Gay Porn Stars Have More Fun
Why do women watch gay porn?
Why do women watch gay porn in large numbers if they don’t find penises arousing?
That’s what “Claire” wondered.
Do women watch gay porn in large numbers?
And if they watch, is it for the reason Claire thinks?
Do women watch gay porn in large numbers?
First, it’s not clear that women watch any sort of porn in large numbers.
A high estimate of 55% comes from sex toy and lingerie retailer Ann Summers, who surveyed women via their Facebook and Twitter sites, with 300 responses. Women who are into sex toys and lingerie, and who take the time to answer sex surveys, are probably not representative of all women.
A more scientific Pew poll found only 8% admitting to porn viewing. That number could be low since some won’t want to admit their habit. But an analysis of Internet searches found men 10 times more likely to watch pornography — suggesting the female number is no more than 10%.
An even smaller proportion watch gay porn. And many fans are lesbians.
What’s up?
Straight women look fake. And they aren’t having fun
A big attraction is this: a lot of women are turned off by straight porn that objectifies and abuses women. Gay porn is an alternative.
Gay porn for straight women and lesbians?
Research suggests that so long as sex is on the screen a women’s arousal can be heightened — regardless of the porn star’s sex or the woman’s sexual orientation.
Here’s what female fans have to say:
“Alex” is a lesbian who chooses gay porn. She says the women in straight pornography aren’t attractive. And it’s downright depressing because they don’t seem to be enjoying it, either:
There’s too much plastic surgery. The women look like cyborgs…. (and) It never seemed like they were having fun.
Rose Anderson is a straight woman who favors gay porn because she gets too distracted by the objectification and abuse of women in straight fare.
I don’t get the sense that the actors in gay porn would rather be doing something else. I can’t help but worry about why those women have turned to porn to make money. Were they abused? Are they poverty stricken? Are they on drugs? Were they just young and naive and pushed into it?
Lisa Cholodenko agrees, as she told the Daily Beast,
With gay porn, for a second, we can go there and not think about politics and sexism… there’s something about removing women from the equation that’s freeing.
Many lesbians feel the same way. Like Jen, who says:
It’s a surrendering of male privilege. It throws a monkey wrench into the idea that women are receptacles.
Or maybe it’s because straight porn doesn’t feel like real sex, says Amanda Duberman at the Huffington Post:
It may feel like hetereosexual porn bears little resembles to the sex that people actually have, or even want to have. The hardcore offerings are often alienating at best, and degrading or deeply misogynistic at worst. Perhaps women are less able (or willing) to suspend their skepticism that a woman could actually enjoy some of these acts, much less get turned on by them themselves.
In her book, Come As You Are, Dr. Nagoski explains that our sexual brains have both accelerators and brakes. Watching women being objectified or harmed can put on the brakes.
Getting off on guys getting screwed
Others get off on watching guys get screwed. Their feet move from the break to the accelerator. Like lesbian comedienne Kate Clinton, who told the Daily Beast,
It’s about power dynamics. We’re so used to watching men in our lives wield power. Gay porn is an opportunity to watch them get f——.”
Some worry that all this will leave women objectifying men, which is harming — a concern I’ve discussed before.
Those are a few reasons why some women, straight or not, watch gay porn. More later.
This is part 1 of a series asking the question: Why do women watch gay porn?
Related Posts on BroadBlogs
- Does Porn Objectify? Experts Disagree
- Magic Mike Turns Tables on Objectification, Desire
- Man as Object: Reversing the Gaze
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Posted on August 3, 2015, in feminism, LGBTQ+, objectification, pornography, psychology, sex and sexuality, violence against women, women and tagged feminism, gay porn, lesbians, objectification, pornography, psychology, sex, sexuality, violence against women, women. Bookmark the permalink. 38 Comments.
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ome who use female names on my blog tell me that they can find the penis arousing. And I imagine that you could learn a fetish from watching porn, Especially if you started watching at a young age. Or maybe by associating the penis with orgasm–which only a minority and women seem to manage.
I’d think women who are visual with men;s bodies are more likely to be turned on not because of the dicks and watching that, but men’s butts, chests, arms and other body parts that women find sexually attractive and more often more attractive than men’s dicks.
