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Lesbian pornography is a form ofadult entertainment that featuressexual activity between women.[1] Its primary goal issexual arousal in its audience and is most often produced aserotic content aimed atheterosexual male,homosexual female, andbisexual audiences. Although it has also been found that some heterosexual females prefer this genre ofporn due to its greater focus on women's pleasure.[2]
Homoerotic art and artifacts depicting women have a long history, reaching back to various ancient civilizations. Every medium has been used to representwomen having sex with each other. In contemporarymass media, this content is primarily disseminated throughhome videos (includingDVDs), cable broadcasts, emerging video-on-demand and wireless markets, as well as online photo sites andLesbian pulp fiction.
Deborah Swedberg, in an analysis published in theNWSA Journal in 1989, argues that it is possible for lesbian viewers to reappropriate lesbian porn. Swedberg notes that, typically, all-women films differ from mixed porn (with men and women) in, among other things, the settings (less anonymous and more intimate) and the very acts performed (more realistic and emotionally involved, and with a focus on the whole body rather than just the genitals): "the subject of the heterosexually produced all-women videos is female pleasure". She argues (againstLaura Mulvey's"Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cineman" andSusanne Kappeler'sPornography and Representation, for example) that such movies allow for female subjectivity since the women are more than just objects of exchange.[3] Appropriation by women of male-made lesbianerotica (such as by David Hamilton) was signaled also byTee Corinne.[4]
Starting in 2013,Pornhub has published annual reports of user activities and found that the lesbian category has been consistently the most popular among female viewers since 2014 when gender statistics were first gathered (except in 2020 when the data was limited), and that women in general regardless ofsexual orientation are more likely to search for lesbian-associated terms such as "scissoring" than men.[5] Several articles; including those byCosmopolitan,Glamour, andWomen's Health magazines; have supported these findings through research of their own.[6][7][8]
Mainstream lesbian pornography is criticized by some members of the lesbian community for its inauthenticity.[9] According to author Elizabeth Whitney, "lesbianism is not acknowledged as legitimate" in lesbian porn due to the prevalence of "heteronormatively feminine women", the experimental nature, and the constant catering to the male gaze, all of which counter real life lesbianism.[9]
A study conducted by Valerie Webber found that most actors in lesbian porn consider their own pornographic sex somewhere on a spectrum between real and fake sex, depending on several factors.[9] They were more likely to consider it authentic if there was a real attraction between themselves and the other actor(s) in the scene,[9] and if they felt mutual respect between themselves and the producers.[9]
Authenticity in porn is disputed because some assert that the only authentic sex has no motive other than sex itself.[9] Porn sex, being shot for a camera, automatically has other motives than sex itself.[9] On the other side, some assert that all porn sex is authentic since the sex is an occurrence that took place, and that is all that is needed to classify it as authentic.[9]
With regard to the authenticity of their performance, some lesbian porn actors describe their performance as an exaggerated, altered version of their real personality, providing some authenticity to the performance.[9] Authenticity depends on real life experiences, so some lesbian porn actors feel the need to create an entirely different persona to feel safe.[9] Webber writes of Agatha, a queer actor in lesbian porn who "prefers that the activity and ambiance of her performances be very inauthentic, because otherwise it feels 'too close to home'", referring to the oppression and verbal abuse she is subject to by homophobic men in her daily life.[9]
Like in straight and gay male porn, there is an emphasis on penetration in lesbian porn.[9] Even though studies have found thatdildos have minimal use in real life lesbian sexual activity,[9][10][11] lesbian porn prominently features dildos.[9] According to Lydon, the ability to achieve orgasmclitorally, as opposed to penetratively, eliminates the need for a phallus and, by extension, for a man.[9] For this reason, male producers continue to include, and male viewers continue to demand, a phallus as a central feature in lesbian porn.[9]
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