Hey all. The newest chapter of Saying Stay is almost ready. I'll warn you ahead of time, it's pretty fricking gay. But that's not what I'm here to talk about today. Instead it's time for me to mumble something about creativity and capitalism and then drop the mic.
In our weird bubble of free online erotica we're fortunate in some ways. There's no money to be had and not much respect. We're doing this purely out of love. I guess some people might start writing incest fiction for the hits or whatever, but I doubt they would last long. In some ways it's an almost idyllicly non-commercial. Of course, it turns out that most people's passion project is crude misogynistic power fantasies, but it still provides a great forum for erotic expression.
This is not true for everyone. Forms of art which require equipment and funding -- filmmaking, for one -- are much more subject to the pressures of the marketplace. And for those who don't have the free time, even written erotica can be difficult to produce. I know I've sometimes felt the desire to "sell out" and start churning out monster-sex stories for Amazon. The existing adult industry, oriented as it is to a particularly vicious form of male heterosexual desire and objectification, leaves little room for passion projects, at least not of any merit. There's not much art in Gaping Teens 19.
The first website I want to share with you is called Porn For Everyone, which is exactly what it sounds like. It's a just-launched website that provides legal free queer porn. Not that there's anything wrong with piracy, but unfortunately the very small amount of good video porn is generally hard to find via criminal channels. I'd certainly love to see some of the videos on this site -- earnest, sex-positive, and hugely erotic -- make it onto the tube sites instead of yet another clip of some woman gagging while being insulted. Porn For Everyone is just in its beginning stages, but hopefully it will be a success. Here's the link: http://www.pornforeveryone.net/pfe/home/
The other is a site called Offbeatr, which is basically attempting to be the Kickstarter of porn. While the crowd-funding model is less than ideal, it's a welcome alternative to the sex industry. There's a lot of good stuff on here -- there's a new Erika Lust movie, for gods' sake -- as well as some kind of grody stuff. I trust you, my faithful reader, to be able to tell the difference. Right now it looks like pretty much only furry stuff has been successful -- but then, the furries have always been better at using the Internet. But once again, with a little support it could be a success. It doesn't cost anything to vote for a project, so you have no excuse. Here's the link - http://offbeatr.com.
This is all about gaining control of our own sexuality again, and being able to produce smut independently and outside of the strictures of mainstream sexuality. As writers, we have this power, although few choose to use it. It's up to us to make sure other forms of media do as well. (And even if you're just into written stuff, there's a bit of it on both these sites). Of course, under a capitalist system art is never truly free and is always a bit of a compromise, but sites like the one above suggest a way in which our porn can be compromised a little less. So go out there and seize the means of reproduction.