Ofcom report says people watch porn most often during the workday

The traditional, toxic side of the porn industry

For the sake of playing devil’s advocate, we should recognise that porn production and the content that results from it has changed tremendously over the last few decades.

While adult films were initially viewed as taboo, launched inside adult-only movie theatres and video rental shops, the emergence of the internet made porn more accessible and far less stigmatised.

Greater accessibility resulted in a diversification of viewer preferences, meaning porn directors had to start appealing to a variety of niche audiences and interests. Tangible steps towards meeting these new tastes, however, were slow to come by.

This lag in diversity can be primarily attributed to the dominance of straight men as porn directors, as well as the pervasive myth that the sexual libido of women is not equal to that of men.

These factors, amongst others, saw the vast majority of porn films being created to appease the male gaze. Most sexual acts shot for old-school porn – including fetishes, kinks, and even camera angles – were tailor-made with the male viewer in mind.

Needless to say, any consideration of the female orgasm was often left out. Most female orgasms depicted in OG porn videos are obviously fake and overly theatrical – a means to an end if you will.

As a result, the woman’s role in porn has been framed as an object used to achieve male pleasure. Violence towards women, unfortunately, appears to be a central part of reaching this goal.

A 2008 study examined 122 randomly selected scenes from the most-rented adult videos of that time. Half of the videos were directed by men, while the other half were directed by women.

Unsurprisingly, it found that scenes directed by women portrayed women-only shots more frequently. Interestingly though, every single one of the films included some form of verbal and physical aggression where the woman was the primary target.

Almost a decade later, this violence still persisted. A 2017 study found that 88 percent of the top-selling adult films contained acts of physical aggression while 49 percent contained scenes of verbal aggression.

The ways in which orchestrated violence towards women in porn translates to real-life scenarios is a topic that continues to be widely and intensely discussed in sociological, psychological, and feminist literature.

As pornography was consumed even faster online, the demand for additional content grew further.

This led to the overworking of popular female and male adult stars in both straight and gay porn, as well as their exploitation, where actors were paid lower salaries, and forced to take part in scenes they weren’t entirely comfortable with, at risk of being dropped by agencies and production companies.

It is well reported that this intense pressure can lead to the use of illegal substances, with one 2021 survey finding that 79 percent of porn stars used marijuana, 50 percent used ecstasy, 44 percent used cocaine, and 39 percent used hallucinogens.

Although the exploitation of adult stars clearly continues to a worrying degree inside traditional pornographic production houses, there is a glimmer of hope for those looking to escape horrible bosses in the industry.

The emergence of OnlyFans and its growing popularity since the pandemic has shifted the creative (and financial) power back into the hands of thousands of men and women engaging in the profession.

Times are changing

Those looking to make money through porn now have more autonomy over what, when, and how they post – as well as who they collaborate with thanks to OnlyFans. This is a self-governance not easily afforded to stars working with more traditional production companies.

Pornhub itself has seen a significant rise in independent creators and model creators. On these sections of the site, singles, couples, and former adult stars are able to create and upload video content of their choice to personal pages, while earning money from views.

With real people filming their sexual experiences (alone or as couples) the door has been opened to more diverse and ‘candid’ depictions of sex that are far less extreme and performative, making the experience a more realistic and healthier one for everyone involved.

The growing popularity of ‘tutorial porn’ also suggests that people are looking for opportunities to learn how to better satisfy their sexual partner(s), something audiences of traditional porn were made to believe ‘will happen if I just keep thrusting!!!’.

Still, while the broadening of adult content platforms and their categories has allowed porn to become more diverse, inclusive, and autonomous for those working in the field, there’s no doubt that a number of issues remain.

The problem of exploitation and safety across the wider industry continues, while the physical and psychological effects of increased accessibility and viewership of pornography continue to be heavily debated.

Preventing underage individuals from accessing adult websites is also still not foolproof. Last year, Ofcom warned that UK-based adult websites aren’t doing enough to protect young children from accessing pornographic content.

This same argument could be made about global sites too. Take Pornhub, for example, which only requires clicking a ‘Yes I am over 18+’ before entering the website. Not exactly the kind of security check you’d hope for as a parent.

OnlyFans, however, requires users and content creators to submit formal identification before engaging with the platform. This enables an added layer of security, keeping underage people from being able to create or engage with adult content online.

Since a taste for watching other people get off is unlikely to go away (we’re only human after all), more work needs to be done to improve security at every stage of the industry – from safeguarding the people who create content to ensuring the person watching the final product is of age.

In the end, overproduced and unrealistic concepts of what sex ‘should be like’ are slowly being dismantled by content made by independent creators and a new genre of educational videos, which feels worth celebrating even in a small way.

However, the dark side of the industry will always loom in the background. Because of this reality, the answer to whether an increase in porn viewership is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ isn’t clear-cut.

The social and psychological implications of easy access to porn seem to point to a negative, while the rise in independent creators’ freedom and educational categories may point to improvements. Suggesting that the ‘type’ of porn we watch matters also leaves a lot to be desired.

One thing is certain, though: the porn industry isn’t going away. There will always be people creating content and people behind their screens loading it up. Hopefully, just not at work.