Female-oriented Pornography Is Not a Solution–Toward a Feminist Theory of Coercive Dependence
This article was originally my media analysis essay for Dr. Katherine Philps’ GWS444 class in Fall 2025.
In the male-dominated industry, having a company led by a feminist who dedicated herself to producing porn for women from women’s perspectives sounds liberating. That’s how Sssh.com portrayed itself (Rowntree 2017, Wissot 2016). However, in this article, by closely reading two articles they wrote, “About Sssh.com” and “What Is Consent As Related to Ethical Porn?” I show the reason why female-oriented porn is not a way of women’s liberation. In contrast, I argue that if we overestimate the self-congratulatory liberal discourses without analysis of unequal power relationships, we will eventually reproduce the logics of patriarchy and neoliberalism.
I chose Sssh.com as my analytical target not only because it is one of the pioneers of producing porn for women, which was established in 1999. Instead of analyzing the porn they made, I chose to focus on another type of their production: articles they use to describe and justify themselves, since porn-for-women websites, followed by Sssh.com, are influenced by its ideal, not their cinematic aesthetics. I treated these articles as the discourses they made to engage in the debate of pornography. Based on its websites and news around it, I categorized three main characteristics of Sssh.com’s sexual narratives: language of choice, language of real sex, and the language of women’s leadership.
First, when reading their influential article “What is Ethical Porn?” it’s easy to find sentences that emphasize different kinds of choices. From the selection of their co-star (such as “they are always given the autonomy to choose their co-stars and work with only people they actually enjoy and feel comfortable with.”) to the choice of what and how to perform (such as “we also value our performers' input concerning their characters' creative direction.”), Sssh.com (n.d.) treated the granting of choices as one of its ethical practices. In addition, it said, “Just as with sex in real life, we recognize that performers on set can withdraw their consent at any time.” However, the main problem with this kind of language of choice is that even in real life, not everyone has the option to withdraw their consent and opt out of sex, regardless of whom to have sex with. Borrowing the critiques of pro-choice discourses from scholars of reproductive justice, the language of choice represents not only the neo-liberal market logic (Roberts 2015) but also the interests of middle-class and wealthy white women, pointed out by SisterSong (n.d.). Standing on feminist theories of reproductive justice, I argue that we should shift our attention from choices, like personal consent, to examining how social conditions impact personal decisions. In a highly stratified labor market, “withdrawing consent at any time” is not symmetrical power; contracts, scheduling, and pay structures constrain exit in ways a choice-based frame can’t capture.
The language of real sex and the language of women’s leadership could be found in the following passage from their article: “Historically, adult films have been shot through a ‘male gaze,’ often diminishing the experiences and desires of women. As the number of female filmmakers continues to grow in both adult film and mainstream Hollywood, you may encounter the terms ‘female gaze’ or ‘shot through a female lens.’ …Through the female gaze, women are redefining how adult films are conceptualized, produced, and received, ensuring a richer, more authentic, and ethically sound cinematic experience.” (Sssh.com n.d.) The last sentence highlights the authenticity of the sex they capture. Putting it more directly, when describing their goal as producers, Sssh.com (n.d.) stated it is to “capture genuine chemistry and mutual pleasure.” To achieve that goal, they often work with real-life couples. In addition, in the interviews, Angie Rowntree, the founder of Sssh.com, usually branded their films as more authentic, closer to what women want (Lynsey G. 2016), and without fakery. The blind spot of the language of real sex is that it implies there’s a kind of sex that is driven by visceral desires, pleasure, and fantasy that is more real than other kinds of sex, as if a fake orgasm is not real. This discourse shows a similar logic to what MacKinnon was criticizing, which preserves the ‘sex is good’ norm by simply distinguishing forced sex as ‘not sex.’ (MacKinnon 1989:135) In contrast to the “unethical” porn, Sssh.com portrayed the sex acts they capture as more “real” because performers were able to have sex with stars they want in the way they desired. The language of real sex implies that if you’re having the sex you want, it could generate your genuine pleasure, otherwise it's a fake one, not sex. Like the critiques of the desire theory of Deleuze and Guattari by Spivak (1988: 67-68), there’s no desire without mediation by others. Based on MacKinnon’s theory of sexuality, the desires and sexuality of women were produced in the way men want. Hence, in no way is there “natural” pleasure and sex driven by some visceral mechanism. In contrast, all sexes and pleasures are social and socially mediated by men’s domination, men’s desires, and, of course, the male gaze.
