LOS ANGELES—Canadian actress Ellen Page (Juno, Inception) took to Reddit this weekend for an AMA ("Ask Me Anything") session, which she opened up with the greeting, “hi reddit, Ellen Page here. I'm an actress. I'm also Canadian. My most recent film is THE EAST. Looking forward to answering your questions.”
Not long thereafter, the 26-year-old Academy Award Best Actress nominee got a question from feminist pornographer Courtney Trouble that she probably wasn’t expecting. Trouble posted, “you identify as a feminist, do you have any specific thoughts on misogyny in our day and age right now? what do you think about the current feminist porn movement? also, you rock! we love you."
It did not take long for Page to reply, “I think we are in a very scary time right now. The rhetoric from the right wing is terrifying to me. I think feminist porn is crucial. To only have porn from the male perspective is damaging. Women are sexual creatures, as much as men and that needs to be embraced.”
The Trouble question then took on a life of its own, both on Reddit and now also in the mainstream media, which has already picked up on Page’s pro-porn comment.
“Ellen Page has been embraced by everyone from sex workers to web enthusiasts after calling for more feminist pornography,” reported news.com.au, adding, “Courtney Trouble was happy with Page's reply, and told news.com.au that feminist pornography was ‘by definition, porn made by feminists.’ She applauded Page for having the guts to talk about pornography to a broader audience.”
"Feminist porn is made with gender equality in mind and/OR made with actual feminist politics," Trouble told the site. "Other than good old gender equality, often included in feminist porn are intersectional activism like racial justice, size positivity, sex with disabilities, and trans awareness. It goes to show how much work feminists have on their plate when the first argument against feminist porn is, 'Where's the MEN?”
The Aussies also spoke with male feminist Carlos Batts Fly, who said, "We are bringing the ability to provide porn including different sexual orientations and representations of women of colour, women of different body types. That's never been done before.”
There may be more reaction to Page’s comments on feminist porn in the days to come, unless of course the story of the video game that ripped off her likeness pushes the porn story into oblivion.
Photo: Ellen Page, left, and Courtney Trouble, image by max+gna.
