I would like others’ views on When Porn Isn’t Sexy—words of advice to porn makers on what they are doing wrong.
I’m personally turned off by the extreme close-ups. I want the camera people to back off so that I can see the limbs and muscles and curves of the performers. Turn off the constant groaning, especially by the woman when the man has pulled out for the trite pop shot. She’s getting off because he’s jerking off on her back or her face? And, for Pete’s sake, get those hands out of the way. I don’t want to see a woman clutching her tits; I want to see those glorious tits. I don’t want to see her rubbing her clit; I want to see her mound and her navel and especially her spasming abdomen. I could go on, but you get the idea.
So, what do you think? Is there anything about porn that you find to be a total turn-off? Conversely, is there anything about porn that you find to be a turn-on? And what could the porn film industry do to create better movies? —Anonymous
Pornography is the attempt to insult sex, to do dirt on it. —D. H. Lawrence
From Debi Doodle (Texas)
So many things wrong:
1) Spitting (not sexy)
2) The overuse of the “F” and “P” word (not sexy)
3) So many tattoos – this limits the appeal to a select group of people.
4) and most important – when there is nothing to create “sexual tension” before the act itself. They just jump right into it. Sexual tension creates more arousal than viewing the act itself.
From Mike
There is very little porn that I like. I find porn in general to be disappointing. There’s always one thing or another that they usually do to screw up porn. It seems like there’s a mentality of ‘put a naked woman in front of a camera, and you’ll automatically have something good.’ Instead the porn industry has a lot of stuff that is embarrassing for anyone to admit they paid for it. Not erotic, not sensual; boring stuff that comes across as very half-assed and amateur. Here are some ways I think it could be improved:
Have the cameraman read something like ‘Dummies Guide to Using a Camera.’ It’s really difficult to jerk off to a movie where the camera is constantly moving, like the person holding it has to pee or something. Have the models read something like ‘Dummies Guide to Sex.’ There’s more bad (really bad) acting in the porn industry today in 2014 with all the gonzo stuff. Allow the models time to develop the chemistry. Ease up on the makeup. Or just forget it entirely. Pussy fur is sexy. Not every pussy needs to be shaved. Focus more on quality rather than quantity.
For solo photos: Have the model get into suggestive poses. A naked woman just standing is nice, but it’s not arousing for very long. Don’t hold the camera at a diagonal. Why would there ever be a reason to hold the camera at a diagonal? Do REAL photographers do this? Almost never. If there’s a lake in the photograph, the water in the lake shouldn’t be defying gravity.
From Lady J
I want to see more foreplay. Stop spitting on the crotch, ass or penis. And I cannot stand it when the woman looks at the camera. Who does that in real life? I think the fake orgasms are not a turn on either. I want porn with a story to it. Space Nuts was good. So is Rawhide, Operation Desert Stormy & The Dinner Party. Too many of these compilation dvds just have 10 minute sex scenes back to back. I also hate the faces they make. Not attractive when you look constipated.
From Anonymous
I hate the trend of violence disguised as sex. Particularly slapping, choking by hands (ridiculously referred to as breath play), and guys who use their penis to choke the woman giving them head. I also hate the spitting thing — including spitting and excessive drooling by women on cocks and guys who spit in various orifices. Anal scenes when the woman is clearly in pain are also turn offs.
Many teen movies border on being offensive with young girls dressing and acting even younger than they are. In countries like mine (Australia) porn faces increased restrictions and I believe this is because of the very hings I have mentioned. It seems that producers are looking for shock value in an industry that’s seen it all.
From Kelcalman
I like porn and I feel no guilt when I’m enjoying it. Today’s porn is nothing like the sweet hairy pussy seventies. Porn back then was excellent and it made you want to fuck all day long. I have a problem with today’s porn. Although I love to see the sex act between adults in a regular situation, I can’t get with the raping, choking, slapping, and spanking of women. I’m not violent and I hate to see sex with violence, which has become way to common. It is not a turn on for me.
From William Scape
I really think we can do without the choking, excessive slapping a woman on her ass and the excessive moaning and groaning, and hair pulling. Some actors don’t know when to shut up. Guys, this is a porn movie not a talk show: keep it down, we don’t need to hear you. I’ve had to sit there and listen to”what’s your name? where do you live? how big are your tits? how much money do I have to pay you for….
