A gender perspective on pornography

Abstract

Although images of sex are ancient in history, pornography is a more recent concept due to its association to new audio-visual means. Men explore their sexuality more freely than women, which is reflected in pornography by focusing on men’s pleasure. However, “porn for women” has recently emerged, based on the idea that women are also pornography consumers who want to see different contents. Our aim is to investigate in a preliminary way what ideas do men and women have about adult films. We designed a list of 51 items which comprised conventional and non-conventional elements about the number of participants, their appearance and behaviour, the sexual practices, the orgasms (who and when) and the ejaculations (quantity and where). We asked 16 men and 33 women in Spain to rate how frequent these items were, how frequent they would like them to be, and their general opinion about pornography (positive-negative in a 5 point Likert scale). We carried out percentage analyses. Results show that men and women have a similar opinion about pornography and conventional elements are more frequent than non-conventional. Also, men liked conventional elements more than women but, for the majority of cases, these items were not wanted to appear in films neither by men nor women (i.e. facial ejaculations). In conclusion, present adult films do not satisfy neither women nor men. Thus, a change is needed in order to allow audiences to experience their sexuality according to their tastes.

Full text

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Nowadays, pornography is largely widespread and sexuality keeps getting rid of old taboos. However, many of them are still present in adult films. Mainstream pornography -aimed at an
heterosexual male audience- shows only the men’s pleasure, the women being just a means to the male orgasm. Conventional pornography depicts a set of typical representations, contrary to what
the new genre of alternative or feminist pornography tries to do (Lust, 2008). Based on this author’s work, we present a list of usual aspects in pornography, regarding:
• Type of relation: man-woman, woman-woman, man-man.
• Numer of people: two women threesomes, two men threesomes, orgies and a woman masturbating.
• Their appearance: Stunning women who underwent cosmetic surgery with long nails and high heels; muscular men; big breasts and penises.
• Plot: gangsters, wealthy men, other typical roles (pizza delivery man, plumber...). No plot or hardly believable.
• Sexual practices: lenghty fellatio, anal sex, two or more women using a dildo, agressive behaviours towards the woman, insults aimed at the woman.
• Orgasms: men’s orgasms, simultaneous orgasms.
• Ejaculations: female orgasms without ejaculations, male ejaculations on face, breasts and buttocks with a large amount of semen being expelled.
METHODS
Participants: 50 young adults aged 19-30. 33 women, 16 men and 1 self-categorised as ‘other’ (excluded from the analyses).
Instrument:
»60 items: 51 regarding conventional and non-conventional aspects, 5 about sociodemographic variables (age, gender, sexual orientation, religiosity, opinion about porn).
Analyses: Percentage analyses and T-test for differences in means.
RESULTS
Men had a better opinion (M=4.44) than women (M=4.03), thought the difference was not significant (p=.15)
Religious people had a worse opinion (M=3.33) than non-religious people (M=4.25), but again the difference was not significant (p=.16)
Regarding the conventional and non-conventional items, the following table shows how much they were considered as usual in porn films by men and women and how much they were wanted to
appear:
CONCLUSIONS
Conventional pornography is clearly well defined by a set of elements, but it does not satisfy either women or men. A profound change is needed in order to depict more non-conventional items,
such as men masturbating, normal-looking men and women, daily situations, characters making an effort to seduce each other, believable plots, more and longer cunnilingus, less agressions and
insults, different sexual practices, more softcore, more female orgasms and less ejaculations in general (and of a regular quantity). Porn is of paramount importance to sexual life and health as it
