Suburban Dykes, is a sex fest—showcasing how wonderful sex is, how good it feels—celebrated by a suburban lesbian couple, played by Pepper and Nina Hartley. Although Pepper tells Nina that “If the love is really there, the sex will stay hot,” they decide that maybe it could be hotter (“You don’t want that lesbian bed-death to get you”): that’s the story line which is a real-life issue in this community. Reading through On Our Backs Magazine, they decide to try a phone sex service for the first time—both are “phone sex virgins.” Mistress Marlena, a dominatrix type, coaches them to orgasm. The success of this experience, during which, Pepper reveals she’s turned on by cock and confesses to a fantasy of being fucked by bull dykes, leads to further sexual explorations—offering a consideration of the spectrum of lesbian preferences. They discharge some of their energy with a pillow fight before hiring a butch from a lesbian escort service, who manifests as Sharon Mitchell, with dildo in hand. Maybe Nina was inspired by the garage sex of two friends fucking on a weight bench that she’s watched through a peep hole, amid all the things that one typically finds in a garage—bicycles, tools, a rack of weights, an old refrigerator. A very different kind of sex from the tender, gentle nuzzling she enjoys with Pepper in the first scene. With Mitchell’s arrival, perhaps better called a visitation, the sex—a threesome orgy—becomes more assertive, more like the garage sex that Nina witnessed but, as in the garage, always with the overriding sense of consensual pleasure.
What is most striking about this film is the emphasis on the need for practicing safe sex. Mitchell admonishes, “Hope you’re not like other dykes, who think they can’t get AIDS.” Unloading a bag of goods—condoms, dental dams, a finger cot, and lube—she lets her charges know that “our body fluids won’t be mingling.” It’s explicit. The putting on of the latex gloves, a condom being slid on to the dildo, a finger cot worn by Mitchell, and the application of lube—lots of lube.
Suburban Dykes runs just under 30 minutes, with only one scene (less than a minute) in which anyone is dressed. For fans of lesbian-made erotic films, Suburban Dykes, produced by Nan Kinney and directed by Debi Sundahl, is considered “a hands-down classic from Fatale Media,” and a landmark in the trajectory of lesbian pornography because it “normalizes” lesbians and lesbian sexuality. How much more “normal” can you get than the suburbs? Made in 1991, the film expands what’s acceptable in lesbian sex, allowing the visualization of erotica that’s more aggressive, fiercer, more fringe. Kinney founded Fatale Media, with the mission to produce lesbian erotic videos that reflect the “feminist right for control over our bodies, promoting female sexual autonomy.” Along with Sundahl, Kinney was also involved with the publication of the magazine, On Our Backs. Mitchell is the founder of the Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation, an organization focused on the health care of sex workers. All in all, Suburban Dykes is erotic, socially conscious, and a movie that viewers of all gender identities can appreciate.
Suburban Dykes is available streaming online at PinkLabel.TV.
