Bren Ryder

Recently, I was named #17 in a list of 100 Top Hot Butches. This list was created by Sinclair Sexsmith of The Sugarbutch Chronicles and judged by a panel of other bloggers and friends.

First of all, I have to say that I am completely honoured to be included on the list and thrilled that I made Top 20. One of the main criteria for being included on the list (besides having masculine appearance and being attractive to the panelists) was doing something in the public sphere in 2009. It is so validating to be noticed. That was the goal. I was even given the title of “Porn Pioneer”. Talk about making your dreams come true. One day I decide I’d like to change the face of queer porn, the next day I’m being referred to as a porn pioneer on a list that includes so many incredible artists.

The thing that I love about this list is that it’s saying something really important: Butches are hot!

At the beginning of my adult life I had a phase of heterosexuality, which was fine. I dated guys, then moved onto the next phase. The one thing that really hit me when I came out was that I went from being an ugly straight girl to a hot lesbian. It was really interesting to experience (and oh so fun). Hotness is in the eye of the beholder. And butch hotness is becoming more and more widely accepted. We can talk about the politics and flaws in deeming someone hot or not until we’re blue in the face, but I’d like to praise the evolution of hotness that is now including people like butches and queers. This is a new development. Granted, this list is still an event within our little queer corner, but, it still makes an impact.

There were some murmurings of controversy regarding the inclusion of trans guys in the list. I read some opinions and I see what they’re saying, but I think sometimes gender politics can take itself a little too seriously. From my understanding some people (not the people listed themselves) didn’t like the inclusion of transmen in a list of masculine women. The inclusion apparently invalided their maleness. I don’t buy it.

In my opinion, using words that include a lot of different types of people is liberating. And what those words happen to be will change over time. Gay, queer, butch, femme, trans: they have all had different meanings in the past and are going to have different meanings in the future. Some of us have word preferences. Sinclair likes butch and wants to change people’s mental image of what a butch is. I like ‘dyke’ (as in GoodDykePorn.com) and want to change people’s mental image of what a dyke is, in particular what dyke porn is. Good Dyke Porn is inclusive. Those are words that I strung together. The people themselves identify in many many different ways: queer, bisexual, trans, butch, femme, male, female, genderqueer, top, bottom, and who knows what else.

This Top Hot Butches list is a celebration of butches who are doing work that’s important to them that other people see. Why wouldn’t transguys be included? To me, being butch is mostly about outward appearance. It’s about a natural masculine expression. The actual experience of being a butch is as varied as there are butches. Some are writers, pornographers, actors, singers, musicians, performance artists, and theorists. Some are tops, bottoms, celibate, have tits, have no tits, transitioned genders, never cry, great cooks, handy around the house, good with money, moody and you see where I’m going with this.

To follow the line of argument I’ve seen so far, yes, cisgender males can be butch too (I’m still getting used to that cis-word, it’s like some underground queer vernacular, but it works best for descriptive purposes). But they get more than their fair share of the spotlight, so let’s just leave them out of this. You’re in the queer bubble, people, follow along in your programs.

If someone created a list of 100 Top Trans Hotties and I was included on that list I wouldn’t mind. It’s not how I self-identify, but the purpose of having a public life is to share our work with the world. Put me on any kind of list you want. I’ll pay attention to the positive ones, ignore the negative and be grateful you’re learning about the work that I’m doing my best to create.

My Good Dyke Porn™ business soul mate, that is.

I’ve decided I want a partner. I’m feeling ready to share my toys with others and see what happens when more than one person works at creating an impact on a porno revolution. Of course, I haven’t been the only one creating the work of GoodDykePorn.com. There are many models, a few camera operators, volunteers, a graphic designer, a composer and an investor. But the day-to-day work is done entirely by me. I love doing it on my own, but I’m feeling open to finding the right person to share the work, the joy and, the money.

