Let’s talk about eco-porn

However ethically-minded you may be, it’s likely that at some point your base desires have gotten the better of you, and you’ve ended up on a free porn site wading through aggressive, morally questionable content, just trying to find something to get you off that doesn’t make you feel like the grimy little horn-dog you probably are. Just me?

If you’re looking for a less shameful experience of your own sexuality, eco-porn might be for you. At first glance (or google), eco-porn is pretty much exactly what you’d imagine it to be. Eco-sexuals believe that sex can benefit the planet, and sort of like the eco setting on your dishwasher, eco-porn is still porn, but slower, softer, and less harmful to the environment. Eco-porn predominantly takes place outdoors, inviting nature to take part in the act as much as the humans are. I’m talking legs spread under a waterfall, tree-humping, flower massaging, making love to the earth, X-rated action. And if you think I’m not taking it seriously, you’re right, but thankfully eco-sexuality doesn’t take itself too seriously either.

Eco-porn is the result of the rise in eco-sexuality, a term coined by former sex worker Annie Sprinkle and professor Elizabeth Stephens (a couple who created the Ecosex Manifesto and in 2009, married the earth), who are keen to stress that fun and humour are an important part of the eco-sex movement. In their manifesto, the pair describe using “the revolutionary tactics of art, music, poetry, humour and sex” to “work and play tirelessly for Earth justice and global peace.” In the doom-laden dialogue surrounding the climate crisis, this levity actually feels refreshing. If you’re going to try and save the planet, why not do it with orgasms and laughter?

According to Sprinkle and Stephens’ definition, being an eco-sexual is a sexual identity, one defined by imagining the earth as your lover (rather than, say, your mother), finding nature “romantic, sensual and sexy”, and having an interest in environmental activism. A quick Instagram search of the hashtags #ecosexual and #ecoporn will show you the recent progression of the movement, with almost-naked men and women sprawled out next to the shore, straddling trees, or tentatively licking a flower petal. Eco-sexual influencers offer workshops helping participants reconnect with the earth sexually, or advertise links to their own eco-porn videos, but the focus seems very much to be on the benefits to humankind - rather than the earth. It’s hard to see how exactly this is benefitting the environment.

Sprinkle and Stephens have argued that sex is an innate human interest, and what better way to engage people in environmentalism than through sex. Sex sells, right? This argument feels a little tenuous, mainly because it’s hard to believe that anyone not already interested in environmentalism would be into eco-porn. In short, they’re preaching to the converted. The movement appears to be predominantly fronted by white Western women, who use hippy buzzwords like ‘eternal’, ‘sacred’ and ‘awakening’, and spend a lot of time naked outdoors. There is very little non-white representation, and very little acknowledgement or discussion of the historical and colonial exploitation of natural resources and indigenous communities. There’s something uncomfortable about all these white people “fucking the earth” when white colonialism and capitalism is actually responsible for fucking the earth.

VICE’s Slutever produced a video on eco-sexuality that has over 50,000 views, and portrays the concept by showing (white, female) eco-sexuals and performer Madison Young on stage, waving antlers around and summoning all of the orgasms in the USA, perfectly encapsulating everything that’s cringey about the hippy movement in one fell swoop. The video’s comments are rife with ridicule, and the risk to the eco-sex movement is that it is dismissed before it’s engaged with; it’s wackiness the kind of thing the right-wing media would have a field day with.

Yet, perhaps the fact that porn is generally consumed covertly makes this less of an issue. All kinds of unusual kinks are privately enjoyed, and no one actually needs to know if you like to summon the power of the ocean into your nether regions. Eco-porn website Fuck for Forests have probably come the closest to achieving the eco-sex manifesto’s aim of actively helping the environment, in that the money made from its pornography goes directly towards environmental causes. With FFF you can literally get your tits out for the planet by donating explicit pictures or videos that can then be paid for, with this money going towards conservation projects in Brazil, Peru, Mexico and more. Based on the efforts documented on their website, their project does actually seem to be working. By focusing on supporting small, local projects, FFF have supported causes such as forest and animal conservation, eco-villages, and indigenous communities, to name a few.

Whether or not you believe that eco-sexuality can save the planet, as porn goes, it’s clear that it’s far less harmful than the majority of freely available online content. It’s anti-capitalist, it’s anti-patriarchy, and it’s challenging antiquated ideas around sexuality and by doing so, welcoming queer communities in. The movement is in fact so responsible that, when Live Art duo Ian Sinclair and Loren Kronemyer (Pony Express) set up an Ecosex Bathhouse in Melbourne in 2016, they even provided tiny, finger condoms for people to wear when touching flowers so as not to interfere with pollination. It’s far removed from the dark and often criminal processes that prop up the mainstream porn industry. Whether you’re actually into it is another matter entirely. But hey, the world is quite literally your oyster, or your fuck buddy, or your spouse - if you want it to be. Just remember public nudity can get you arrested, and maybe avoid any National Trust properties.

_

Natalie Beech is a freelance writer based in Manchester. She mainly writes scripts and articles, with commissions from organisations such as the international HeforShe campaign and plays performed at theatres including The Arcola, The Pleasance, Attenborough Arts Centre and more. She has been selected for several writing competitions, including the Young Pleasance Playwriting Competition and Sheer Height Theatre's Women Redressed, among others. Find out more about her work at https://www.nataliebeech.com