected about the legal aspects behind several porn obscenity trials when they come to bringing visibility to marginalized sexual practices. Particularly in terms of freedom of expression. She wrote back:

It’s a double edged sword because the more a topic, scene or act becomes mainstream, the least likely it is going to be considered obscene against the community standard. But, if you’re constantly censored for fear of being prosecuted, you can’t make those acts known or common place. I know authors that have had fisting (or the mention of sex at all even) censored out of their beautiful non-erotic literary works of art. People are afraid and the only way to stop that fear is to talk about it, but you don’t know if you talk about it if you’re going to be prosecuted. And that is why I totally agree with you Jiz that this is completely and totally a free speech censorship issue and that we need to talk about how healthy it is so people stop seeing fisting as this thing that people do to degrade and dishonor another (which is justification often for censoring anything).

Despite this go-to list, there’s more info to know about pornography and obscenity, which is the Miller Test, which courts have gone to in efforts to determine what might be obscene when there’s no written rule. Here’s Constance Penley talking about obscenity and pornography. (Constance is a co-editor of the upcoming “Feminist Porn Anthology” which will be made available to the gender studies classes to colleges and universities world-wide.)

The Miller test was developed in the 1973 case Miller v. California. It has three parts:

• Whether “the average person, applying contemporary community standards”, would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest,
• Whether the work depicts/describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable state law,
• Whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.

The work is considered obscene only if all three conditions are satisfied.

The first points are up to the standards of the community. What community? Whatever applies! That’s what makes it vague. The last one in particular is held up to whatever is reasonable to a person of the United States as a whole. The Miller Test is basically the reason why it’s okay to have more freedom of sexuality online, while less on physical DVDs. While there are many areas in the United States where it is illegal to mail pornography, it’s more difficult to determine online community. This is especially true for queers who at least in my case have found community online. To further prove my point, many queers think fisting is completely normal. (If not just normal, it’s amazing!)

If I had a dime for every time I’ve given a talk and had people give me a confused “WTF?” look when I brought up the fact that fisting was banned from DVDs “Why? What’s wrong with fisting?” I would have enough money to pay my way into congress and provide adequate (queer and kink friendly) education to every citizen in the US so that people will understand pleasure and sex-positivity.

So here we are.

I’ve fisted in much of my films and online content. In fact, I think I’ve fisted more times than I’ve squirted or even worn a strap-on. It’s that common. While I have been somewhat unfortunately hesitant to fist on film because I know about the ban, I also have the liberation with companies who have web content because I know they wont have to edit it out. I also know that film crews can film a “soft” shot of the action if they so please. It’s something I’ve dealt with for a while now, and because I know that the way we consume porn is changing and going more and more to the internet so eventually fisting will reign.

Imagine my surprise when I heard that Courtney’s film submitted for VOD was denied because of the scene. Not VOD! The internet is supposed to be okay with fisting, because it’s my community who likes to see it. That’s what prompted our Fisting Day. We have to let people know more about fisting. Why it’s supposedly banned, why it’s awesome if they’ve never thought about it before. Why it’s okay, even political, to love fisting.

If you want to watch me fisting, I recommend QueerPorn.TV scene with Papí Coxxx and most of my scenes on CrashPadSeries.com, including cool double fisting and simultaneous fisting scenes with Syd Blakovich & Micah Riot, and Dallas & Vai. And ANOTHER fisting scene with Nina.

Finally, as promised in my post announcing fisting day, here is a small gallery of fisting!

The introduction is for my longer blog post which I will publish October 21st.
The invitation is for you to join me and my friend Courtney Trouble in bringing awareness to one of the most amazing sexual acts I know and love: fisting.

Anyone who does it knows it can be one of the most intimate, consensual, and beautiful connections between lovers. Everyone can enjoy fisting. And for those of us in the queer community, fisting is a sex act that is actually quite popular. It’s for this reason that I say: Fisting censorship discriminates against queer sex. You may be surprised to know that fisting happens quite often in my films, you just can’t see it because it’s been angled or edited out. While many queer porn websites celebrate and show hand sex proudly, the act has been cut out of DVDs and left on the editing floor for over a decade. For as long as I’ve known, vaginal fisting has been censored by distributors, and while it’s still okay to show it online, where many people are increasingly watching their porn, some Video on Demand websites have started to ban fisting footage in an effort avoid possible obscenity charges. It’s just not right, and it’s downright homophobic. I hope that very soon we look back at this moment and think: “WTF?!”

How can you help?

