sex

Women are watching more porn than ever, but what exactly is 'porn for women'?

Women are watching more porn than ever before, according to new survey results published last month by internet porn Goliath Pornhub. Their statistics show that the search term ‘porn for women’ has had overall a 1400 per cent increase since 2015 and a 359 per cent growth in women logging on to visit the site.

The huge increase in women and men searching specifically for ‘porn for women’ suggests that the ladies are looking for tailored porn more suited to a typically feminine palate and men, well perhaps they want to know what turns their bae on in the bedroom?

Anna Richards founder of online erotica site Frolic Me believes she knows why this trend has continued to skyrocket. She started her now global business in 2015 because she was tired of not being able to find the style of sophisticated erotica she had in her head.

“Initially I published a blog about my own fantasies and matched my written posts to beautiful erotic images I sourced online. I began chatting to my followers, many of them women, about their desires and I realised there was a huge lack of quality erotic films online that included passionate, hot-blooded sex and female pleasure.”

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Anna’s quest for to find a better quality of online porn lead her to meeting with a retired adult film producer and explaining to him the sorts of films she wanted to make.

“I didn’t want to produce the ‘eight-minute quickie’ films commonly found on the big internet porn sites. The women often look uncomfortable and the whole thing can be overly graphic and degrading. I wanted to see beautiful locations, a diverse range of happy women and couples and mostly I just wanted to see great looking sex of every persuasion!”

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With over 170 movies, thousands of images and erotic stories now available for download from her site, and a growing list of awards to her name, Anna is quite possibly the biggest independent female producer of X-rated movies in the world – as well as a busy mum and wife.

“I know how we women work, we are often time poor and worried about everyone else’s’ needs. We can’t just flick a switch and be in the mood for sex – we need help! Which is part of the reason why I wanted to create sex-positive erotica that is exciting for women and couples who are looking to explore something new or liven up their sex lives.”

Porn
Promotional photo of frolicme.com. Image supplied.

“Women are and always have been sexual creatures. It just gets buried under layers of guilt and fear – especially for mothers. What has changed in the last five years is access to a whole online fantasy world that women can view from their laptop or smart phones in the privacy and comfort of their bedrooms.”

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Married mum-of-two from Newcastle, Bella* agrees.

“I love watching erotic movies and I always have after finding my mum and dad’s stash as a kid! I have been married to the same man for a number of years now and while we still love each other, I find that at the end of a long day with kids, work or housework, I am tired and a little bit of porn helps to turn me on and get me in the mood.

“We don’t use porn every time we have sex, but it is a great way to indulge our fantasies and desires by watching them happen on the screen. Ultimately we have fun together as a couple and it is something very adult that we can enjoy together.”

Women watching porn
Anna Richards - founder of Frolic Me. Image supplied.
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The release of the mega-bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James in 2011 coincided with uptake in ownership of kindles and smart phones. Suddenly women of all ages were reading and talking about bondage and erotica openly. Anna feels like it was certainly the start of a sexual awakening for many women.

“I think what happened after the movie version of Fifty Shades came out in 2015, many women went to see it and came away thinking – is that it? They liked it but they wanted to see more. Women aren’t scared of seeing sex on the big screen and so they started to look – in bigger numbers than ever before – for sexually explicit content online.”

Like Bella, many of the women who access erotica from Anna’s site are one half of a couple who just want to explore something naughty and have better sex.

“All of the feedback I receive about Frolic Me is positive and a lot of it comes from men who are thrilled that their wives are turned on and having great orgasms! One couple aged in their seventies got in touch to thank me for putting the excitement back into their sex life again. I couldn’t be happier for them!”

As Anna says, “whether you are in a relationship or not and whether or not you choose to watch porn, having good quality sex is beneficial for everyone. ”

LISTEN: This week the Mamamia Out Loud team are talking about all things workplace gifting, perfectionism and the trials and tribulations of the modern dating scene.