Editrix Abby |
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Audacia RayWaking VixenAudacia Ray hasn’t been in the adult entertainment industry for long, but in her brief few years she’s made quite a name for herself. She has established herself as a writer, editor and blogger, dabbled in domme work and escort services and appeared as a model. Recently Adam & Eve released her directorial debut, The Bi Apple, and her first book, Naked on the Internet: Hookups, Downloads and Cashing in on Internet Sexploration, was published. In between cities touring to promote the book, she spent some time with me to talk about shooting sex scenes in the summer, cyberdildonics and how she got herself into this business.ErosZine: So, how'd you wind up in this business? Do you have a background in sex work? Audacia Ray: During college I discovered my nerdy affinity for sexuality and gender studies, and though I had a suspicion that I was, um, into sex in other ways too, I was too shy to do much about it. When I got my first sex-related job at the Museum of Sex, I began to meet lots of really awesome people who were on the sexual exploration path and some who worked in the sex industry. These folks made the idea of exploring my own sexuality seem a lot less scary. The Museum of Sex created the proverbial slippery slope for me, and pretty soon I was hooking up with strangers through Craigslist. When I lost my job at the museum I started doing public relations for a porn company, became a model, started doing sensual massage and foot fetish work, plus I had a brief stint as an escort. Since then I've also added blogger, magazine editor, porn director/producer, and curator to my list of sex-related jobs. ErosZine: You're currently Executive Editor of $pread Magazine, a publication for sex workers of all genders and sexualities. How did that magazine get started? Audacia Ray: The idea for $pread got going with a conversation at a sex worker activist fundraising event three years ago, and grew from there. The idea was to provide sex workers with a glossy, fun-to-read magazine in which they could share their perspectives and experiences with each other and the world at large. Though I'm not one of the founders, I came into the project before the first issue was launched in March 2005, and my responsibilities have grown over the past two years. Since its inception, the magazine has won the Utne Independent Press Award for Best New Title in 2005 and was named Best Sex Worker Support System by the Village Voice in 2006. ErosZine: You mentioned you’d worked for the Museum of Sex, which seems to have been a springboard for many currently successful members of the New York City sexerati. What did you learn there that you've found valuable in your many present roles? Audacia Ray: At the Museum of Sex I learned that there is a way to study and write about sex in a serious and in-depth way outside of academia - but at the same time you shouldn't take yourself too seriously. Sexuality is an important piece of the human condition, but it isn't the only or the most important piece of the puzzle. While I was there I also learned that people who work in the sex business are kind of crazy, but also some of the nicest, warmest, most open-minded and smartest people I've ever met. ErosZine: You're busy touring in support of your first book, Naked on the Internet: Hookups, Downloads and Cashing in on Internet Sexploration. What makes you the expert? Audacia Ray: I'm not just knowledgeable because I did some research, but also because I belong to some of the cultures I've written about in the book. I'm the expert because I know I don't know everything, I just have a knack for assembling information and interpreting it. The women who are experiencing and experimenting on the Internet are the true experts in everything they're personally up to; that's why there are so many quotes and other perspectives in the book. There's no way one person could claim to know and understand all of that stuff. ErosZine: And what will readers find in the book? Audacia Ray: I interviewed 80 women for the book, and the chapters include information on camming, online dating and hookups, sex blogging, independently-produced porn, sex work, sexual health, and cyberdildonics. The depth and breadth of sexual experiences online is incredible, and I heard stories about everything from menstrual porn, to blog stalkers, to transsexual health support networks, to lesbian dating sites. It's not so much a how-to book—though there's an extensive list of URLs in the back for anyone who wants to do some exploring—as an analysis of what I call the "good, evil and sexy stuff in between" of the Internet. The book is an attempt to steer between the hype of the Yay Internet! and Technology Dooms Us All! camps of thinking, and sheds some light on how women negotiate all this and make use of the Internet. Its kind of a cultural theory book for people who can't stomach reading academic tomes and prefer writing with snarky asides. ErosZine: It seems like HYPERLINK "http://Craigslist.org/"Craigslist.org has revolutionized the way people meet and hook up. You address online dating and webcamming in your book. What's America up to online? Audacia Ray: Everything you can think of - and then some. With respect to dating, the Internet has certainly shifted the way dating is done - now its increasingly like shopping. