Source: Adult Industry News
By: Rich Moreland
An Interview with Ela Darling By Rich Moreland
An engaging smile and razor-sharp smarts describe Ela Darling, a formally educated pornography feminist.
Born in California, Ela spent her youth in Texas, completing her undergrad degree at the University of Texas at Dallas. Growing up in the Lone Star State had its moments, but this blonde honey decided life beyond the southwestern plains offered her more.
“I got out of Texas as quickly as I could,” she says, and headed to the University of Illinois for a Master’s in Library Science.
At twenty-two Ela was a working librarian and did some non-nude bondage photos for extra cash. A year later, she got into “porn-porn,” as she calls it. It turns out this inked blonde is a perfect bondage model: The quiet intellectual girl in the corner who gets off on being tied up.
Moving from the book stacks to the film set may seem incongruous, but Ela is a feminist in control of her career. It’s all by choice and “very fulfilling,” she says. “[My] work gives me financial independence, personal independence, sexual independence, [and] a lot of liberation. I feel good about what I do.”
“Feminism in porn allows women to have control over their sexual destiny on set. If I want to do something because I want to do it [and] it’s fulfilling to me, that’s awesome. It doesn’t matter if someone else isn’t into it.”
She brings up her BDSM work at Kink.com where feminist porn models love to shoot.
“People think the porn I do at Kink is glorified rape, but I don’t agree. It’s clear that everyone is consenting to [what is put on film]. Sex without consent is rape no matter what.”
So what makes a bondage shoot fun?
“I like rough sex,” Ela says. “I like being spanked, I like the top of my hair pulled. I like being choked and slapped. [These are] really arousing to me.”
Ela also loves Kink.com because of their respect for models, especially with the checklist that establishes consent before filming begins. “They make me feel so comfortable. They take care of me. I have so many friends there because they employ good people.”
To illustrate the importance of communication at Kink, Ela remembers before her Public Disgrace shoot being pulled aside by one of the female crew and quickly educated about what to do when stressed.
“Sometimes girls get intimidated [about using] their safe word, so just call ‘red’ anytime, even if you have to go to the bathroom. If something is going on and you don’t feel comfortable, tell me what’s happening and I will take care of it so you don’t have to.”
“That made me feel so incredibly safe and taken care of,” Ela recalls. “It made such a difference. It was a great shoot.”
Public Disgrace has a reputation of tipping over the edge and chooses its models wisely for that reason. Ela describes her shoot as “so much fun [and] so extreme.” Her friends who watched it later were aghast. But not Ela.
“There were times when I would have to turn my head away from the camera because I was smiling so much! It was so awesome!”
Like some girls who begin in BDSM porn as submissives, Ela is turning the tables a bit now.
“I switch sometimes. I top men mostly, which is really fun.”
On the other hand, bottoming for men is not high on her list. But she loves subbing for a woman, especially “A strong empowered woman who is owning everything.”
Finally, is Ela part of the BDSM lifestyle?
No, she says, “because I don’t really participate in community events. It’s more of a private thing for me. But my interaction with the lifestyle community has been really great. [They are] a really intuitive bunch of people.”
If she ever changes her mind, Ela would be welcomed with open arms.
