Over these months of celibacy I’ve felt waves of shame about my condition. What kind of sexuality “expert” doesn’t actually have sex? I’ve beaten myself up a lot about this. The answer, of course, is: this one.
- excerpt from Audacia Ray’s post on WakingVixen.com

I really enjoyed reading her musings, reflections and introspections and thought you might as well. Read her post at wakingvixen.com.

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 (Continued from Part 1 and Part 2) is part 3 of an intimate and personal in-depth interview with Courtney Trouble:

What is your next project?
My next movie is called Nostalgia. It’s a tale about me and my wife having a hot date night in, watching porn. We love to watch classic porn, but for some reason all of our classic porn has been changed, it’s now queer and feminist. Each scene in the movie has been inspired by a different movie, like Behind the Green Door, Devil In Miss Jones, Deep Throat, Babylon Pink. These were some of the first porn films I’ve ever seen and they really shaped my outlook on sex as art, more so than anything else really. I thought it would be fun to take controversial scenes from these old movies and make them queer, fresh, and feminist. It’s got lots of porn stars like April Flores (fattyd.com), Kimberly Kane (KaneArmy.com), Madison Young (MadisonBound.com), Jiz Lee (JizLee.com), Syd Blakovich (SydBlakovich.com) – as well as a lot of newcomers to porn. I really love working with fresh faces, there’s a sense of realism that you can’t get anywhere else. It should be out by the end of the summer through Reel Queer Productions.

What was it like starting out with Roulette, to working on your second film?
The two movies were made completely different from day one. Roulette was the movie I made with the money I could find. Nostalgia was produced by Reel Queer Productions, and I was able to have a larger budget. Also, I shot Roulette over the course of three years, whereas with Nostalgia I shot in two days. Nostalgia has one storyline and a focus, whereas Roulette is meant to be a collection of different stories told over time, a real look into real people’s sex lives.

With Roulette, it was all about fun and art, it was an underground experiment. When I shot “gangbang,” my favorite scene from Roulette, I had no idea how big Jiz Lee and Syd Blakovich would get in the porn world. Looking forward, I plan to keep that sense of fun and artistic enthusiasm strong in my work. It’s what I’m known for, and it’s what I’m good at.

Images and stills from Roulette

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Do you have any projects besides making your films and NoFauxxx.Com?
I work as a freelance web designer and graphic designer. This summer I am focusing heavily on working with Homo A Go Go, a queer music/arts/film festival that I truly believe in. I’m currently looking for diy and lo-fi sex tapes to put in their diy porno showcase (check out www.courtneytrouble.com/haggsextapes for more info) Also, I’ve launched a website called RealQueerPorn.Com – which will be an online database of queer films, porn stars, directors, websites, and academic work that I will be updating in my free time along with some awesome interns.

So, who is putting out Roulette?
Reel Queer Productions is a new production company putting out edgy & authentic queer porn. Roulette will actually be the first of many amazing films to come out on this line. I am so happy to be working with them, because they are both big and mainstream-oriented, but still so very sex-positive and indie-friendly at the same time. I love that my films are connected to a company that puts safety, education, and pleasure for everyone at the top of their list.

I’m not trying to make porn for women, porn for men, porn for queers. I’m just making my porn, with the hopes that anybody could pick up my film and find something they like.

Starting this relationship with Reel Queer Productions has allowed me to further explore the world of making high-quality artistic queer porn in the sense that I’ve been able to invest more time and money into my work and allowing me to reach more people. They’ve given me a very strong support system, and they encourage me to make that highly-artistic, unique, authentic, and fantastical porn that I want to make. They have given me the freedom to take an idea and run with it, they don’t question my intentions – they don’t want me to fall into a niche. In contrast, we are working together to make “queer porn” a real niche on its own.

Here is part 2 (of 3) of an interview conducted by her wife and partner (in work and life), Pepper Sox. Continued from Part 1.

You recently were invited to Toronto for The Feminist Porn Awards? How was that?
Yes! The FPAs are hosted by the sex toy company Good For Her (another great company!) and I went out there because I was up for a nomination. Roulette won an award for “Most Deliciously Diverse Cast.” It was a very important moment for me, to be surrounded by so many amazing people, specifically Jiz Lee, Syd Blakovich, Madison Young, and Dylan Ryan – we all won awards, and we’re all from San Francisco – it made me feel like we were really starting a revolution, not only here in the Bay Area, but worldwide. What just seems like small projects here in SF is really actually something that’s being perceived as a “movement” out there in the rest of the world.

