You've come a long way, but you can't go it alone

Being as I happen to be in a line of work where certain topics are more likely to crop up, I was made aware of the latest wave of women discussing and critiquing pornography. Some people like Tristan Taormino, Susie Bright, and Violet Blue speak on the subject on an almost daily basis. However, it seems to flare up and sweep through a wider audience about once or twice a year, depending on whether someone new and novel seizes onto the topic and sparks the newest broil of focus.

It’s a good topic. It is a demographic that is being underserved by what is commonly available. They have a valid perspective on what are for them problems and deficiencies impacting their enjoyment of the genre.

One thing that I’ve never noticed when the discussions come around is that of profit. They will discuss surgically augmented actresses or the presence of a female orgasm in the film, but somehow the aspect of financial bottom-line never seems to surface. Perhaps I’m just being too obtuse and fixating on something too minor to be of note. Or perhaps it is so widely understood and examined that any further scrutiny would be a duplication of effort without any merit.

It must be, because there are a lot of very intelligent and capable women conversing in and around the adult industry without this facet of the matter getting mentioned. It’s a business matter and overlooking such a basic detail would be the next best thing to criminal at the levels they’re operating at. If I must guess, I would hypothesize that accounting isn’t considered sexy enough to be included in the talking points, columns, or press releases and it’s continually consigned to the editing room floor.

From where I sit though, it appears to me that the ledger is ultimately where anything in the adult industry is going to start or stop. Every bit of it is about making money. They do the least they have to for the most amount of revenue. Capitalism at its finest, folks.

I think it all boils down to the numbers. There are a lot of women who enjoy pornography. There are writers, directors, and producers who cater to those women. It seems that most of the vocal proponents of bringing porn more in line with what women want are trying to sell the concept that they need to take the female consumer demographic seriously and make changes to reflect that awareness.

I think it’s doomed to failure by itself. There isn’t enough market value to make it worth their while. It’s enough to make small or cosmetic changes here and there. It’s sufficient to tempt them to dabble in the new format. I don’t think their projections show enough potential revenue to ever shift it from a sideline concern to an industry core.

Pornography is, no pun intended, a penis-driven market. Vastly more men invest their income to watch and possess sexually explicit materials than women. It is their whims and desires that are carefully noted and cultivated. Men are the juggernaut inexorably grinding forward. Any attempts to change the face of pornography must include men; they dominate the market so completely that anything else will scarcely cause a ripple.

If women in general would like a move away from silicone, nippled basketballs for breasts on actresses, then they should court the guys who prefer natural busts. To a greater or lesser extent, the bodies portrayed in adult media are subject to viewer preference and thus susceptible to marketing campaigns. Get men hot and bothered over more natural contours and the industry will follow.

If you want actual female orgasms as part of the action, you have to do something about fake orgasms. Too many women readily fake their climaxes. Not only does this lead to an overweening opinion of their skills pleasing their lover for men, but also desensitizes them to the falsehood. Thus fake orgasms are not jarring for most men. They want to believe it’s sincere and so they will take it at face value. If not, they no longer care, the lie is too widespread to become personally invested in it. Next, the majority of guys wouldn’t be able to recognize a legitimate orgasm if it bucked them off the bed and spun like a top on their penis. The pretense is enough, therefore a fake whenever the director desires one will suffice. The only way around this is to expose men so thoroughly to actual female orgasms that they will recognize them without having to think about it. It has to matter to men that a woman is actually coming.

Pick your favorite failure in porn meeting women’s needs and chances are, if you can make it matter to men too, it will change.