Porn Isn’t Just For Men! Why Women Love Watching

Porn is made for men. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Adult-film actress Aurora Snow on why some women love her work.

After signing autographs for three hours at a noisy convention, I was just about to leave for my 10-minute bathroom break when a guy tugged at my sleeve. He just stood there, grinning at me. The girl he was with jumped up and down and shoved a photo at me. “Please sign this for us!” I jokingly asked how he had convinced her to come see porn stars. Her answer floored me. It was all her idea. She watched porn.

I had starred in more than 100 adult movies before I ran into my first female fan.

When I entered porn at the tender age of 18, I’d never seen an XXX movie. I performed in the movies, but never watched them. It wasn’t until I began directing that I started to watch porn, but not for the reasons you might think.

I wasn't trying to tap into my inner sex goddess. Instead, I was studying it and seeing what sold well and what I should aim for when making my own X-rated movies. But there was a disconnect: I’d assumed that watching porn was something only men did. And I made my movies for men—animalistic scenes, aggressive guys and cute girls, and little plot. The porn I knew involved pounding, throat gagging, and body slapping. It was more extreme than erotic. I couldn’t even imagine women watching. Women craved more romance than that, didn’t they?

A decade later, women who watch porn are still something of a mystery to me. So I reached out to my female fans with questions. Why do women watch me?

Mae, a young heterosexual woman with her own subscription to my site, tells me it’s the first adult website she’s ever joined. What matters most to Mae is a performer’s enthusiasm. It has to be someone who looks genuine, which is how she came to be a loyal fan of mine. Adult movies transport Mae—she imagines herself and the person she loves acting out those scenes. It both fulfills and creates fantasies, which in turn lead to a more intimate experience with her partner. Mae wishes she were as free as the porn stars. “No inhibitions, that body confidence—I envy it,” she says. Though she was raised to believe that porn was wrong, she now finds it relaxing and educational.

Katrina says she watches adult movies for the same reasons men do. She says her porn consumption has “gone down” since getting into a relationship. Adult movies helped boost her low libido. Porn makes her feel sexier. She sought out my movies, because she was looking for a girl who seemed real, and she could pretend to be the girl onscreen. I’d been sold as “the girl next door,” but this gave that image a new meaning. Sometimes just talking about porn stimulates her partner more than watching it, and occasionally they use it to heighten the intensity of a moment. Many of my fans feel the same way.

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