The Clit List: A Porn Resource Website With Sexual Assault Survivors In Mind
The stigmas and myths surrounding online porn—both for viewers and producers—have changed quite a bit over the last few years. One area where destigmatizing efforts are most noticeable is in regards to women’s relationship to online porn. The space that has opened up for women to discuss their relationship to visual stimuli has led to the development of much-needed resources like this: The Clit List, a porn website with sexual assault survivors in mind.
The Clit List is an online branch of My Body Back, a London-based platform founded in August of 2014 by Pavan Amara that supports healing and facilitates empowerment for survivors of sexual assault. My Body Back offers everything from specialist services like cervical screening clinics that are “designed especially for women who have experienced sexual violence,” to workshops and book clubs. All of the resources and services provided are deliberately crafted to serve the needs of sexual assault survivors.
Of course, The Clit List is no different. The website includes reviews of long and short porn videos, erotic literatures, erotic art and photography, information and advice on sex toys, and more. But rather than an actual porn website itself, The Clit List acts as a pre-screening resource for survivors interested in exploring porn again. The reviews detail specific sex acts in the video in question, a rating to measure the explicitness, potential triggers, and more. It’s an attempt to shield potential viewers from a potentially upsetting or triggering sexual experience, while also allowing survivors to use their agency to make pretty well-informed choices on what kind of explicit content they’d like to view.
The website is still in its infancy; each medium of porn offered on The Clit List only has a few entries so far. If word spreads and its usage continues to grow and develop, it’s likely the site will iron out any kinks and answer questions or concerns that may arise. Thankfully, My Body Back is not only open to, but encourages feedback from its users.
But big picture? An individual’s sexual health and sexual empowerment after an assault are just as important and valuable as they were before that traumatic experience. Fighting for legal justice for survivors is no less significant work than fighting to provide resources to support survivors on their fight for empowerment, and to reclaim their own agency in the midst of a sociopolitical world that, despite so much effort, is still at “Victim Blaming 101.”
The Clit List might seem like a frivolous part of supporting survivors, but for those survivors who feel like being reintroduced to their own sexuality, determining their own pleasure on their own terms, or exploring masturbation again is a thing that empowers them, then why not provide a way for them to do that? If we can understand that a healthy sexual self—which, of course, looks differently on different people—is a significant part of our well-being, then we certainly shouldn’t expect or assume survivors should be willing to sacrifice that. The Clit List, though early in its creation, is an attempt to combat that.