Why Do Women Watch Porn

Why Do Women Watch Porn

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Relationships

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Neuroscience

We all harbor secrets. Some are big and bad; some are small and trivial. Researchers have parsed which truths to tell and which not to.

Posted June 30, 2018

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Reviewed by Matt Huston

When it comes to porn, many of us tend to hold a bit of a gender bias .
That is, when we think performers in porn, we might be more likely to think about women. And when we talk about consumers of porn (whether that be casually or compulsively), we more often think about men.
While research typically supports the idea that men report watching more porn than women, it is still common for women to report watching porn (and the numbers are most likely skewed due to increasingly outdated social standards, which still leave some women feeling uncomfortable disclosing their porn use).
And due to a lack of social discourse and empirical research, we just haven't learned all that much about women's experiences when watching porn. Until now.
In a new study published in The Journal of Sex Research, researchers provided a comprehensive overview of all qualitative research conducted on women's experiences of watching porn between 1999 and 2016. After conducting a thematic analysis of 22 articles (based on 21 studies) spanning nine countries, the authors made a number of observations.
Here are some noteworthy highlights.
Across several studies, the authors concluded that women focused on more than just the physical sexual acts they were watching on screen. Rather, the authors noted that there were numerous examples of women experiencing empathy for the performers.
That is, women commented on the facial expressions and potential feelings of the actors during various sexual activities. For example, they might notice if a performer was experiencing genuine sexual pleasure versus whether a sexual activity looked to be less enjoyable or even unpleasant for the actors.
The women's perceptions of the performers' enjoyment had implications for their own arousal. When women perceived the sexual activity as "unrealistic" or not "genuine," they also reported feeling less pleasure and sexual enjoyment themselves.
Given that porn exposes viewers to naked bodies (which most of us don't tend to see in our day-to-day lives), it is perhaps no surprise that women in the studies reported evaluating the performers bodies and reflecting on how they felt about their own bodies. However, the ways in which women compared their bodies varied considerably.
Some women described feeling less secure about their own bodies after watching porn — feeling their own bodies did not measure up to some of the porn star physiques (i.e., breast size, pubic hair grooming, age). However, in contrast, other women said that seeing porn actors' naked bodies helped them feel more normal about their bodies — seeing some similarities between themselves and the actresses — and some even reported feeling better about their bodies after watching porn.
Across studies, women reported varying comfort levels and preferences for how porn use was incorporated into their relationship.
Some women indicated that porn was arousing to watch with their partners and helped to give inspiration and ideas for different types of sexual activities. However, other women described feeling threatened with their partner's porn use, indicating that they did not like that their partner was experiencing arousal for someone else.
Finally, some women reported that they felt that porn was something their partner had a "right" to watch and were okay with their partner's viewing behaviors, as long as it was done privately.
Finally, the authors noted that a number of women experienced cognitive dissonance when it came to watching porn. That is, a number of women reported holding a certain perspective of porn that did not necessarily align with their behaviors.
With regards to arousal, some women reported that watching porn was sexually arousing, but also thought their enjoyment of porn was socially inappropriate (believing on some level that women should not watch porn). In that sense, some women felt conflicted with what they enjoyed and what they felt was socially acceptable for women to enjoy.
Additionally, some women reported holding negative perceptions about porn or actors who perform in porn (particularly concerns about exploitation), yet still reported using and watching porn for their own sexual stimulation. In this sense, some women experienced difficulty in terms of reconciling how porn felt to watch (i.e., titillating, sexually arousing, etc.) with certain cognitive and moral beliefs about porn (whether it's "ethical" or appropriate).
While it would be easy to make the argument that the majority of mainstream porn continues to target heterosexual men, it is common and natural for women to watch and enjoy porn.
The limited research on women's experiences watching porn, particularity in comparison to the abundance of research on men's experiences, leaves us with more assumptions and guesses about how women feel about porn than empirical research.
However, these findings offer some initial insights into women's experiences and may be a useful step in normalizing women's experiences and promoting a healthier and more open discourse about pornography use among women.
Ashton, S., McDonald, K. & Kirkman, M. (2018). Women's experiences of pornography: A systematic review of research using qualitative methods. The Journal of Sex Research, 55, 3, 334-347. doi: http://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2017.1364337
Sarah Hunter Murray, Ph.D. , is a sex researcher and relationship therapist specializing in how men and women experience sexual desire in long-term relationships.

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We all harbor secrets. Some are big and bad; some are small and trivial. Researchers have parsed which truths to tell and which not to.