That’s why I brought up eye candy with gay porn and it might be enjoyment of seeing those bodies parts, and not the dick. I mean I don’t watch porn to really watch or get aroused from women’s vaginas, but more likely from seeing boobs, ass, legs, and pretty bodies, and sex as well as the sounds too.
Makes sense to me.
I get not wanting to watch straight porn – for all of the reasons mentioned above: fake women, women doing things that most of us would not enjoy doing, lake of enjoyment etc. gay porn though? Wtf? I have so little time to spend watching naked men, and I am not spending my time currency on that 🙂
I get it. Pretty much describes how I see things.
If women don’t like looking at porn with fake women then why do they like lesbian porn? It’s the same porn actresses
Maybe the women who watch lesbian porn aren’t the same ones who are watching gay porn.
You two are saying that you aren’t interested in watching naked men just like most if not all women. whereas men spend a lot of time on watching naked women.
And that answers the question that men are visually/sexually attracted to women whereas women aren’t visually/sexually attracted to men.
Women are hard wired to be attracted to men’s personality and behavior.
That’s why is very common for an attractive woman to be with an unattractive man but it’s rarely the other way around
Tribal men, and European men circa 1980s weren’t visual either. And women can learn the breast fetish.
Visual isn’t hardwired for anyone. You learn it.
Has there ever been a case where were women were visual about men?
Some who use female names on my blog tell me that they can find the penis arousing. And I imagine that you could learn a fetish from watching porn, Especially if you started watching at a young age. Or maybe by associating the penis with orgasm–which only a minority and women seem to manage.
I was talking more on a social level. Just like almost all men are visually attracted to women nowdays, was there an equivalen case were women were visually attracted to men?
I’m not aware of it. And I’m also not aware of any culture that has eroticized the male body AND let women freely out of the home. Greek society celebrated the male body but the women lived pretty much like women under the Taliban: confined to the women’s quarters of their homes, and not let out a whole lot.
Then again that might also answer why straight women might enjoy gay porn, because of it being nothing but men’s voices. Then again the lesbians who watch it, I don’t know. Not only would I think the bodies would be a turn off or distractor or “brake” for lesbians, but two men moaning or one man, I don’t know, never watched gay porn, just assuming. I’d think lesbians would prefer not just seeing, but hearing women, not men. Seriously women are so confusing. It’s like everything that should be logical is flipped upside down with women. I know some people and women don;t like when others say or joke how women are complex or more complicated then men, but this is a good example. For men things are linear and go according to his indentity. The actions and motives seem to fit men’s identity and label much more accordingly than for women. What men are or like matches up in porn and in real life.
Well, the two men aren’t a brake for lesbians because their bodies aren’t necessarily a turnoff. Watching two men simply helps the lesbians to take their foot off the brake of watching Women who don’t seem to be enjoying themselves and who may even be hurt.
And then the accelerator comes on because it’s sex, and any sort of sex seems to aid women’s arousal. So long as the brakes aren’t also coming on. So trying to imagine myself watching gay porn, and I did run into some still images while trying to find something to illustrate this post, I noticed that the brakes came on for me. And that may be due to my sexual repression that I’m still struggling with. Brakes come on for me when I see lesbian porn, too — again, repression probably. Due to my repression anything explicit — hard core, gay straight or otherwise, grosses me out.
I’ve been reading “Come as you are” — which talks about the brakes and accelerators –and I’ve looked at some the quizzes. And people like me need a lot to overcome the ick factor. An extremely close relationship and a strong sense of oneness.
” So trying to imagine myself watching gay porn, and I did run into some still images while trying to find something to illustrate this post, I noticed that the brakes came on for me. And that may be due to my sexual repression that I’m still struggling with. Brakes come on for me when I see lesbian porn, too — ”
I don;t know if the brakes coming on for gay porn means reperession. I mean I know women are attracted to men’s bodies, but it’s for me to imagine why anyone, well especially women would be turned on or could watch men fucking each other in the ass. That not only seems gross, but an eye sore, and just not a pleasant sight in my eyes. Though I know it’s likely to be biased as a straight man to see that as gross.
And the lesbian porn would make sense if you’re straight as in, you’re not sexually attracted to women, you’d think them doing stuff to each other’s bodies and going down on each other to either be boring or not visually pleasing, because that should only be appealing toward the sex with the bodies you are sexually attracted to.
Hardcore porn could make sense to not be turned on, because it can be graphic and violent, so something many don’t care for. Now if soft core porn, or amateur porn with couples having sex turns the brakes on that might be another story..
