Many women find man-on-man pornography to be sexually arousing. In fact, one of the world's biggest porn sites--Pornhub--has reported that gay male porn is the second most popular category among female visitors. Many of you may be wondering what it is that draws so many women to it. A recent study published in the journal Porn Studies offers some valuable insight.

In this study, 275 self-identified women who were watchers of gay male porn were asked what they like about this type of pornography. Participants ranged in age from 18-74 and most were either heterosexual (41%) or bisexual (32%).

The vast majority of participants (82%) reported a preference for gay male porn over all other kinds; however, most reported watching other types of porn, too. For instance, 68% said they also watched heterosexual porn sometimes, while 53% reported watching lesbian porn as well.

So what did these women find so arousing about gay male porn specifically? The most commonly reported reason was that they found the idea of two men having sex to be, well, sexy. In the words of one female participant: “I am attracted to males so seeing two of ‘em get it on together is like: BOOM, TWICE THE SEXY!”

The second most common reason for liking this type of porn was that both actors were perceived to be enjoying the sex and that the pleasure experienced by them (both physical and psychological) seemed to be more genuine or “authentic.”

Several other reasons emerged. For some, the appeal involved not having to worry about whether the women on screen were being exploited or objectified. For others, they enjoyed it because the lack of women in the videos made it so they weren’t comparing their own bodies to anyone else’s.

Yet other respondents said it was simply an attraction to what they perceived as a “non-normative” or “taboo” type of sex. For example, as described by one participant, it was all about seeing “a man getting enjoyment out of something that is not supposed to be pleasurable, i.e. anal penetration.” In addition, some said that they found the production value and plotlines to be better than other kinds of porn.

All in all, there are a diverse range of factors that draw women of many sexualities to gay male porn. The results of this study reveal that this kind of porn may offer something unique to women that other forms of pornography do not currently do.

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To learn more about this research, see: Neville, L. (2015). Male gays in the female gaze: Women who watch m/m pornography. Porn Studies, 2(2-3), 192-207.

Image Source: 123RF/lopolo

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