Jiz Lee (born October 30, 1980) is an

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

n pornographic performer, considered a major star of queer porn. Lee is an advocate for the ethical production and consumption of

pornography Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is Sexual suggestiveness, sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolv ...

and for the

labor rights Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, the ...

and sexual autonomy of

adult entertainment The sex industry (also called the sex trade) consists of businesses that either directly or indirectly provide sex-related products and services or adult entertainment. The industry includes activities involving direct provision of sex-related se ...

performers.

Adult film career

Lee's first

pornographic film Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, adult films, blue films, sexually explicit films, or 18+ films, are films that represent Human sexual activity, sexually WIKT:explicit, explicit subject matter in order to sexual arousal, arouse, fasci ...

was ''The Crash Pad'' for Pink and White Productions, released in 2005. Lee initially only performed with their personal lovers. Lee describes themselves as a "self-agent", only working with a director after meeting them in person first. Lee continued to work with Pink and White Productions founder

Shine Louise Houston Shine Louise Houston is a filmmaker and the founding Film director, director and Film producer, producer of Pink and White Productions, an independent production company creating queer pornography in San Francisco. Houston makes feature-length p ...

's feature 'SNAPSHOT'.

Screen credits

In addition to their adult screen credits, Lee has appeared in numerous other queer and trans projects, including African American director

Cheryl Dunye Cheryl Dunye (; born May 13, 1966) is a Liberian-American film director, producer, screenwriter, editor and actress. Dunye's work often concerns themes of race, sexuality, and gender, particularly issues relating to black lesbians. She is known ...

's queer romantic comedy of errors ''Mommy is Coming'', in which Lee appears with an international cast that included the Black Boricua porn performer Papi Coxxx. They had a recurring role as Pony, a

dominatrix A dominatrix ( ; or dominatrices ), or domme, is a woman who takes the dominant role in BDSM activities. The BDSM practice is called female dominance, or femdom. A dominatrix can be of any sexual orientation, but this does not necessarily l ...

for the character Sarah Pfefferman, in the series '' Transparent''. They also performed the role of the genderfluid conjoined twins in video for

The Residents The Residents are an American art collective and art rock band best known for their avant-garde music and multimedia works. Since their first official release, ''Meet the Residents'' (1974), they have released over 60 albums, numerous music vid ...

's theatrical stage production of the album '' God in Three Persons'' premiered at

MoMA The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

in January 2020.

Activism

Lee is known as an advocate of sex workers' rights, and is a self-described "pleasure activist". They have produced pornography under the name "Karma Pervs" to raise funds for reproductive and sexual health projects, support for LGBTQ people, and sex workers' rights. Lee is a significant figure in the genre of queer pornography, and is considered to be a visible

genderqueer Non-binary or genderqueer gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gender that is differ ...

person in porn. Lee has stated that "there’s no such thing as 'feminist porn, rejecting the implication that "all other porn is inherently misogynist". Lee's growing popularity may be attributed in part to the growing quantity of production of

feminist pornography Feminist pornography, also known by other terms in internet such as 'ethical porn' or 'fair-trade porn' is a genre of film developed by or for those within the sex-positive feminist movement. It was created for the purpose of promoting gender eq ...

and queer pornography. These genres of porn have grown significantly in marketing and consumption in the 21st century. Lee is the editor of the 2016 book ''Coming Out Like a Porn Star'', which compiles the stories of adult performers. The book was inspired by Lee's own struggles with "coming out" to their family about working in the adult entertainment industry. One review defined the book as "a lesson in social behavior and prejudice" directed at adult performers. Porn scholar Lynn Comella has described the book as "a testament to the power of storytelling and the importance of sex workers telling their stories in their own words." Lee has written on feminism and porn. Lee has been interviewed in multiple articles on feminist, queer, and trans issues, especially on queer pornography. Lee has spoken at academic institutions, such as

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

and

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

, on

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

sexuality and their experiences in porn. In 2011, Lee and fellow adult performer Courtney Trouble proclaimed October 21 as "International

Fisting Fisting—also known as fist fucking (FF) and handballing—is a sexual activity that involves inserting one or more hands into the rectum (anal fisting) or the vagina (vaginal fisting). Fisting may be performed on oneself (self-fisting) or perf ...

Day," which Lee described "a day of international celebration and education" intended in part to combat

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

Personal life

Lee has identified as both

and

as well as

non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

. Lee uses ''

they/them Singular ''they'', along with its inflected or derivative forms, ''them'', ''their'', ''theirs'', and ''themselves'' (also ''themself'' and ''theirself''), is a gender-neutral third-person pronoun derived from plural they. It typically occu ...

'' pronouns. They are a graduate of

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, California is part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was relocated to Oakland in ...

Awards and nominations

Selected publications

* In * * With Rebecca Sullivan: * As editor: .

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Jiz Living people 21st-century American LGBTQ people American transgender writers American transgender actors American non-binary writers American non-binary actors LGBTQ people from Hawaii Mills College alumni Non-binary activists Pornographic film actors from Hawaii Queer pornographic film actors Transgender non-binary people Sex-positive feminists American sex worker activists 1980 births Fisting subculture