October 21st is unofficially officially International Fisting Day!

Join me in being vocal about fisting! I include my love of fisting on all my bios and do it on camera whenever I can. Let’s celebrate and normalize the act! On Friday, October 21st, post a blog about fisting — what it means to you, what you like about it, tweet about #fisting, Facebook about the act. Share my post, share others’ posts. Tumblr the fuck out of it. Read a fisting how-to book. Watch queer porn online. (Check out my scenes on CrashPadSeries.com and QueerPorn.tv!) And if you want to be one of the first wave of supporters to order a DVD that actually has fisting IN it, October 21st is also the release date of Courtney Trouble’s LIVE SEX SHOW. So get excited. Learn something. Teach someone. Talk about it. Watch it. Love it. Join our FIST FIGHT!

At the very least, think of fisting in a sex-positive way. Even if it’s not your thing, know that for some people, it’s a sexual act that brings pleasure. Now who’d want to censor that?

Helpful Links:
Fisting Day Tumblr – Follow and Repost!
Facebook Fisting Day Event – Attend and Invite Others!
How to Fist – a Primer if you want to celebrate literally
Courtney Trouble’s Fisting Day Post
Twitter – Follow @JizLee & @CourtneyTrouble Hashtag is #fisting

P.S. You may have noticed I haven’t used any images of fisting in this post… sad thing, isn’t it, if there’s no fisting to be seen?! Well, make sure to check back on October 21st!

Quinn Valentine as Michelle Tea. Photo by Tristan Crane: See more photos from behind the scenes.

In this first chapter, Quinn Valentine (psssst sexy sexy) stars as Michelle, and Courtney herself as Petra (one of the first introductions I had as a reader, to safer sex, fisting, and knife play). If you’re interested in contributing to the cost of the production, here’s Valencia Chapter 1′s Kickstarter. You can also Like Valencia: The Movie/s on Facebook, read an interview with Michelle and Courtney about the project, and help spread the word in general. In the meantime, check out this teeny tiny sneak peek and consider digging into your money pocket (no, the other one…) to donate!

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!

Fast-forward six years later and very few of us watch films on DVD anymore. We now can stream videos online and download them directly to our hard drives. File sharing is easier than ever and it only takes a minute to find a free version of virtually any movie you’re looking to watch. (And in many cases, a free film is more accessible if the payment method is one you don’t have access to, or you want to watch it immediately it’s only available to be shipped DVD.) At this moment, thousands upon thousands of torrent and tube sites provide access to free porn, capitalizing on visitor traffic, advertisements and making money off of content they didn’t produce.

Piracy has severely hurt adult businesses, only a few of whom can afford to fight back through lawsuits and propose new online sale tactics. Studios send “Cease and Desist” letters to each and every site discovered; it’s a time-consuming process that puts the companies at as much risk for virus attacks as it does consumers. Some companies have banded together, as the concern has many producers committed to finding a way to stop porn piracy by 2012. Others have made efforts to educate consumers, who may not realize they are doing anything illegal. Here’s a campaign created by the Free Speech Coalition, directed by Michael Whiteacre and produced by Joanne Cachapero. While it appears to be an upstream battle with more dislikes than likes and over 500 negative, insulting comments about the stars (who include my friends Sinnamon Love, Kimberly Kane and Joanna Angel), the video it is a valiant effort.

In addition to my day job, I also work behind the scenes with Shine Louise Houston and her website CrashPadSeries.com. I’m someone who personally values Shine’s work and is passionate about the success of progressive and especially queer and indie pornographers who I think bring sex-positivity, education, and visibility to our marginalized experiences. So it is difficult for me to see my own community furthering piracy of porn that was made for them. If you search “Crash Pad Series” in almost all cases, you’ll see a torrent site. If you search “Jiz Lee”, you’ll also see results to pirated porn (with insulting descriptions, no less). The people who click and watch these links are NOT supporting me. Furthermore, it makes me feel exploited, something I’ve yet to feel in any of the work I’ve done. As I’ve said online numerous times: the only time I’ve felt exploited in porn, is through piracy. Ironically, I think it’s something done by fans who don’t know any better.

I’ve seen fans publish tumblr posts with links to clips on pirated sites. I’ve contacted some, and they apologize and take it down, stating that they didn’t know. I believe them. It can be confusing with so much porn out there. Some people may not feel like sharing the content is doing harm. In fact some people may think they’re doing a favor! I’ve even seen a customer of queer porn post the login password to their subscription via their public twitter account. Whoops! That’s a big no-no and is specifically listed in the terms of service of all membership websites. One free porn clip I saw of a scene of mine had over 76,000 views. Imagine how much money the company could have made if all the people who watched for free had chosen to purchase the scene online or to buy that DVD directly from the company.

