Most of us assume those who seek out rough,
aggressive pornography are men, not women.
A recent study, the first of its kind, shows
women are more likely to seek out rough,
aggressive porn.
Women’s taste for aggressive porn is fueled by
the popularity of BDSM fantasies among them.
Most women gravitate to the submissive role,
which requires a dominant; relationship
reflected in aggressive porn.
What does “porn for women” mean? For decades, the phrase
referred to a softer, and presumably more female-friendly
genre of erotic content, one with good lighting, minimal
close-ups of penetration, lots of cunnilingus, and an actual plot.
As women have become more open about their porn consumption,
and female directors have brought their own explicit and often
extremely hardcore visions to the screen, that consensus about
what women want has begun to fray.
If some women making making explicit films are turned on by
plot-free porn featuring choking or slapping or anal sex,
isn’t that the new norm for women?
The Lust She Feels
In Search of Pure Lust began
as a meditation on lesbian desire.
It was the single most transformative force I’d known.
I wanted to remember and record the utter exhilaration
of it, desiring and being desired by a woman.
How it opened up untold realms of possibility.
From the very start it was inseparable from
my desire for a different world, a world
with women at the center of it.
The top category women watch is “lesbian,” which isn’t
surprising. “Lesbian” has been the top term with women
viewers since Pornhub started tracking the gender
breakdown in their 2022 Year in Review.
This figure no doubt accounts for some women viewers
who like other women, but some straight women like
lesbian porn as well.
This is because women-only porn can be less aggressive
than straight porn; the focus is on women and their
pleasure even though it’s a performance for the
viewer); and it’s more taboo.
Like men, women are now using porn as a quick
way to have sex without emotional investment.
Web porn is able to satisfy that need in a raw,
immediate sense, quickly and easily. Why serenade
someone and go through all the courtship rituals
with another person when you have instant access
to free porn sites?
Women in Porn
Porn: A Good Career
Choice for Young Women
The stereotype that female porn stars are “damaged goods” who have experienced sexual abuse as a child is nothing propaganda. Porn actresses have higher levels of self-esteem, positive feelings, social support, sexual satisfaction and spirituality
The popular rhetoric about pornography as violent, degrading, and harmful to women and society ignores the diverse ways that women actually interact with it. There’s a much more varied picture of pornography in women’s lives than characterized by anti-porn activists.
For some performers, pornography is a path to college and out of poverty. For others, it is a chance to make a statement about female pleasure.
Women enter the porn industry because they are enthusiastic about its potential for lucrative, flexible and independent work.
Women who previously worked in the retail sector or in nursing found that porn offered them greater control of their labor, and surprisingly, it treated them with more humanity.
Some women found that it enabled them to rise out of poverty, take care of their families or go to college.
Others emphasize the creative aspects of porn, claiming it allows them to increase their economic mobility while also making a bold statement about female pleasure.
The greatest challenge faced by women who work in porn, in addition to social stigma, is gender and racial inequality.
Overwhelmingly, women don’t control the production and distribution apparatus of the business. The men who run both the large companies and the smaller, amateur businesses tend to marginalize women’s perspectives and priorities and to foster a competitive environment that pits female workers against one another.
African-American women – and women and men of color in general – are paid half to three-quarters of what white actresses are paid.
Like in other kinds of industries, they face prejudice and inequality in structural and interpersonal forms. But they also challenge them. Porn’s workers are fighting to achieve greater control over their labor and the products they produce.
The Internet is fast democratizing the porn business. Women from all kinds of backgrounds – soccer moms, single mothers, college students – are filming themselves living out their own pornographic fantasies.
They are broadcasting these images to the world. Porn is an industry with both tremendous potential and powerful constraints.
The women who work in pornography believe that we should not treat porn as an intractable behemoth and social evil, but they emphasize that it can be made better, especially with respect to workers’ rights.
The debate about pornography should not be controlled only by academics, politicians or religious groups; a voice should be given to the performers and their complex experiences.
The hysteria surrounding porn ‘addiction’ is part of
a cultural response to sexual liberation. Society is
still fearful of of anything encouraging licentiousness.
Sex is a very natural function. What is an abnormal
level of sex to have or to want? If a woman is taking
two minutes to orgasm to porn, and she’s doing it, say,
10 times a day, that’s still only 20 minutes a day.
The puritan response to porn is far too severe.
It’s as if we fear losing control and plunging into chaos.
Like men, women are now using porn as a quick
way to have sex without emotional investment.
Web porn is able to satisfy that need in a raw,
immediate sense, quickly and easily. Why serenade
someone and go through all the courtship rituals
with another person when you have instant access
to free porn sites?
The hysteria surrounding porn ‘addiction’ is part of
a cultural response to sexual liberation. Society is
still fearful of of anything encouraging licentiousness.
Sex is a very natural function. What is an abnormal
level of sex to have or to want? If a woman is taking
two minutes to orgasm to porn, and she’s doing it, say,
10 times a day, that’s still only 20 minutes a day.
The puritan response to porn is far too severe.
It’s as if we fear losing control and plunging into chaos.