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. Online dating is in many ways much more precise than meeting people through the regular meat-space channels: you can find out what religion someone is and what books they've read recently before ever going on an in-person date with them, which streamlines the process. On the other hand, there's just no substitute for an in-person interaction to gauge chemistry. ErosZine: How do men and women differ in the ways they utilize the web for sex and dating? Audacia Ray: Like nearly all public spaces, men's presence online has been the default, and women have to push to clear (and then protect) their own comfy little corners. When it comes to dating and hooking up, men know that they are at a disadvantage and that women are the ones who call the shots, so they tend to cast their net wide—hence all the "32, 6 ft, white, br/bl, D/D free, 8 inches cut" emails women get)—while women are much more highly selective. Although some of the standard Venus vs Mars stuff translates to online dating, the Internet also gives women more freedom to be the aggressors, because online rejection—at least the kind where emails go ignored—tends to feel a little softer than in-person rejection. ErosZine: Tell me about cyberdildonics. Do you think they're really the future of online sex? Audacia Ray: To really boil things down, the basic story of new technology goes like this: "Ooooh, look what I can do!" and then "Hmm, how can I fuck it?" Cyberdildonics are basically remote control sex toys, only the control part is done through the Internet. Though I think they are conceptually interesting, I don't think they are especially useful at the moment, and for the time being they really add up to being unwieldy "look what I can do" toys. A lot of sexuality is and will always be in the mind—it’s the most powerful sex organ and all that—and machines, even if they are really cool ones, won't change that. Maybe in the future cyberdildonics will become viable in a way our puny brains can't imagine, but I'm generally not one for sitting around and fantasizing about the future. In the present they're a bit unwieldy and unsexy, except to people who fetishize the machine itself. ErosZine: Your DVD, Bi Apple was a pretty realistic representation of bisexuality in the city. Heh. Tell us how you came up with the idea and sold it to Adam & Eve. Audacia Ray: Adam & Eve—or at least, one of their staff members—actually came to me. I was asked what kind of movie I'd direct if I were to direct one, and I knew immediately that I wanted to make a bisexual movie, something that actually represented the sex I was having and the sex I like to watch. It took a while to develop it because the powers that be were wary of my inexperience—I knew almost nothing about making movies—combined with my alt porn aesthetic, which they'd been unable to sell to their catalog audience, and the fact of my New Yorkness, but eventually I got lucky. Since its release in February 2007 the movie has become and remained a bestseller for Adam & Eve, so it turns out I was right that the market is there and hungry for decent bi porn. In June it also won the "Hottest Bisexual Sex Scene" award at the Feminist Porn Awards, hosted by Good For Her in Toronto. ErosZine: How was it, directing your very first feature? Audacia Ray: Directing my first feature was chaotic, and I was stupid to think it would be a good idea to make porno at the end of July in New York City, but overall things went kind of as I'd expected—though not necessarily as I'd planned. I had been on porn sets before as a member of the crew and as a performer, so I knew what could go wrong. I basically expected everything to go horribly wrong, and most of what I expected happened, so I wasn't all that freaked out by it. I was able to keep everyone pretty happy and relaxed, if very sweaty, on the set, which I think is key. Everyone wanted to be there and they were excited to be working for me. ErosZine: I loved the cameos in your film. What made you decide to include them? Audacia Ray: I knew from the start that I wanted to include cameos of New York City sexerati folks who I respect and count among my friends. The idea for the cameos was to have porno stereotypes, (like pizza delivery guy and lost schoolgirl, who would show up, be smarmy and flirtatious, and then be sent away without sex. The cameos included former Village Voice columnist, cupcake aficionado and erotica reading hostess Rachel Kramer Bussell, former alt porn star Lux Nightmare, now of Boinkology.com, and local porn auteur Joe Gallant. Basically, like a lot of other little things about the movie, I threw them in because I thought it was funny. Some of this stuff comes across as very in-jokey, and it is, though the in joke is mostly with myself. ErosZine: What previous experience have you had in films? Audacia Ray: When I was in college I wrote a 15-page paper about the mythological symbolism of beasts and heroes in "The Sandlot" for my film theory class. That counts as experience, right? Beyond that, I sort of felt my way in the dark. After I left the Museum of Sex I worked for the small Manhattan porn company RedLight TV doing public relations and some model management. I had no idea what I was doing. I was also in one of their films, "Alice in Footland," in which I am nude, wearing only a colonial wig, and giving a footjob to my boyfriend at the time. My clearest memory of that was that it was really cold and being on set was boring. I was also in Profane Pirate's Psychocandy 4 in my one and only onscreen hardcore appearance, with Benny Profane. Mostly what I remember about that experience was that we agreed that red and black were awesome colors, it was really low-key and I had a lot of orgasms. So those are my filmmaking credentials. ErosZine: What upcoming Audacia Ray projects can we look forward to? Audacia Ray: This summer I have a few more stops on my book tour, including three dates in San Francisco and one in Los Angeles. I'll also be touring a bunch of cities again in the fall; I’m still working out all those details. I've got a few other projects up my sleeve, but at the moment I'm keeping them quiet. Future awesomeness can be found on my website, WakingVixen.com and blogged about obsessively on my blog. ErosZine: You’re a very busy woman, Audacia! Thanks for your time! [Written July 2007] |
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