If you’re looking for your next exciting binge watch, look no further than the new docuseries “Submission Possible” as you expand your streaming footprint.
Madison Young on a Mission
Created by “filmmaker, author and sexual revolutionary” Madison Young, the series explores the queer sexual underground worlds of kink, fetish, and BDSM. It will be available on Revry TV, the world’s first global Queer streaming network.
Submission Possible stars Young hosting travel adventures with a mission – sharing stories of who we are as sexual beings. Penthouse had the pleasure of interviewing Madison about her new project, her years of experience as a performer in the adult industry, and her goals for the future.
What person, place, or event surprised you in your travels for Submission Possible? Was there anything that you learned or experienced that was unexpected?
The biggest surprise for me was really New Orleans. It was my first time traveling to New Orleans and I was just blown away by the city, the energy, the community, the people. It truly is a remarkably magical city.
I was also surprised by the number of people that I met that hadn’t had an opportunity to engage in their favorite kinks and fetishes during the pandemic. I think so many of us were in this deep survival mode that having the opportunity to lean into the joy of kink and play, was something that just didn’t present itself. So, the interviews and segments in Submission Possible where folks had a container to really geek out about the things that bring them so much joy and connection and then to experience those kinks or fetishes, it was extra potent.
There is a lot of healing and reconnecting to our pleasure and bodies and intimacy that will be emerging out of the pandemic and I’m so happy that this series gets to be a part of documenting that emergence and process.
There were so many things that I learned that I didn’t really expect. I experienced astral projection during a super hot segment with Arabelle Raphael in Portland, Oregon. I was really surprised by that!
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect in doing a role play segment in which I would be playing dead. I love to be really connected and feeding my top with energy, smiles, sounds of pleasure.
I was a little nervous that I’d feel disconnected from Arabelle during the segment but similar to meditation, when I sunk into stillness and surrendered over my body, I felt my astral body rise up and I watched from my mind’s eye as Arabelle moved my body around. I definitely felt aroused by the whole experience.
I also had a super profound deep healing experience in the dungeon of Cleo Dubois in San Francisco where through a ritualistic needle pull, I cleared some deep wounds from a past life and my energy expanded and vibrated throughout the space.
It was a gorgeous ritual in which we entered the dungeon space playing Tibetan singing bowls and Cleo led me through a piercing of needles through my chest which were then connected to a cord. Through her guidance I leaned back, using my breath and the needles pulling at my flesh as I reclined and surrendered myself, my energy and breath and ecstasy all growing, vibrating through the walls. It was immensely powerful and unexpected.
But there have been so many others. Each person has such an incredible story and are just so generous with sharing their intimate journey. I think because we have all been that person that was so deeply seeking connection and to see ourselves reflected in the world. We each know the power of storytelling and representation in film and the media. I’m so honored to have these conversations and hold space for those stories.
What inspires you the most as a creative? Who are your influences?
That is such an excellent and juicy question! I’m inspired by my desire to create change in the world.
From a very early age I knew that I wanted to tell stories and create art that held space for folks to experience a place of belonging. I wanted to create spaces where people could express and celebrate the entirety of themselves.
I’m inspired by collaboration, bringing together rad queer artists that are amazing at what they do and working together as we bring a story, a vision, a film to life. I’m inspired by all of the folks that we are interviewing and their vulnerability and generous hearts.
The concepts for my books, films, series, and other art works are generally works that channel through me in a meditative state. I see the work in sort of a dream state and then come out of the dream state and write down the outline as quickly as possible and then begin to flesh it out bringing it to life.
I’m inspired both out in the quiet of the forest or by the ocean or amidst the chaos of a city. I do think the energy that surrounds me affects what I’m writing and the topics that emerge and some environments seem to have a more stagnant energy that I find less inspiring.
My influences within my creative work would definitely include my chosen mothers – Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens. They have both been a huge part of my life for almost two decades now. Their art and films and the way that they embody life as art and infuse everything they do with deep love and compassion is powerful and has an enormous impact.
Love is radical and their ability to love so profoundly spills forth in every film, event, art exhibition and book that they bring forth into the world. They have a new book that is available for pre-order called Assuming the Ecosexual Position: The Earth As Lover that everyone should go check out. I’m so lucky to have them as family and my mentors.