Well that makes sense.
Another thing too, men also find women’s sensuality, movements, and sounds sexy and arousing as hell too. I know porn is fake and exaggerated. But I’m talking about amateur porn or stuff like that with non porn actors or people having sex and what not. I came across some clip,, from some reality show it must have been. Clicked on out of curiosity thinking there was something to see, but the couple was having sex but shower or bathroom door closed from camera, so nothing seen, but you could hear the sex.
I never would have thought that it would be a turn on, something non visual, and more a turn on than shower sex or porn that you actually see. Go figure. I don’t know but her moans were sexy as hell, and it just goes to show, how its not all visual for men but just this strong attraction to women and like sex action or sounds can simply turn men on. Women;s bodies are sexualized, but there were no female body to see in the clip. Well just a quick clip of her after sex and walking out of the room with a towel on. Part of the turn on might have been the imagination too in process.
But why I find this interesting with straight women and lesbian porn. So women’s bodies are sexualized, but I mean women’s voices are not something you can see on an ad to be sexualized. Yes they signify pleasure which might be why women react to it, but two women? Don’t you have to be attracted to women sexually too be all turned on by them moaning together and its from what they are doing to each other? And find their voices sexy? As a man, I don;t find men’s voices sexy. I can tell if a guy is good looking and has a good physique. The only thing I’d notice is if a guy has a good talking voice is that “this guys should be a news anchor, sports announcer, narrator, radio, he has a good voice like that. Like Morgan Freeman, he always had a great narrator voice as an actor.
So it’s weird in that sense from porn to real life. I’m assuming that straight women find men;s voices sexy in real life and not women’s. Because from what I’ve heard, and pretty sure that women wouldn’t find a man sexually attractive or sexy if his voice sounds like a woman or too high. Even though women like guys with nice singing falsettos there’s to an extent too, where too high like a women turns them off and that makes sense. I don;t mind a lower toned female voice if she still sounds like a woman and still feminine, some of those seductive breathy voices are from a lower feminine tone. See Scarlett Johanson, I think her voice is pretty sexy. But a woman that sounds like a man or really deep? It’s a turn off…just being honest and I know my opinion is most like shared by many if not most men.
There’s a lot about men that women find attractive other than their bodies, too.
Then why do women get turned on by the sounds of two women having sex with each other? I can understand a man and woman having sex, then she can relate the woman’s pleasure to what the man is giving her. Perhaps its about the pleasure of the women for lesbian sex too, but shouldn;t that be overkill? For me and men, women’s moans turn us on, because we like to know she’s being pleased or we’re pleasing her or if in porn or somethijng that she’s enjoying herself and the man is doing his job well. An encouragement thing. But it’s not simply that. The other reason is simply purely auditory arousal. Simply put, men find women’s voices sexy and the moaning sounds just sound themselves sexy and just a turn on because men are attracted not just to womens bodies but how they sound, smell, feel, etc.
So men are sexually attracted to how women sound as well. The same reason men like women’s voices is the same reason men don’t find men’s voices sexy, because the obvious difference. Men are built apparently to find higher pitched, feminine, female sounds sexually attractive, not deep, male masculine voice or sound. It seems like its that way for women about men as I said women like men who sound like men and not women. Yet women are turned on and attracted to the sounds of two women moaning in lesbian porn? But then aren’t attracted to women in reallife and not only that but like men to sound like men and would be turned off if a guy they are with sounded feminine. More contradictions. Why isn’t that a “brake” to women’s arousal for lesbian porn? Not just the bodies, but sounds if supposedly not attracted to women’s voices. Are women attracrted to how women sound but for some arbitrary reason it doesn’t relay to real life?
I suppose the same women who get turned on looking at women could get turned on by the auditory part, too. I just don’t know much of anything about that. I’ve never seen any studies on that topic. Makes sense that lesbians would for the exact same reason as men do. In terms of other women, hearing a woman’s pleasure would help to get your foot off the arousal brakes because you wouldn’t have to worry that she wasn’t enjoying it.
Why do women watch gay porn in large numbers if they don’t find penises arousing?”
