Here’s one for the books.
More than half of women who watch same-sex male pornography are watching it because they feel it is “more authentic” than other genres. This is according to a study –“Male gays in the female gaze: Women who watch m/m pornography” by researcher Lucy Neville – by London’s Middlesex University.
The study, which drew research from a recent survey from adult film site PornHub, investigated why exactly women are aroused by watching male-on-male sex by surveying 275 self-identified women who watch gay male porn. The sample included straight, bisexual, lesbian, queer, asexual, pansexual and demisexual women.
In total, 68% of the participants also watched heterosexual pornography, while 53% also watched lesbian pornography. However, a staggering 82% of participants preferred gay male pornography over other genres.
Women appear at a physiological level to find gay male sex just as arousing as heterosexual sex, with the overwhelming reason given by women for watching gay male porn was the feeling that it was more authentic than other genres.
“Respondents were more able to believe that both actors were enjoying the experience and that the sexual desire and pleasure between them, therefore, felt more ‘authentic,’” Neville stated in the research.
The respondents felt that because men on screen had very visual cues that indicated sexual desire (such as erections and ejaculation), the actors “weren’t faking it.” They also felt male adult film stars as opposed to female performers were “enjoying each other more rather than simply playing to the camera.”
Aside from this reasoning, the women also said that they felt they shared a more common gaze with the target audience, unlike in heterosexual and lesbian porn that are predominantly made for heterosexual men.
By watching same-sex male porn, women were also able to avoid seeing female bodies used as powerless sexual objects under the control of men. Participants perceived that even rough sex in gay porn is more “tasteful” than behaviors displayed in heterosexual and lesbian porn, without it feeling “non-consensual.”
Some also appreciated that they were not presented with a female porn star they would “be jealous of” or “subconsciously compare themselves to” that could make them feel “uncomfortable about their own bodies.”
And then of course there were those who simply enjoyed the taboo of gay sex and the idea they would never experience what was happening on what they are watching.
But as Neville noted, “of course, gay pornography is not unproblematic, and does not manage to sidestep entirely the issues of exploitation, oppression, abuse of power, misogyny, and objectification leveled at heterosexual pornography.” Nonetheless, “it seems to offer women a way into enjoying pornography that many in this study were unable to find elsewhere, as well as offering them the chance to experiment with the power of their own gaze and to explore their sense of sexual orientation and gender identification.”
