Petra Joy

Petra Joy (born 1964 in Kempten, West Germany) is an award-winning German feminist film director, film producer, TV producer, distributor, author, and photographer. She lives in Brighton, England. Along with Candida Royalle, Annie Sprinkle, Maria Beatty, and others, she is one of the pioneers of the movement to make pornography for women. Her genre is described as "art-core," meaning the focus is on sexuality from the female perspective, female pleasure, and creative, sensual play. Common themes in her erotic films include safe sex, men seen as sexual objects, female fantasies, and male bisexuality.

Background

Joy holds a master’s degree in Film History from the University of Köln. In 1990, she wrote her thesis on the representation of female sexuality in Nazi films. After graduation, she moved to England, where she worked for 10 years as a freelance producer and director for German television. Joy has directed and produced over 70 documentaries for international TV stations such as Channel 4, National Geographic, and WDR. Since 1990, the main focus of her work has been lifestyle and sexuality. A recurring topic was sexuality from a female perspective. Starting in 1992, she produced segments for “Liebe Sünde”, a programme about sex airing on the German satellite station Vox/Pro7.