Other sexual revolutionaries like the writing of Carol Queen and the grit and radical works of the Beat generation were a big influence on my writing. When it comes to travel documentaries, I love what Anthony Bourdain brought to the genre.
I think he did a beautiful job of authentically connecting with folk around the world and using food as a connector, as a language in which we got to know the folk he was interviewing and the cities.
I’m really trying to bring that same essence into Submission Possible as we use sex and kink as a connecting thread in which we get to know the people, city, and queer culture of a region.
What changes have you observed in the adult industry from the time you started until now? What do you believe is the future of the industry?
I first started performing in 2002 – so almost 20 years ago. A lot has changed in that time.
In 2002, queer porn wasn’t yet a category and feminist porn hadn’t really yet developed into the movement that it is today. Feminist porn was being made and queers were making porn but there wasn’t a label for us at the video store or tags for us on any of the VOD platforms or awards that were specifically for queer porn.
The number of feminist and queer porn makers has grown exponentially in 20 years. There are hundreds of queer porn and feminist porn filmmakers creating work now and 20 years ago there were maybe a 10 or so of us making films on a consistent basis. PinkLabel.TV is one of the best resources out there for finding a vast array of feminist and queer porn from filmmakers all over the globe. It’s the number one spot I send folks to when wondering where to look for feminist porn.
In the past twenty years we have also seen a rise in erotic film festivals, which is so exciting. Film festivals are my favorite way to watch erotic films. There has been an exciting amount of change and continued activism to do away toxic structures that existed in the mainstream porn industry when I first started performing.
It’s so hard to tell what the future of the industry will hold. It will both be influenced by technological advances such as Virtual Reality but also there is an exciting pull to get folks back into the theaters (or drive-ins) to watch porn at film festivals and on the big screen in a community setting.
We will continue to see more feminist, queer, trans, and sex positive voices being heard and making work in adult film. We are finally starting to shatter the idea that porn needs to be separate from feminism or is anti-feminist. It’s so important for us to document our own sexual culture and porn has always been the medium in which we could find graphic documentation of our sexual culture and our fantasies. I delve deeper into this in my book “The DIY Porn Handbook: Documenting Our Own Sexual Revolution”.
There is still immense stigma and I feel like sometimes I’ve been having the same conversation for twenty years in regards to porn being another medium for self-expression. Folk hold so much internalized sexual shame and porn becomes an easy place for them to shift that shame over to and just dismiss an entire genre rather than finding an erotic film that resonates with you, getting curious about what filmmakers are creating work that depict the narratives and themes that interest you.
There is still a lot of work to do. It’s a potent and powerful medium. I’m excited to bring this same passion for slaying sexual stigma into television and feature film with my new production company Empress in Lavender Media.
I will be putting all of my creative energy and resources into bringing queer, transgender and sex worker narratives to television and feature films through this new company. June 4th Lust Cinema just released what will be my last erotic film – Someone Like You. It’s an exciting time for television and film and I’m really thrilled to be a part of it.
What is your kinky root? How does kink enrich your life and your view of the world around you?
I don’t ever remember a time in which I felt like other people. I always felt kinky and queer, gravitating to things that were maybe odd to other folks. I didn’t resonate with the mainstream culture that I was surrounded by or the heteronormative depiction of a love and relationships.
But some of my kinky roots came out of Catwoman comic books and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I remember being very turned on by Catwoman and her latex catsuit and her whip. That is definitely one of the origins of my kink.
I was also always squeezing myself into small, confined spaces as a kid and loved big tight bear hugs and compression.
I have anxiety disorder and tight compression always felt comforting and helped me to regulate my nervous system.
My family are all arborists, so I grew up around trees and rope. The smell of rope just has this warm feeling of home and a place of belonging, a fibrous tight bear hug quality.
So, when I started exploring sex as a young adult, kink just naturally interwove into my experiences and fantasies.
My kinky identity and queerness feel very interwoven to me. Both are this way of existing in this world in a very mindful and intentional way. An embodied way of being. When you’re kinky and queer, the default social norms just don’t fit, they don’t work. So instead, you have to write a new script, write a new narrative, build a new container based on your desires.
