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Why women seek porn online

Last updated on: March 15, 2018 10:21 IST

A new study explored why women watched porn and what they did to enjoy the experience.

Why women seek porn online

Photograph: Kind courtesy croisy/Pixabay.com

Not just men, women also watch porn.

With women, however, there is always the risk of encountering unpleasant, negative content online.

Recently two researchers from the University of Michigan -- Sara Chadwick and Sari van Anders -- began their research by finding out how and why women searched for porn online.

The findings helped them understand what women did to avoid negative porn content and improve their viewing experience.

For the survey, the authors surveyed 73 sexually diverse women aged between 18 and 64 years.

What is negative porn?

In the survey, participants reported that they least enjoyed porn if they felt the content was "inauthentic, not women- or queer-friendly, inconsiderate of actors' well-being, or representative of unrealistic sex and body-image standards."

According to Chadwick and van Anders, heterosexual women stated that "the heteronormativity of mainstream pornography was problematic because men in heterosexual scenes were often disrespectful or focused on their own pleasure."

How women searched porn

The study revealed various strategies women employed to skip through negativity and enjoy porn.

Women searched for "amateur porn" to avoid inauthenticity and find depictions of real pleasure.

Heterosexual women searched for "queer porn" so as to avoid porn stereotypes.

The survey revealed how some women preferred not watching porn featuring perfect male and females.

A heterosexual explained why she'd not watch blond females with male partners: "I think it's because if I see this busty blonde with nothing wrong on her body, I'm just thinking, Well, that's never going be me," she said. "'And that's not (me), so why am I watching?'

The findings are published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior.

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