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How to hit back against questionable ethics and bad quality kicks by breaking down porn cliches through art performance
How many bad pornographies have you watched in your life? The pizza guy? The cliched ‘girl-on-girl’ where two friends hang out at home in their PJs and suddenly start fucking? The questionable teacher-student scenario, despite the perverted undertones? Mainstream porn and endless ‘bad taste’ scenarios have plagued the industry for years, and are now being parodied thanks to “Cream Pie” – a performance piece from Crossline Theatre’s Kara Chamberlain and Natalia Knowlton.
Exoloring porn at its tackiest by using the stereotypes and cliches thriving in mainstream porn to analyse and hilariously critique inequality in the industry. “Porn gives us patterns of what sex ‘should be’ or what should be ‘sexy’. But is anyone really being satisfied?” reads the performance blurb. Through their use of parodies and puppetry, “Cream Pie” provides a comedic look into what such readily available porn has become, but also provides a window into the damage that could be done if this remains the only dominate images we see of sex. “We must install the notion in consumers that the reality of sex doesn’t necessarily match up to the sexual scripts portrayed in porn,” Chamberlain tells us.
As they prepare for a showing of “Cream Pie” at the Calm Down, Dear Festival tonight, we speak with Chamberlain and Knowlton to find out just what it takes to beat porn cliches, what orgasm equality means and why we should be coughing up for quality.
“It is important to teach porn consumers about sex beyond the very structured, and scripted world that porn belongs to” – Kara Chamberlain and Natalia Knowlton
EXPLORE SEX BEYOND THE SCRIPTED SCENARIOS
“The porn industry is unlimited when it comes to its content, the mediums through which it can be viewed, and the fact that for the most part it is unregulated. While its freedom of expression is a positive, and censoring sexual expression is hardly a good option, it is important to teach porn consumers about sex beyond the very structured, and scripted world that porn belongs to.
Porn manages to limit both men and women into specific ‘characters’ and sexual scripts, and this can lead to both men and women expecting their sexual experiences to mimic those within the porn they watch. This limits the public’s exploration of their own sexuality, which can lead to dissatisfaction, and lack of sexual understanding. We must install the notion in consumers that the reality of sex doesn’t necessarily match up to the sexual scripts portrayed in porn, and to really explore beyond those realms to find what works for them.”
DEMAND ORGASM EQUALITY FOR ALL
“Feminist porn is porn in which everyone is consenting; the workers are safe and well cared for, the wages are fair, an equal number of men and women are involved both on and off screen. Women and men play a variety of roles and scenarios, and most importantly, there is orgasm equality. To continue the feminist porn movement, we must become conscious consumers and demand orgasm equality. Everyone should be enjoying what they are doing, and representing that is important to a young generation viewing porn as the standard for sex.”
 saw Elisha Cuthbert star as a former adult performer who has to revisit her past to help a new friend)
THINK ABOUT THE PEOPLE BEYOND THE SCREEN
“Through our research and interviews with porn consumers, we have found that people want to see porn that reflects their own sexual desires. People also want to know that the sex workers involved are consenting participants, and that the environment is safe, even if it is ‘dangerous’ in the scenario. It’s important that we consider what goes on beyond our visual pleasure, and that we consider the environment and livelihood of those who participate in porn and make it what it is. Are they properly compensated for their work? This is something worth thinking about.”
USE ART AS A WAY TO INSPIRE OTHERS
“For ‘Cream Pie’ we were inspired by Brecht's style of distancing the audience, called ‘the alienation effect’ (or ‘Verfremdungseffekt’ in German). Through heightened performative styles such as puppetry, and parody, we hope the audience can see and value the script behind the sexiness in mainstream porn. That’s something our generation can utilise in our mission for better porn – by using art as a way to comment and critique porn which doesn’t speak to us.”
“The mindset of porn consumers needs to change, and we must become willing to spend a bit of money on ‘good’ porn instead of watching free porn which may not be of the same moral standard” – Kara Chamberlain and Natalia Knowlton
BE WILLING TO PAY FOR QUALITY
“We need to be conscious of what we are consuming, especially as porn can now be accessed for free much more easily than pre-internet porn. It used to be that porn needed to be purchased either in magazines or videos and now it can be accessed for free. However, a lot of feminist porn or porn in which the wages are fair and the production level is quite high, audiences still need to pay – thus creating a divide as consumers nowadays don’t see the purpose of paying for quality when you can get it for free. The mindset of porn consumers needs to change, and we must become willing to spend a bit of money on ‘good’ porn instead of watching free porn which may not be of the same moral standard. That way, pornographic artists who are making feminist porn will be able to continue their work.”
EDUCATE YOURSELF AND KNOW WHAT YOU LIKE
“We want people to become aware of what they actually like, and to question whether or not they are getting that from the porn they watch. To do this, it’s important that you spark discussions, and inspire people to become more educated about porn and gender issues, so that we are all equally satisfied.”
See “Cream Pie” tonight at Calm Down, Dear 2015. For more information click here