Dear Affect3D readers, welcome back to another episode of “It’s a (Wo)man’s World!” Last month there was a little break because of holidays, but now I’m back and ready to talk all about women and erotica.
Last time we discussed the differences between women and men with regards to sexual arousal and preferences. And we also talked about normative expectations that might have an influence on women when expressing their sexual behavior. This time I would like to take all that information and see where 3DX fits in.
One thing I noticed when I tried researching “women and 3DX” is that there is very little to find! All articles only address women and porn in general, nothing specific about animated porn, be it 2D or 3D. So unfortunately there is nothing scientific I can quote with regards to this subject. Still there must be a way to find out a little bit about the 3DX scene right? This is where I decided to contact some of our female artists to ask for their view on the matter.
Interview with Hibbli3D
First up is Hibbli3D, a 25 year old female artist living in Hungary. She started small, but is now creating 3DX full time. She is known for, among others, the “Knight Elayne” series. I asked her some questions with regards to her as a female artist and what she thinks about women and porn in general.
Where did your interest in 3DX come from and how did you get started?
I can’t exactly remember, it was more or less brainless browsing that led me to the blogs of Fullytank, Vaesark and then hitman [now X3Z], where I watched their early works. That was back in 2010… some months later I got interested in doing 3D stuff (no porn, just regular things) by myself and started playing with Daz Studio and Carrara.
I did this for around 3 years, until I decided to finally give it a try and create my first small set. I contacted Miro to ask if it would be possible to sell it in the web shop. He agreed and bang, I earned some extra money for that month. Tried two more sets, same result.
Then I decided to risk it, quit my job in July 2013, invested money in hardware, got more familiar with software and rendering and simply started… as you can see, it worked out 🙂
Do you think it’s more difficult for women to get into the 3DX scene than for men?
I don’t think there is a difference, it all depends on if people like your stuff and buy enough of it. On the other side it’s easier sometimes, I am pretty sure I got more tips on my commissions than a male would have got and the old grandmasters are more willing to share their tricks and hints to me 🙂
Do you get surprised reactions when people find out you are a female artist?
Not really, 3DX customers are way less creepy than I thought in the beginning 🙂
With which audience in mind do you make your art? Are you trying to appeal to men, women or both? (Or perhaps you just make what you like?)
I never cared to appeal to anyone or any taste. I am completely free in what when and how much I want to do and I’m going to keep it like that. That keeps the fun and especially motivation up and drives me to learn more and more things about 3D in general. Otherwise, it would just feel like a regular job again. Ok ok, a job where you can sit at home and be lazy, but still… 😉
In our case we have 5 different main characters, all fitting to a typical medieval role-play setting. A knight, a sorceress, a young thief, a drow and finally an elven priestess. I guess there is something for everyone’s taste included.
How do you feel about women and porn in general? For example what about the stereotypes that men like porn and women don’t?
I personally don’t care too much about porn clips, but I would highly doubt about that stereotype.
Do you feel like there is a difference in taste between men and women?
In some details for sure, in general not that much.
Do you also see these gender differences back in the world of 3DX? Do you think a lot of women watch 3DX porn and, if so, do they like the same things men like?
For example, around 30% of my customers/newsletter subscribers are female, so I don’t think it is such a huge difference in taste.
Preference and knowledge
What we can conclude, at least out of this interview, is that there is indeed a market for women in 3DX as well. It’s not harder for a female artist to climb up the ladder in the 3DX scene, and it seems you don’t necessarily have to make your art with a gender specific audience in mind either. Still, it’s clear that males are more prominent. Looking at the ratio male/female artists in our store, the winner seems clear. And even though Hibbli3D clearly mentions at least 30% of her customers are female, the number is still fairly low. But does this automatically mean females are less interested? I’m not too sure about that. I think it’s mostly a matter of preference, and also knowledge.
What do I mean with knowledge? Well, personally speaking, I was not aware of the great amount of 3D erotica for a long time! You could say that porn is, technically speaking, everywhere. There are magazines, TV commercials, advertisements on the internet, etc. This is surely not the case for animated porn. Before getting into contact with 3DX I actually found out about 2D animations first. Probably because of my interest in Japan, but maybe also because the word “hentai” is something you can come across more easily on the internet as well. It was actually only by chance that I found Affect3D and so got my first real encounter with 3DX. So I could somehow imagine this might be the case for more females as well. If you are not looking for it, you won’t find it as easily as real life porn.
We want you!
Of course this is all just speculation and we won’t know for sure until I’ve got more resources. Which is where my next question comes from!
Are you female, interested in 3DX and perhaps willing to take part in a little research?
I would love to get some input from our female customers! It will all be anonymous and it will just be general questions about how you got to know about 3DX, what you think about women and erotica, and perhaps there is something that you would like to see more of here on the website? Sorry guys, women only! ;P
You can either leave a comment here or send an email to [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you!
Used sources:
Featured image: Alone 1 by Ziege58
In text images: Elayne by Hibbli3D and Anticipation by RGUS
jack pinder
September 8, 2016Good to hear from Hibbli3D. Love her work. She does seems to be more cruel to her female characters then most of the male artist I’ve come across. Maybe something going on here? Women’s role throughout history?