The world of 3DX or just erotica in general is huge! There are so many different forms of art expressing all sorts of fetishes and depicting a persons’ wildest fantasies. From more realistic settings to settings of fantasy. In short, remember Rule 34: “If it exists, there is porn of it”.
To each their own, and so there are many things one can write about. However with this column I’d like to address a specific subject: women and erotica. Now I have been active for quite a while for Affect3D and I think it’s pretty safe to say that most of our customers consist of men. But why would this be? Aren’t women just as interested in porn as men? Or do we have to fall back on stereotyping and say that “men are just perverts” and “women don’t like porn?” (No offense guys! Like I said, those are just typical stereotypes)
It’s true that men might be more open about porn than women are. More often you will find boys talking with each other about for example porn magazines than you will find girls. Of course this is dependent on cultural and social differences, but this is just generally speaking. This might be one of the reasons there is less to find about the subject women and porn, than men and porn. Now wouldn’t it be interesting to dive deeper into the aspect of “women and erotica” and find out if there really are big differences between male and female interests? That’s what I would like to start with this column. Today I’d like to show you the tip of the iceberg, so you will all get a general idea of what this is all about. Please note that this first column will mainly introduce various aspect and raise some questions, which answers will hopefully be revealed in the columns to come.
Women and porn
So question number one: Do woman actually like porn? When you type this into Google you get a lot of different search results, from “surprising facts about woman and porn” to articles stating “this is what woman look for in porn.” After searching around for a while I found an interesting article “What kind of porn turns woman on.”[1] It talks about the common perception that woman are turned off by porn that is made for men, by men. Women like female-friendly pornography; a statement you must have already heard of before. The article then mentions a research that has been done on porn patterns that actually suggests otherwise. I quote:
“While most women don’t watch porn, those who do are not watching female-friendly porn but rather the same mainstream, male-targeted, hardcore sites that men view. (..) “There is a real interesting phenomenon in women’s sexuality—not seen in men’s—and that is this divide between what erotica should be and what actually turns women on.”
So in short they conclude that the few women who watch porn actually like the same type of porn that men do. However they might feel like they shouldn’t like it, because of social or political standards. An interesting statement, if you ask me. The article then continues with giving us a different reason for the search patterns on the porn websites. The results might show that a small portion of women like the same type of porn as men, but isn’t that just because there is not enough porn made especially for women? I quote:
“If the vast majority of porn on the market is made by and for men—and it is—is it any wonder that a relatively small portion of women wants to watch it? To me, that number just speaks to the opportunity on the market for porn made with a female viewership in mind.”
So what is it that woman actually want? Female-friendly soft porn, or the more men orientated porn?
Elven Love by Hibbli3D, one of many female 3DX artists
Women and 3DX
The interesting thing of 3DX is that you can create whatever you want. You can drift as far away from reality as you like, so in that case it differs quite a bit from real life porn. Now what do women think about this? It turns out that if you look for information about women and 3D porn there is not much to find, at least officially.
For starters there are some female artists here at Affect3D. For example Hibbli3D and Smerinka are two women that have found their way to the world of 3DX art. If you look around on the internet, on sites such as Deviantart or Patreon, even more female artists can be found. The majority might still consist of male artists, but this at least shows that there is a growing interest on the women’s side as well.
Then what about female consumers? Are most of our customers indeed male, or is there perhaps a growing number of females as well? And what kind of 3DX fetishes are they interested in?
In the months to come I would like to form an answer to some of the questions raised in this column. I’m planning on contacting some artists to ask them for their views on this matter and perhaps I’ll be able to start a short survey and get many women involved. Of course everyone is also free to join in the discussion by leaving comments. Perhaps you have some question of your own you’d like me to answer or a certain fetish you’d like me to research. Or you can just share your personal opinion or experiences on the subject. I hope that at the end I will be able to give you a good image of “what women want.”
[1] http://www.alternet.org/gender/what-kind-porn-turns-women
Image sources:
Featured cover image – Haneto’s pixiv
Inserted image: Hibbli3D website