I use the term “soul mate” because I feel as though the right person for the job is going to be someone who is a lot more than just skilled in one area or another. The right person is going to click with me another level. Now, I love clicking with people. I click all the time. But, this click needs to be special. This isn’t love, this is business, but it’s gotta be magic.

I think the greatest benefit of having a partner is that we can motivate each other. We can inspire each other. And, we can impose deadlines on each other. I see us getting together for a business meeting once a week, doing some brainstorming and planning, and then assigning a few tasks for each of us to complete for the next week. Due to the fact that this meeting is very important I am currently only looking for someone who lives in Vancouver, BC. If you live in the Lower Mainland and want to commute into Vancouver for the meetings then you may also apply.

Our financial arrangements will be discussed later, however, considering the current status of the website (paused), there will be no payment for work done for at least the first 3 to 6 months. Currently, all incoming revenue is being reinvested into the website - which is why I had to get a day job again (I’m really liking it though. It’s getting me out of the house and I enjoy doing something completely different from running the porn biz for part of my time). So, you must have a day job and the will to work Good Dyke Porn in your spare time.

Here are a few things that come to mind regarding what I’m seeking in a partner:

* I’m looking for someone who has a variety of skills or has an ability to learn new things quickly.
* Computer skills are essential and an up-to-date computer is preferred.
* Film and video experience isn’t necessary and film industry experience is really unnecessary and maybe even a drawback. Depends.
* Knowledge of business, accounting, marketing, video editing, graphic design, webmastery, or camera operation are all wonderful, but not required. I taught myself everything and perhaps you can do the same.
* Maybe you’d like to be in the public eye.
* Maybe you’d rather work behind the scenes.
* You are passionate, but not overbearing.
* You are easy-going, but not aloof.
* You live in Vancouver.
* You are queer.
What else?

I’m open to hearing why you think you’d like to work at Good Dyke Porn™.
It’s amazingly rewarding work and together we can make it Great and even make some money.

Send me an email. Tell me about yourself, your schedule, your experience and why you’d like to be my GDP Soul Mate.
To: bren@gooddykeporn.com

Love,
Bren Ryder

More than writing this upcoming manifesto, I am living the manifesto. In fact, I haven’t written anything yet. So far, I am witnessing. I’m waiting to see what emerges as a clear philosophy for revolutionizing porn.

I have a general idea about what I want to create. I want to create good dyke porn, thus the name of the website is GoodDykePorn.com. And we’ve all been working intuitively to figure out what exactly good dyke porn consists of. The way I figured it is if we start to have genuine sexual encounters on camera between women who love women then we should be on the right path.

Whenever I talk about the website - my vision for the future, what we create and what we’re hoping to achieve - I become extremely verbose. After my second cup of coffee with someone who’s interested in learning about what I do, I start to passionately express the positive effects good dyke porn has on society, the fantasy of a changed world, and human experience of de-grossifying pornography.

But, whenever I think about writing a manifesto I get a little overwhelmed and can’t think of anything to write. I think I’m over thinking it. I was rereading my Steve Pavlina book yesterday and in the chapter on careers I was reminded that what I’m trying achieve with this website/my business is what I’m trying to achieve for my own life.

A few months back (probably when I was reading the Steve P. book for the first time) I came up my purpose in life. It was a matter of breaking down everything I feel like I want into something that can’t be broken down anymore. Plus it needs to be something that resonates with me.

Here’s what I came up with for my life purpose:

* Love Truthfully
* Empower and Inspire
* Experience Life Fully

Everything I do in life needs to align with one or more of those points. So, this seems like a good place to start for the Good Dyke Porn™ Manifesto. After all, my work should be in alignment with my personal manifesto.

And it is.

This past Sunday I had to work.

Over the years I’ve worked a variety of jobs and whenever possible I’ve always tried to keep Sundays free. No work on Sundays. I’ve even lied and told my employers that I couldn’t work Sundays because I had to go to church. To me, Sundays had to be the one day that I had off. It was sacred. No work on Sundays.