You imagine a life, a relationship, a kinky dynamic, a world into existence based on listening to your authentic self, listening to your body, your desires. I think this way of being does affect the way I view the world around me. It makes me question old paradigms and imagine new ways of being to existence. It informs how I create art and film. I feel like that way of being is immensely enriching and is a part of my identity and how I walk through this world outside of the bedroom.
Kink and queerness both hold this space for building your own way of being. I love that. It smashes any ideas of what sex or gender, or relationships should look like and allows you to think deeply about what sex and relationships really are to you.
There are so many ways to connect, to experience pleasure and intimacy – with in kink and queerness – love and sex are limitless with in whatever container and parameters you construct based on your individual desires.
How do you see kink existing within and alongside mainstream culture?
I think there is still a lot of confusion about kink within mainstream culture. Aspects of kink have been glommed onto and then sensationalized or capitalized on. But kink isn’t a paddle or a pair of handcuffs or slipping into a leather corset. It’s not something you wear but something you are that exists within you and how you see the world and experience pleasure and connection with others. It’s fun to have awesome toys but all you really need is your mind – hands, feet or other body parts can be great too J. But knowing how to connect, move energy through your body, using your words, understanding how to negotiate and build a container for a hot scene, listening and understanding your partner’s desires and fantasies – these are the building blocks of kink. This is something we are really diving into with in Submission Possible – getting beyond the external of what kink might physically look like and delving into the inner workings, of what it fulfills for us, how nourishes us and the communities and culture that exist in different cities within these kink and queer pockets around the world.
What are your goals for the future? Where do you want to travel next with Submission Possible?
My goal is really to develop both Submission Possible as a series as well as my television and feature film production company, Empress in Lavender Media. We have a whole season of shows in development including a 30-minute drama series and a feminist thriller feature film. I’m really excited to dive deep into filmmaking and storytelling and bring queer narratives to life in a really big way.
Submission Possible is our first series that we are producing, and I love that. It’s an embodiment of everything I stand for. Travel, queer and kinky community, creativity, vulnerability, holding space for other people’s stories while engaging in my own journey of introspection – it’s intimate and sexy and features a wide array of stories.
There are so many cities that I’m excited to bring the show to. Our first season is centered along the west coast of the United States largely due to both being as safe as possible as we emerge from the pandemic and budget.
We are currently doing a lot of fundraising for the series as well as bringing on brand partnerships, sponsors, investors and producers.
We did some crowdfunding for the series so folks could contribute at any level to the making of the series there, which turned out well. People can also purchase tickets for our VIP virtual sneak peek preview of series. The preview takes place on June 30th at 1pm PST and 7pm PST and will be followed by a post-show talk and Q&A.
Our crowdfunding campaign is the only place we are currently offering tickets for that preview.
We also threw a Spank-a-Thon benefit event on June 10th for the production of Submission Possible where folks pledged for different rad performers to receive a certain number of spankings while raising funds for the show. Performers included Penthouse Pet – Olive Glass, Daisy Ducati, Princess Donna, Dadi Iris, Harley Evans, Elyse the Beast, and of course me! It was a lot of fun.
In our next season of Submission Possible, I’d love to visit more rural areas of the United States. This season was absolutely inspirational as we visited west coast cities such as Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Oakland, and Los Angeles but next I really want to dive into lesser-known kink and queer scenes that exist in say Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico, and Western Massachusetts. I’ve been meeting amazing kinksters online in lesser-known pockets around North America and I’d love for us to bring in a budget that supports that kind of travel. In season 3, I’d love to bring the show international to Europe then eventually Japan, and Australia. There are so many places this show can really reach out to and so many communities to document. I’m really excited about the future of the show and the response to the first episode was monumental.
Submission Possible will be broadcast on Revry TV along with a number of other VOD platforms this summer following our June 30th preview for our crowdfunding backers. Do take a few minutes to peek/pique/peak that interest by viewing the promotional video HERE.
Madison wanted to note that Submission Possilbe was made “possible” with the help of community partners, Squirm, Vessel Society, and InnThrall. We encourage you to keep up with Madison at MadisonYoung.org as well.
You can look around here for some topically-themed advice, or you can check out the potentially much more fun Social Media Links for Madison herself include @therealmadisonyoung and @submissionpossible on Instagram, as well as @madisonyoung and @submissionpostv on Twitter.
We have no idea when — or if — Madison sleeps.
