Stoya: 'I thought female sexuality was an OK thing?'

The porn star says her book, Philosophy, Pussycats and Porn, is an attempt to find a ‘serious language’ for sex

Dubbed “the pop star of porn” by Village Voice, Stoya is an award-winning performer in adult films, a director, a podcast host and, among other credits I don’t have space to list, an all-round entrepreneur. She’s both a vocal defender of the porn industry and one of its most nuanced commentators. “When I first considered performing in a hardcore pornographic video, I also thought about what sort of career doors would close once I’d had sex in front of a camera,” she mused recently in the New York Times. “Being a schoolteacher came to mind, but that was fine, since I didn’t want the responsibility of shaping young minds. And yet thanks to this country’s non-functional sex education system and the ubiquitous access to porn by anyone with an internet connection, I have that responsibility anyway.”

So her first collection of essays and articles is Philosophy, Pussycats and Porn, an eclectic mix of biographical vignettes and reflections that covers subjects from religious iconography to technology, but often circles back to sexuality, patriarchy and identity. “When you spend 12 years with your entire job being sexuality,” she tells me, down the phone from New York, “you start to find all sorts of odd little angles that people aren’t really talking about.”

Continue reading...

from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2N3ovdj