LONDON — The new issue of influential U.K.-based culture and trends magazine i-D has highlighted nonbinary performers and creators as “the future of porn.”
“This is a new kind of porn,” declared writer Abby Moss after describing a “surreal” BDSM scene. “One that questions outdated gender binaries and offers not just representation, but celebration, of queer, trans and nonbinary bodies; of real pleasure and true identity.”
i-D spoke to Brooklyn-based Mahx Capacity, described as “a self-proclaimed ‘fat queer trans/nonbinary pervert’” and the creative director of Aorta films; Germany-based Lustery founder and nonbinary content champion Paulita Pappel; and Bay Area-based queer porn legend Jiz Lee.
“It’s lusty, opulent, glorious fuckery,” Mahx told Bass about Aorta's content. “Experimentation is central. Play, explore, innovate. We swing from super-campy to intense BDSM. Creating a new tone or lens is central because it mirrors the fluidity central in queer identity.”
Pappel added that “distributors are becoming more open, too, particularly when it comes to male bisexuality. I think there’s a greater understanding of the variety and complexity of human sexuality, and a slow breaking down of taboos.”
“Consumers hold a lot of power to shape what porn looks like, from the bodies on the screen to the stories that are told,” Lee stressed. “The mainstream porn market is that of free — primarily stolen —content on tube sites shaped by algorithms. Other large markets include custom, bespoke content consumers and paid subscribers. It's the latter that are interested in queer and gender-diverse representation — they're willing to pay content creators, crave content that is more representative and see the people who make it as artists whose work has value.”
To read “The Future of Porn Is Non-Binary,” visit i-D magazine.