represents a highly relevant source of information on sexuality from which many myths, beliefs and fears stem -maybe leading to clinical problems-, so it should not be overlooked in research.
A gender perspective on
pornography
Helena Hernansaiz-Garrido & Aida Castaño-Torrijos.
Autonomous University of Madrid.
helena.hernansaiz@uam.es
Item Usual in porn (%) I would like it to appear
(%)
Men Women General Men Women General
Man-woman 93,8 100 98 56,3 57,6 56
Woman-woman 87,5 72,7 78 37,6 54,6 48
Man-man 75 51,5 58 25,1 30,3 28
2 men & 1 woman 81,3 72,7 74 43,8 48,5 48
1 man & 2 women 87,5 78,8 82 50,1 21,3 30
3 women 43,8 48,5 46 18,8 39,4 34
3 men 43,8 15,2 24 12,5 21,3 20
Gangbang 62,5 63,6 62 12,5 24,2 20
Orgy 81,3 66,7 72 50,1 39,4 44
A man masturbating 43,8 27,3 32 6,3 18,2 16
A woman masturbating 68,8 72,7 72 37,6 27,3 32
Stunning women 93,8 100 98 18,8 38
Regular women 31,3 18,2 22 81,3 75,8 78
Muscular men 100 87,9 92 12,5 24,3 22
Regular men 37,5 27,3 30 50 48,5 50
Big penises 93,8 100 98 25,1 18,2 22
Small penises 18,8 3818,8 24,2 22
Big breasts 93,8 100 98 43,8 15,2 24
Small breasts 56,3 18,2 30 50,1 39,4 44
Prototypical roles 100 93,9 96 25 21,2 24
Everyday situations 37,5 36,4 36 50,1 63,7 60
Man's effort 18,8 314 37,6 45,4 44
Woman's effort 6,3 6,1 825,1 24,2 26
Believable plot 6,3 6687,6 72,7 78
Unbelievable plot 93,8 90,9 92 6,3 12,1 10
REFERENCES
Lust, E. (2008). Porno para mujeres. Ed: Melusina, S.L.
SPAIN
OBJECTIVES
»To study in a preliminary way what ideas do men and women have about pornographic adult films.
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Item Usual in porn (%) I would like it to appear
(%)
Men Women General Men Women General
Fellatio 100 97 98 43,8 21,2 30
Cunnilingus 68,8 33,3 44 18,8 51,6 42
Anal sex 93,8 81,8 84 18,8 15,1 18
Fisting 25 15,2 18 034
Bukkake 75 69,7 72 12,5 04
Agressions towards the man 18,8 15,2 16 25,1 9,1 16
Agressions towards the woman 56,3 72,7 68 6,3 9,1 8
Insults towards the man 25 6,1 12 6,3 6,1 8
Insults towards the woman 43,8 78,8 68 032
Man and woman with dildo 37,5 51,5 46 12,6 39,4 32
Two women with dildo 56,3 69,7 66 25 30,4 28
Two men with dildo 18,8 386,3 12,1 12
Softcore 31,3 9,1 16 43,8 69,7 62
Man's orgasm 81,3 84 84 25 36,3 34
Woman's orgasm 43,8 60,6 56 50,1 63,6 60
Simultaneous orgasms 37,5 45,5 44 43,8 57,6 54
Orgasms at differt times 43,8 33,3 36 43,8 54,5 52
Female orgasm without ejaculation 50 57,6 56 43,8 42,4 44
Female 'fountain-like' ejaculation 43,8 54,5 50 12,5 6,1 10
Male ej. in the woman's vagina 43,8 42,4 44 18,8 30,3 28
Male ej. in the woman's annus 37,5 33,3 34 034
Male ej. on the woman's face 87,5 87,9 88 25 08
Male ej. on the woman's buttocks 75 60,6 66 032
Male ej. on the woman's breasts 87,5 87,9 88 25,1 6,1 12
Male ej. of regular quantity 62,5 18,2 32 37,41 39,4 40
Male ej. of large amount 93,8 78,8 84 032
HigHligHts:
»Type of relation: man-man and woman-woman relationships are more desired by women than by men.
»Numer of people: conventional items (two women threesome, orgies, a woman masturbating) are more desired by men than by women (except two men threesome), who on constrast desire
the non-conventional items (three men and three women threesomes, gangbang, a man masturbating) more than their male counterparts.
»Their appearance: Norman men and women are preferred by both men and women. Men prefer to see big penises and big or small breasts, whereas women prefer small ones.
»Plot: Both men and women prefer to see everyday situations and believable plots, though these are not the usual in adult films.
»Sexual practices: men prefer lenghty fellatio and women lenghty cunnilingus. Agressions and insults towards women, although usual, are unwelcomend by both. Softcore is attractive to both.
»Orgasms: Women like a man’s orgasm and simultaneous orgasms more than men do. Men and women prefer to see a woman’s orgasm to a man’s.
»Ejaculations: No type of ejaculation is liked by a majority of men or women. Both like female orgasms without ejaculations. Male ejaculations on face, breasts and buttocks and large-amount
ejaculations, although highly frequent, are not liked by either men or women. Women like vaginal ejaculations more than men, and the opposite occurs with facial and breasts ones.