Finally, as we could see from the passage above, Sssh.com treated women-led films and companies as its niche in this male-dominated industry. I acknowledge the preciousness of women’s leadership in the porn industry, but I’m concerned with the risk of whitewashing the potential exploitative relationship between porn performers and the company owner. While Sssh.com stated that they pay fairly for the performers and the crew, from a Marxist feminist perspective, I highly doubt that fair pay for different workers, rather than reexamining the distribution of surplus value between the company owner and the worker, is the solution to the tension led by labor exploitation. Similarity of gender is not a valid excuse to transform exploitation into sisterhood or the fantasy of a queendom.
By a close analysis of an ideal porn company, I insist that female-oriented pornography and porn companies led by women, even self-claimed feminists, are not a way toward gender liberation. Before we end the reproduction of neoliberal market logic and male-dominated desire, pleasure, and sexuality, we could never achieve liberation. Before our liberation, all senses of autonomy and agency were just an illusion that would distract us from our gender revolution.
To avoid the illusion of liberation, we must reintroduce the analysis of power and social conditions into our discussion. We must frankly admit that women are limited, since current social arrangements of power and resources are not based on their interests and experiences. Inspired by feminist theory on disability, I propose a framework for our analysis that is grounded in the concept of coercive dependence. As Wendell (1989:119) suggests, we have to change social values to recognize the value of depending on others and being depended upon. The myth of personal independence and responsibility represented the neoliberalism and heroism of Western medical development. Hence, dependence is not a problem, but rather something we need to recognize. The problem is that the dependent relationship we currently have is not reciprocal since it’s coercive.
The coercive dependence implies women, especially those who are intersectionally discriminated against, are coerced into social situations that they have no choice but dependence on the privileged group, whose experiences, interests, and beliefs are defaulted, thus they could dominate this society. Following Hurtado (1989), I argue that proximity to the center of white male privilege determines the level of coercive dependence: the farther they are from the center of privilege, the more they are forced to depend on those who are closer to the center. Since coercion is a social process resulting from power inequality, the theory of coercive dependence enables us to focus on the social process of coercion while recognizing the value of dependence. Once we think of sexuality in the language of social arrangements of power and resources, once we cherish the dependence, we’re on the way toward collective liberation.
Reference
Hurtado, Aida. 1989. “Relating to Privilege: Seduction and Rejection in the Subordination of White Women and Women of Color.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. 14(4): 833-855.
Lynsey G. 2016. “What Women Really Want In Their Porn?” Refinery29, March 25, 2016. Retrieved November 2025. (https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2016/03/106840/popular-porn-for-women).
MacKinnon, Catherine A. 1989. Toward a Feminist Theory of the State. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Roberts, Dorothy. 2015. “Reproductive Justice, Not Just Rights.” Dissent Magazine, Fall 2015. Retrieved November 2025 (https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/reproductive-justice-not-just-rights/).
Rowntree, Angie. 2017. “‘Turned On’ to the fact that porn doesn’t need to be reclaimed as a feminist space. It already is one.” HuffPost, February 3, 2017. Retrieved November 2025 (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/turned-on-to-the-fact-that-porn-doesnt-need-to-be_b_58950a20e4b02bbb1816ba4d).
SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective. n.d. “About Reproductive Justice.” Atlanta, GA: SisterSong. Retrieved November 2025. (https://www.sistersong.net/about-x2).
Spivak, Gayatri. 1993/1988. “Can the Subaltern Speak?” in Patrick Williams and Laura Chrisman (eds.) Colonial Discourse and Post-colonial Theory: A Reader. London and New York: Routledge. Pp. 66-111.
Sssh.com. n.d. “About Sssh.com” Retrieved November 2025. (https://sssh.com/press-inquiries-trailers.php).
Sssh.com. n.d. “What Is Consent As Related to Ethical Porn?” Retrieved November 2025. (https://sssh.com/ethical-porn.php).
Wendell, Susan. 1989. “Toward a Feminist Theory of Disability.” Hypatia 4(2): 104-124.
Wissot, Lauren. 2016. “The rise of female-driven porn: Pioneer Angie Rowntree on Sssh.com” Global Comment, August 10, 2016. Retrieved November 2025 (https://globalcomment.com/the-rise-of-female-driven-porn-pioneer-angie-rowntree-on-sssh-com/).
