Hollywood has issues with women -- period. Reports have shown repeatedly that there are a dismal number of dynamic (or even speaking) roles for leading women in movies, and even when female actresses do make their way to the silver screen, they're paid less than their male counterparts.
So it's not particularly surprising, then, that the porn industry -- yes, the porn industry -- might be a bit more progressive when it comes to women's rights. At least, that's what adult film star Stoya argued on HuffPost Live this week, when she made a compelling case that the porn industry gives women significantly more opportunities in front of the camera:
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.
But adult filmmaking might give women more opportunities than Hollywood behind the scenes, as well. Stoya and fellow adult film actress Kayden Kross recently teamed up to launch their own pay-per-scene porn site, but the pair says their experience is just one example of women's access to leadership roles in the industry. According to Kross, female stars can also much more easily transition to heading production than they can climb the ranks in Hollywood.
"Many, many girls end up with some sort of website that's a subscription site, or something where they are in charge of production...or they're partnered on production," Kross told HuffPost. "Going from performing to behind-the-scenes -- production, investment, creating an online business -- that's very, very run of the mill in adult [entertainment]."
This isn't advice I usually offer, but Hollywood, please: do as they do in porn.
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