A New Way To Watch Porn for Women Who Have Suffered Sexual Assault

Anyone who’s ever been on the internet in search of porn can attest to the fact that while there is a lot of material out there, and not all of it is women-friendly. That’s us being conservative. Yet, much like other expressions of sexuality and culture, porn too seems to have finally caught up with the feminist movement and created a space where it too showcases women as sexual collaborators instead of exclusively as sexual conquests. Leading the forefront is Pavan Amara of My Body Back project, which launched an initiative called “The Clit List”. The Clit List is an online database for feminist porn, aimed at women who want to reclaim their bodies after sexual assault.

Porn found on traditional websites often contain misogynistic and violent material that can often be triggering to people who have been sexually assaulted. Speaking to Vice, Amara stated, “These women wanted to be able to explore their sexuality in a safe way,” says Amara. “But what ended up happening is that they’d try and do that with porn and they’d just come across misogynistic, violent, horrible stuff that replicated what had happened to them, or showed rape as though it were normal. So we created a list of porn that women can safely watch–with no violence, that won’t make them feel degraded.”

In addition, The Clit List is also paid for and free to use. It includes porn made by feminist directors like Erika Lust. It also includes material found on traditional forms of porn and provides categories such as photography, art, literature, advice and tutorials. Each video on the Clit List is also screened to check for potential triggers. Ella Eora, The Clit List manager, spends time watching hours of pornography and writing detailed events of what happens in the video. In addition, Ella explains what’s in the film, its themes, the phrases used by actors, and the sex acts it contains. “These women wanted to be able to explore their sexuality in a safe way,” added Amara, “But what ended up happening is that they’d try and do that with porn and they’d just come across misogynistic, violent, horrible stuff that replicated what had happened to them, or showed rape as though it were normal. So we created a list of porn that women can safely watch – with no violence, that won’t make them feel degraded.”