LOS ANGELES—The advent of independent porn is the focus of Indie Porn: Revolution, Regulation, and Resistance, an upcoming book written by Zahra Stardust, an Australia-based performer and postdoctoral researcher.
In the book, to be published by Duke University Press in October, Stardust examines the motivations and work of independent porn producers as they navigate criminal laws, risk-averse platforms, discriminatory algorithms, and rampant piracy. Stardust offers intimate insights into this socio-political movement as she presents politicians who watch porn in parliament, protesters leading face-sitting demonstrations, sex workers making COVID-safe pornography, and artists reverse-engineering porn detection software.
Stardust, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Digital Media Research Centre at Australia’s Queensland University of Technology, has worked in policy, advocacy, legal, and research capacities with community organizations, NGOs, and UN bodies on human rights in Australia and internationally.
The book has earned praise from media members, including Lynn Comella, author of Vibrator Nation. She wrote, “There is no one better positioned to tell the story of the indie porn revolution than porn practitioner and scholar Zahra Stardust. From porn sets to festivals, to the online world of search engine optimization and algorithms, Stardust draws on an impressive archive of ethnographic and interview data to illuminate a rapidly changing industry shaped by transnational linkages, regulatory frameworks, political possibilities, and reactionary politics. Deeply researched, beautifully written, and impressive in scope, Indie Porn will have an immediate and lasting impact.”
The 328-page book includes 39 illustrations and includes chapters such as “Guerrilla Porn: Motivations and Interventions,” “Imagining Alternatives: Production Values and Ethics,” “Regulatory Fantasies - What Happened to Our Squirt?” and “Manufacturing Authenticity: Expression, Identity, and Labor,” among others.
