Candida Royalle (born Candice Marion Vadala; October 15, 1950 – September 7, 2015) was an American producer and director of couples-oriented pornography, pornographic actress, sex educator, and sex-positive feminist. She was a member of the XRCO and the AVN Halls of Fame.

Early life and education

Royalle was born Candice Marion Vadala in New York City on October 15, 1950. Initially trained in music, dance and art in New York City, she studied at the High School of Art and Design, Parsons School of Design and the

City University of New York The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the public university system of New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven senior colleges, seven community colleges and seven pro ...

Career

After graduating from Parsons School of Design, she began performing with the avant-garde theater group The Cockettes and in 1975 played Divine's daughter in the play ''The Heartbreak of Psoriasis''. In 1975, she began her career as a pornographic performer, appearing in about 25 movies before retiring in 1980 with ''Blue Magic'', which she also wrote. Royalle quit as a performer because she got married, and was uncomfortable being sexual with other men. Moreover, she had increasingly felt that her strongly feminist views were at odds with the male-centric manner in which traditional pornography was produced and that she had been working in, giving virtually no attention to the female perspective, and making no effort to appeal to female viewers. The increasing availability of

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and VCR around 1983 provided Royalle both with an incentive and opportunity to consider producing her own "feminist" pornography, aimed at women and couples who wanted to watch a different kind of porn from the privacy of their homes. In early 1984, Royalle founded Femme Productions together with Lauren Neimi. Their goal was making erotica based on female desire, as well as pornographic films aimed at helping couple therapy. Her productions are aimed more at women and couples than at the standard pornographic audience of men, and have been praised by counselors and therapists for depicting healthy and realistic sexual activity. Royalle stated that she tried to avoid " misogynous predictability", and depiction of sex in "…as grotesque and graphic wayas possible." She also criticized the male-centredness of the typical pornographic film, in which scenes end when the male actor ejaculates. Royalle's films are not "goal oriented" towards a final "

cum shot A cum shot is the depiction of human ejaculation, especially onto another person. The term is usually applied to depictions occurring in pornographic films, photographs, and magazines. Cum shots have become the object of fetish genres like buk ...

"; instead, her films depict sexual activity within the broader context of women's emotional and social lives. In 1989, she signed the Post Porn Modernist Manifesto. She was featured in

Maya Gallus Maya Gallus is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, and co-founder of Red Queen Productions with Justine Pimlott. Her films have screened at international film festivals, including Toronto International Film Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, ...

's 1997 documentary film '' Erotica: A Journey Into Female Sexuality''.Janice Kennedy, "Exploring female sexuality: Documentary a revealing look at women's erotica". ''

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'', February 10, 1999. Royalle wrote regular columns for adult magazines ''High Society'' and ''Cheri''. She was also a public speaker, giving lectures at

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Found ...

, the World Congress on Sexology, and numerous universities and professional conferences. In 2004, she authored the book ''How to Tell a Naked Man What to Do''. A five-track EP titled ''Candida Cosmica'', a collaboration between Royalle and Patrick Cowley from the mid-1970s, was released in October 2016 by Dark Entries Records.

Affiliations

Royalle was a member of the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists, and a founding board member of Feminists for Free Expression.

Personal life and death

In the 1980s, Royalle was married to producer Per Sjöstedt; they separated in 1988. In May 2006, she announced that she was engaged to be married. She died in Mattituck, New York on September 7, 2015, aged 64, from

ovarian cancer Ovarian cancer is a cancerous tumor of an ovary. It may originate from the ovary itself or more commonly from communicating nearby structures such as fallopian tubes or the inner lining of the abdomen. The ovary is made up of three different ...

In media

In 2019, ''Candice'', a documentary about Royalle's life and finding out what happened to her mother who left her as a child, was screened at various documentary film festivals. It was directed by Sheona McDonald and distributed by Mbur Indie Film Distribution.

Filmography

During her acting career (1975–1980), Royalle performed in 25 traditional male-centred porn films, including ''Ball Game'' (1980) by Ann Perry, ''Hot & Saucy Pizza Girls'', ''Hot Racquettes'', ''Delicious'', ''Fascination'' by Chuck Vincent, and finally ''Blue Magic'' (1980), which Royalle also wrote and her then-new husband Per Sjöstedt produced. By 2013, Royalle had (jointly) written or directed 18 feminist porn films with Femme Productions since 1984, including: * ''Femme'' (1984) * ''Urban Heat'' (1984) * ''Three Daughters'' (1986) * ''Christine's Secret'' (1986) * ''A Taste of Ambrosia'' (1987) * ''Rites of Passion'' (1987) * ''Sensual Escape'' (1988) * ''Revelations'' (1993) * ''My Surrender'' (1996) * ''The Gift'' (1997) * ''The Bridal Shower'' (1997) * ''One Size Fits All'' (1998) * ''Eyes of Desire'' (1998) * ''Eyes of Desire 2'' (1999) * '' Afrodite Superstar'' (2006) * ''Under the Covers'' (2007)

References

External links

Candida Royalle's Website
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Papers of Candida Royalle, 1920-2017.Schlesinger Library
Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. {{DEFAULTSORT:Royalle, Candida 1950 births 2015 deaths American pornographic film actresses American feminists American women writers Women pornographic film directors Feminist pornography Sex-positive feminists Businesspeople from New York City Pornographic film actors from New York (state) Deaths from ovarian cancer Parsons School of Design alumni City University of New York alumni Deaths from cancer in New York (state) High School of Art and Design alumni 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesswomen 21st-century American women