Do girls need their own porn? | The Observers

15/12/2008 / WORLD

Do girls need their own porn?

Is there a need for pornography created specifically for women? A group of French women thinks so. We ask our Observers, from Budapest to Beijing, what they think about the idea.

Sick of male-dominated pornography, a group of French women decided to create a business tailored to the needs and desires of women. "SecondSexe" offers downloadable raunchy readings, female-friendly films, and an online boutique selling lingerie and sex toys. But not all of its target audience are appreciative of the incentive....

One of the SecondSexe adverts.

Contributors

Wajeha al-Huwaider

"The idea of watching two people having sex... turns me off completely"

Grace is a stripper in a club in Texas. She also contributed to an Observers post here.

When I was younger, I thought women and men thought about sex in exactly the same way. But I don't anymore. Men need to see things to get turned on. Personally, I can masturbate by playing out a story in my mind, while the idea of watching two people having sex, with no context, turns me off completely. I've always been more turned on by an Anaïs Nin story than a porn film.

Being a stripper I've got to know men's fantasies, and the first is to dominate - every single strip club in the world practices this man dominating woman scenario. But it always makes me laugh, because in the end I always feel like I'm the one in charge."

"I don't feel fully comfortable with the idea of 'feminine' pornography"

Nathalie Margi is studying Women and Gender Studies at Rutgers University and is an activist with the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO).

I don't feel comfortable with current male-directed pornography because it has established what I see as an artificial norm of masculine desire, based on the submission of woman. It has normalised humiliating and violent fantasies, which have nothing to do with real sexuality. On the other hand, I don't feel fully comfortable with the idea of "feminine" pornography, because it implies that there are "masculine" fantasies as opposed to "feminine" fantasies. But not all women share the same fantasies.

A small minority of scholars, such as Andrea Dworkin, actually claim that all heterosexual sex is by nature a form of oppression of woman, but they are marginalised today. By contrast, younger, Anglo-Saxon feminists have placed a lot of emphasis on sexual experimentation (sex toys, bisexual relationships or even sex work) as a form of empowerment for women."

"This group of so-called feminists has only launched these products to make money"

Wajeha al-Huwaider is a Saudi feminist who is renowned for her campaign against the driving ban imposed on women.

I'm categorically against pornography, whether it's made for women or men. It's something that goes against our customs and religion and which reduces women to slavery. We're well aware that the girls who fall into that trade are always the victims, and that they only do it to escape poverty. I imagine that this group of so-called feminists has only launched these products to make money."

Wajeha al-Huwaider

"It would be nice to see more men's bodies!"

Vivien Piros is a former pornographic film producer from Budapest, Hungary.

When I worked in the industry it was very frustrating because I really felt like we were only targeting men, and that's because about 90% of the people controlling and working behind the cameras in the industry are male. They only consider their own needs. And although a lot of female consumers do like normal porn, this stuff is much more erotic than normal pornography; there's definitely a place in the market for it. It's very tasteful. I also think that most women - not radical feminists, obviously - will find these products empowering. I'd certainly be interested in working on something like this. The only criticism I have is that we don't see enough men - and as much as woman on woman stuff is very attractive, it would be nice to see more men's bodies!"

"Many of my female friends watch porn online"

Esra'a Al Shafei is a women's rights activist from Bahrain.

Because here there's no sex like there is in other countries (you can't just go out and meet someone and go home with them), the only way to learn about sex is online. That leads people to porn sites- and while some are disgusted, most people are very interested. Many of my female friends watch porn online, so I think "feminine porn" would prove popular here. In the Arab world women are looked down on for taking a leading role in sex. It mirrors wider social circumstances - men dominate women in all senses in Arab society, and that's seen as ok: it would be refreshing to see something showing the contrary."

Esraa Al Shafei

"It's a niche product"

Muzi Mei made her name by being the first Chinese woman to blog about her sexual adventures. She's a huge success both home and abroad; some of her posts have even been translated into French and German.

Porn is banned in China. You can only find it on DVD or on the web. I understand what these women are trying to do with producing feminine porn, as we don't see sex in the same way as men do. We want quality films with a storyline; not just sex scenes. That said, I still think it's a niche product, because women don't consume a lot of porn products. The most well known film like this in China is Nu Ren Na Er. It was produced in Hong Kong and caused a lot of noise, but in the end it didn't sell many copies. On my blog I was talking to everyone, to men as well as to women, to address a big audience [her podcasts get around 10,000 listens each]."

