Psychotherapist and Co-Owner of Royal Fetish Films: Jasmine Johnson MSW, MA, LCSW
Jasmine Johnson is a Psychotherapist with a strong emphasis on Intimacy Post Injury/Illness. She is the owner and lead therapist of Blue Pearl Therapy.
Jasmine co-owns, with partner King Noire, award winning Royal Fetish Films and together have over 20 years of experience as adult entertainers, directors and producers. The duo’s love of the arts, film and sex education are combined to produce erotica that stimulates and engages the audience to explore their sexual boundaries.
Their work on the Decolonization of Sex & Porn and Politics has been featured in Huffington Post, Rolling Stones, Paper Magazine, VICE, Playboy, Forbes, Cosmopolitan, BBC, Psychology Today and more.
Here she answers the Mama Sex Six:
What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the phrase "mama sex"?
MILF! The kind of mother that has pleasurable sex that is desired and desirable!
What inspired you to work/create/advocate on the topic of "mama sex"?
Too often women are expected to disappear into the identity prescribed to mothers by society. I love being able to speak up and model a different option for us. I enjoy sharing the many ways I still, if not more, enjoy sex and exploring my sexuality. I enjoy sharing my journey being a sex positive parent, which empowers other families to lift the veil of shame and stigma associated with pleasure based sex education for their families.
In your work/practice/art, what are the biggest hurdles mothers are facing in terms of their sexuality?
Generally it is the combination of all of the societal ills that mothers are impacted -- including but not limited to disproportionate medical care, unequal pay, lack of resources surrounding childcare, lack of political autonomy of our bodies. These stressors, combined with limiting gender roles and conservative expectations of women really hamper the physical, mental and emotional space and support we have to explore our sexuality, to enjoy our sexual proclivities and the freedom to attract experiences that we desire.
What do you think society at large should know about motherhood and sexuality? And what is society getting wrong right now in regards to it?
Society at large should know that motherhood is a PART of a woman's life. It is not the totality of our existence. We are valuable before, during and after raising children. This value includes the deserving of a sex life, sexual fluidity, and our human need for intimacy with or without the partner we conceived with. Society continues to lean on colonized and puritanical conservative views on how a woman should behave prior to becoming a mother, when she is pregnant, and with child (young or older). These views and practices are outdated for many and we really need to have multiple models, including the option for an individual pursuit on what motherhood looks like at the individual level.
What piece of sex advice would you give mothers? Was there something you wish someone had told you?
Motherhood doesn’t get easier, it gets different!
I wish I had learned earlier that I get to script the type of mother I want to be from the very beginning. There are some things we MUST do to safely raise our children, but none of those things include the erasure of your dreams, desires and personhood.
Let's amplify our voice: Who are some mamas you love following on social media?
Parish Michelle Blair @SexySpirittv
Ashley Wright - @mswrightsway
Marla Renee Stewart - @ velvetlipssxed
Nerissa Nefeteri Olugbala - @ nerissaneferteri
To learn more about Jasmine and her work:
Check out Jetsettingjasmine.com for Fetish, Kink and Sex Positive Informed Consultation and Training
@ JetSetJasmine on all platforms
Mixing Identities: Therapist, Porn Professional, Polyamorous Ally, Mother
To read more on how Jasmine balances these multiple roles that have historically been seen in conflict with one another:
‘I Can Be a Therapist and… Do Porn’: Meet Jet Setting Jasmine, who is rejecting cultural norms through her work in therapy and adult films
From academia to porn to entrepreneurship, Jasmine is unabashed in all she does because she loves it. In an age when women are still judged for how they choose to exist, it was important for Jasmine to unlearn the sexist tropes she was taught about sex and womanhood. Deprogramming paved the way for her to professionally pursue her passion for pleasure in ways that tie together all facets of who she is.
“I believe that I can be a therapist, and I can also do porn. I can do both things. I can be a mom and I can also be a sex educator, and those things do not cause me a fork in the road every day,” Jasmine tells ZORA. “I don’t have to decide if I want to be a mother or if I want to travel on the swingers cruise. None of those things are prerequisite for the other, or a requirement in any way shape or form, nor do they exclude me.”
Jasmine’s personal journey of exploring her sexuality peaked when she was in her early thirties. She worked a lucrative job at a government agency, developing training and educating around intimacy and caregiving, when she embarked on her own self-described sexual freedom journey in about 2010.
To read the full article: https://zora.medium.com/i-can-be-a-therapist-and-do-porn-d8ec2e41b529
Meet the Therapist to the Porn Stars—Who’s Also a Porn Star
Nonetheless, licensed social worker Jasmine Johnson, owner of Blue Pearl Therapy, believes so much in both her work as a therapist, and her work as a porn performer and producer, she’s willing to push the envelope.
Under the performer name Jet Setting Jasmine, she is an international BDSM educator with her partner King Noire, and they also star in and produce porn through the studio they co-own, Royal Fetish Films.
