Good Vibrations Magazine

On the eve of the release of Courtney Trouble’s first full length DVD – Roulette, we asked her wife and partner (in work and life) to do an interview with her so we could get to know her a little bit better!

What follows – in three parts – is an intimate and personal in-depth interview with Courtney:

Photo courtesy of Courtney Trouble (courtneytrouble.com)

How did you get started in the industry?
I’m not exactly sure when my involvement with making feminist, queer imagery became an involvement in the adult industry, because at first it was an art project focusing on expressing “real” desires to equalize my experiences as a full-time fantasy-based (aka not-real) phone sex operator. I can’t pinpoint a decisive moment when I realized that No Fauxxx was a breathing entity in the porn industry. Except maybe right now, with my first film being released world-wide on a mainstream (and yet, extremely sex-positive!) level.

Did you study film?
Not at all. I’m actually self-taught in many ways. I learned to make films from my own photography, and learned how to edit by trial and error. I think Roulette shows that learning process, in a good way. It shows a little vulnerability which adds to the hotness. There’s no way someone could challenge the authenticity of this film, its realness is proven with every scene.

What is “queer porn”- a term that you may have well coined in your six years making it – and why is it any different from “girl girl porn” or “gay porn?”
“Girl Girl” is a contrived notion of queerness. I spoke with a company owner who boasts “true lesbians” in his business, and he had the audacity to say to me, “We make sure they’re a little bit bisexual.” And, while bisexuality is certainly a queer notion and bi girls count – the thought of this guy’s testing mechanisms for “real lesbianism” seems a little… weak. I think that regardless of whether these “girl/girl” models actually like girls or not, the film is produced by men, with the intention of selling to men who like to watch lesbians.

I think you can be “queer” and be anywhere in the sexuality spectrum, as long as you feel like your sexual identity is somewhere outside the box, and perhaps you just don’t do things the way the world would expect you to as a gay, lesbian, straight, or bisexual.

The word “queer” in relation to “lesbian” and “gay” is an even more unifying word than “GLBT,” because you don’t have to explain your sexuality any further than that unless you feel like it. I think it’s a term used by younger people, certainly people who have transgendered folks in their scenes perhaps because of the complication of calling yourself “lesbian” or “straight” when you date people of varying genders. I believe “queer” also has a very punk rock element to it – we’re more deviant, we’re more dangerous, we’re more exciting.

Women watch all kinds of porn. But women who identify as lesbians, from my experience at least, find most “girl/girl” porn to be extremely fake. It’s like whoever directed it has absolutely no idea how women fuck each other. Many alt porn sites have the same exact problem when it comes to shooting two girls together. When I was doing girl/girl shows in a peepshow, it translated to men’s ideas of how women fuck in real life – meaning that men believe this junk. I think that porn has the power to educate people, and that can be enlightening as well as damaging. How many things have you seen in porn where you have thought, “Well, that’s just not right!” Good porn will show you how it’d done right – but porn that was carelessly produced can teach it’s audience that our clits are in the backs of our throats, that lesbians love to show off for men, that all women can take 5 cocks in their asses all at once…. you get the picture.

I think that my site is one of those sites that show the world how people *really* fuck. I’m shooting raw, undirected, unscripted sex – I’m asking my models to show us how it’s really done. I think the end result is hotter both to queer audiences and straight audiences – when the sex is authentic and the chemistry is high.

Courtney’s first DVD, Roulette is available at GoodVibes.com

Why is making diverse, or as you say, “all-inclusive” porn, so important to you?
When was the last time you had to pick between BBW sex, MILF sex, Gay sex, Public sex, or Black-Dick-Zilla sex in your real, non-porn, you’re-actually-about-to-get-laid sex life? Real sexuality just isn’t thrown into boxes like that, and certainly, the people we are, and the people we’re attracted to, can’t all fit ourselves into those boxes. I think the over-niching of porn is rude to the performers, and I’d prefer that things were set up a little more like mine. I can’t separate my website into “Girls” and “Boys” because there’s some foxes on the site who wouldn’t know which side to pick. I think it’s important to break down gender, race, size, fetish, and orientation stereotypes to create a pornographic world were fat girls can be pin ups, skinny hipster boys can fuck their own asses, and black men aren’t just a stereotype… Know what I mean? The stereotypes in mainstream porn are horrible, and I wouldn’t want to work in porn at all if I had to go by those rules.

So you’re a photographer but not a professionally trained videographer or film-maker?
I’ve been studying photography my whole life, and got my first camera when I was 7. So when I jumped into the moving image, I focused a lot on composition, color, and emotion, which gives me a major edge over a lot of mainstream porn because I’m putting art over the sex, and making something more than a formulaic penetration shot. I think a lot of my photographic ideas and philosophies have carried over into my films.

What was it like to become a first-time editor?
The ongoing process is all about making a lot of mistakes and learning from them. I started making this film using iMovie, and watching the screeners I realized that this was not the queer porn opus I wanted it to be. So I started over from scratch and learned how to edit on Final Cut Pro. The whole movie was a learning process, and as a first time editor, I can’t say it was easy. But now, I can edit a sex scene in one day.

Have you made non-porn stuff?
I have made a music video for French Quarter, which you can actually see on Roulette, and I’ll be directing another music video for my best friend Jenna Riot this summer, which should be broadcast on LOGO TV in the coming months.

Continue Reading Part 2!

Related: San Francisco: Come to Good Vibrations’ Valencia Street Store (603 Valencia St. at 17th) for our PINK PLEASURE PARTY this Saturday, June 27th at 8-10pm to meet Courtney and buy Roulette. Get 20% off items at the store and have her sign your DVD!