But What Is “Porn For Women”?

“Porn for women.” It’s a phrase that’s been around for a long time and – on the surface – it shouldn’t be too hard to define. It’s pornography made FOR women. That’s certainly the basic premise and one that motivated the creation of PornForWomen.net way back in 2001.

Back then, almost all porn was made for a male audience – either straight or gay. It was assumed that women didn’t watch porn or that they weren’t turned on by it. They certainly wouldn’t pay for it.

Yet despite prevailing attitudes, some porn was being made for women. In the 1980s, pioneering feminist porn director Candida Royalle had created her Femme line of erotic films. Lesbian porn creators such as Nan Kinney, Deborah Sundahl and Susie Bright were making their own films and written material. In the late 90s a number of websites aimed at straight women had launched. So while there was a little bit of porn for women out there, it was hard to find.

In 2001, an online search for “porn for women” was hugely helpful because it weeded out the misogynist, mainstream pornography and let you find the small amount of porn that was being made for women. Hence, this site. That is what “porn for women” used to mean.

Is “Porn For Women” Problematic?

Today the phrase “porn for women” could be considered complicated. Or perhaps problematic. That’s because the phrase raises questions about definitions and assumptions. What type of porn are we talking about? Which women? Does the phrase suggest all women only like one type of porn? Is it making assumptions about who is watching it and what they like? There are some who have protested against the phrase because they think it is prescriptive and limiting.

There’s also an idea that porn for women is softcore and “weak” – that it is always vanilla, romantic and dull. Plenty of people have railed against the idea that women only want to see soft stuff.

It’s always been the case that women are all different and have vastly different tastes. This diversity applies just as much to porn as to any other thing. Some women like it soft, others like hardcore, kinky smut. If we take this as read, what should we make of for “porn for women”? Perhaps the phrase should just be retired?

Well, no. Even now, the phrase still has value. It’s still a handy marker, a way to categorize a different kind of porn, one that includes women – whoever they are – in its audience and language. It may not be ideal, but it’s still useful.

Most Porn Still Isn’t For Women

Any casual search for porn shows that we haven’t come that far in the last two decades. Porn is still dominated by the male gaze and it still excludes female viewers. It does this via the language used and via the way most porn is filmed.

Almost all straight porn descriptions assume that the viewer is male. It describes women as the object to be viewed, not as the subject. The sexism has not gone away. Women are still sluts, whores and holes to be filled. Sex is written as something done to women, not something that two (or more) people do together.

Porn’s visual language also hasn’t changed. Male performers are cut out of the frame, reduced to a thrusting penis, while the woman remains the focus of the camera’s gaze. Male pleasure is the goal and female pleasure is seen as only a preliminary or else completely unnecessary. Scenes almost always end with a male orgasm and female orgasms are often non-existent.

Most gay porn isn’t for women either. It assumes a gay male audience and has its own visual language that works on assumptions about who is watching and what they want. Women aren’t part of that equation. This is despite the fact that many women enjoy watching two men together.

Even mainstream lesbian porn assumes the viewer is male. The “lesbian sex” you see in mainstream porn is performed primarily for the camera with the goal of getting the viewer off. Authentic lesbian or queer sexuality often doesn’t look like “lesbian porn”.

So it can be difficult for a person who feels excluded to find what they want. This is where the phrase comes in handy.

So What IS “Porn For Women”?

Ideally, the phrase “porn for women” could be used to describe porn that doesn’t follow these tropes. It could be porn that is more holistic, that has a broader perspective and that takes a positive approach to sex. It’s porn that isn’t sexist, racist or homophobic. It’s porn that is diverse in terms of who it depicts and what kind of sex they have. It can be straight, queer, non-binary, vanilla or kinky or hardcore. And it’s porn that recognizes that women (whoever they are) are watching and it acknowledges them as an audience.

In the last decade, other terms have come in to replace “porn for women”, like “feminist porn”, “ethical porn”, “alternative porn” and “female friendly porn”. All of these are handy descriptions for the same type of adult content: anything that isn’t the same-old sexist shit.

Ideally, “porn for women” could be a way of saying “porn for everyone who wants something better.” Which is a possibly more accurate phrase but much harder to type into the search engine.

New Obstacles

It used to be that typing the phrase into Google led you to actual porn for women. Things are different now. Google’s results are far less reliable and more weighted toward large tube sites and media companies. Smaller, indie sites that are actually offering real porn for women can be hard to find.

Unfortunately, the rise of the mega porn companies like Pornhub have watered down the meaning of “porn for women”. They introduced categories like “female friendly” which are supposed to cater to a female audience. Unfortunately, the videos in these categories look fairly similar to the rest of the porn on those sites. And their ads are just as sexist and offensive.

Governments are also making life difficult for those who want better porn. Laws mandating age verification mean that smaller, ethical, feminist sites are facing large costs to keep running. Verification software is not cheap. Also, people don’t want to provide ID to look at porn, it’s a huge breach of privacy, so forcing a site to use age verification means they lose their audience and have no money to make more ethical porn. It’s censorship by stealth. Meanwhile, mega tube sites have no problem paying for the software and can keep churning out the usual crap.

The Future

Despite obstacles, the porn landscape has diversified hugely since PornForWomen.Net first launched in 2001. There’s now an awful lot more good porn than when On Our Backs launched and when Candida Royalle made her first film. There’s a lot more female porn directors making their visions a reality. There’s an acknowledgement in the industry that women are watching. And media articles have stopped taking a shocked tone when covering this type of porn and instead started listing what’s out there.

People are still typing “porn for women” into search engines and, ultimately, that’s why the phrase is still around. It’s a very handy way to find the type of feminist, ethical porn that many people – both women and men – are looking for. As long as that’s the case, this site will be relevant.

So have a look around. Enjoy some free porn videos. Check out the various recommendations and consider supporting your local feminist pornographers. You’ll be glad you did!

– Ms. Naughty, May 2024