Adult Film Star Stoya Says Adult Industry Is More Empowering To Women Than Hollywood

Stoya doesn’t exactly work in an industry known for empowering women, but the adult film star says her film sector actually has a better track record than Hollywood when it comes to putting women in leading roles — and she’s doing her best to make the atmosphere even more welcoming for women.

In an interview this week with HuffPost Live, Stoya said that the adult film industry actually gives women a better chance at taking the spotlight than the mainstream movie industry.

“It’s actually less of a rarity to see the lead female character be the most interesting thing in a production in porn than it is to see in Hollywood and independent [film] and television. That’s one of the things where typical porn actually is pretty feminist. The women are the stars. So if you’re going to focus a movie around your star and they’re female, it sort of inherently does tend to drag along a little more complexity.”

Stoya has done a lot of work advocating for women in the adult film industry and gained a reputation as something of a “feminist porn star,” though a label she isn’t entirely comfortable with.

“I’m really wary of ever allowing myself to be framed as feminist or ethical because the second you say that, you’re waving a big red flag that says, Everybody on Tumblr tear me apart!,” she told Vice.

Stoya is trying to make the industry more open to women, and to new ideas. She’s partnered with fellow adult film star Kayden Kross to start the site TRENCHCOATx, an adult site that allows users to tailor their experience with a pay-per-scene model.

Stoya said she hopes to reach a much wider audience as well, as she told Vice.

“I don’t believe in ‘porn for women’ or ‘porn for men,’ and we’re operating more broadly than the successful but very niche categories of, say, ‘people who are really into POV with lots of eye contact into the camera,’ or ‘people who love feet a lot, specifically feet that probably have a strong smell as evidenced by the fresh sweat stains on the socks they are encased in.’ So we’ll be finding our audience and figuring out who they are as we go.”

She may also have a different approach to the adult film industry than most. When asked if she wanted to grab the industry by the “jewels,” Stoya answered, “I want part of its heart.”

[Image via Filmmaker Magazine]