Reflexivity in the Pornographic Films of Candida Royalle

Abstract

Both conventional wisdom and prior scholarship indicate that women typically find pornography less appealing than men. Recently, researchers have suggested that the sexually explicit films of Candida Royalle represent a new form of pornography that is more attractive to women. We examined the films of Candida Royalle in terms of reflexivity, a film technique that draws attention to film conventions and the filmmaking process within the context of a film. We identify three reflexive processes that operate in Candida Royalle's films and consider how they may contribute to the development of a subject space that makes her films more appealing to women, in comparison to traditional pornographic films. The benefits of this new subject space are considered.

Women’s Porno: The heterosexual female gaze in porn sites “for women”

“…Irrespective of the varying readings of its significance, the cumshot is a staple of the hardcore, hetero-male pornography (Beggan & Allison, 2003;Cowan & Dunn, 1994;Williams, 1989). The hardcore sites examined in this study confirm existing research on the matter.…”

“…It departs from the historically entrenched visual tradition of representing women as objects, not subjects--a trend identified by multiple feminist theorists (DeLauretis, 1984;Kappeler, 1986;Kilbourne, 2000;Weedon, 1987;Williamson, 1978). This trend has especially manifest in sexually explicit visual material (Beggan & Allison, 2003;Kappeler, 1986). Thus, representations that interpellate heterosexual female viewers are important because they provide social intelligibilitym and pleasure--to women in new ways.…”

How Not to Watch Feminist Pornography

“…The emphasis here is very much on ejaculation as a visual spectacle, and on the way in which external ejaculation is a performance. The scene, that is to say, is 'reflexive' (Beggan and Allison, 2003): 8 It invites consideration of the way that watching a pornographic film positions one as a voyeur, and it specifically raises questions about the place of the 'cumshot' in contemporary pornography. But it is precisely because external ejaculation is the exception in Royalle's films that the scene invites such reflection.…”

‘We watch porn for the fucking, not for romantic tiptoeing’: extremity, fantasy and women’s porn use

“…In the history of pornography, female passions of all kinds have similarly long operated as titillating yet mysterious tropes requiring acts of revelation, representation and (more or less ventriloquist) narration (see Williams 1989;Mudge 2000;Peakman 2003). Meanwhile, the default porn user was long gendered firmly male, both in the popular imagination and in feminist critiques positioning the genre as made by men, for men (Beggan and Allison 2003;Sun et al 2008, 312).…”