As a result of a “discussion” with my wife, I have decided to do a little research on my own. One of us claims that “most people” enjoy pornography from time to time. One of us claims that really very few people - way less than, say, 35%, enjoy porn, and way fewer women do. (I’ll leave it up to you to suppose which one of us made which claim). I do understand that a large number of video rentals are of the “adult” film category. But, what research is there that could convince ONE of us of the real straight dope?
A purely unscientific sampling of the SDMB shows quite a few women here who enjoy porn, though whether you could extrapolate that to the general population is another matter. We’re decidedly not a representative cross-section.
Well - I like nasty sex, but I’ve seen four relationships - one of them mine - runied by a love of porn on the part of the guy.
I’m OK with it if it’s shared erotica.
Here’s a previous Great Debate on the subject:
Gay porn and heterosexual women
Arjuna34
Geobabe - your doper sample - was it made in response to the post, or is it your general impression from reading posts over time? (also correct - attendees at this bbs are generally better educated - not a representative cross section of American society. And my reading of the literature tells me that the higher the level of education, the more likely the person is to engage in unconventional (read: ANYthing aside from missionary position intercourse) sexual behavior - so maybe there’s a correlation)
…and Geobabe might I just add that your cross section is representative of all things extrapolative. 
Cartooniverse
I think we’ve hit one of those great married debates… being the kind of girl you marry, vs the kind of girl you date… at some point most of us fit into both categories!
CC, I didn’t go back and reread threads, but since I am one of those women who likes porn, I tend to read and participate in those threads, and given my mind’s affinity for minutia, I think I have a pretty good idea of the attitudes of many Dopers. Now, given that the group of women who will participate in those threads is self-selected, it’s certainly not representative, but I think that the sheer number of us who do is very telling.
And 'toons? Hush, you.
Just adding my opinion…
Yep, I like (sometimes love) porn. I’m a heterosexual woman. And I like porn.
(Why did that sound like an intro at an AA meeting?)
But it has to be good porn. Not icky looking people who don’t know what they are doing…
Just curious, where did you read that? Is there a study that really shows that the more educated you are, the more creative you are in bed? I’d like to know about that. I’ve always made the joke that it pays to be well read. Is it true?
As for the original question, I have seen that many women are uncomfortable with porn, but enough are talking about it that they’re watching it somewhere. And why watch something like that if you don’t like it?
I recently read in a men’s magazine a list of things about women that aren’t commonly known and liking porn was one of them. The author was a twentysomething female.
I would say just from the profitability stand point, adult magazines and movies are more universally enjoyed than your wife thinks. If a one horse town can support three “magazine” shops, it’s a good bet that they’re being supported by more than 3% of the population. Come on, dirty old men have to have money to eat too and teen age boys don’t usually have that much cash. People buy it. It’s popular. So it’s profitable.
It’s just a hard thing to poll. Especially from women. Our experience is often that if we’re too truthful, we’ll get labeled or, worse, get an unwelcome “How you doin’?”
Your wife is probably right about what most people will say, but I think you’re right about the reality.
Hey, you’re both right!
All the women I know IRL who watch porn claim that they don’t “get off” on it, and that they only watch it for entertainment purposes (“Mystery Porn Theater 3000”, I suppose).
I’m pretty sure that some of them are lying, though.
Just a comment, I don’t have any research, but doesn’t it depend on what you mean by “porn?” I find porn movies & photos kind of silly, definitely not erotic in the least. They seriously make me snicker (MPT3K, indeed). On the other hand I enjoy written porn/erotica. The collections such as “The Year’s Best Erotica” edited by Susie Bright are pretty mainstream and you can buy them at bookstores. Isn’t there research that shows that men are much more turned on by visual stimulus?
</rambling>
And I managed to miss the entire point of my post. Many romance novels contain grraphic, lengthy descriptions of sex. Are they “porn?” MANY women would deny enjoying any type of pornography, while admitting freely they like the “good parts” of romance novels. Based on the popularity of the Romance genre, perhaps women are more interested in written descriptions than pictures. (Not to mention, romance novels put the sex in a relationship-centered context, vs. the chance-encounter scenario you see in a lot of porn movies).
Helloagain makes an important distinction. But, in the spirit of my OP, I’m more interested in finding out about people’s tastes (uh…not the right word, I fear) in regard to visual pornography - pictures, movies, etc. thank you.
As noted, there are all manner of threads on this board about this subject with anecdotes, opinions, etc.
Does anyone have any research? This is GQ, after all.
But wait! I have actual research!
According to this researcher, hormonally, and physiologically, men and women are equally excited by watching pornography. However, “a rather poor agreement between subjective and genital sexual arousal is reported.” In other words, more of the women do not, subjectively, feel “turned on” for unknown, possibly social reasons.
http://evolution.anthro.univie.ac.at/institutes/urbanethology/student/html/astrid/uv2.html
Also, there is another study, by Dr. Julia Heiman out of the university of Washington, which agrres with this conclusion. (this often-cited research was done in 1980, but I have yet to find the title of the article). Based on the physiological evidence, women became aroused as defined by increased bloodflow to the vaginal tissues. However, the women did not feel “turned on.”
Ok, in the absence of statistics, I’ll rely on my own, and on the good judgement of the moderator - but I was hoping some dopers would be able to find some research that addressed the issue. No one can find anything? Not even the Great Cecil, Himself?
Don’t know why this took me so long…must be getting slow in my old age ;). manhattan, you do realize, do you not, that you have been provided with an invaluable opportunity to do exactly this research? I’m talking, of course, about ChickDope, and you, as our honorary chick for the weekend, can become a hero to the Teeming Millions by providing exactly the sort of hard data our friend CC is looking for.
Overall, I’d have to say that the popularity of porn with women is greater than that of porn without women.
D&R