And I never wanted someone else to discover my participation and the lifestyle and my desires to be an exhibitionist. I didn’t want it to be some crazy headline that let everyone know some “dirty secret.” Because I wasn’t ashamed of these desires at all. I did understand that they are not traditional in our culture. They’re not traditional for a Black woman, for a woman with a child. They’re not traditional for all the many reasons we’re policed on how we spend our free time as professionals, on what standards we’re held to, which are to some extent unrealistic and/or unfair. I understood there would be potential consequences, but I was ready for it. I also knew that there was a niche within porn for real, authentic Black sexuality, for decolonized images and media. So, I was willing to risk it. And I did. …
This journey was about my sex and sexuality as a full human being, who has a socially acceptable role, who is a mom, who is a partner, who is in a poly relationship. If that’s what this is about, make it about that. I’m willing to do that because I get to be my full self…. And like I said, I never wanted to be outed by anyone. If I out myself, I get to tell the narrative.
I know that you and King Noire teach a workshop on “Porn and Parents: Sex-Positive Parenting.” How do you talk to your children about your work?
King and I have a 20-year-old daughter, a 16-year-old daughter, and a 2-year-old son. When I decided that I was going to go into visual media and putting X-rated media out there, knowing that most teenagers are going to end up accessing porn, I decided to talk with them about it. Like, “We’re going to run into each other online, and let’s do the things that we need to do to prevent it. And before even doing that, let me share with you what decision I’m going to be making about my body and the things that I’m going to do, and how it may have an impact on you as my daughters. And how we’ll figure out how to work through that. But this is a decision that I’m making.” That’s what the conversation was over time. It started when they were younger, with having my toys and being like, “Girls, this is mommy’s bag of adult toys. I don’t bother with your toys, do not bother with mine.” I made it clear adults have items that are for them. “And this is how I expect you to respect my boundaries, like I respect yours.” As King and I started to become more popular, we keep having these conversations with our children about our lifestyle, about being in an open relationship, and respecting whatever their decisions will be when they are at the decision-making age.
To read the full Daily Beast article: https://www.thedailybeast.com/meet-the-therapist-to-the-porn-stars-whos-also-a-porn-star
“Decolonizing Porn”
To learn more about the politics of race within the porn industry and how Jasmine has worked to counter this:
Meet the Couple Fighting Porn's Race Problem
Whether we're talking about its reliance on fetishization, the overt pay discrepancies or the fact that it's always been a predominantly white space, it's no secret that porn has a race problem. But after 20 years of shared experience as performers, educators and master fetish trainers, Jet-Setting Jasmine and King Noire are trying to instigate change with their award-winning adult production company, Royal Fetish Films — and it's a masterclass in leading by example.
Since its inception, Royal Fetish has challenged industry norms by demonstrating what a more inclusive, ethical and safe space for BIPOC performers actually looks like. And it all began about 10 years ago, after the real-life couple — who you may also recognize from their @sexpositiveparenting Instagram — started hosting their Fantasy Flight fetish parties. Primarily attended by Black women, it didn't take long for Jasmine and King to start hearing about how their attendees didn't "feel good watching" the Black porn that was currently available. So as a result, the pair began making work that was more about being "able to show people of color in a way that most porn does not."
These racialized fetishes have roots in colonization and are predicated upon "the oppressor always romanticizing and fetishizing the oppressed" — something that's evident through the continued hypersexualization of Black women or the "big Black cock" fetish in porn.
Like other forms of media, Jasmine — who also has a background in psychotherapy with an emphasis on intimacy and post-intimacy trauma — said that ensuring there's also representation behind the camera will go a long way in terms of creating a safe space with a level of cultural sensitivity toward BIPOC talent, particularly Black performers.
To read the full Paper Magazine article: https://www.papermag.com/royal-fetish-porn-race-problem-2648632642.html
It's Time To Confront Porn's Biggest Taboo: Adult entertainment has a racism problem you wouldn't accept in any other area of life. So why do we look the other way when we're getting off?
"Jasmine noted that porn is always reflective of society, and when I asked whether things were improving … she said: "This is a challenging question, mostly because of the racial tension in general society. Porn is an outlet for some of those taboos and socially unacceptable topics. So I think it will get worse before it gets better."...
… our porn debate is still usually taken up by that initial question: is porn 'good' or 'bad'? 'Empowering' or 'degrading'? But what Jasmine and King are doing to combat racism in the porn industry demonstrates perfectly why we need to ditch this question, to stop thinking of porn as either an evil or benevolent monolith and start examining it for what it really is: a genre of media, capable of reflecting and shaping our views as a society.
When we recognise that, we can start examining problems in detail, and all the different people and organisations that feed into those problems. Some responsibility lies with white female performers who demand higher fees for shooting interracial scenes, some lies with the studios that sign off on racism by paying different rates. Some lies with websites which don't properly enforce their terms of service around racist language.
And, yes, some also lies with us, the viewers: not just those who get off on racist stereotypes, but the millions more who either ignore the problem entirely, or shrug it off because porn is 'private.' It may be private, but it isn't invisible. It's as much a part of our society as films, books and TV. And like those other things, we have the power to help change it for the better.
To read the full Esquire Magazine article: https://www.esquire.com/uk/life/sex-relationships/a14383/racism-in-porn/
