Ethical Porn. Ethical Filmmaking.
5 Things You Might Not Know
Ethical porn has become quite the marketing buzz-word lately, and as with any trendy label, it’s important to clarify what exactly it means. We frequently get questions asking us things like: “What happens in an ethical porn movie?” or “how is the sex different?” – which is why we want you to know upfront that ethical porn is not a singular style or genre of porn. Rather, ethical porn is a broad term used to describe a style of doing business that commences before the cameras are ever rolling. Ethical porn thus encompasses many better business practices, but always includes at a minimum: fair wages for performers and crew, respectful treatment of performers (which means always respecting boundaries and stopping if they need to), as well as a safe, private set with access to food, water, and breaks as needed. Further, ethical porn studios tend to be conscious about marketing: they avoid proliferating harmful tropes and stereotypes about performers and are always sex-positive and inclusive.
But that’s not all! We’re going to spill the tea here about some other ethical porn practices that you might have never heard about–and hopefully, this will help you to make empowered choices when it comes to your adult entertainment.
♦ You pay for it so that the people who bring you pleasure can earn fair wages.
More often than not, you’ll find ethical porn is always behind a paywall–because the people who bring you pleasure deserve to be paid fairly. Ethical studios know firsthand that it costs money to ensure the cast and crew are fairly compensated for their labor, and that the production can operate on schedule and safely.
♦ The performers have creative agency and get to collaborate on set.
At Sssh.com, our original films present the audience with character-driven stories–and so we would be remiss to not be open to collaboration with performers. It’s not just about the sex either: performers have creative agency and input about their characters as we go through the script together in pre-production. This is because our sex scenes actually help to move the story forward, so the more performers can get “into character” and really connect with the story, the better!
♦ The chemistry is real: performers are often real-life couples or content partners who have deliberately chosen to work together because they enjoy and feel comfortable with each other.
Few things are more awkward than watching porn where the people having sex are clearly not interested in each other; without that “spark” sex is about as mechanical and boring as flossing your teeth. Hence why at Sssh.com, we love to bring real-life lovers together on camera, or otherwise allow performers to choose the scene partners they want to work with. We find that this practice also helps to encourage open communication and respect, as performers readily share their “dos and don’t” for each scene before ever stepping foot on set. Moreover, even if “faking it” works in most Hollywood rom-coms, connection and chemistry simply cannot be “faked” during actual live sex.
♦ The sex itself isn’t formulaic or “stereotypical”
With most ethical porn, the sex has a more natural flow to it, with a heavy focus on mutual pleasure, passion, and shared chemistry. And again, with Sssh content, the sex is always going to “fit” the story and move it forward. We are not in a race to get the “money shot” – actually, in some Sssh.com films, you won’t see one at all. You also won’t be seeing some campy trope moment where the couple gets “busted” in a cartoonish way. To each their own, of course–but as an ethical studio, we are more about capturing those nuanced moments of pleasure and togetherness as the sex naturally unfolds.
♦ The pleasure you are seeing in ethically made porn is real, relatable–and “inspirational”
Whether the sex is “vanilla” or more on the kinky spectrum, ethical porn scenes are always created from enthusiastic consent, transparency, chemistry and connection. This means that you’re going to see sex that is both believable and relatable, as it does not involve the usual porn cliques, and emphasizes female pleasure as much as male pleasure. Yes: porn is, at its core, a fictionalized sexual performance that aims to deliver a fantasy; and it’s always important to be sure you separate fantasy from reality and not blindly “imitate” what you see on screen without having a discussion first. However, ethical porn is so fundamentally sex-positive that it definitely can inspire you to own your own pleasure or inspire you and your partner to have a dialogue about what you both want. In other words, ethical porn showcases pleasure in a way that is not just aspirational, but actually attainable. We also understand that many adults consume porn as a means to enhance their sex lives and/or explore existing fantasies; this is why Sssh.com not only offers narrative ethical porn films, but also a curated collection of adult sex ed videos that can help you step up your pleasure.
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Sssh.com and director Angie Rowntree have received the APAC stamp of approval and are also listed with the Ethical Porn Partnership. Rowntree is a founding member and curator of Ethical.porn.
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