Seeing Is Believing: Cognitive Neuroscience In A Queer Porn Renaissance

I know a gal who loves porn. She works at San Francisco's sex toy retailer Good Vibrations and her passion is erotic cinema. On any given day you'll find her enthusiastically making recommendations for everything from the adult industry's most acclaimed flicks to the most niche of pervy moving pictures. When met with skeptical exclamations that porn is either evil--or boring--she'll simply protest: "Shush. You just haven't found one you like!"

Context is everything, and pornography is no exception. Events like Toronto's Feminist Porn Awards add further testament that the ownership and agency of sexual pleasure is no longer reserved to the good ole boys' club. Even porn has the potential to be a medium for sexual revolution. And as a financially profitable industry – raking in a wildly speculated $13 billion annual estimate (more than people pay on movie tickets, art shows, and all the performing arts combined) – why shouldn't porn be a platform for gender and sexual equality?

The recent boom of projects from queer porn companies such as Pink & White Productions (CrashPadSeries.com), QueerPorn.TV, Dolores Park Studios, Nenna Presents, and two dozen more small indie companies owned-and-operated by people who identify within the queer community as dykes, genderqueers, transfolk and more – has created a community with its own market. Fans of queer porn are quick converts when they discover videos portraying sex with people to whom they can actually relate. The experience is ultimately sublime. It's validating, it's exciting, and it's highly erotic.

Porn is more than voyeurism; it's vicarious SEX!  When we see pornographic images, our brain uses the same mirror neurons that scientists describe in cognitive neurology as those which give us the ability to infer each other's mental states (ie: desires and beliefs). Called ‘Simulation Theory', it is the idea of empathizing (subconsciously) with the person we're watching.

The concept is not so new; in many ways, mirror neurons are a neurological explanation for many of the performing arts. For example, directors understand how to create a vicarious reality. Audiences participate in a ‘willing suspension of disbelief', a theory popular since its inception around 17th century literature which describes a provisionally suspension of judgment which leads to the engagement of the viewer to the work (otherwise the viewer would possibly question the validity of the narrator) and thus believable positioning around behaviors, ideas, and actions.

If you've ever felt your leg twitch while watching a dance performance, you've experienced a sympathetic motor response in kinetic intelligence. This twitch is not far off from the often synchronically rhythmic clinching of buttock muscles experienced when watching sex. Whether it is theater, dance, sports, or movies, Stimulation Theory blurs the distinction between the audience and performers.

To propose a connection between audience and actor is profound when it comes to the creation of queer identity around sexuality. This means queer/feminist porn has the power to validate the sexual identities of queer viewers as much as it does the potential to educate the curious. Queer/Feminist porn normalizes sexual and gender identities and presenting a more accurate depiction of behavior and desire to those who have never seen it. For a non-queer audience to watch and become engaged with queer porn performers means a growth in understanding of others and an intimate relation to themselves. When the fear of another's identity is driven by confusion and insecurity about the unknown, the very act of watching builds familiarity. This sexual education has the potential to abolish the stereotypes and misconceptions which form the arguments of both hatred and apathy.

Need an example of porn doing good? There's plenty. For example, Trannywood Picture's films portray sex between all kinds of men, including transmen and cisgender men. The term "cisgender" means that one's own gender identity matches the gender they were assigned at birth. Some describe it in simplified terms as "the opposite of transgender". By representing a variety of queer men, the company presents pairings of male sex not commonly seen in popular gay porn. This vision is empowering to couples in such partnerships, or individuals interested in queer male sex. Trannywood educates those new to the idea of having sex with a transman by presenting both a visual video documentation, as well as informational pamphlet with guides on safer sex, packing tips, and how to create your own strap-on harness. With videos of sexual encounters demonstrating safer sex practices, the company shows cultural responsibility and visibility. Empowerment through porn? Fuck yes.

Those who can identify through porn with the performers as people whom they can relate to via body size, race, ability, gender, sexuality, orientation, sex behaviors, desires, and responses seeing this shared experience on screen validates their identities in an incredibly intimate way. Experimentation with queer sexual media and self-creationism of our individual sexual images is increasingly accessible with the rapid availability of affordable consumer-level camera and web applications. Porn can elevate sexual rights and pleasure, and it's an art form worthy of exploration and potent with possibilities. We like what we see.

[Photo credit: Jiz Lee & Syd Blakovich on BlueBlood.com]

[This post is a part of Fleshbot's Jiz Lee Week. Versions of this post first appeared in Art XX Magazine Column June 2009 (Now called Aorta Magazine).]