I would LOVE Shine Louise Houston to be able to make and cast me in another feature film (her last one, CHAMPION: Love Hurts, was phenomenal and won Feminist Porn’s “Movie of the Year” as well as an AVN Nomination for “Best Video Feature”!) I would love for her to be able to shoot for Crash Pad Series more than once a month — imagine how many queer performers, videographers, photographers, and video editors she could hire if she shot as much as once a week! Shine’s company, like many small producers have slowly grown over the last few years, working on sustainable business models within a niche genre of the industry. We’ve had to grow our own market of consumers, many of whom are turned onto porn for the first time when they see that there are performers they can relate to.

It’s understandable to not know that pirating porn is illegal. I hope this list of five ways the average consumer — and maybe some others involved in the industry — can work to educate one another and help our work blossom.

5 Ways YOU Can Fight Porn Piracy

1. Don’t repost or share links to free porn sites.
How do you know it’s pirated material? (Here’s a hint: if I’m in it, and you’re watching it for free, 99% of the time that means it was stolen!) And if it’s on a site called “FreePorn.com” or something like that, there’s a good chance it’s pirated. My friends and I are paid to perform, so it’s never just put online for free. Please value our work!

2. Educate others who link to free porn sites.
Be an advocate. A porn hero! If you see the link posted on Reddit, Tumblr, a blog, wherever… just send a simple message to the site owner or an @reply to your friend to let the person know what you think about porn piracy. Link to this post if you want. In most cases, they didn’t know better!

3. Keep User-generated Tube Sites User-based
Sometimes companies work with affiliates and post teaser clips to tube sites to attract potential customers. However a lot of pirated porn is uploaded to tube sites by people who are abusing the site’s Terms of Service. What to look for? If you recognize an adult performer or a company’s film but don’t see a company watermark, link or credit, it’s a good chance that user uploaded it illegally. Flag, Report, and Notify the tube site’s customer service to alert them.

4. Become an Affiliate
Send good links out to the web! You can support companies by sharing links to their sites through an affiliate programs. Join sex-positive companies like goodvibes.com (which produces a lot of the porn titles I’m in), hotmoviesforher.com, crashpadseries.com, queerporn.tv, enterbelladonna.com, joannaangel.com, buckangel.com, and many more. If you’re new to affiliate programs, scroll to the footer of websites and look for “affiliates”, “webmasters”, or “make money” and click to read more! Post on your websites about the porn you love and use these new links to send readers to purchases that will make everyone happy.

5. Buy porn!
The best way to support the porn you love is to purchase it. Many performers have personal websites where you can find links to their work. My site has a films page, websites page, and links page and a click from these pages will support my favorite companies. Buying porn from the performers and companies sites, and from those who sell their work, is the most direct way to support our growing industry. Put your money where your politics are!

Thank you for being a supporter, a fan, a friend, an ally and advocate. If you’re ever in doubt, ask me! You can comment here, or find my email address up in the sidebar. Together we can kick porn piracy out of our queer and sex-positive spaces.

How amazing is this pulp-inspired movie poster!?

Tristan Taormino‘s newest film is “Rough Sex 3: Adrianna Nicole’s Dangerous Mind“, the latest in her “Rough Sex” series. It stars some pretty amazing people, including some of my friends and people I have met and love, such as Keni Styles, Danny Wylde, Evan Stone, Jada Fire, and of course, the focus of the film, the insatiable Adrianna Nicole.

I stumbled across this video on the Good Vibrations Magazine and while I am no longer technically a “youth”, I was one not too long ago and like many of the young adults featured in this video, I had sex.

And, I went to Planned Parenthood.

As you may have heard, the House Voted on February — to cut 75 million from Planned Parenthood’s funding, despite a personal speech by Californian Republican Jackie Speier. Since then, I Stand With Planned Parenthood and other campaigns to bring awareness to the importance of sexual health and the continued funding of Planned Parenthood. Here’s the video, which made me smile. It’s so awesome to see even within the statements, others like “I don’t have sex, but I have periods,” “I use birth-control. And, ”I don’t have sex, but I plan to.” It’s so brave to see those choices voiced.

I hope our society can get over sexual shame and be truthful about our sexual histories and honest about the importance of sex education and resources.