Listen up, folks! You’re In for a shock.
Is pornography real or fake?
Pornography is defined as being printed or visual material, which contains a display of sex or sexual activities designed to provide sexual excitement. It’s almost always fictional and the only real sex your likely to see is made by amateurs. And that’s rarely much good.
Neil Malamuth, professor of communication and psychology at UCLA, said that “anybody who would get their sexual information from pornography alone would be highly misled.”
So what are the ten ‘lies’ in porn that too many people assume is real?
1. Climaxing Together
In theory, the desire to orgasm at the same time as your partner has a certain sweetness to it. The first problem is this coordination is much more complex than it appears in porn. There are some sex toys and methods that you can use to attempt this feat, but that brings us to the second problem: If you are spending all your time and energy trying to climax together, you probably aren’t enjoying yourselves and each other as much as you should be.
2. Female Ejaculation
Squirting and gushing are popular tricks of women in pornography and are often portrayed as female ejaculation. Tests of the fluid produced have shown these are not the same thing. Female ejaculate is chemically similar to semen. The fluid produced by squirting, on the other hand, is likely watered-down urine. While women can learn to squirt, sex researcher Beverly Whipple doubts women can train themselves to ejaculate.
3. Every Position is Ecstasy
Malamuth has studied porn consumption, often outside of the United States, and he’s found that people do draw inspiration from what they watch. “It certainly has made them want to try to copy certain acts to try that thing they haven’t done before,” he says. Using porn to expand your sexual horizons is reasonable, and possibly healthy, but the vast majority of these films feature actors who are paid to play up the enjoyment of every moment. Remember this and don’t set yourself up for disappointment when sex in the shower doesn’t do it for you, or expect your partner to be as enthusiastic about this experimentation as the actors were.
4. Sex Without Strings
Even if a porno tries to set up a story, it’s almost always tangential at best. “[Pornography] is by definition sex out of context,” says Malamuth. Focus on sex and sub-par acting abilities mean emotional nuance, disease risk, and the complexities of relationships are thrown by the wayside in favour of more exciting subject matter. There’s nothing wrong with focusing on sex in porn, but it can lead viewers to misunderstand how messy sex can be off-screen.
5. Men That Last Forever
This may be one of the most harmful inaccuracies that porn sells to men. You’re simply not going to see a movie where the guy has erectile dysfunction and the couple decides to watch a nice movie and try again later. But nearly every man experiences ED in their life. Porn shows men who last as long as they want and time their climax perfectly. That is the beauty of editing. In real life, most men orgasm after anywhere from one to 10 minutes of vaginal intercourse. Also, most men have to wait at least 30 minutes before they can maintain an erection again and, for some, this may require hours.
6. Submissive Women, Dominating Men
Pornography is generally produced for a male audience and tends to depict women in a submissive, or at least very sexually permissive, way. This is not the reality of most sexual partnerships. This disparity has made people worry that the way men dominate over women in porn encourages men who watch it to commit violent sexual acts. Malamuth has studied this in his own work. “For the majority of men, it does not have that impact,” he says, “but for those men who already have other risk factors, heavy consumption of pornography — particularly the more extreme or the more violent — can add fuel to the fire.”
7. Big Breasts, Bigger Penises
You already know that men’s penises and women’s breasts tend to be bigger in porn. For women, these large, perky breasts accompany thin bodies, which is a relatively uncommon combo in the general populous. Vaginas shown in porn are also of a very restricted aesthetic. For men, the disparity between porn penis size and average can be outrageous. The average man’s penis is 9.1cm (3.6 inches) when it’s flaccid and 13.1cm (5.16 inches) when it’s erect. If you’re overweight or un-manscaped, it can look even smaller — notice the male actors are rarely either of those.
8. Lots of Anal Sex
The anus is not simply a tighter version of the vagina (without the pregnancy risk). The tissue there is thin and prone to breaking. There is also no natural lubrication in the anus, so you want to use a lot of lube — not the sexiest subject matter for film. People often have their partner stretch out their anus before having anal sex (something porn tends to do between takes) and getting relaxed enough for it to go well, takes time for most people.
9. Everyone Looks the Same
Although you can find just about any porn you could ever want, including that with subjects of specific age or appearance, porn is not usually diverse. “[It’s] not an accurate representation of a random sample of the population,” says Malamuth. The women popular in this industry are young, thin, and buxom. The men vary a little more in appearance but most are fit and white. Unless you intentionally look for it, you’re unlikely to find many mixed-race partnerships, older actors, or people who fall outside a very limited ideal of physical attractiveness.
10. They Look Like Pin-Ups
As in the entertainment industry in general, makeup is used heavily in the porn industry. These films do use actors who look a certain way, but they also pile on the foundation and eyeliner to turn them into fantasies. One makeup artist who worked in the industry used her Instagram to show examples of the transformations she’s done for porn actors (and other clients). They’re so incredible that she was blacklisted by the
porn industry.
