TORONTO—Sexual wellness authority, sex educator and Wicked Pictures contract performer/director Jessica Drake will be a featured speaker at The Feminist Porn Conference, held April 5-6 at the University of Toronto. Drake joins the Saturday, April 5 panel, “Evaluating the Outcome: How Do We Know When Porn was Produced with Ethical Feminist Principles?”
The popular speaker will share her experience in the adult industry both as a performer and a producer/director, and how the concept of ethics and feminist tropes play within her work. Drake’s fellow panelists include performers Christopher Daniel Zeischegg (aka Danny Wylde) and Dylan Ryan, plus producer/directors Shine Louise Houston and Tristan Taormino. The panel moderator is Good For Her founder and Feminist Porn Awards creator Carlyle Jansen.
“One major concern about the porn industry is the working conditions of the performers: do they have choices within and outside of the industry?” asks the FPCon site in its description of the panel discussion. “Are they treated with respect on set? Do they suffer consequences on the job or for future jobs if they say no to activities outside their boundaries? What real choices are they given with respect to condom and other safer sex product use? The Feminist Porn Awards strive to include films where the producers employ feminist, ethical labour practices on set. How can we really know?”
“How can we evaluate working conditions on set without actually being there?” continues the panel description. “How do performers assess what is a safe and healthy working environment for themselves ahead of time? How do producers empower their performers? How do consumers know what kinds of business practices they are supporting with their dollars? This discussion will engage performers, producers, academics and those concerned about labour practices to offer ideas on how to measure ethical and fair working conditions on set.”
Held at Bahen Center for Information Tech at the University of Toronto, the panel discussion will take place from 3:45pm–5:15pm. For more information on The Feminist Porn Conference, visit fpcon.org. Additional information can be found on the conference’s Twitter page.
“I'm honored to be invited to speak alongside my industry colleagues at The Feminist Porn Conference,” says Drake. “I come into this wearing several hats –as a director, writer, and performer contracted to a company which has been branded for over twenty years as a ‘mainstream’ heterosexual company, though Wicked Pictures has been condom-only for over fourteen years. I will be attempting to challenge the notions of ‘mainstream’ adult entertainment companies and their place within the feminist porn tableau.”
She continues, “I feel strongly about ethical and feminist porn production; I personally direct a line of modern sex education instructional DVDs, and produce those titles in a very specific way, which aligns with the mantras and ethics of feminist production. I look forward to discussing this and all aspects of porn production with my fellow panelists as well as the audience, at what is sure to be a very lively discourse.”
For more information about Jessica Drake’s Guide to Wicked Sex titles, appearances and sex education seminar series, visit guidetowickedsex.com.