Roulette Director Courtney Trouble accepting Most Diverse Film Award
Photo: Lana Paiement from the Good For Her Feminist Porn Awards

My award for diversity really meant a lot to me, because having a diverse cast in a porn film seems of utmost importance right now, with “alt” porn being so prominent in the mainstream – to really be the one to say, “we are all sexy” – to make a film that anyone can relate to. Porn, to me, has a responsibility to be diverse, to break stereotypes, and to celebrate all the kinds of different out there in the world. Being there at that moment made me feel like a founder in the movement, who had finally been recognized for creating a foundation that artists and activists will be using for decades, until the next big movement comes along.

The first scenes of this movie were filmed over three years ago, and the last scenes in January 2009. How do you think they differ?
The first scene that I shot for Roulette is actually the last scene in the movie, Milo and Cole. I borrowed professional lights and a camera from a friend, got some sex toys donated from Smitten Kitten. I thought I knew what I was doing, and the scene turned out great in the end, but looking back I can see that I had a lot of learning to do as a filmographer versus a photographer. The last scene i shot was Ceci and Kenji (the first scene in the movie) and I have to say, my d.i.y artistry was still in tact, but I had shot enough to learn how to create a really beautiful moving image, and anticipate the scene, whereas before, I was lucky to get the beautiful footage that I did of Milo and Cole. I think being a photographer since childhood had a lot to do with this beginner’s luck – I like to say sometimes that I see the whole world with a black widescreen frame around it.

Are there real couples in Roulette?
Each scene has a real couple in it, aside from the solo scenes. Ceci & Kenji, Syd & Jiz, Milo & Cole. Walter & Nikolaj actually got engaged the day before we shot their scene on the rooftop. It’s hard to mess up chemistry when you’re working with real couples!

How did you get the music for Roulette?
I’ve been active in the queer music scene for about 10 years, going to shows, going on tour, et cetera. I thought it was really important to have a queer porn soundtrack, something that would truly reflect the community of queer artists I was filming. So, I asked my friends from Erase Errata, Younger Lovers, Cottages, Delta Dart, Scream Club, French Quarter, and Katastrophe to donate tracks to the film. I even have two of my own bands on there, Divine Feud and Bunnykick. Hopefully the music is as enticing as the sex – it’s a lot of genres of music made by queer musicians. I honestly believe that queer music and queer porn are set out to do similar things – create awareness, bring culture to our community, define ourselves in a difficult society. You can hear the soundtrack for free at nofauxxx.com/roulette.

Do you think the release of Roulette will change things for nofauxxx.com?
I would hope that Roulette would bring NoFauxxx.com more attention and more paying members. However, I didn’t make Roulette with a specific audience in mind, I’m not trying to cater to anyone. The film is seven different vignettes, with the point that queer sex is hard to define. We don’t fuck the way people would assume, we are unexpected. No Fauxxx really mirrors that statement, and I think that Roulette really reflects the whole mission of NoFauxxx.com: to showcase the sex of an undermined, subversive, and insanely creative community. Roulette is an extension of No Fauxxx, expanding the ideas that I’ve explored with No Fauxxx for the past six years. To celebrate the release, I’m giving away free one-month memberships with the first 100 DVDs sold through goodvibes.com and Good Vibrations stores, so I know at least 100 people who will be joining No Fauxxx after buying Roulette. For free!

Are there any teasers of Roulette?
There are two teaser scenes available for members only on NoFauxxx.com, as well as a free “PG” version on YouTube:

NoFauxxx.com’s Roulette, Directed by Courtney Trouble. Order at GoodVibes.com

Continue Reading Part3, with an exclusive Roulette Gallery!

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!

The concept was to take the April Flores Love Toy (aka a cyberskin mold of April’s lower torso) and make a plaster mold. That mold was then given to eight eclectic Los Angeles-based artists to use as their canvas. Participating artists were Coop, Kime Buzzelli, Small Paul, Misha, Jim Mahfood, Kozyndan, Axis and Carlos Batts himself.

Totally intrigued by the immediacy of the exhibit (one night only for two hours) as much as I was by the idea of a sex toy being explored as a work of art, or a canvas on which to create an interpretation of female sexuality & anatomy, I was thrilled to be heading south.

I didn’t really know what to expect. I have always loved art and really appreciate all the adult content that’s been coming out lately that meshes art with adult. Not just beautifully designed toys but art-core films made through an artistic & erotic lens.

It’s refreshing and stimulates both mind and body.

After a quick bite in North Hollywood a few friends and I headed over to La Luz De Jesus Gallery, a truly tasty place where I could imagine spending a lot of time & money… More than an art gallery La Luz had art books, knick knacks, kitsch galore and so SO much more.

At the back of the store was a square room which housed an art exhibit on the exterior walls and at the center was two glass tables with all 8 pieces displayed. It was awesome seeing how each artist interpreted the female form – one really played on the idea of a “pussy” while other pieces interacted with the explicit nature of the canvas but really just made beautiful art. All in all it was incredible – seeing what started out as a masturbation tool being displayed as a work of art with people taking in each piece as if they were at the Louvre. Always aware of the shapes but really digesting the work as a whole.

