The world of porn is clouded. It’s an industry that often lacks transparency and is subject to limited regulation by federal and state governments because of the First Amendment. On the lower estimates, some believe the porn industry generates $6 billion a year. On the higher end, estimates say porn generates close to $100 billion a year. Regardless of the number, there’s a lot to gain. There’s also a lot to lose.
There is a baffling hypocrisy in that sex work, which can make up pornography, prostitution, strip clubs, cam performers, etc., is highly stigmatized yet highly utilized. While it’s impossible to accurately calculate how much the overall sex industry makes a year, it’s imperative to respect and appreciate the impact on the economy and in people’s lives as just porn can generate billions.
Yet, with any industry that can make so much money, the stage is set exploitation and abuse. With the goal of making the world of porn more equitable and fair, ethical pornography was born.
What Is Ethical Porn?
As the push for a more sex-positive and equitable world is met with resistance by old-fashioned mentalities, ethical porn has grown as an example of how to properly pleasure.
The term ethical porn sparks conversations about consent, fair labor practices and the portrayal of diverse bodies and sexualities within adult entertainment. Advocates of ethical porn want to move away from exploitation and toward a broadly inclusive industry where consent and fairness are at the core of the creation and consumption of porn.
Ethical porn — also known as feminist pornography by some — prioritizes informed consent, ensuring everyone in production is acutely aware of the type of the content being produced and freely agrees to participate.
The consent extends beyond a simple legal document over consent and includes ongoing communication and the ability for performers to express their boundaries and preferences throughout filming. Fair compensation and safe working conditions are essential aspects, too.
Ethical porn emphasizes diversity and representation, challenging the narrow and often unrealistic depictions of sexuality in mainstream porn. By showing people of different body types, ages, ethnicities and sexual orientations, ethical porn aims to broaden the definition of sexuality and promote body positivity.
While the concept of ethical pornography is still evolving, it represents a growing movement. It’s porn for everyone and seeks to include people who may be just like you — and that shouldn’t be a problem.
The Best Ethical Porn Websites
As there is no industry oversight committee or government regulatory body determining what type of porn is ethical or not, credibility largely rests on the individual porn providers, members of production and the audience.
It’s always best to do your own research. Take the time to vet each website, especially if you’re buying a subscription — which is standard for ethical porn. Think of it this way: If you’re subscribed to five different streaming services, consider canceling one of those memberships and joining a subscription for ethical porn to get the best bang for your buck.
With that said, here are some ethical porn websites currently trusted by Playboy:
“Lust Cinema aims to challenge the porn industry standards by promoting the cinematic possibilities of the medium, high quality storytelling and a realistic representation of human sexuality and sex.” — Lust Cinema
Subscriptions are available. A one-month subscription of unlimited streams and downloads costs $35 a month. If you buy three months, you get a 66% discount amounting to $12 a month. If you purchase a one-year subscription, the price per month drops to $8.
“If porn is the Hollywood blockbuster movie, MakeLoveNotPorn is the badly-needed documentary. We’re the world’s first user-generated, human-curated social sex video-sharing platform, celebrating #realworldsex as a counterpoint to porn, with the aim of socializing sex – making it easier for everyone to talk about, in order to promote good sexual values and good sexual behavior.” — MakeLoveNotPorn
MakeLoveNotPorn works by having members pay to rent and stream social sex videos. It’s set up as a revenue sharing model, so the website splits the money 50/50 with the “MakeLoveNotPornstars.” Subscriptions start at $10 but you can also rent individual videos for three weeks of unlimited viewing.
Bellesa
“Bellesa was built on a simple premise: What would adult entertainment look like if it were created in the vision of a woman since day 1? Through shifting portrayals of women from objects of conquest to the subjects of their own pleasure, our mission with Bellesa Films is to continue inspiring women around the world to embrace, explore and celebrate their sexuality – unapologetically and on their own terms.” — Bellesa
Bellesa has content for free but it also has a subscription called Bellesa Plus. Currently, there’s a 2-day trial for $3, 30-day access for $20 a month and one-year access for $10 a month.
“Often described as a ‘Criterion Collection’ of sexual cinema, PinkLabel.TV’s catalogue hosts a wide array of films. Viewers can discover movies spanning softcore to hardcore, narrative and experimental, historical films from as early as the 1920’s, documentaries, and more. Films that push the genre give challenge to conventional expectations of what sex should look like, with much needed depictions of underrepresented bodies and desires.” — PinkLabel.TV
Members can create a basic account on PinkLabel.TV to rent films individually and also offers a subscription model of $25 a month or a one-time payment for a yearly subscription of $120 that reduces the price to $10 a month.
Free Ethical Porn
The porn industry was rocked by the widespread availability of free porn online. There’s so much porn out there and, as mentioned previously, it’s difficult to properly assess if porn you are viewing is indeed “ethical.”
However, if a website has been operating for a decent amount of time as an ethical porn provider, it’s likely that provider is truthful and credible. If members of production who have worked with the provider state that they were treated fairly, then it’s likely that they are indeed ethical.
That elevated certainty of knowing your purchasing a clean product comes with a price. In the same way you may pay more for credible journalism through a news outlet’s subscription, rest assure that your money is going toward honest porn.
In short, by paying for ethical porn you are contributing to help a system that will hopefully be fair and equitable. Though you could get porn for free, you are paying for a product that is meant to be ethical and in turn is meant to improve working conditions and the lives of everyone involved in production.
The people in front of the camera and behind the scenes in porn bring you pleasure — often thanklessly. It’s only fair to treat them with the respect they deserve.
There is a political effort seeking to criminalize porn. Read about the Hands Off My Porn Initiative and help fight back.
