Behind the scenes of the female porn revolution – and how it’s changing women’s sex lives
A third of women watch erotic movies - and they're just the ones who admit it. We investigate what women get out of them
NINE o’clock, Thursday night: Vanessa Sharp is home alone, feeling antsy and bored.
Twitter isn’t providing much entertainment, but it’s too early to sleep.
Wandering into her bedroom, she picks up her laptop and opens Google.
“Feminist porn,” she types in.
“I first came across porn when I was about 14,” the 32 year old recalls.
“I was looking for my birthday presents when I found an unlocked box I’d never seen before filled with a stash of X-rated magazines. In retrospect it was very cheesy, but I remember being fascinated all the same.”
Since then, Vanessa has gone through phases of watching porn.
At one point it was once a day, nowadays it’s more like once a month.
“I started enjoying it when I left home for university and had my first laptop with an internet connection,” she explains.
“I’m glad I live alone these days so nobody can hear me from another part of the house.”
For all the stereotypes of horny men with secretly stashed Pornhub passwords and deleted browser histories, porn isn’t actually as gender-segregated as cliché would suggest.
Research shows that 33% of UK women watch X-rated films, with 66% viewing it on their smartphones. And the majority of female fans watch porn once every few days.
Feminist film directors such as Pandora Blake, 32, in the UK and Erika Lust, 38, in Barcelona, are providing a different narrative, where female pleasure is just as important as that of any man, and women are behind the camera.
There’s even a Feminist Porn Awards ceremony celebrating those who have made the biggest impact on diversifying the industry.
“I call my porn ‘feminist’ because I give equal focus to female and male pleasure,” explains Pandora.
“I have viewers of all genders. As with all feminism, it’s about equality. My main concern is that performers are treated well and the women are represented respectfully, and I think that these days a lot of people appreciate that.”
According to psychologist and sex therapist Lorraine McGinlay, the rise in women watching porn is down to two different factors.
“It’s half to do with the increase in smartphones – which have made internet usage incredibly private and give you access to all kinds of amazing apps and sites for women and men – and half down to the adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey for the big screen,” says Lorraine.
“Of course, women watched porn before that film, but I’ve noticed a huge rise in women talking about their fantasies since Fifty Shades. Whatever you think of the franchise, it’s made it more acceptable for women to be open about their sexual impulses.”
With ease of access, anything goes.
One study by Pornhub reveals “ebony” (interracial sex) is the most searched for fantasy by women in England, while in Wales, 18+ “teen” is the order of the day. Or night.
Women living in the UK are 33% more likely to search for “bondage” than anywhere else in the world, and on average we’ll spend 10 minutes 43 seconds watching videos, proving that we’re not just clicking on and off out of passive curiosity.
But despite a growing female interest, mainstream pornography stubbornly continues to prioritise male pleasure.
In December 2014, porn scenes featuring female ejaculation on camera were banned in the UK in an amendment to the 2003 Communications Act, while the male equivalent continues to feature heavily.
No surprise, then, that women within the industry are determined to transform pornography from the inside out.
In fact, while women only directed 7% of the top 250 Hollywood films in 2014, feature filmmaker-turned-pornographer Monica Stambrini reckons the ratio is already much higher in the porn business because of the start-up nature of it, which means anyone can make it if they feel inclined.
Even the actress Susan Sarandon wants to join their number.
“I have threatened in my 80s to direct porn,” said the 69 year old at Cannes Film Festival this year, adding that she wants to get involved because “most pornography is brutal and doesn’t look pleasurable → from a female point of view.”
Monica can relate to Susan’s approach – after all, she recently made a similar transition.
Based in Rome, she formed a collective called La Ragazze Del Porno (The Porn Girls) with 10 other mainstream female filmmakers aged 25 to 75.
Together, they embarked on a project to transform the way porn caters to women, each directing a 12-minute-long, XXX-rated movie in which female pleasure was the focal point.
“We wanted to shake things up,” says Monica, adding that the films have been hugely successful across the world and have been downloaded in the UK and America.