I don’t like the POV porn, I’m a traditionalist so I’d like to see the whole set rather than just one body part. I like one on one scenes, I HATE gang bangs, double penetrations or bukkake scenes, I refuse to watch those. I prefer to see more foreplay and kissing too.
Vivid Video and Wicked Pictures are my favorite studios, they do a good job of sticking with what works. Most of my movies at home are from them because of the quality they put into them, that’s what will keep me buying their product.
From Rose
For me, porn isn’t even slightly sexy if it isn’t done “artistically.” And that means good acting (acting that doesn’t look and sound like acting), good and appropriate music that isn’t too loud, good cinematography (fades and soft focus and cuts that don’t look like they were made with a bent hacksaw), and a plausible story line. Not asking for much, am I? In other words, I want a porn movie that is made with the same expertise as a Spielberg or Hitchcock film.
The one thing I find most disconcerting is when the woman, being fucked six ways from Sunday, is in the throes of ecstasy and she looks into the camera. That takes me right out of the movie. It’s like she’s looking at the audience and saying, “Are you watching? How am I doing? Are you randy yet, baby?
From Chockie
My problem with porn today is that it has become more and more explicit and shocking and less erotic. Very often the backgrounds are just empty rooms with a sheet draped over a love-seat or sofa. There is no impression of a real setting. There is no ambience and the lighting and high-resolution don’t leave much to the imagination. Even the dialogue is either poorly written or non-existent. And they try to make the content more and more depraved and filthy (like girls eating semen off of plates, from their ass, etc) This is not erotic, even to many males. And frankly, it’s a little monotonous. I also tire of shaved vulvas, fake tans, tattoos and navel rings.The girls of old porn looked more natural and softer (love a full bush on a vulva)
From Anonymous
What’s with the shoes in bed? How many women wear heels to fuck? How many men find it a turn-on? All I can think of is ripped sheets….
From Anonymous
I have been reading all these comments and would agree with most of the criticisms of porn movies . Finding good porn movies is not easy If porn stars were good at acting they wouldn’t be doing porn. Good actors might not be able to maintain an erection.
I think German porn is the most unsexy I have seen; either like sexual gymnastics or with women who looked like the most sleezey tarts, with frightful hairdos, high heels, suspenders and stockings. Certain directors and actors make better films; the French make good films, with a storyline and often some humour. I agree that some of the best real turn on scenes I have seen were in non porno films or television (After 9pm ).
Porno is porno and you cannot expect to have the emotional love scenes and the raw sex. I agree with those who prefer amateur sex films, with the neighbours wife, the milkman calls or the girl next door; people like ourselves as they really are, women with flesh that wobbles.
From Shannon
I like porn a lot, but I have a serious aversion to most mainstream porn. I have little interest in extreme penetration, etc. I prefer amateur porn. I like jiggly asses and people who might be my next door neighbor.
I am incredibly turned on by people seriously getting it on rather than acting. I like to see veins popping on foreheads, red sweaty faces, etc. It’s better if there is some humor. I like it when the silly parts aren’t edited out, like people so into it they fall out of bed or off of whatever they are screwing on.
For me, generally speaking, plasticized, prepubescent looking bodies don’t really do anything for me. I’m also really turned off by sex acts I just don’t get. If the first thing that comes to mind is “why the fuck would you put that there?” chances are I’m not getting turned on. No pubic hair freaks me out and I don’t care for that look.
In a nutshell: real orgasms; people having a good time; gay, straight bi, group, solo, instructional. If I stop making snarky comments long enough to get my hands in my pants, then it’s good porn.
From John
Most porn turns me totally off. Women screaming at the top of their lungs, things that degrade women, like pulling out and shooting on their face. Why not show real couples making real love, slow, quiet, intense love, like many of us do. I am a man, but the older I get (now in my 60s), the more my sexuality is becoming like woman’s. I want to see feeling, tenderness. Guys, you tired of the same old porn? I know a site that will rock your world, a “reality porn” site. Check it out. Join, they are honest and legit. http://www.ifeelmyself.com. Some of you will never look at another site.
