I’m a female person. I like porn. Despite the fact that numerous feminists have flat-out told me that I’m not one of them, I believe I am. I support equal work for equal pay. I am pro-choice. I am fully aware of the gender inequities in society. I passionately feel that if women had full autonomy there would be less poverty, less terror, less war. The only thing that separates me from many feminists is that I am sex-positive. Porn doesn’t bother me. I don’t think it’s some evil tool designed to keep woman down. Don’t get me wrong. There’s a whole bunch of porn I hate but as long as the models get paid and do the work willingly, it’s none of my business. I don’t have to watch it and I don’t have to promote it. I don’t have to date men who watch it.
Unfortunately, I’ve come to accept another truth.
| "I think that most women see porn from a practical standpoint. It’s enjoyable. It’s orgasmic. But it’s not worth paying for. I think (most) women consider a paysite membership to be a waste of money." |
For as long as I have worked in this industry, I’ve held tight to the belief that there is a market for women in Internet porn. Every time some male webmaster spoke the words: "Women don’t buy porn", my spine would bristle. The feminist in me would seethe at their obstinance. How dare they say that? How dare they make such an arrogant, sexist assumption? I like porn. The thousands of women in this industry like porn. How on earth can stupid men just blow us off like that? The nerve!
I’ve written several articles about porn sites for women. I’ve spent countless hours trying to sell porn to women. I’ve researched the topic for years. I have made a mission out of convincing my male peers that they’re wrong. Women buy porn. We’re not a lost cause. We’re not an unreachable market. We’re here. We’re perverts. Get used to it.
And then a professor came into my life.
I won’t say his name but he’s approached a lot of us in this business. He’s in the process of writing a book that will finally provide actual hard data on Internet porn. Specifically, he wants information in his quest to determine whether or not men and women look for smut with the same frequency and in the same manner. I chose to work with him because I truly believe his intentions have nothing to do with moralizing. I accepted this man’s challenge and set off to do some research on my own.
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It was during my research that I realized I had been fooling myself. I had an epiphany. "Porn for Women" is a myth. Before you gals out there get pissed, let me explain...
I am in no way saying that women don’t like porn. They do. But I think that most women see porn from a practical standpoint. It’s enjoyable. It’s orgasmic. But it’s not worth paying for. I think (most) women consider a paysite membership to be a waste of money. From my personal perspective, I think (most) women store the sexual content they see in their brains and play it back later, at their convenience. I think (most) women have no use for the immediacy of online smut.
As well, I think that marketing porn directly to women is an exercise in futility.
Women who enjoy hardcore straight-guy porn don’t want to be gently stroked with pink backgrounds and soft, soothing text. I think women that are into gay porn don’t want the webmaster to say "Wink, wink ladies, we know you’re watching." If a woman digs bukkake, she wants to see the humiliation and finds any sort of apologetic approach, condescending. And as for those sites with the naked guys doing housework, it’s fucking sexist and insulting. A cuckold site is honest. Reminding women that in real life, they’re the cooks and maids is no way to treat the ladies.
That professor dude helped my let go of one of most insidious tenets of the feminist movement - that women and men are the same. We’re not. When it comes to porn, women can’t be shoved into a category. We like what we like and we’ll buy it if we feel like it. We’re not some hive mind who think the same and behave the same. Some of us like gang-bang videos. Some of us read erotica. Some of us would rather buy a nice vibrator.
Market porn however you want. Exploit your assorted niches with enthusiasm. Trust me, there are women that will buy what you’re selling. We’re like the dolphins that get caught in the tuna net. Backwards metaphor, I know. However, you’re bound to catch a few of us when you fish the waters.