Dear Affect3D readers, it’s time for another “It’s a (Wo)man’s World!” Last time we had an interview with Hibbli3D to give you a little peek into the life of a female 3DX artist. Today I wanted to show you the other side, namely from the female consumers of 3D porn. For this to be possible however, I will need more information with regards to woman and 3DX. Unfortunately the call I did in my previous column didn’t bring me the results I had hoped for yet. So if you are female and into 3DX, don’t hesitate to leave a comment. I would very much appreciate your input!
With that said, as the title already suggests, the theme of today is “Intimacy and realism.” I’m sure many of you have heard of theories such as: “Women need more intimacy in their porn” or “Women need to be able to identify with characters/situations to be able to get aroused.” Today I would like to address these kind of aspects and answer questions such as: How important is story to women? Do they prefer realistic situations or not?
Psychological aspects
For starters, sexual arousal also has a link with psychological aspects. I already slightly touched upon this subject in earlier articles. For example that women need a little more than just looking at an image; action is important as well.
Another interesting aspect is sexual cognition (sexual thoughts or fantasies). One of the readers of this column, Sarrana, once posted a very elaborate comment. She pointed out that sexual cognition works different for women and men, and I thought it would be interesting to include this here:
“In male psychological sexual response, cognition first begins at identifying and evaluating a stimulus, categorizing the stimulus as sexual, and an effective response.” So men first need to see something and identify it as sexual. They prefer these visual stimuli to be easily identifiable and it’s best if they also correlate with their desire/fetishes.
“In female psychological sexual response, sexual cognitions/thoughts greatly increase a woman’s testosterone levels, though initial sexual response can come from anything to start the sexual cognitions.” In other words, women can be turned on by a variety of things (also visual), but after this first stimulation their sexual thoughts/fantasies can take over. So apart from what is happening on the screen, there is also a lot going on in their minds. At least that’s the feeling that I get.
Written erotica
To better illustrate this let’s take a look at written erotica. There are quite a number of women who prefer erotic books over porn. Or at least that’s what some people believe. You might consider this a stereotype, but nonetheless it’s a fact that some women really are into erotic literature. Now you might wonder, but why?
About this I can only speculate. But looking at it from my perspective, I think it has got to do something with using your imagination. When watching porn there is often not much room left for fantasizing. The setting is there, the characters are there, and what you see is what you get.
When reading erotic literature however, there is room for visualizing it on your own and you can add your own elements to the story. Another point is the immersion. In a book it’s also easier to identify with the characters and really dive into their thoughts and feelings. The story comes to life in your mind and you feel like you are a part of it. All of this creates a kind of connection, a sense of intimacy.
Intimacy and fantasy
So taking the above in account, intimacy sounds like something important. But how would this be applicable to visual porn? How can you create this kind of atmosphere? There are actually a few ways in which I think you can achieve this. Earlier columns by one of my fellow writers Bianca Rose also touched on these subjects. She mainly focuses on the need to be able to connect with the characters, and the importance of creating an interesting setting.
When looking at visual porn, these factors are not always taken into account. To illustrate this I’d like to quote some statements of women about porn that I found on forums, as well as my personal opinion. Of course each woman is different, so the below points are not representative for all the ladies. Also these statements focus on pornography (not literature or 3DX)
- In porn there is often an attempt to involve the viewer in the action. (For example a sudden switch to POV) But it might be better to create an atmosphere in which the characters are just immersed in one another.
- Some porn feels too forced or fake, which takes the whole intimacy aspect away.
- Sex in porno does not always have the pace/rhythm that people actually have sex at. It might be better to build it up or vary the speed.
- Sometimes the characters in porn do things that you could construe as shocking. Basically things that are either unsanitary (and might lead to infection) or things that have you wincing in sympathy pain.
Reading the above points, you could say there is one thing they have in common. The sex is just not realistic enough. If there is a form of realism in the story, the characters or the sex itself, it’s easier to identify with. So it seems women like to fantasize, but with a sense of realism involved.
Differences
So this is where I would like to end the column for today. I hope it was somewhat informative to you! Once again please note that the statements made in this article are kind of subjective. Everyone has their own preference and taste, women included.
Also the above does focus mainly on pornography, not necessarily 3DX. I think you could 3DX as a mix of porn and literature. Because it often offers more of a story and can feature interesting characters in an attempt to create a world of its own. On the other hand lots of these are still more targeted towards men than women. But maybe we can leave that discussion for another time 😉