Well there’s more then a man’s penis as far as the body goes right? Women find men’s chests, butts and other parts sexually attractive and visually appealing even if they don’t really find dicks all that great looking and arousing. You say men aren’t fetishsized, but I don’t think you have to necessarily have that shock value or fetish arousal to body parts to want to see porn or certain people having sex. You can find the bodies of the person sexually attractive, but not simply aroused seeing naked just standing there, but once action takes place and those nice, sexually attractive body parts touched, the sounds and expression of sexually attractive person. I’ve watched porn, but like I said, I don’t watch much or most porn, but the porn I’ve watched I’m picking about.
It’s hard to get off just from naked women images. Back when I was like a teen that was easy, but while that shock value or reaction isn’t the same anymore, there can still be lust on the naked body depending on her looks and body type, but more importantly the action taking place and sounds. It just can be arousing seeing sexy bodies having sex, which for me and men, well it’s women. So like I said there are many reasons, but I think part of the appeal can be that is’ not mysognist like said and the enjoyment, but the “eye candy” of seeing attractive men enjoying themselves as opposed to straight porn that not only is mysognist, but also the pov is always geared on her body and face as it’s for straight men and what straight men want to see. So you’d figure some straight women would be tired of seeing notjing but the women’s body all the time, and have seen some say that on yahoo answers.
Makes sense.
Georgia…. First of all I found quite insincere that only 8 per cent of women rcognized they watch porn… With that being state…. I have been talking with a bunch of female friends about this topic and I can conclude that they are all recognized watching gay porn and enjoy it more than straight porn…
I´d say that heteroseuxual porn tends to make women appear as sex dolls… They are usually depicted as submissive and passive… And man is always in charge…
When it comes to web comes that priciple reverses… Woman are in charge… You enter their rooms… And most times, almost everything guys tip them… So it is more relative… Woman alone are the stars … You know!.
I have also heard of straight gals who like to watch male porn … there is a site called Voyeur Boys which is trendy… I think there are six young boys who interact between them switching and so on…
I´d say that overall… What woman finds arousing is charming caring sex… So at the end as porn is not a personal experience involving deep feelings what counts is the performance… And It is interesting …. I think that women like sex involving love or at least a loving attitude … So either way, gay or not, it is clear that straight porn is usually violent and always charged with the same leit motivs, and, needless to say those ones might be even at times … despective and … why not!: gross!.
Great post, dear Georgia… Best wishes! Aquileana 😀
I would think that the 8% is low except for a couple of things. One is the study of Internet searches, which found men 10 times more likely to search for porn. Also our society teaches men to be much more visual. But who knows, that 8% number could be low. Otherwise, thanks for sharing about your friends.
I wonder – you mentioned that not many women watch porn or admit to watching porn, and also that not many women are aroused by penises. Is it possible that the set of women that DO enjoy porn and the set of women that ARE aroused by penises heavily overlaps? Or would we even be able to know that?
Is certainly possible. I don’t know how to find out. I guess you could ask. If you’re going to admit that you like porn I don’t see any reason not to me that you also liked penises.
You often seem to want to rely on “studies” or so called “research” to make points about things.Stats,studies and a lot of research imo is complete bull.It is only relevant to those who participated in said study.Alot of studies are used as propaganda to make it seem something other then it is as well.Im sorry but I can find all kinds of women who would dispute how many women view and enjoy smut and also just as many who are aroused by a guys wang and/or the size of it.And these in dispute of those findings would be women themselves (not trolls or men pretending to be women) As far as the culture not fetishizing the “penis”,hmm….seems to be a big deal the wunderkinds in sex research fields etc seem to be hell bent on attempting to tell men how normal they are or not..the avg breast size in porn is like a B-cup yet damn near every guy has be well endowed go figure.Oh and and then you have the hilarity of so called “feminist porn” in which most while attempting to cater to women’s ideals of sex yep you guessed it most of the time they cast *cough* well endowed dudes.Ask any guy what he has heard his entire life and most will tell you that it has been driven into their skulls from cradle to grave that–“the bigger-the better”….just like “tall dark and handsome” and everything else.But Im sure you would blame patriarchy for that too right? As women surely would not engage in such behavior and slander or judge a dude based on such superficial things ? Riiiight.I would not dispute that perhaps the majority of women are not obsessed with a guy’s size but there is a big enough percentile out there for whom it DOES matter just as looks matter,height matters and the size of a guy’s bank account matters in the dating/mating world -to deny that would be simply a LIE.I mean I could tell an overweight woman that her weight doesn’t matter but if she has been torched on her weight in the past me telling her its not that big of a deal will mean very little to her because based on her experience it DID matter to the guy(s) who judged her,the same with small(er) breasts,looks etc etc etc.All the studies in the world telling a woman her boobs do not matter or a guy his height/schlong size doesn’t matter is just plain not going to trump his/her personal experiences. Imo a lot of feminist types usually play the “size doesn’t matter” card in order to not look hypocritical and to try to at least remain consistent.
regards
Oh I forgot, your opinion and a few people you’ve talked to are much better indicators of social behavior and social causes than social science research is.
