Candida Royalle

the interview with Olivia de Court

Olivia : Femme Films was really the first company in the adult entertainment industry to market specifically to women. As a pioneer of the genre, how far has sherotica come since your first film was released in 1984?

CANDIDA: Well, I think that what surprises me the most is that there aren’t more women out there, doing it. It surprises me and it doesn’t surprise me. In terms of how far it has come, I can only look at my own work when I answer that. I know that, for myself, I have certainly turned up the heat in the movies. I put a lot of fantasy and sex-positive information, within a fun, sexy, spicy format.

I think the audience is really growing. I’ve seen two waves of it. When I first started in the 80's, I think the first wave was, like, the late 80's, it really started catching on. And then, I would say in the mid-90's, it started heating up again. I see the market really growing. It's crossing all cultural and age, barriers. I see women of all ages into it. I just did an on-line interview with a young woman's chat group called "Cherry Bombs." These women were in their twenties. On the one hand, they were still a little uncomfortable with watching porn. But on the other hand, when they looked at my work, they kind of wanted something even more.

One complained that it took ten minutes for the first sex to start, which I thought was so funny, because it used to be seen as a plus. Another was saying that she'd like to have it look more like male porn, with really great music. And I think what you’re seeing is that it's young women growing up with less guilt about watching porn. They've watched porn with their boyfriends and they got sort of conditioned to respond to male-oriented porn. So in terms of how far its come, I think what I would say is the audience has really, really moved forward, and that women are maturing and ready to see more and more explicit material.

Olivia : That leads into my next question. When I was reading about your company, one of the quotes that you made, in the text was about the content in your films. You said it didn't have to, ".... Simply exploit our fascination with sex, it could also contribute to our knowledge and awareness of both our own sexuality and our partners."

It seems to me, that this is the primary difference. As a longtime feminist, and, as someone who has always really loved sex, I, when I started seeing your stuff and Annie Sprinkle’s, I was really happy about it. I sense that what the difference is, is that we, as sherotica artists, have a philosophy. Do you think that is a fair statement?

CANDIDA: Yes, we have a philosophy; we have an ideal; we have an agenda. I had an agenda. And when I started Femme, I did start this originally with another woman named Olivia Niemi. You'll see her name in the early credits. We had an agenda. I didn't decide that I wanted to go into porn because it was an easy way to make money or because I liked watching sex. I really went into it because I felt that, I didn’t like what was out there, for the most part, and, I didn't think that it was going to go away.

I thought that there was a real opportunity to explore and to see whether I could create adult material that was sex-positive, and gave people some information, that gave them something back when they watched. My films speak from a woman's sexuality, with a woman's voice. I guess that is the big difference. I had an agenda, a social agenda, and I think that most pornography out there has absolutely no agenda, other than to make money.

Olivia : Yes. And it shows in the film.

CANDIDA: Yes, to make money and to get someone off. And of course I share that agenda too, but there are so many other levels.

Olivia : Yes, and I think that's what makes the whole genre different.

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