The Yawn In Porn
... And why the truth will set you free!
When it comes to pornography, the accepted wisdom is that what you see is almost always fictional. It doesn’t represent an accurate representation of adult sexual behaviours and desires.
Yet its influence is profound, especially among younger viewers. According to research conducted in 2020 by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), 51 per cent of 11 to 13-year-olds are exposed to pornography, rising to 79 per cent of 16 to 17-year-olds.
Many of them believe that porn is real. This is born out in many studies, including those conducted by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), a UK-based charity working in the area of child protection.
In a 2016 report, the NSPCC found that “despite the fact that porn can be wildly unrealistic and often glorifies violence, sexism, or racism, one recent survey found that over half of boys (53 per cent) and over a third of girls (39 per cent) reported believing that pornography was a realistic depiction of sex”.
In the years since, it’s reasonable to suggest that these are conservative figures.
So what does the industry itself have to say?
Industry research suggests that a significant number of teenage boys and girls believe that pornography is a realistic depiction of sex
We decided to speak to the people who operate in front of the camera as well as those who work behind it. They all have a story to tell and it’s only fair that their voice is heard.
The people who joined us for this discussion include an actor, a director, the make-up artist, the lighting technician, and the writer. That’s right. Even porn films have writers. (And let’s not forget the fluffer! More on them later).
You might be surprised to learn that porn is a highly developed industry across most of the developed world. It is now regarded as mainstream, not only in viewer numbers (a staggering amount*), but in other markers as well, such as adult industry awards and film festivals.
* According to the SEMrush Traffic Analytics tool, porn sites received more website traffic in 2020 than Twitter, Instagram, Netflix, Zoom, Pinterest and LinkedIn combined.
In 2017, medium.com suggested that globally, the porn industry’s net worth is close to US$100 billion, enough to feed around five billion people a day.
In 2016, 91,980,225,000 videos were watched on Pornhub. In 2018, that number jumped to more than 109,012,068,000. That’s over 14 videos watched for every person on the entire planet. We haven’t seen figures yet for 2023, but all we can say is ‘hold on to your hat!’
Pornhub is a Canadian-owned internet pornography website and one of the largest trafficked websites in the world
This is no longer the preserve of the dark web or nefarious forces operating from someone’s private home. It is an industry to rival the likes of Hollywood and Bollywood, and many of its production staff cut their teeth in these places before moving to the adult film industry.
Actors are also starting to transition between industries. Not only is this due to greater acceptance in society of adult films, driven to a large extent by their availability online, but the realisation that barely 2 per cent of actors make a living from the acting profession. According to a 2019 opinion piece in The Guardian, a study by the Queen Mary University of London confirmed that 90 per cent of actors are out of work at any one time.
Not every actor will appear in porn. Far from it. But soft porn and art house films where sex often borders on the graphic without necessarily crossing over into hardcore, is a more comfortable place for actors to work in. And it is true that the leap between soft and hard core films is easier to make once an actor knows what it’s like to appear naked and potentially compromised in front of a production crew.
A good example of the amount of time involved in getting a sex scene right is the 2007 award-winning film Lust, Caution by Taiwanese-American filmmaker, Ang Lee. Described as an “erotic, espionage period” film, Lee confirmed that the 10 minutes of graphic sex that appear in the uncut version of the film took 100 hours to shoot.
Lee, whose films include Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Brokeback Mountain, Sense and Sensibility and Life of Pi, is hardly an unknown voice in film or someone who dips his toe into erotica before retreating back into the mainstream.
Of course, most adult films don’t employ production values that Ang Lee does. Their budgets are generally in the hundreds of thousands. By comparison, Lust, Caution was made with a budget of $US15 million.
For actors, production staff and others, low rates of pay are compensated by the fact that working in film is better than waiting tables, and being ‘front and centre’ means the chance of being noticed could be the pathway to a lucrative career in the adult and mainstream entertainment industry.
The growth in the adult film market is a matter of supply and demand. But it is also enjoying less government restriction than at any other time in
its history.
Governments know that stamping it out is nigh on impossible, so better to police it by setting agreed standards and enjoy the economic benefits that flow from that.
MEET THE PEOPLE
Samantha Rey, actress
Samantha was 18 when she made her first adult film. Like many of her peers, she had watched porn and loved it and “didn’t think it was such a big deal”. Today, eight years on, she is less in love with an industry that she believes can be exploitative, but is financially rewarding.
“When I entered the industry, it operated very much behind closed doors,” she says. “We always hoped our family and friends would never see our films, and were pretty scared about what conversations might follow if we were ‘outed’!”
“Having won a couple of industry awards, and with society less judgemental, I’m glad to be involved as it has given me a career and an income I don’t think I could have had otherwise.”
Samantha is concerned about younger people seeing porn and how it can influence their view of sex and relationships. But she says porn shouldn’t be singled out.
“I’d say the same for violence and drug use,” she says.
