Explicit erotic film director, Jennifer Lyon Bell, on her new film, Silver Shoes, and why women will love getting off on it. NSFW.
A lot of women want to watch explicit erotic material, but are put off by the word "porn".
"I’m happy if people want to call what I do feminist porn, but I like to call what I do 'explicit erotic film'. Even though women like it, it's not because it's softcore or gentle – it is extremely erotic. The only reason I sometimes hesitate to use the word porn is that a lot of women haven't had a chance to find a porn that worked for them, so they have a negative association with the word. There is porn out there now that would appeal to a lot of women, so as a result I want women to feel open to trying something new and looking at this new sexuality on film, and so by calling it by a different term, that helps."
Silver Shoes / Via Blue Artichoke Films
Women's porn should be as diverse as women themselves, and it should definitely be explicit.
"People think that women don’t want to see explicit material and that couldn’t be less true. I think plenty of women, myself included, love seeing hot, explicit sex. A popular misconception with porn is that all women want the same thing. Women are really diverse and what appeals to me might not appeal to you, and I think that's great. Women's porn should be really diverse because women are really diverse."
Silver Shoes / Via Blue Artichoke Films
Seeing people who are genuinely having fun with sex is seriously hot.
"I don’t try to make my films appeal to all women – I just try to make films that I like, and I hope that there are women who agree with what I like and want more of the same. What I've found, to my surprise, is that a lot of men like them too. I get a lot of comments about how the men in my movies are more participatory, so they're not just an object themselves, but there's give and take between the two people having sex. The men seem more like they're having more fun, and not fun in a real codified and specific way, but fun that has life and freedom in it. Fun that can breathe a little."
Silver Shoes / Via Blue Artichoke Films
We've learned not to expect emotional engagement from porn, but that doesn't mean we don't want it.
"I think that many men have been trained to expect that porn will only cover the basics for them. I think the porn industry as it's developed has discouraged engagement for men. A lot of women have more experience with movies and television than porn, so sometimes have higher expectations for what a porn film could be. They compare it to other mainstream media and expect to be engaged. What I really notice talking to men and women though is that there are more similarities than differences."
Silver Shoes / Via Blue Artichoke Films