GROOMBRIDGE, U.K.—Anna Arrowsmith, who's directed award-winning adult videos under the name "Anna Span," will be running for Parliament as the delegate from Gravesham, Kent—and she's got the support of Liberal Democrat party leader Nick Clegg.
"It's not exactly my cup of tea what she's been doing before she has put herself forward in Parliament but I also think it's really important that people like her who really care a lot about her local area are encouraged to come into politics," Clegg told The Sun newspaper. "You can't accuse her of being a cardboard cut-out Westminster politician."
Indeed, Arrowsmith has been a sex-positive movie maker for more than a decade, and has shot more than 250 scenes for Television X, a group of adult television channels in the U.K.; has created a book to guide couples in how to make homemade porn; and more recently, was successful in getting the British Board of Film Classification, which oversees all movies released on video in the U.K., to overturn its longstanding ban on depictions of female ejaculation by providing evidence that women actually do ejaculate.
Arrowsmith also owns Easy on the Eye Productions, which has released such female-friendly hardcore titles as Play The Slut and Be My Toy Boy, and is a member of Feminists Against Censorship, Britain's premier anti-censorship organization.
"I have lived in the real world," Arrowsmith told The Register (UK). "I know how to run a business; unlike many in Westminster today, I am not a professional politician."
"I have hidden nothing," she continued. "I told the central party everything before putting myself forward as a candidate. ... I am a campaigner. I am a natural fighter."
And as for voters who might be concerned about her prior career?
"Don't judge me by the industry as a whole," she asked. "I have gone into the porn industry with a view to changing it and making it more female-friendly. I have spent years campaigning for equal opportunities for female workers and this has given me an excellent experience for the coming campaign."
But the candidate will have an uphill battle. The district she's running for only recently turned from supporting the Labour Party to the Conservative Party candidate, who took 43.7 percent fo the vote in the last election. Liberal Democrats garnered just 10.7 percent. However, as of this afternoon, an online poll conducted by the Guardian found that 83 percent of responders said Arrowsmith's porn career wouldn't harm her electoral prospects.
"In this day and age, people who live in a democratic society should be able to choose what they want to watch," the candidate agreed.
Arrowsmith, 38, has a fine arts degree, a master’s degree in philosophy and was named Best Director at the 2008 and 2009 UK Adult Film and TV Awards, with Easy on the Eye Productions winning Best British Film Brand in 2008. She also has a Twitter account at #annaarrowsmith.