Anderson Bell-Cartwright, Lighting technician
Anderson has worked in both mainstream and the adult film industries for more than 25 years. He started his career after graduating from film schools in London and Prague and only worked infrequently in porn to supplement his income. But as demand grew for adult films and as production values increased, he shifted more towards this industry.
“It was really a no-brainer,” he says. “You would be lucky to get two or three jobs in mainstream film, whereas you could work continuously in adult films.
“I never had a moral problem with it, what was more offensive was the shitty conditions on set and the fact that lighting was treated as a poor relation.”
Anderson is thankful that the demand for professionally lit films has increased along with viewer expectation. He says that lighting a set is not the only technical need that has changed.
“Everything is more professional now, from the scripts to the direction and to the camera work.”
He is concerned about how porn is changing perceptions of sex among younger people, but isn’t sure how to stop it.
“More and more kids are into sexting, and unless you’re going to stop them from getting smart phones where you can access the internet, you’re going to have to live with porn and its influence.
“Over the years we’ve had psychologists and others come on set to do god-only-knows-what, presumably to understand the industry. But the reality is, it’s at the professional level that you get the less extreme and unrealistic aspects of sex and behaviour, than the off-grid stuff.”
He believes that it is through education that the young learn what’s real and what isn’t, and the negative impact it can have on your life.
But he says not to hold your breath.
“I can’t imagine a high school teaching pornography as a VCE subject!”
KyLe Workman, FLuffer
It will probably come as a shock to learn that there is a category of worker on set whose sole purpose is to keep a porn performer’s penis erect. While recent medical advancements such as chemical alternatives like Viagra, along with implants and prosthetics, are increasingly replacing the need for a fluffer, that person is still used on many sets.
Kyle initially worked in the industry about 12 years ago and then quit after starting a relationship around three years in. His partner at the time wasn’t supportive of his work. When that relationship ended, Kyle found himself drawn back to the industry.
“When I first started working in gay porn, I could be engaged most days of the week,” he says. “The industry was thriving and the biggest impediment to keeping the shooting schedule on track was a limp dick! So we really were in demand.
“When I returned to the industry about 18 months ago, there wasn’t as much work around for fluffers even though there was no let up in filming.”
Kyle said that quite a number of the actors remembered him and his “work ethic” and so he was able to get work quite quickly. He agrees that young people are accessing porn, mainly on their phones which has been the biggest change since he returned to the industry, but the demand for product is greater than ever.
Billy Madison, Actor
Billy had his first relationship when he was 14. It was on and off for about five years. When the older man broke it off for good, Billy was devastated. His “revenge” was to make a porn film, which he knew his lover was totally against.
“I don’t think revenge is a good reason to film porn,” Billy says. “I regretted it because I still loved him and I knew there was no way back into the relationship. But there was a silver lining that I hadn’t anticipated.”
That upside was fame and (a minor) fortune.
“I was 20 and without a formal education my job prospects were limited. I didn’t make great money in the early years, but it was a lot better than flipping burgers.”
More than a decade on, Billy owns his own home and car and has travelled to both the US and Germany to appear in adult films, all paid for by the production companies. He is considering moving into directing and producing, both of which can be financially rewarding.
Ray Boncevic, Director
Some directors working in adult films transitioned from actors in the genre, while others have used it as a fallback when work in mainstream film is limited. There is also a group who regard it as a career path into the mainstream.
Whatever the motivation, Ray says that savvy directors pick their films carefully.
“In the bad old days, the role of the director was limited. Producers pretty much allowed actors to do their thing and the director was there to ‘supervise’. It was usually the director of photography, or the DOP, who ran the show.”
These days, with bigger budgets and more discerning audiences, the role of the director is becoming more important than ever before. Ray has been working in film for more than 40 years, almost all of it in the adult industry. He says the biggest challenge is to turn porn stars into actors, whereas in the mainstream it’s often the reverse.
“Whether adult or not, the basics of film apply in every situation,” he says. “Whatever you put your name to is what the history books will show. If you think a film is so bad it’s going to trash your reputation or keep it stalled at the starting line, then think carefully before you sign on.”
Emily Robinson, Make-up artist
Emily has a simple philosophy when it comes to providing make-up for a film shoot. Forget the audience and concentrate on the character, she says.
“Before you start a film shoot you read the script. You want to know the storyline and whether an actor is going to find themself in a situation that needs a particular type of make-up. For example, if a woman has been jilted by her lover, she might be understandably tearful and the visual effect has to correspond with the emotion.”
Budgets might be lower across the board in the adult industry, but Emily says you have to bring your A-game if you want to get work.
“Seeing naked bodies and erect penises might be off putting for some, but it won’t take long before you don’t ‘see’ it or you don’t care,” Emily says. “An experienced make-up artist will get to know the director of photography, the lighting technician and the director before she worries about anyone else on the set.
“Understand what they need, satisfy it, and everything will fall into place.”
