The AVN awards were recently staged in Las Vegas. They’re an annual event with one very reliable outcome – a slew of porn articles in the mainstream press. It’s the perfect excuse to drive a few clicks via pictures of scantily clad women, while simultaneously running through the boilerplate porn storylines. There were articles on the decline of the porn industry, the vast amount of money to be made in the porn industry, and how so much of it is now mainstream (sex toys, porn actors, bdsm, etc.) There were inspiring articles (well one anyway), and some so dumb they made me want to smash my head repeatedly into my keyboard.
One storyline that gets reliably trotted out every year is the ‘new’ emerging market of porn for women. CNBC reliably delivered the usual trite article this year. However, there were a couple of interesting followups that addressed the issue a little more in intelligently. One in Slate and one on Ms Naughty’s Porn For Women blog. As a male sex blogger it’s not exactly a topic I’m qualified to comment on, but I’ve never let that kind of minor detail stop me in the past.
Personally I’ve found tumblr to be a fascinating window into the different types of visual porn men and women post. Even if you filtered out the obvious differences (pictures of lithe women staring down the camera versus a lot of hunky guys looking vulnerable), I think I’d still be able to reliably guess the gender of kinky tumblr owners. To make a sweeping generalization, there’s just something different about the aesthetics favored by the two groups. Quite frankly, female run tumblrs tend to be intellectually and visually more interesting. Their choices often have a sense of connection or emotion, rather than simple fleshy mechanics. Yet, when it comes to getting off, I always turn to the guys tumblrs. Aesthetic sensibility isn’t really what the male id is after.
Given the nature of the post, it seems only fitting to feature two images. Both are from the same tumblr, yet appeal in two very different ways.
