Arena Article (January 2003)
Extreme porn is genre that would seem to reinforce every negative stereotype about the sex industry. But, it has an unlikely new female champion. Mason, a political science graduate from " a liberal US art college," once fought the good fight-"for the great part of my life truly dispised por, I found it objectifying and downright offensive to women.
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Nowadays she directs her own line of films for "gonzo" (leftfield and of personal interest to the creators, the term originally being coined by Hunter S. Thompson to describe his journalistic style) specialists Elegant Angel. A philosophical U-turn that came about when Mason realized her beef was not with porn, but with the fact that, "sexuality has been distorted by an American culture that engenders women into sexual passivity. I soon realized that porn didn't have the problem. I had the problem."
Even more surprising is that she's eschewed the cuddly warmth most female porn film directors opt for (the soft-focus fumblings of Candida Royale, for example) and instead works in an area commonly derided for its misogyny and violence.
"The industry thinks women want to see porn actresses in romantic settings, being made love to. That's what 'couple's porn' always seems to be about. It's so ironic that the majority of this type of porn uses female talent that in no way represents the average woman's looks or body type. Many fail to realize that there is a large segment of women who regard rough sex as a legitimate form of sexual expression. There are many women that like to be 'degraded' or even 'grudged fucked' in a controlled, consensual environment. What you will find in my Lady Fellatio films, for example, are girls who truly love what they're doing, cast into interesting set-ups and locations. What you get is always nasty, raw, and true."
Mason will openly admit that she first got into the industry to make a fast buck and to hide form the seemingly inevitable law career. But she now claims to find it an arena in which to explore her philosophical beliefs and reverse both the way porn is seen and how it sees itself: "It's my mission to promote the notion that being a nasty slut is a positive thing-able to subvert traditional sexual/gender norms for women. I'm personally more stimulated by the psychology of sex than the aesthetics and my movies reflect that. When you've seen every position and every genital close-up shot, I think the natural progression is to be found somewhere in the psychological. There is a huge supply of girls now willing to push the sexual envelop."
With many male directors seemingly pushing the limits of extreme in a bid merely to out-do each other and earn column inches and sales through shock value, Mason stands out not only as someone taking them at their own game, but someone with an erudite, reflective approach through which she filters what she and her cast want to do, and the punters still want to see. Or, as she puts it herself, "I found myself through porn."
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