Feminist porn star Dylan Ryan appeared on HuffPost Live Tuesday as part of a conversation about a new academic journal called "Porn Studies," which examines the sociology and labor issues surrounding porn.
As the conversation progressed, a commenter asked asked Ryan how porn can be considered "empowering."
"I do identify as a feminist porn performer," Ryan answered. "I feel the work I do comes from an empowered perspective...from owning my authenticity."
Another commenter asked "What does 'empowered' mean? Rich?"
"It doesn't have anything to do with wealth," Ryan responded. "I am the agent of my own experience, I make the choices about what I'm doing on camera, who I'm doing it with, what situations I'm in."
"I am a queer porn performer," she continued, "I also perform in BDSM porn and a variety of different kinds of porn in an attempt to really put out my authentic sexuality and show that I am present in the experience. One of the things that people often think about porn is that the women performing in it are distanced or out of their bodies or they're there because they're getting paid or because they've been sexually abused or because they have a very unhealthy sense of self. And while those stereotypes are based in a lot of realities that exist...that's not the experience of every performer, and that's not been my experience."
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