Feminism At Forefront Of Evil Angel’s Winning Formula

VAN NUYS, Calif.—Evil Angel, home to some of the most highly awarded, influential and groundbreaking performers and directors in adult entertainment, is well-known for hardcore adult films that cater to every adult fetish. The company has expanded its audience reach by giving a platform to talented female directors that recently have become powerhouse players themselves. Female directors such as Evil Angel’s Aiden Starr, Francesca Le and Dana Vespoli are becoming more popular and in-demand as the landscape of pornography changes to indulge the dirty minds of the so-called fairer sex. A “lifestyle fetish player” drawn to the dark side of the sexual spectrum, Aiden Starr’s brand of erotic expression is on par with the depraved minds of Evil Angel’s male mainstays, such as Joey Silvera, Jonni Darkko and company founder John Stagliano. “I really feel at home at Evil Angel with the other perverts,” said Starr, who was seemingly born to be a dominatrix. While working in New York as a fetish model and performer, Starr managed a prominent fetish dungeon; she later opened a dungeon herself when she moved to Los Angeles. Starr’s performance in Belladonna’s Girl Train won a 2009 AVN Award for Best All-Girl 3-Way Sex Scene. Francesca Le has directed over 150 adult films in the 13 years she and director/performer husband Mark Wood have operated LeWood Productions. She understands the value of developing talent with a different point of view, to entice more viewers. Le’s films have been well received by fans and critics, having earned multiple AVN Awards, because she’s free to shoot the wild, hardcore content of her fantasies. Dana Vespoli, who has won numerous adult film awards for directing (including Best Transsexual Release), has seen many changes in her 12-year career, as women have taken the opportunity to control of their place in the adult industry without the persistent stigma of victimization. Vespoli had been a porn fan from an early age, often renting movies during college. She came into the business as a fan of Stagliano, Silvera and John Leslie. Now, Vespoli has become a peer of some of the directors she admired. She shoots her own camera and stills, preferring to work with a very small cast and crew. Vespoli’s primary interests are themes of gender and power transgression, psychosexual elements and, of course, hardcore sex.  “Women are sexy, in an alluring way that men are not,” said company founder John Stagliano. “They work on the art of being sexy in their personal lives. This gives them insights men don’t have into turning on their sex partners. Couple this with my observation that women tend on average to be kinkier than men, and you have a very interesting porn resource.” It’s no longer a man’s world… at least not in the adult industry.