YNOT – Award-winning adult film director and sex educator Tristan Taormino will speak and show clips from her movies at Princeton University on Thursday.The visit, Taormino’s second this academic year to be sponsored by the undergraduate student group Let’s Talk Sex, will focus on one of the most popular lectures she delivers on the campus circuit: “My Life as a Feminist Pornographer.” In November, she presented a program about non-monogamous relationships. LeTS exists to promote sex-positive dialogue on campus.
Taormino’s presentation is expected to address questions such as “Is feminist pornography a paradox? Or can there be such a thing as sex-positive, meaningful porn?” She plans to discuss why she chose to create porn, the challenges and breakthroughs she has seen within the adult industry with regard to women’s pleasure, and her personal goals for working within the industry.
The invitation to speak generated controversy and resulted in numerous op-ed pieces and letters to the editor in the campus newspaper, the Daily Princetonian. In order to present an opposing viewpoint, Princeton on April 8 hosted anti-porn activist Pamela Paul, who gave a lecture entitled “Why Porn is Anti-Sex.” According to the Daily Princetonian, The Anscombe Society is protesting Taormino’s lecture and has circulated a petition “acknowledg[ing] the importance of the discussion but object[ing] to ‘gratuitous’” film clips the society claims would “damage the conversation by turning away those who would have come if not for the inclusion of actual pornography footage.”
“Pornography is definitely a hot-button topic in our society,” Taormino said. “I look forward to sharing my personal philosophy and experience with the audience about making ethical, feminist porn. I’m glad the organizers of LeTS have not backed down or been bullied by the protesters. This is a valid subject to discuss on a college campus.
“The clips I show are not about gratuitous shock value,” she added. “They are to illustrate some of my work. The students can make up their own minds about what they see. Plus, people are free to attend the lecture and leave before I show the film clip. Everyone should do what they feel comfortable doing.”
Taormino directs two series for Vivid Entertainment: a reality series called Chemistry and a popular sex-education series under the Vivid-Ed imprint. A best-selling author, columnist and editor, Taormino recently received two among the 5th Annual Feminist Porn Awards in Toronto. Her Vivid-Ed movie The Expert Guide to Anal Pleasure for Men won for Hottest Sex Education Film. In addition, she was honored for her decade in the adult film industry with the prestigious Trailblazer Award for Lifetime Achievement in Feminist Porn.
Her presentation at Princeton will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the McCosh 10 Lecture Hall on the Princeton campus.