“I knew women were making porn and I knew women were watching porn, but I felt like the two were disconnected. Female directors were still working for men, and I wanted to change that. The way we were talking about women on a societal level felt very outdated, too – it was like women were still seen as objects to be used by men however they please.
“I wasn’t worried about the impact it could have upon my career, as I believed in what I was doing. Women were being made to feel ashamed
of watching porn, while men were not. And that’s simply not right.”
Pandora agrees that context is important.
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“Whenever I’m behind the camera, I try to make an effort to be clear to the viewers that porn is a fantasy that exists within its own little bubble – it’s not real life,” she says.
“I always shoot interviews with the performers before and after filming a scene and post that online, too, so that I can make it clear that everybody is consenting, even if they briefly pretend not to. Behind-the-scenes footage is also a good way to communicate the reality of what happens on set.
“I love performing in porn – it’s definitely the most fun part of my job – but that’s also partly because I know that I’m in control. I think it’s important that viewers know that.”
For Vanessa, the suspension of disbelief is what attracts her to porn.
“It’s an outlet for the fantasies I have that I don’t always want to share with people, either because they’re embarrassing or wouldn’t work in the dynamics of my relationship,” she says.
“For example, I’m interested in threesomes, but I find them really boring in real life – I’ve yet to have a good one because of the amount of micro-managing that needs to go on to make them fun for everyone. But when I watch porn, I can see a bunch of people having fun, and I can use it to spark my imagination without having to worry about the real-life logistics.
“Still, I used to feel very ashamed of it, because I was brought up in a society that teaches us women are objects to be lusted over and shouldn’t be allowed to do any of the lusting themselves,” she adds.
As she’s got older, Vanessa has realised that watching porn is nothing to feel embarrassed about.
“These days, I’m more open to exploring new types of porn, such as group sex,” she says.
“I don’t watch it with my boyfriend, because for me, masturbating and porn are things that I enjoy alone, in private. I wouldn’t fart or clip my toenails when he was with me, and while those are necessary and natural too, I’d much rather do them alone.”
Charlie Marchant, a 24 year old from Watford, regularly watches ethical porn with her boyfriend as part of foreplay.
“I first saw it when I was at uni,” she says.
“My boyfriend at the time asked if I’d watch a movie with him and I agreed, although I remember feeling apprehensive in case it was too staged. Since then, I’ve made an effort to educate myself about the industry, and I watch porn about once a week, pretty much always with my boyfriend.
“I think older generations weren’t as liberal as our generation is now, which feeds into the negative perception a lot of people have about porn. I’ve never been made to feel ashamed of watching it, but that might be because I only talk about it with people I trust.
“In a lot of porn you just see a man off-screen – usually only his penis is in shot – while there’s a full view of the woman and all her bits,” she adds.
“It feels as though the man is disembodied and the woman is just there to take what is given. In the feminist porn that I’ve watched, both the man and woman tend to be on-screen and both people’s pleasure is taken into account.
“I don’t like films where stars seem to be treated badly or humiliated. I’d rather know the men and women have chosen to participate, that they’re being treated well and that they feel empowered in the porn they’re making.”
However, while there’s clearly a need for more diverse portrayals of women on screen, sex therapist Lorraine warns it can also be damaging to suggest women should prefer a certain type of “female-friendly” porn – such as a romantic, heterosexual encounter – more than any other kind.
“Society definitely conditions us to feel ashamed of being sexual,” she explains.
“Plus, when you’re aware of the extent of sexual assault and domestic abuse that exists in the real world, it’s not surprising if some women experience guilt about enjoying non-consent or power-play fantasies, too. But that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with those fantasies.
“It’s only something to be concerned about if you are thinking of acting upon it in a way that could put you or another person in danger. If you are sitting at home and you know that everyone involved is consenting to the act that you’re watching, then it doesn’t matter if your friends are turned on by the same thing or not.
“It’s about making you feel good – and women deserve to feel that just as much as men.”