Stoya: Adult actress and producer on why she doesn’t want to be labelled a feminist pornographer

'I see nothing inherently feminist about the pornography I produce'

Stoya (Getty Images)

Whether feminism and pornography can ever truly be bedfellows is a thorny, contentious issue when it comes to mainstream porn.

Adult filmmakers such as Erika Lust are leading the feminist wave of alternative adult content by producing pornography centred on female pleasure and subverting the male gaze.

As an adult actress, Stoya has long been considered a feminist icon of alt porn. Physically, she defies the conventions of blonde, big breasted, surgically enhanced and hairless women. In her essays, she celebrates sex-positivity, explores industry issues such as performer's rights and the ethics of porn, and her posts on social media reclaim 'slut' and other derogatory words inherent within porn.

Along with a burgeoning career as a performer and writer, Stoya has also launched her own adult film enterprise, TrenchcoatX, with fellow performer Kayden Kross. Unlike the free porn dominating the internet, TrenchcoatX viewers are asked to pay a fee to access episodic adult videos and genres are often worded with less demeaning terms than those thrown around on major porn sites.

But in an interview with The Cut, Stoya distanced herself from the feminist label when it came to her pornography, saying feminism is not her “focus”.

“I think part of my problem is, don’t put me in the pink corner,” she explained. “I am a deeply conflicted feminist person who gets regularly called a feminist pornographer when I see nothing inherently feminist about the pornography I produce.”

Stoya described her conflicted relationship with feminism in an article for Vice in 2013, summarising her position as split between her personal and professional self. In an unequivocal essay, Stoya insisted there was no room to pretend being a performer in mainstream porn was an empowering or liberating act for a woman. Instead, she argued mainstream porn is simply a response to carnal demand.

“Nothing about the pornographic material I perform in does anything to intentionally further feminism,” she wrote. “It is bluntly superficial entertainment that caters to one of the most basic human desires. Pornography exists and is not going to go away anytime in the near future. I see it as neither inherently empowering nor disempowering. Showing up on set and doing my job is not an act of feminism.

“My politics and I are feminist…but my job is not.”

In 2015, she took a step back from her business after alleging her former boyfriend Deen had raped her.

Deen has strenuously denied all of the allegations against him and has never been charged with any crime.

After returning to TrenchcoatX in April, Stoya said her reason for staying within the industry is to improve the standard of content produced within mainstream porn to prevent “garbage” from being the only stand out feature.

“I know you don’t fix something by walking away from it,” she said.