When working a “job” it’s always the days-off that become sacred because the days-on tend to be un-enjoyable. Now that I’m running my own business the days on have become sacred. I don’t overwork my business, though. I certainly make sure I take time off for myself and not spend all my time on the job. Even though it is my dream job I still take the weekends off. But, this Sunday, I worked. And, it was magical.

Trala La, a mutual friend and I rented a sauna at an old, beautiful and gritty steam bath house. We snuck our camera equipment into our private room and sauna and immediate got down to work. Using three cameras we captured the gorgeous Trala La shave from head to toe and enjoy some time with the water faucet. We even had some time left over in the end to all strip down and enjoy the sauna with the camera and equipment all put away.

For the rest of the day the three of us reported an indescribable high from the creative work we did that day.

Obviously, the events of the day weren’t exactly “work”. They were playful, creative, sexual, artistic, intimate, and fun. However, this is in fact my job. If I don’t do it then my objective with GoodDykePorn.com will suffer. If I don’t do it then the business will suffer and it will no longer serve as my job.

By recognizing the importance of my job and recognizing that doing this work is entirely necessary I am immediately filled with a feeling of bliss. This is my job. Everyday can be a joy. My life is better because of that fact. And, the world is better because my blissful job produces incredibly beautiful and important images of queer women. What could be better than that?

Now, Sundays are sacred because I work.

I made a decision to hit the pause button on my porn website, GoodDykePorn.com.  I’m referring to content updates. After I add an additional part to my solo scene there won’t be anymore updates for a few months. This was a difficult decision, but my primary concern is to create a valuable product to my customers. Currently, I’m having some trouble keeping up to the very modest update schedule of one new scene per month.

I was worried about this decision because I don’t want people to think that I’ve given up or that Good Dyke Porn is on it’s way out. On the contrary, I feel like the next couple of months are going to contribute to its longevity. I run the site on my own and I like it that way. My intention is to continue to do so, but in a way that will keep the quality of the website consistent and allow the site to run at least for the next 10 years. That’s what I’m looking ahead to.

When I chose to start this site, I just did it. I didn’t spend much time doing market research or perfecting my business plan or honing my business and technical skills. Considering the amount of work and expertise that’s required to make this website run smoothly, I could have spent years in preparation. For me, it was important to just get started. Personally, I learn by doing. As I started to film the scenes I learned what was required to make it look good and what was unnecessary. As I started to edit the scenes I referred to online tutorials of Final Cut Pro and became more and more comfortable as every new hot scene passed before my eyes. At tax time I was forced to get my accounts organized. Everyday I learn new skills: webmastery, inventory, customer service, marketing and promotion. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Initially, I set up the foundation of the website and hoped that from there I could simply add content and promote. As always, there’s much more to it than first meets the eye. Now is the time to revisit that foundation and make it even stronger. Over the next couple of months I’m going to be completing plenty of important tasks and creating some more material to be released on a consistent basis when updates begin again. Besides that, I’ll be figuring out the best way to make this work over the years. Whether it’s task, time or personnel management it will be solved.

We aren’t going anywhere, though, so please continue to visit the site as often as you like. If you buy a membership then you will have access for the entire time that we are “paused”. If you have a membership right now then your access will also be extended. (Message me if I haven’t successfully reached you by email: bren@gooddykeporn.com)

I’m very excited about the upcoming changes and I feel in my heart that this “break” is extremely necessary to the future of Good Dyke Porn. Here are some changes that you can expect to see:

• Updated community features in the members area.
• Model profiles and pages.
• Redesigned navigation for easy of use.
• Limited # of free or discounted memberships available for application.
• User submissions from all over the world.
• More frequent and consistent updates.
• Commissions paid to all participating models.

Let me know what you want to see different for your money. I’m going to be busy, but I always have time to talk to you. Together we can continue to make Good Dyke Porn a place for beautiful, quality images of real queer sexuality that we can all be proud of.