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Comments

Nice post. Yes i think they

Submitted by Self Prostate Massage Orgasm (not verified) on Wed, 07/01/2009 - 16:03.

Nice post. Yes i think they do. Keep up the good work with this blog!

I am a straight woman who watches porn...

Submitted by Heidi (not verified) on Wed, 07/01/2009 - 15:00.

I can say the video is very artistic and nice

I do prefer more "explicit women based porn" such as works from Clara Pink, Lindsay and other Female Porn Directors. Not that I don't enjoy male/female pornography but I do prefer seeing other women nude, it's beautiful.

An example would be Pinktastic Films (www.pinktastic.com) which produces adult films geared toward women.

- Heidi

Of course women need their own porn

Submitted by Ms Naughty (not verified) on Thu, 18/12/2008 - 06:29.

I've been making porn for women online for years. Of course women need their own porn. Most mainstream material reflects men's experience of sex and male fantasies. Too much of it is misogynist or offensive or just plain stupid. Women should be able to express themselves within the realm of sexually explicit material, just like in any other area.

To me, women's porn is about reflecting a woman's experience of sex and exploring female sexual fantasies. The target audience is primarily women, be they lesbian or straight.

A couple of statistics for you from Neilsen Netratings:
In 2003 they found one third of all porn surfers were female
In 2006 they found there'd been a 30% increase in the number of women surfing for porn online.

I consider myself a feminist and I believe my work with porn is beneficial to women. We aren't going to get rid of the nasty aspects of porn by banning it. I'm keen to see change from within.

There's currently several influential female filmmakers working to create better porn. Check out the work of Petra Joy, Candida Royalle, Erika Lust, Shine Louise Houston, Tristan Taormino for a start.

HALF OF THE TRUE IS NOT THE TRUE MIS MEI

Submitted by Liborio (not verified) on Tue, 16/12/2008 - 15:39.

Dic 16, 2008
The statistic show that women are the consumer for excellency of porno product. Amount then are sexual toys, if we take only a simple 1.0% of the revenue we can solve a great part of the money need to education on another professions, less criticed. And by the way those toys are ginecological danger, and the main reason to unsatisfation of youngers women after used it before get marriage.
because women don't consume a lot of porn products. The most well known film like this in China is Nu Ren Na Er.
Take it on acount, if you want we can send some web adress as complement for your knoledge.
A Ginegology

Porn's a business and some women demand attention!

Submitted by TeacherLady (not verified) on Tue, 16/12/2008 - 00:48.

While I wouldn't say women "need" feminine friendly tailored porn, it is a portion of the market that producers of porn do recognize because the demand is there. The porn industry is vast and for every interest there's usually someone prepared to meet it for a price. Because I view it as an industry involving consenting adults, I don't have any ethical qualms about most mainstream pornography. If it offends me, I don't look at it, though it takes a lot to offend me!

Growing up in the Middle East made access to porn practically a national sports challenge. The one Internet provider we had would swiftly block any site uncovered by a dedicated "Porn-diana Jones" and the search would have to continue elsewhere. I wasn't so desperate to play that game as I didn't truly start to explore my sexuality through watching/looking at/reading about others' sexual experiences until I had moved away. I respect the fact that, as a Muslim nation, they didn't want to be seen permitting that kind of content to the public, even though my own personal opinion of censorship may be hugely different and even though I knew darn well that most (males especially) had their own stash of porn somewhere regardless of the censors. My female friends and I never discussed having or seeing any, but my male friends and I would sometimes talk about it.

It's About Time

Submitted by eGerri (not verified) on Wed, 07/01/2009 - 02:23.

As a woman, I've always resented the manner in which the adult film industry has exploited women to the nearly exclusive benefit of men. However, as a sexual being, I've always enjoyed pornography.

Mainstream pornography is extremely misogynistic and, until recently, most widely available content aimed at women have been misogynistic as well. The male idea of adult films for women was to have the women dress up as a dominatrix with the males at her mercy. Somehow we were supposed to view this as some type of women's empowerment.

Part of the problem is that the core audience for these films are only interested in the scenes the fantasize about...typically doing things to women that their wives or girlfriends would never stand for. On the other hand, women such as myself watch and fantasize about being with a very well endowed, physically attractive man with seemingly endless stamina.

There is a huge market for adult films featuring those same men romancing their co-stars before screwing them, then showing some sort of sensitivity afterwards. I, for one, would love to see more adult films with great sex scenes and a half-decent storyline. It would be even better if the production companies and distributors were owned by women, and we were actually able to reap a bigger share of the rewards from this multi-billion dollar industry.

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