TORONTO — Building on a year of unprecedented media attention for the feminist porn movement, registration opens today for The 2014 Feminist Porn Conference, which will be held April 5 and 6 at the University of Toronto.
The Feminist Porn Conference brings together academics, students, cultural critics, sex workers, activists, fans, performers, directors and producers to explore the intersections between feminism and pornography, as well as feminist porn as a genre, industry and movement.
It includes sessions devoted to both academic and non-academic presentations, film screenings, two keynote talks and networking time. New this year, there will be a "business track" featuring workshops on production and filmmaking, legal issues, marketing and branding, social media and web-based technologies.
Conference organizers have simultaneously announced that the opening and closing keynote speakers will be professor Lisa Duggan and BBW filmmaker/performer Courtney Trouble, respectively.
Lisa Duggan, professor of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University, will give the opening keynote on April 5. Duggan is a historian, journalist and activist who has published widely on feminist and queer sexual politics.
“Lisa Duggan is one of the most powerful voices for radical sexual politics of our time.” said Mireille Miller-Young, professor of Feminist Studies at UC Santa Barbara. “A scholar, journalist, educator and activist, Duggan is a leading authority on the feminist sex wars and queer politics. Her keynote will provide both the historical context and the call to arms we need as activists, academics and artists working on the front lines of the new sex wars.”
Fresh from the red carpets of the XBIZ Awards, where she received a record-breaking eight nominations, Trouble has made waves as a porn star, photographer and founder of TROUBLEfilms, IndiePornRevolution.com and QueerPorn.TV.
According to the event coordinators, the conference marks the largest gathering of feminist pornographers in the world.