From Luna O.
I don’t watch a lot of porn because I haven’t found many that really look like fun to me. I have a hard time getting into watching people fuck that are so far from anything I would want to get naked with. I would like to see more actors with the look and style I go for, settings that turn me on (yes, the music counts!), and film quality and lighting that looks natural rather than putrid. I’m not asking for total realism all the time, but I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing a great movie that has real sex now and then, too.
I’d like to see sex in an interesting room, preferably something that looks sexy and inviting. Plain white walls with grey bedding or a couch doesn’t spark anything for me and is not a good start. Unusual settings can be good. The poolside thing is way overdone.
So far I like the Rob Rotten films the best. They have most of the elements I like and leave out most that I don’t. The sex acts are pretty vanilla for my taste, but the rest makes up for it. The music is great. The settings are good. The actors have a great look that I can relax and watch. The believability factor is usually good, too (meaning they don’t look totally bored and the noises are appropriately timed and not so excessive).
From Joan
The stupid soundtracks! My latest sweetie loves a good porn movie (especially one that includes an M-F-M threesome, which I like, too), but I always make him turn the sound off completely. I just can’t stand the “Oooh, ahh, you’re so BIG!” and worse. Give me some interesting music, some realistic sounds from the characters, or don’t give me any sound at all. I guess that’s why they invented the mute button. Did I mention the “choking” noises that girls make when giving head to really “big” cocks? Yuck. As I said before, this is why I employ my mute button liberally.
From Nick
What can porn makers do to improve their movies? Better lighting. OK, that was a flippant response, but it kind of neatly sums up the issue. To make porn “better,” i.e. to give it mainstream cinematic values, to make it more genuinely “erotic,” would involve spending money. But that goes against the business model of the porn industry which is “minimal outlay, maximum return.” It’s all about the money. Your typical porn movie these days is simply a string of unrelated sex scenes, made as cheaply as possible, as quickly as possible.
Back in the 70s and 80s, when the directors still carried around ‘artistic’ pretensions, porn used to have some semblance of story and character, however thinly conceived and poorly executed. But then the porn makers woke up to the fact that, really, all the average punter wanted was the sex, and the more graphic it was, the better. The punters simply wanted to SEE EVERYTHING, ALL THE TIME. Adios, story. Adios, character. Hello, wall-to-wall penetration, blow jobs and ubiquitous money-shots. The don’t-make-me-wait, all-you-can-eat, fast-food ethos – I want it all and I want it now.
Some saw this as an “improvement” because, let’s face it, the plots of old porn movies were laughable, and even more embarrassing than the faked orgasms, so why bother with them? “Cut to the chase,” screamed the testosterone-dripping populace, and the pornmeisters said, “Well, all right, motherfucker!”, and laughed all the way to the bank. They’re called money-shots for a reason.
So while it may be desirable to shed the low rent image of porn and dress it in an evening gown, I can’t see it happening on a large-scale anytime soon. There are simply too many droogs out there driving the market. Pity, really.
I agree with the other contributor who expressed a preference for amateur porn but, more or less, for opposite reasons than the individual who said they wanted to see normal people having sex in an expression of their love. My tastes are aligned with male sexual dominance, but for all the rough treatment that porn actresses receive these days, what is almost always missed is the kind of verbal exchanges that accompany that kind of sex play and the emotional reactions of all participants which, to me, is where 90% of the excitement arises from. Sexual arousal fundamentally takes place in the mind, not the body, and porn omits this almost entirely. If I’m going to watch a gangbang, I want to hear the men taking to and about the woman, and I want to see her sexual and emotional response to being the center of attention, but also to the lusts of the participants pushing her into acts she might not have anticipated. If I am watching a couple, I want to hear the dialogue between them and to witness the conflict between erotic enjoyment on the one hand and physical strains, or emotional challenges, on the other. Especially when it comes to BDSM or D/s play, the porn videos made with professionals never push against the limits to the extent that those of amateur couples do. Whether it is fisting, rough treatment of breasts, labia, and clitoris, or other forms of intense play, amateurs always go further than the professionals do and, in doing so, they bring the full range of verbal exchanges and emotional responses that professional porn rarely delivers.