Women & Porn

Buzzfeed, the media website that popularized the "listicle" format of online reporting, tackled the relatively taboo subject of women who watch porn in another one of those nifty little lists. According to Buzzfeed (via PornHub), "Lesbian and Gay (male) porn" are the two most popular categories for women, the most popular content other than lesbian is "Solo Male," most of the things women search for fall under the category of BDSM, videos featuring group sex are more popular among women than men, and Kim Kardashian is favored over James Deen for women viewing porn.

In discussion on Thursday, I was surprised by how many people talked about having viewed porn after not raising their hand when Julia asked about viewing porn. I feel like a lot of it had to do with the fact the most people had watched (at least for the first time) on accident. Having never watched porn, I almost felt like I was in the minority. Then again, as Jochen Peter and Patti Valkenburg mentioned in their article, "sexual experience seems to be a stronger requirement for a masculine identity than for a feminine identity as, for instance," so maybe women just don't feel the need to own up to taking control of their personal sexual satisfaction.

Between the general unwillingness among women to admit that they consume any amount of porn and the information in the Buzzfeed article about what type of porn women are watching, it seems that the embarrassment may stem from the fact that, while attractive lesbians (who also happen to sleep with men) are hot, women who are actually lesbians are often considered manly or unattractive. This makes admitting to watching and enjoying that lesbian porn or Kim Kardashian porn is not exactly an attractive thing to admit to.

Another article, this one by Time, claims that "Fifty Shades of Grey Gets Women into Porn, Research Says." A researcher at the University of Waterloo found that consumption of sexually explicit material increased for women who read Fifty Shades of Grey. "I find it's motivating women. It is exposing them to a genre of material that they either didn't know existed or they didn't know that they liked." So perhaps women admitting that they are into porn or indulge in it every now is in the near future. Consider how many of your friends openly talked about seeing Fifty Shades this past Valentine's Day.

References

Broderick, R. (n.d.). 14 Things You Might Not Know About How Women Watch Porn. Retrieved April 4, 2015.

Peter, J., & Valkenburg, P. (n.d.). Adolescents’ Exposure to Sexually Explicit Internet Material and Sexual Satisfaction: A Longitudinal Study. Human Communication Research, 171-194.

Toppa, S. (2015, February 13). Fifty Shades of Grey Gets Women Into Porn, Research Says. Retrieved April 4, 2015, from http://time.com/3708659/fifty-shades-of-grey-women-porn/