All in all, I feel like the event was a total success – the room was packed, LA’s who’s who was in attendance with director/photographer Dave Naz and Belladonna being my personal highlights. April looked gorgeous and I was just thankful to have been able to be there.

]]> http://magazine.goodvibes.com/2009/05/21/april-flores-sex-toy-art-show/feed/ 2 http://magazine.goodvibes.com/2009/04/17/hello%e2%80%a6-kitty/ http://magazine.goodvibes.com/2009/04/17/hello%e2%80%a6-kitty/#comments Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:38:07 +0000 Misty http://magazine.goodvibes.com/?p=2052 Before I moved to San Francisco & before I worked at Good Vibrations I opened a box sent to me by my then best friend & was overjoyed to see my very own Hello Kitty rocket-style vibrator! Not only did I think she was so so SO cute but the actual vibe wasn’t so bad either… bonus.

Hello Kitty perched atop the rocket vibe clutching her teddy bear held a special place in my heart & a special place in my night table drawer. She wasn’t just the kids-craze anymore… she was a sex symbol! Or a symbol that I was about to get sexed up…

Fast forward a few years. I moved south, got a temp gig at GV and had a blast selling that same vibe until one day it was gone. The buyer at the time didn’t say much – just that Sanrio had given all adult retailers a cease & desist as they hadn’t intended for their innocent shoulder massager to be used in such an… intimate way.

Here’s the GV folklore: A Good Vibrations staffer took a vacation to Japan & while touristing around stumbled upon a vending machine that contained, among many other things, the Hello Kitty massager. She quickly bought a few & upon her return let the buyer in on the secret and viola!

According to www.kittyhell.com it all started “back in 1997 when Sanrio gave a license to Genyo Co. to make a number of different Hello Kitty products. They produced all different types of products and one that was approved was a Hello Kitty shoulder massager. This was sent out to gift shops, restaurant chains, and other knick-knack stores and was truly sold as a shoulder massager around Japan initially.” This website claims that once Sanrio found out Genyo Co. was selling this item to adult companies they asked the asked Genyo Co. to stop selling it: “The Hello Kitty vibrator had at this point gained cult status and was selling like hotcakes and Genyo Co. had no intention of letting a hugely profitable product be taken off the shelf just because people were using it to stimulate other parts than intended. Sanrio tried to revoke Genyo’s licensing rights, but Genyo refused saying they had a valid license that had been approved and had spent much money developing the product.”

Needless to say Sanrio prevailed & the beloved Hello Kitty Vibrator disappeared from all US adult stores showing up instead on Ebay for, at times, over $100.

Over the past few years GV stores/call center would occasionally get calls or emails from people who’d stumbled across an old Good Vibrations catalogue, saw it online or had heard rumor or it. With the manufacturer not allowing that item to be imported to the US or sold in adult there was really nothing we could do. Hello Kitty had left and wasn’t expected to return.

Until now… cause she’s back! Back & better than ever! Last October at a trade show in Berlin, up popped not one but a few styles of Hello Kitty vibrators… being sold as… vibrators. Amazing! And now we are so thrilled to offer not one but three different colors of the original rocket-style vibe! Now you can have your kitty match you – your mood, your wardrobe, your alter-ego, whatever you want!

So, maybe Sanrio finally caught on or maybe they just wanted to get into the consumerism train! Either way she’s back & we are happy to have her back!

Hello Kitty Vibrator
Hello Kitty says hello clitty! The Japanese cultural icon, now over 30 years old, is finally a toy for grown-ups. This pretty little pussy will leave you purring with pleasure. Riding atop a rocket style-vibe, the cute character clutches her teddy and emits mild vibration. The sensation may not be strong, but the kitch factor sure is… meow!

Black, Pin, or Lavender Hard Plastic.
Takes one AA battery (not included).
5 1/2” long, 1 1/2” in diameter.
Volume: 2, Intensity: 2

Part of me is glad I did. Reading bullshit like the words AVN contributor Nelson X did isn’t best early in the morning… nor the afternoon… hell… never would have been fine too. But an esteemed associate wrote to me – outraged about the article – so I made a point to read it… word by word. I had no idea just how right I was!

What a disappointment. The author chose not to really promote titles showing fat women having hot sex but instead to refer to chubby women in fat-negative terms (heifer, bovines… and more). He also obviously is a fat hater or he wouldn’t have written about these titles the way did. Why didn’t AVN ask somebody who is fat-positive to write this stocking guide at least?

