The Sweet Smart Ass – An Interview with Tristan Taormino

By Troy Michael

Finding time for anything when you are a workaholic is tough, let alone interview requests. But for 34-year-old multi-tasker sex expert Tristan Taormino, she somehow makes it all happen.

“I am a complete workaholic, it is seriously a problem,” Taormino joked. “I work all the time. There is no magic formula for it. I think it’s because I love my job. If I had a 9-to-5 job that I felt so-so about, I would never work this much. My job is my passion. No matter what it is I am doing, it is always fun.”

The job in question, or should I say jobs, Tristan Taormino is a freelance writer for the Village Voice, Taboo Magazine and various other publications. She has authored three books, she gives lectures and advice on sexual topics, she has worked in porn in front of the camera and more recently she has started her own adult film company Smart Ass Productions. Her company has recently release the amazing new film House of Ass (see review below.)

“I feel inspired again to make films. There are some amazing performers out there and I like the gonzo genre. There are some performers that I would love to have in my films. Also, I feel like there also needs to be gonzo films for women. When I go to watch a gonzo movie it is mainly geared toward men or made by men. Sure you have Belladonna, Jewel De’Nyle and Kylie Ireland… and I love those girls, but there needs to be more women making gonzo films for women.”

What the AVN award winner wants specifically is gonzo that is real and performed by girls that enjoy making those types of movies.

“I think there needs to be more girls having orgasms in gonzo films and I mean real orgasms. For that to happen they have to do what they want to and not what someone is telling them to do for the circus act shock factor. I want a performer to tell me if she likes to be called a dirty little slut and I want to know why she likes to be called a dirty little slut. We will work that into the scene and make it more for her, along the lines of what we both want. With Smart Ass Productions I want to work one on one with women who love extreme sex, but have a reason for loving it.”

Needless to say in her storied career, this adult educator has seen just about everything you can imagine, if not more and its all been seen in person. No matter what the subject matter may be, Taormino always takes something from it and learns more about sexuality.

“I think I have seen everything there is to see sexually. It may not be what I am in to, but I’ll check it out. As long as the people who are doing it is into what they are doing and are passionate about it. That’s all that matters. That includes going to conferences or lectures. Someone could be giving a lecture on a sexual act I am not into, but if they are a good speaker, intelligent and into what they are doing, then I will go and listen. That is fun to me.”

With her thirst for knowledge as a writer/speaker/filmmaker/etc., Taormino has a first hand look at how we have progressed and digressed in America when it comes to sex and the adult film industry.

“I think we have ultimately gone forward as far as sexuality goes in our country. Right now it’s hard to see that because we are swinging so far right with our government. In the big picture however, it was once taboo to do certain things that we can now do and openly talk about. I mean, oral sex was considered kinky not to long ago and God forbid you talk about anal sex.

“The other day, I was listening to some people talk and this woman said ‘my husband calls me the anal master’ and the other girl said ‘how do you mean? You are good at giving or getting anal?’ And I thought to myself, that is great because five or ten years ago people would automatically think the women loves getting fucked in the ass. But now it is more common that men enjoy getting fucked in the ass by their wives or girlfriends.”

Taormino feels this gives us more fluidity and options in our sexual lives…and of course more options are always a good thing.

When Taormino was younger, her alternatives were a little different. As a teenage girl she wanted to be a “Solid Gold” dancer or a teacher. In away she has a little bit of each in her career, but it suffices to say that Taormino’s career chooses her and she didn’t choose her career.

“I wasn’t a sexually savvy kid or anything. I mean, of course I was horny and I was sexually active, but I didn’t know anything.”

Which leads into the perfect subject of sexual education of today’s youth. It isn’t the same as when Taormino was growing up in the 1980s. Teens today are much more sexually active at a much younger age. It could be said this is a product of porn going mainstream or mainstream going porn. Whatever the reason, the education of our youth coming from their parents and schools is vital.

“Everything has sped up so much,” Taormino explained. “The kids are so much younger now. What makes me sad is that there is no sex education in the United States. Girls know way more then we did. For example, I am fine with Christina Aguilera dressed like she does and dances how she does in music videos. But the problem is girls need to understand that it is not the way you dress to go to school. They need to know the repercussions of this as well. Women need to think twice before dressing like a ho, they need to carry the responsibility that goes with it too.”

In a bold statement, one that she hasn’t said in print before this, Taormino feels the porn age should be raised to 21 for girls to enter the industry.

“I would love it if porn age was raised to 21. Once you do porn you’ve done it. It’s forever. The women I see succeed in the business are smart and know what they want. They didn’t come into this business as an 18 or 19-year-old thinking they are going to be the next Jenna Jameson. That is a one in a million thing.”

Taormino also feels that sometimes the adult film industry is asking too much of these girls coming in at a young age. Some girls are doing double anal and double vaginal sex a year or two out of high school.

“There are also exceptions to every rule,” Taormino continues. “I know there are girls more mature then their teenage years. As a whole, most of the girls are not very smart about their decisions at a young age.”

This among many other reasons is why Tristan Taormino started Smart Ass Productions. She is looking to work with girls who are intelligent and are aware of their sexual identity.

“My ultimate goal is to do gonzo that doesn’t have stupid stunts. It pisses me off there aren’t more real orgasms in films. There also needs to be more context in porn. I won’t do a film just for shock value. That is not what Smart Ass is about.”

When asked if she would be staring in these films, Taormino replied with a laugh, “I don’t know…I think I am getting to old for it. Which kind of goes against everything I just said earlier about girls being too young.”