What you see in pornography — the focus on huge penises — comes from male writers and directors, not women. About 80% of women couldn’t care less about penis size.
I think there is a general interest in gay cinema in heterosexual women. There are still many who find it taboo or unappealing, carrying their homophobic attitudes in a way that is still naturalized today. But, there are many women, who appreciate the emotionalism and sensitivity depicted in gay relationships. There is an even narrower margin of women who admit to watching or reading lesbian or bisexual relationships, while there are others who find gay relationships, including gay porn “fun” and appealing. For example, the anime and manga form “yaoi” is fervently read by heterosexual girls and women, and is a very popular comic genre. As you point out, gay film and fiction is very liberating for heterosexual women, because the sensitivities of relationships and sex can be expressed, without the burden of seeing how the stereotypical notions of women are defined in them. Apart from porn, these stereotypes are also found in romantic comedies (the nagging girlfriend, the career woman, the manic pixie dream girl, the cougar etc). It is not unusual to feel attracted to actors in gay porn or mainstream gay cinema. It is in the execution of these films that the interest lies. Many of my favourite love stories revolve around gay relationships, and I believe they can be watched and appreciated by people of any gender or orientation.
Yeah, a lot of young women — especially in Japan, as I understand it — are attracted to the anomie that highlights gay men and their relationships. I’m not sure whether the subculture creates the desire or whether women who already have the desire are attracted to that genre. Probably both. But the fact that it seems to be much more popular in Japan suggest the power of the social construction of sexuality.
Yuri – manga and anime depicting lesbian relationships is also popular among heterosexual teenagers. Japan definitely has an environment where this kind of popular literature for teenagers is allowed to flourish, though I don’t know how open and normative it is.
I don’t know either. I just know that people who are in the subculture get into it.
Let’s say that women do not watch gay porn because they are turned on by the male body.
Those porn stars have a fit muscular body or are they overweight and unattractive?
I have heard different reasons from women explaining why they like gay porn.
One said she likes listening to men making sex growl.
Another said she liked the overwhelming amount of testosterone
And some women said that the actors in gay porn are sexy and attractive whereas in straight porn they are unattractive. They don’t use attractive actors in straight porn because men don’t like looking at attractive men
There are three different points here:
1. Do large numbers of women watch gay porn?
Scientific studies suggest large numbers of women don’t regularly watch ANY sort of porn, let alone gay porn.
2. Do women watch gay porn because the men are attractive?
“Research suggests that so long as sex is on the screen a women’s arousal can be heightened — regardless of the porn star’s sex or the woman’s sexual orientation.”
So they don’t need to be attractive. They just need to be having sex.
But as I will discuss in a later post (remember, this is a series) nice bodies can help — be a part of that appeal.
3. Do women watch gay porn because they like penises?
Nothing in our culture teaches women to be interested in penises — there is nothing that fetishizes the penis in our culture, and very few women seem to find them arousing, as I discussed in this post: https://broadblogs.com/2015/06/22/women-arent-visual-it-depends/
About the 2: do women watch gay porn because men are attractive?
Women get turned on by anything sexual. Agreed. Plus few women watch gay porn.
Those who do like gay porn, would they still bother watching if the gay porn actors were obese and unattractive?
The gay porn actors HAVE to be attractive.
Like I said, the attractive guys are certainly part of the appeal. I’m just going to write about that more later.
Yeah that makes sense. But I would say a lot of these women do get aroused by penises and the male body. Probably the same reason why some watch lesbian porn. Or straight or mostly straight men watch gay porn.
Research suggests that only a small minority women get aroused by penises, which makes sense since our culture doesn’t do anything to eroticized the penis. I’ve written about this a little bit before: https://broadblogs.com/2015/06/22/women-arent-visual-it-depends/