It can be a struggle to find quality adult titles to add that don’t promote racism, sexism, homophobia and more… but it’s a struggle I gladly take on. It is SO important to me to create a diverse inventory and strive to find porn that shows flabulous, chubbilicious, sexy-as-hell women having fat-tastic sex with their partners… and for these scenes to be body-positive, chemistry-filled, respect-filled and hell of hot! There’s nothing sexier than people who are totally and unabashedly into each others bodies no matter what size either partner is! And that is also true of the BBW. To say that “top-notch production values have been added to the genre by many of the industry’s mainstream studios, allowing those too embarrassed to actually be seen with fat chicks the opportunity to jerk off to them in the privacy of their homes.”

You know what I say to that – Fuck The Hell Off Nelson X.

It’s sickening to have the industry rag promote fat-bashing (after promoting stereotyping, racism and racial fetishizing in previous issues) and all under the guise of promoting those same titles. Not true.

For customers wanting to see hot porn featuring lovely larger ladies look no further. Here’s MY stocking guide for BBW titles: Voluptuous Life, Curvaceous, Alter Ego, Kiss Attack, Red Hot Phat Girl, The Crash Pad Series: Vol 1, Voluptuous Biker Babes, & Glamazons. And keep an eye for more titles as we are always reviewing titles with thick women to add to our site!

Speaking of loving April Flores… read her fabulous take on this same article: http://fattyd.com/blog/

Needless to say I am now on the look-out for a different industry news source for my movie pics… how sad.

AVN.com said the site was “commandeered and altered in ways that ANB — publisher Tony Lovett calls “Repugnant, offensive, and contrary to all standards of civilized behavior.”

I too was shocked and horrified to see the ways in which these hackers defiled the ‘O’ Awards site with crude statements and demeaning photographs. Though I am slightly interested to know which item exactly would win in this category “Best Cock Ring That Doubles As A Headband” – this type of behavior cannot be tolerated.

I hope these marauders are brought to justice soon!

I am looking for the following “types” to cast for my next movie.
Please send me an e-mail at trouble@nofauxxx.com with a headshot, experience in the adult industry, your reason for wanting to be in a Courtney Trouble/NoFauxxx.Com movie project, and your age/date of birth. All cast in full sex roles will be compensated generously – those cast in smaller roles will also be paid except for the “open call audience” listed below.

Requirements: Must be available from 5pm-3am on Friday April 17th. Must be in San Francisco on that day. I cannot pay for travel or come to you. (Wish I could!) MUST BE OVER 18. Must be interested and comfortable with being nude, making out, masturbating, and maybe even having sex on screen. Must bring two forms of ID to the shoot.

People of all genders, races, and sizes encouraged to apply.

Please forward this open call to anyone you think might be interested, or share it on Facebook, your blog, or MySpace if you feel so inclined. Thank you!

Here are the roles I’m looking to fill, most specific first.

Role #1: Short hair, maybe bleach-blond? Slightly feminine or andro. Full sex scene. Bottom or submissive preferred. Full sex scene – must be comfortable with 2 or 3 partners. This person is a dreamer – there’s acting, but no lines.

Role #2: Anybody comfortable with topping. I need 2 or 3 people for this role. Some dialog & acting needed.

Role #3: Feminine, fresh faced, submissive – any age or size. Full sex scene with one person. Hoping for someone who has never been in an adult film before. This character is a very curious creature who is “getting in over her head” in a sense. Must be someone comfortable with acting – but no lines.

Role #4: 2 masked characters – groping/fondling only – no sex.

Role #5: A nurse/doctor type. You will have lines and acting. Full sex scene with one person, if you have your own doctor or nurse costume, even better. I’m hoping for this scene to be kind of twisted, funny, and very explicit – so someone with no inhibitions, a little experience with kink, and an interest in & capable of making a scene that’s both powerfully raunchy and campy/funny. I need a real smart cookie for this one.

GROUP CALL: One scene in this film requires a live audience. Making out, masturbating, and fondling are encouraged – but simple voyeurs are fine as well. This will be an open call on April 17th and is an unpaid role – but it will be fun, and you can do as little or as much as you like during the scene with yourself, your date, or a partner. You will NOT be asked to do anything specific – except watch the stage and engage in whatever activity feels most comfortable to you. You can even wear a mask (circus mask, masquerade-ball mask, animal mask…) – Dress will be San Franciscoesque – think feathers, masquerade-ball style outfits, taffeta, fake fur, etc.) This call goes out to all people and a final list will be chosen before shooting.

I was tickled to see that the Locavore revolution has an offshoot – the Locasexual movement – as defined above in my latest copy of Wired. I’m not convinced attraction, affection, love can be contained within 100 miles as I’ve had plenty of friends who’ve dabbled in long-distance relationships… and some products have even been designed to enhance those relationships.

The concept is intriguing, though, especially as we all start to tally up the Carbon Footprint of our daily extravagances.