This interview appeared in SHE Magazine, which has a sexual health focus.

1. What, in your view, are some of the things that make porn “female-friendly”? Is female-friendly porn more plot-driven?

The idea that female-friendly porn is more plot-driven is an outdated cliché. I think what matters most is the focus on the woman’s pleasure, or mutual pleasure between performers, as opposed to the total focus on the man’s pleasure, male perspectives, and the aesthetics favored by men you often see in “mainstream” porn. I know several women who direct porn which is every bit as plot-free as their male counterparts, so the idea that the difference is just about plot vs. no plot is an oversimplification.

Plot, character development, and the storyline happen to be very important in my movies, but that’s because they’re important to me and my fan base. It’s not a strategic or marketing-related thing I’m doing to appeal to a female audience in general.

2. Who are popular stars in your productions and in female-friendly porn? Are they the same performers that appear in traditional porn? How much crossover is there?

Since we’re located on the East Coast, we don’t work with well-known performers who are part of the L.A. scene very much. I can’t really speak for how other directors of female-friendly porn handle their casting, but I try to hire primarily real-life couples, many of whom have never performed in porn before. In some cases, making porn is a fantasy these couples haven’t fulfilled yet, so doing it for the first time leads to a kind of dynamism, excitement, and spontaneity which might be different from the experience of working with true porn veterans.

We have on occasion worked with better-known mainstream porn performers, primarily when we have members of the media visiting the set.

3. How long has the category “female-friendly porn” existed? When would you say it was established? In what ways has it evolved?

For me, the genre really started with Candida Royalle, who was a real pioneer. Surprisingly (and sadly), by the time I started making movies, Candida’s work was still some of the only adult content out there made with female viewers in mind. That fact was a big part of why I forged ahead with making movies, actually. I looked around the market and just didn’t see much which I thought would appeal to women and believed there was an opportunity there. I guess I was right -- here we are almost 20 years later and Sssh.com is the longest running site of its kind.

That said, I also think the labels “female-friendly” and “feminist porn” are kind of another way of pigeonholing women consumers. The truth is a lot of women like the conventional hardcore stuff you can find easily. What the media and porn-marketing people call “female-friendly” may or may not appeal to more women anymore or less than “mainstream” porn does.

At the end of the day, women’s taste in porn is just as diverse and varied as men’s – but can you imagine anyone referring to “male-friendly” porn or “porn for men”? That’s not going to happen, which I think says more about people’s attitudes toward porn and who “should” (or shouldn’t) be enjoying it than it does about the nature of the porn itself.