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Porn is that age-old subject that seems to endlessly divide people – most notably women.
Some call it misogynistic and out-dated, others can’t get enough of it.
And not your ‘feminised’ version either, but your bog standard, easily available, Red Tube smut.
It turns me on — both with a partner and on my own.
There is still a stigma attached to women watching porn, with much of the criticism aimed at the banal narratives of your average skin flick – we’re ‘supposed’ to enjoy things which are more mentally arousing.
Less immediate tits and ass and more of a story, with relatable characters.
You only have to look at the success of Fifty Shades Of Grey to understand what society deems as acceptable ‘porn’ for women to enjoy today.
Give me some old-school wham-bam hardcore filth any day of the week.
Sure it’s not exactly highbrow, and fairly inaccurate in its portrayal of your average person’s sex life, but there are a growing number of women who enjoy ‘basic’ porn, and, perhaps more importantly, a growing number of women who aren’t afraid to admit it either.
If I want a storyline I’ll watch Netflix, if I want to watch two people f**king each other, I’ll watch porn.
Make no mistake, I wouldn’t factor a two-hour porn session into my daily itinerary.
I’m what you would call a recreational user – and I take it with a pinch of salt.
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I’m certainly old enough, and almost wise enough, to enjoy it for what it is and not read too much into it beyond that.
Cheap and tacky for the most part, but, if I’m in the mood, damn arousing too.
Nor do I choose to over-analyse it, pull it apart as an example of exploitation and anti-feminism.
I watch it because I want to have an orgasm and treat it like blindfolds, crotchless knickers or role-play – as a bit of extra fun in the bedroom, not so I can support a three-hour debate regarding the sexualisation of women within society today.
I also think, in moderation, it’s a great addition to a relationship too.
Porn isn’t to everyone’s taste – (both women and men) but, in a solid relationship, suggesting it shouldn’t be taken personally (‘You can’t be sexually satisfied if you want to watch porn!’ being the favourite cliché) and there is no reason why it shouldn’t be a brilliant addition to a couple’s sex life.
Porn is no substitute for sex, and much of it is just downright ridiculous.
However, if it’s a toss-up between two people getting it on while I get myself off, or re-runs of Coronation Street … I know what I’ll be choosing.

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There's no shame in watching porn, right? Seriously, lots of women do it. Sometimes it's the only way to satisfy those sexual fantasies that for whatever reason you aren't trying to live out IRL. You know, like BDSM, taking part in an orgy, or experimenting with the gender you don't usually go for.

Turns out that last fantasy may be a major reason women visit porn sites. A recent PornHub report shows that "lesbian" is the most popular category for female viewers of this digital porn portal. The category was actually 151% more popular with women than with men. Surprising, right?

Of course, lesbian women probably account for some of that popularity. But the data suggests that a lot of straight women are clicking into it, too. A recent Gallup poll found just 5% of women identify as LGBT , which leads us to believe plenty of straight-identifying women are getting off on girl-on-girl porn. To find out why so many women love to watch other women get it on, we asked a sex therapist to weigh in.

But first, let's clear one thing up: Just because you watch lesbian porn doesn't mean you're sexually into ladies. Sure, some women might be, and that's perfectly fine. But you can also just be in it for the fantasy, says Holly Richmond , PhD, a sex therapist in Southern California. The same goes for any type of porn, she adds. What you enjoy online could be entirely different from what you enjoy in the bedroom. But if you're a straight woman and you find yourself digging lesbian porn, these four reason might explain why.

We've all seen such hardcore porn that it's made us think, Would that even be enjoyable? Richmond says the answer is usually no. "Most porn, especially hetero-normative porn, is all about the performance," she explains. "It's all about what it looks like and what it sounds like, not about what it feels like." Lesbian porn is different, though, because it's often written by women, for women, she adds. Plus, hetero porn tends to put the spotlight on the penis. In girl-on-girl scenes, the entire female body is the star of the show.

Hetero porn is typically centered around male pleasure, Richmond says, and it often involves super aggressive intercourse with the guy in control. But penis-in-vagina jackhammering isn't what makes most women hit that high note. Instead, it's more about clitoral stimulation, and there's lots of that in lesbian porn. Oh, and hetero porn always seems to end when the guy ejaculates. Lesbian porn is all about women reaching that big O.

"I always say porn stars are like our Olympic athletes of sex," Richmond says. "There's just nothing real about it." She explains that lesbian porn tends to feature a wider range of body types than hetero porn, which makes it way easier to relate to the performers and the action they're enjoying. You also won't be looking at a female porn star's body and thinking, Why don't I look like that? Instead, you can just focus on what feels good. No distractions.

Culturally, it's more acceptable for women to experiment sexually with women than for men to play around with men. That's not to say lesbian women don't still face discrimination. But when a woman hooks up with another woman, it's often seen as sexy; when a man does it, it's seen as strange.

That's one reason women are more sexually fluid, but Richmond says it's also in our DNA. Studies have shown that women are turned on by a much wider range of things than men, she says. Why we're hard-wired that way is unclear, but it's something to embrace and enjoy.

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