PARIS - She's the good-looking brunette who seduces Gry Bay in All About Anna, the X-rated Scandinavian arthouse feature just released in North America by Wicked Pictures. But Ovidie is more than just another pretty French tart. For one, she's a feminist.
Ovidie clarified that label and told AVN.com, "I say I'm a feminist in the sense that our body is our property and we are free to have it at our disposal. We have the right to be a whore or a nun, a lover, a hooker, or a respected mother. Mainstream feminists are often pro-abolition of prostitution and sex-working. I'm a pro-sex feminist, it means I'm not against sex-work. We should instead help sex-workers, protect them from pimps, violence and rapes. Porn and prostitution will never disappear. So, we should produce women- friendly porn instead of trying to forbid it."
Okay, then. Clear on that? Ovidie's educational background might shed some light on how she arrived at her current sexual viewpoint. She said, "I graduated in philosophy, and I also studied psychology and especially psychology of pregnancy and the newborn."
How did an educated women come to enter porn? Ovidie explained it simply: "I decided to enter the porn business because I was curious. At the beginning it was a kind of investigation. Then I started to enjoy it and I met interesting people. That's why I kept on working in this industry. And, by the way, I was the only female porn director in France--and I mean "real" director, able to shoot it and edit it by myself--it was important to keep a feminine touch in the French porn business."
Besides her onscreen work, Ovidie has made something of a name for herself as an author. Her Porno Manifesto was her first work and was written as a response to what she saw as misinformation about the adult industry in France. She explained, "Porno Manifesto was my first book; I wrote it in 2001 because I was fed up of all the lies journalists write about the porn business. You know, in France, porn hasn't a good reputation. There has been an important polemic about porn and teenage sexuality. Many judges declared that porn was the first influence in gang rape trials. And Segolene Royale, who almost won the presidential election, said that she would going to forbid porn if she were president."
Despite the political-sounding rhetoric, Ovidie claims she's not political at all. "I'm apolitical," she said. "I'm only a pleasure activist."
So how did she come to be involved in All About Anna? Ovidie had a quick answer. "I was interested by Zentropa's porn projects since the beginning," she said. "I was quite bored by the usual porn in which I was acting. It was an amazing experience. Copenhagen is a wonderful city and I would love to work there again."
Despite her decidedly feminist slant, Ovidie is not anti-men. She commented, "Pro-sex feminism is not anti-men. I can't stand feminists who want to castrate men." Good to know.
At present, Ovidie is working on her publishing career. She explained, "My seventh book will be out in April. I'm working as a sex-educator for a book editor and I published texts about G-spot, female ejaculation, sexuality of pregnancy, sextoys, and such. I'm still a porn director and I'm working on a sex-education DVD and also feature films."
All in all, she's a very busy girl.
