Photo: Screenshot from frumvids.com
Inside the phenomenon of 'frum porn'
Despite Judaism's conservative restrictions on sexuality and pornography, there seems to be demand for authentic, Orthodox films. The question is, who's watching them?
Sexual modesty is a staple of nearly all of the world's major religions. Christianity forbids sex before marriage and Islam requires that women remain covered to various degrees. Judaism is no exception to the rule, but according to a recent Vice report,
"frum pornography" is still on the menu for those willing to bend the rules.
According to the report, multiple websites, including frumvids.com and clips4sale.com (spoiler: You may not want to see what these sites have to offer) host some 100 videos tagged as either "frum fetish" or "frum lesbians."
Vice contacted the moderators at frumvids.com to find some answers. If religious Jews are forbidden from watching pornography, then who's watching lesbian frum girls? Are the actors Orthodox Jews in real life, or just playing a role?
Photo: Screenshot from frumvids.com
"Frum porn is porn for religious Jews or people who have fetish (for) religious Jews," a representative told Vice. "Why? Because people like to see people who are like themselves. And I can assure you that religious Jewish people are people."
The same representative said that even in the main-stream pornography scene, Judaism is a growing trend with films like Nice Jewish Girls (2009) or Assraelis (2006) which was shot in Israel, all in Hebrew with an all-Jewish cast.
But, said the representative, frum porn brings authenticity lacking in a film like Nice Jewish Girls which uses just a menorah to hold the Jewish story line. Frumvids.com is meant for a more religious crowd, and features only actors who identify as Orthodox or Conservative Jews.
Vice said that frumvids.com doesn't save data on their viewers making it impossible to prove that Orthodox Jews are active, if not silent supporters of frum porn.
But Vice also turned to Craigslist for guidance, and spoke to an admittedly married, ultra-Orthodox Jew in Brooklyn who was looking for a "nice sexy frum girl."
Perhaps surprisingly, this individual said frum porn wasn't for him. Why? "They charge a lot for it," he said.
