It’s not news that sex trafficking and child rape run rampant across pornographic sites. News heard almost every other day is just the tip of the iceberg. The most popular porn site, PornHub, has been criticized in the past for allowing videos of non-consensual sex, revenge porn, child pornography, and sex trafficking. These porn sites are complicit in the trafficking and rape of young girls as most of them have no system in place to verify whether the people in their content are of consent-giving age and condition. And, why would they when their sole purpose is to fill their pockets.
But, the predatory nature of porn production is not it’s only problem. It perpetuates myths of instant orgasms, raucous moaning, and hairless women, all of which are detrimental to the perception of women and cater only to the male perspective.
Many young people today watch porn before having sex for the first time. Consuming misleading porn can create harmful and unrealistic expectations for sex. Traditional male-oriented porn lies to both men and women about what is expected of them and their partners. Firstly, most porn is dedicated to a male audience, evident from the male point of view some of these videos are shot from. This is why most women, even straight ones, prefer to watch lesbian porn as traditional porn represents sex in an idealised fantastical manner that merely humours the male ego through the omission of elements like ‘build ups’ and the initial stimulation. The constant rough nature of sex makes people think that that’s how it’s supposed to be. It also gives a woman providing oral sex an expectation of a ‘reward’ but instead, she gets nothing in return. Further, it leads men to think that the louder the better, hence, women feel obligated to create fake sounds. Men may even overestimate the pleasure they generate—a disappointing consequence for women.
Thus, traditional male-oriented porn perpetuates myths such about sex and normalizes that sex is for men and that women are just tools to facilitate their pleasure. This is where feminist porn comes in.
Feminist porn is one that emphasises female pleasure and mutual respect in the bedroom. It’s about showing an authentic representation of human sexuality which doesn’t skip over the ‘build-up’ and thus doesn’t give anyone any wrong expectations.
The term ethical is often used with regard to feminist porn. Unethical practices like mistreating and paying the actresses unfairly, the unrealistic expectations of sex, and highly illegal videos being uploaded, such as revenge porn, rape, and child pornography are pervasive in the adult-film industry. On the other hand, ethically produced porn is one which treats and pays its actresses fairly. It portrays sex realistically and has no illegal or unconsensual content. Their actresses come in all shapes, sizes and colours. The sex isn’t degrading or violent. The videos are inclusive, respectful, pleasurable to all parties and essentially more realistic.
This is how porn can be empowering for women. By giving power back to women, feminist porn perpetuates that they need not put on an act in the bedroom to please their partner. The narrative change that feminist porn pushes is a much required one. Women-oriented porn signals that women are not instruments for the male sexual fulfillment (they have journeys of their own). It prioritises female sexual pleasure which for far too long has been neglected.
There are tons of female friendly porn sites out there that actually support their sex workers and provide guilt-free and enjoyable content. Consider an alternative to traditional porn and give women-oriented porn a try.