Women Love Porn, Too!

Why women are now discussing sex tape titles and Internet porn sites more than ever.

-Faye Brennan

It’s no mystery why men love watching porn – guys are visual creatures and get turned on by watching others do the deed, just as much as they get turned on when we flounce around the bedroom in sexy lingerie. Conventional wisdom has always been that women, on the other hand, need physical caresses and sweet nothings whispered into our ears to get excited, and aren’t turned on by or even interested in porn. Au contraire! These days, young women aren’t shy about admitting that they too, enjoy XXX material – a lot of it, and in many different forms.

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Recently, Oprah dedicated an episode of her show to this growing trend, finding some staggering statistics: In the U.S., one out of three consumers of internet porn are women, which means that 13 million of us are watching porn at least once per month online.

Rachel Kramer Bussel, 34, Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations and editor of the Best Sex Writing series says that young women are definitely taking advantage of this $10 billion a year industry. “Women around my age and younger feel like adult material, including porn videos, photos, erotica and also just racy photos are for them to look at – just like guys do.”

With all the variations of adult material to choose from, porn has become a hot topic of discussion between groups of girlfriends. “My girlfriends and I talk openly about adult material and toys, and how they can spice up a relationship or even how we use them for our own enjoyment,” says Karie Herring, 31, author of The Five Fish. “We actually have very lively and entertaining conversations about adult material, almost as if we were talking about purses.”

Elizabeth*, 35, agrees. “ I speak openly about it with my friends. I have always enjoyed adult material – mostly movies, videos, and sex toys – I have simply found them arousing most of my sexually active life and haven't really had shame about sharing that with my friends.”

Have women in their 20s and 30s lost their censors, thanks to years of hearing about celebrities making sex tapes and porn stars writing books, or are we truly kinkier than our mothers and grandmothers? Or has adult entertainment just wised up and started making material that women find more acceptable to watch and read?

Jenna Jameson, the most successful porn star in the world, told Oprah her views on why porn is now so popular among women. When she started her own production company, ClubJenna, with her ex-husband, Jay Gardina, her videos sold millions of copies, especially to female consumers. “I was having sex with my husband in the movies and I think that’s why they sell so much, because you see love there. I loved it cause it was very erotic and knew women would love it, too.”