A Nice Discussion of “Objectification”

I’ve long been meaning to write a huge essay on the concept of “objectification” and how it applies to porn. Specifically the way that it bugs me that it’s the standard anti-porn response: “But porn objectifies women!” Everyone loves saying that but there’s no deeper discussion of what the word means or how it applies in porn and to wider society. Nor is there a discussion of the way sexual Read More …

Sexy Science: Female Orgasms In An MRI

Scientists at Rutger University in New Jersey have created a map of a woman’s brain during an orgasm. They monitored a woman who masturbated in a functional MRI machine and created a digital map of the results. It’s quite an impressive bit of work and may help better understand why some women can’t achieve orgasm. The Guardian reports that activity changes in 80 different sections of the brain during stimulation Read More …

Porn Research: Younger Women More Likely To Use Porn

In February I met Dr Clarissa Smith who told me about the massive research project into porn that she was undertaking with collegues Feona Attwood and Martin Barker. Not long after they put out the call for porn users to participate in their survey which aimed to look at porn use in a non-judgemental way. They received 5,490 responses to their questionaire and a heap of extended emails. They’re currently Read More …

“Women Prefer Funny To Flawless”

The SMH is reporting a survey by soap company Dove which asked women what they found attractive in a man. The big winner is a good sense of humour: “Sixty five per cent of women surveyed said they are turned off by guys seeking physical perfection, with 86 per cent citing vanity as one of the biggest turn-offs in a man. “Although one in four men view a muscular tanned Read More …

The “Pornified” Woman?

So while I’ve been off enjoying a break and then enduring flooding, anti-porn author Gail Dines has continued to wave her promotional flag, heavy as it is with assumptions and untruths. Unfortunately The Guardian likes to give her lots of space to do this. Her latest salvo was from the AVN expo in Las Vegas. Aside from her usual generalisations, she offered this particuarlly offensive paragraph: One of the seminars Read More …

Porn For Women Retrospective 2010

Another year has whizzed by and it’s time to do another rundown of all things porn for women in 2010. This year the adult industry has again endured tough times in the face of ever-increasing free content and the dismal global economy. Nonetheless, erotic content for women continues to grow and become more popular. There’s been a real attempt by many in the industry to try and cater to women, Read More …

Mainstream Movies Ignore Women: The Bechdel Test

This great video details The Bechdel Test, which is a way of measuring how mainstream movies treat women. To pass the test, a movie has to: (1) have at least two women in it, who (2) who talk to each other, about (3) something besides a man. The test first appeared in 1985 in Alison Bechdel’s comic Dykes to Watch Out For. This site has a growing list of films Read More …

Where The Hell Is My Prince Charming?

Gorgeous cartoon from Stuff No One Told Me, via Erika Lust. I think we need to make this point a little more often. Romance novels are often derisively called “porn for women” and, while this is inaccurate in a lot of ways, it does make a point about unrealistic fantasies. Both porn and romance/fairytales offer a fantasy version of the opposite sex and depict sex and relationships in a very Read More …

Australia Has Its First Female Prime Minister

“Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you… Fanta Pants.” – Marieke Hardy It’s been a bit of a whirlwind 24 hours. I’ve got no work done at all because I’ve been glued to Twitter, news sites and the TV as the Australian political landscape shifted before my eyes. Australia now has its first female prime minister, Julia Gillard. She was not directly elected to this role; rather, she’s now in the Read More …

Found: Victorian-Era Sex Survey Of Women

Stanford Magazine reports on the extraordiary discovery of a sex survey conducted in the 1890s by Dr. Clelia Duel Mosher, a professor at that university. The good Dr. collected questionaires asking women to reveal their intimate thoughts on sex. It’s now the earliest known sex survey on record and reveals some surprising information about Victorian-era women. The Mosher Survey recorded not only women’s sexual habits and appetites, but also their Read More …

Women Are Watching More Porn Than Ever

Women are watching more porn than ever. At least, that’s the conclusion if you read The Sun’s latest survey (and I will admit, The Sun must be taken far less seriously than other newspapers). Around 76 per cent of women now admit* to using porn – a ten per cent rise on the two-thirds of girls who admitted to watching porn with their partners in a survey last year. The Read More …