(In response to a now-deleted writeup:) How would you know if women are reading the same magazines, watching the same movies, visiting the same websites? Or making their own -- just because you see/are aware of stuff that seems to appeal to men does not mean that's all that exists.

Porn can appeal to at least one woman, I can say from personal experience, although certainly not all porn -- I'm much more likely to enjoy On Our Backs than Penthouse.

Of course women can enjoy porn. Go check out the slash fiction phenomenon, or all the yaoi stuff from Japan. (HAH! Next time a woman asks why men are turned on by lesbians, just laugh. They're no different.) And that's just the more hardcore stuff. Personally, I think most women's magazines are porn designed for women. Just look at the headlines. Sex sex sex. Not that I'm complaining. Or for another example, Harlequin novels, anyone?

Well, I was reading The Village Voice in New York today and I have found an interesting column by Tristan Taormino about porn for women. The company S.I.R. Video made two educational and erotic videos about lesbian sex (Hard Love and How to Fuck in High Heels) as well as videos about anal sex (the Bend Over Boyfriend series).

Tristan also wrote that women are not always known for connecting money and sex quickly as men, but folks who make sex videos for lesbians will show a lot of potential if they receive investment and acknowledgement. The next thing needed now is dyke porn stars.

There are a few reasons why women watch porn.
1) Curiousity
a) What's the fuss all about?
women watch porn because we want to see what the fuss is all about. Men love it so much and we want to to know why.
b) we're curious about a particular sex act/fetish. We never tried something and we wanna see if it's as good as we heard.

2) We wanna watch it with our man cos it might get us in the mood.

3) We happen to be feeling particularly naughty at the moment. But this is not the case everyday, it is a somewhat rare occurance.

But for most women porn is not masturbation fodder. Porn is not something that we can jill off to, however, we could watch a movie or check out a magazine and then use one of the scenarios to fantasize about while we are jilling off. The reason why porn does not make good masturbation fodder for women is that porn is made for men! Porn, as it is now, can never appeal to the average woman for that reason.

See also: porn is made for men

I made a documentary on porn and women: we did a survey on the net to ask users why they liked porn, and what they would like to see. We also asked non-users what put them off. The top five reasons were as follows:

1)Boredom(nothing of interest in it)
2) Bad taste (big hair, ditsy women, orange makeup, ugly guys, stupid expressions)
3) Lack of eroticism
4) Distaste for porn in general
5) Lack of imagination(always the same scenarios)

Yes, porn is manufactured to suit the male taste, and thus there is very little on offer to amuse or entertain females. The women that did like porn expressed in the main(78% of users) a preference for lesbian porn.

I think this is due to the sexualisation of women's bodies in the media. Women's bodies are used to make products look sexy: as a consequence of this, the naked female body is immediately recognisable as a sexual object. The male body has not been sexualised in the same way, except in gay male porn or gay male magazines - which women rarely see. Naked male bodies are still a rarity on TV, and it is still illegal to show the erect penis on British television or in films.

Therefore, many otherwise heterosexual women feel turned on by seeing naked women..

Yes, some women do like porn, and several of my women friends have made it clear they enjoy it as well. One told me she enjoyed gay male porn just because she enjoyed watching two cute guys together. In mainstream porn, the men don't have to be handsome. Remember Ron Jeremy?

But women approach sex differently. As Debbie pointed out, they don't generally use Penthouse to jill off. For that they prefer bodice rippers. And I think that says something of the difference between men and women.

Pornography is generally aimed at men, and as such it tends to be direct, aimed at inspiring masturbation. There isn't much foreplay, and what there is generally focusses on the breasts and genitals. The facial cum shot is a staple of male-oriented pornography. It is a convention that appeals to men, because an actor's orgasm is always genuine, and it indicates the woman's desire to please her partner. And for some men, male dominance over women. But in real life that almost never happens. Most women regard it degrading, and messy. They'd rather swallow, if they let their partner orgasm that way at all.

Another convention is the lesbian scene. Now, I'm honest enough to admit that I share the fantasy. But on-screen lesbianism seems to mimic the conventions of heterosexual sex scenes. And most women are not lesbians, or even bisexual. Yes, they may appreciate feminine beauty, but women don't make them all warm and runny. And on top of that, the scenes are usually too quick and forced to seem real. Insincerity is one thing women despise, an instant turn-off. Remember, Tom Cruise's character as the mysogynist pick-up expert in the film Magnolia? In his Seduce and Destroy course book he has a chapter on "How to fake that you care". Women meet a lot of men who'll say anything to get in their pants.

On top of that most pornographic films feature no plot, are shot in a Knight's Inn with very cheap sets and plot. They are done in a real hurry. I have a friend in the film business. Early in his career he fed himself editing pornographic movies. They used to set him up in a Motel 6 with an editing machine, a coffee machine, and an account at Dominoes. He was expected to finish within 72 hours. Clearly, they weren't expecting The Lord of the Rings.

But there is an attempt to turn this around. Susie Bright, Heather Corrinna, Annie Sprinkle and others have begun producing written and video pornography oriented towards women viewers, or at least couples. One example of this is Candida Royalle's film company, Femme Productions. Essentially the difference is that they concentrate on small details that are often ignored by mainstream porn. Like plot for example. And characterization . Women are attracted by pretty bodies, but personalities are infinitely more important to them. They are attracted by individuals. Production values are greatly improved, though some male directors, notably Andrew Blake do maintain higher standards. Women are much more sensitive to surroundings than men, and porn tailored to their sensitivities can succeed.

The result is better pornography, much more mature and realistic. The fact that so much pornography ignores these basic values is proof that some men will buy anything.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.