A study of 120 women has concluded that women prefer erotic films that include romance, sensuality and foreplay.
Freshly minted Doctor of Psychology Jade Sheen published the results of her research in her thesis “Women’s Cognitive and Emotional Processing During Sexual Arousal.”
According to The Age, Dr Sheen showed women of various ages 7 minute snippets of American porn. Half of the videos were described as “male oriented” with a focus on intercourse, while the other half had a bit more romance and foreplay included.
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It seems that the majority of participants preferred, and reported feeling more aroused by, the romantic stuff.
They were also asked to watched a softcore film, one half of the group as a spectator and the other half imagining themselves as one of the characters. Unsurprisingly, the latter group enjoyed themselves more.
Dr Sheen, a graduate of Deakin University in Melbourne, said she saw this study as proving that women were sexual beings who just needed the right stimulation. She said the tag of “sexual dysfunction” had been applied too easily.
This study is interesting when compared to the results from a study at Northwestern University in Illinois in 2002. Controversial sex researcher Michael Bailey found that women had a physical reaction when shown any kind of porn images, although their emotional and intellectual responses often varied. Basically, the study suggested that women’s crotches will respond to visual material, even if their brains are telling them otherwise.
This article says that only 29 women took part in Bailey’s research. Measurment was done via a vaginal probe. More details here. The Age article does not give any detail as to how Dr Sheen measured the responses of her research subjects.
The research also doesn’t seem to look into the reasons why the women in that study would choose the more “romantic” stuff. We can speculate of course.
It may be that the women involved had a cultural aversion to the whole idea of porn, and that the romance aspect made it more acceptable in that context, so they allowed themselves to feel aroused, intellectually at least.
It may be that the “foreplay” aspect of porn actually gives women what they want to see – mainly kissing, manual stimulation and cunnilingus.
Or it may just be that romance, sensuality and a bit of real intimacy is sexy.
What I personally get out of this latest research is a vague feeling of vindication. It may be “stereotypical” and offensive to some, but squishy vanilla romantic porn does appeal to women. Not all women of course… and I’m sure there are some men out there who like it as well, but nonetheless, adding those elements can make explicit material a great deal more appealing to Mrs Average Straight Woman.