NENNA JOINER
NENNA JOINER talks about
00:03 #Downtown Oakland and Gentrification
00:34 #Indigenous people have been moved
01:07 #One of four black businesses left
02:36 #Downtown Oakland and rap
02:59 #Sex shop and community outreach
04:19 #Safe place for pleasure
06:40 #Diversity in queer porn
07:22 #Her own porn movies and minority activism
09:34 #Interracial sex can be queer
I visited Nenna Joiner of the Feelmore Adult Gallery in Oakland. Her immacutely designed and darkly lit sex shop is located on Telegraph Avenue in downtown Oakland, with its remnants of grand old boulevards and movie theaters. The shop distinguishes itself because of its piles of vintage magazines with enticing covers. Joiner explains that the shop caters to local Oakland consumers and to ethnic and sexual diversity: “Each person regardless of race, gender, sexual identification, or perceived economic standing are welcomed in this space… we do our part socially to support the growth and global positioning of Oakland!”[1]
There is as slogan carved in the shop window that says: "Our bullets don't hurt." In a public post about her reason for running the shop she states that: “I opened Feelmore Adult Gallery today out of Protest for those that don't want me here or the ones that have no idea on how to celebrate others. Feelmore is a dope ass business that needs Dope Ass People to keep it going.“ [2]
She wants to create a pleasure-positive and safe environment for local customers even though it is hard to stay afloat financially: “One of the many things as a business owner aka entrepreneur isn't just making money, its about tending to creating a sane space so Clients or Customers can shop without seeing chaos. … As a Black woman raised by other Black Women that were business owners, we always wanted to do business with our community. As important as this is, certain communities may or may not help the bottom line which supports your business staying open.”[3]
Joiner is also a queer pornography producer who believes that mainstream porn relies too much on repetitive scripts. She has made two movies that show queer sex with performers from ethnically diverse backgrounds. In the movie A Drop of Color she casts people from different ethnicities to shed new light on the African-American “dark skinned” body. In her second movie Hell Brown: Real Sex in the City all performers are African American identified. She explains that it was harder to find international distribution for the second movie as the majority of customers would still prefer more light skinned actors/actresses.
[1] Nenna Joiner on her Google Plus site, posted 20 jan 2015 https://plus.google.com/+NennaJoiner/posts
(accessed on March 4, 2016)
[2] Nenna Joiner on her Google Plus site, posted 4 march, 2014 https://plus.google.com/+NennaJoiner/posts
(accessed on March 4, 2016)
[3] Nenna Joiner on her Google Plus site, posted on 9 february, 2014 https://plus.google.com/+NennaJoiner/posts
(accessed on March 4, 2016)
