50 Shades blockbuster busts myths about porn consumption

With 50 Shades of Grey set to rake in more than $60 million on its Valentines-weekend debut, women — and critics — everywhere are talking about the film. But according to one Waterloo researcher, the blockbuster has women doing more than just talking.

Diana Parry, a professor in Waterloo’s Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, says women make up one of the fastest growing group of porn consumers, and thanks to the best-selling 50 Shades series, are watching a greater volume and variety than ever before.

“The 50 Shades movie is busting the myth that only men enjoy porn,” said Parry. “But 50 Shades also demonstrates that porn should be consumed critically as the series reproduces a number of harmful stereotypes about gender roles and sexuality.”

In-depth interviews with women about porn

Parry, in collaboration with Tracy Penny Light from Thompson Rivers University, conducted in-depth interviews with 28 women ranging in age from 21 to 54-years-old about their pornography consumption patterns, sexual desires, and how porn impacts their sexual practices.

The research shows that women used written erotica when they want to be inspired, let their imaginations run wild or to extend their experience of arousal but used online video porn most frequently when they wanted immediate sexual gratification or wanted to involve a partner.  

50 Shades spurred change for women

Parry believes the success of the 50 Shades of Grey franchise helped women explore pornographic material in a new way. “Essentially, the 50 Shades of Grey series brought porn into the mainstream for women,” says Parry “For lots of women, 50 Shades is their first exposure to porn written by women, for women. It opened the door for many women who realize that they like this kind of material and who have begun to search out similar content online.”

Many women were clear that regardless of their sexual identity, they enjoyed consuming sexually explicit material that only featured women.

“In part, their choice reflected a more diverse appreciation for female bodies than men’s bodies. Some women were much less interested in stereotypical porn star bodies – and body parts – and much more aroused by porn featuring a range of body types,” said Parry.

Feminist porn contributes to healthy sexuality for women

“Porn has a history of being produced solely for the benefit and consumption of heterosexual men often through the objectification, marginalization, and oppression of women. However, women are now producing, consuming and discussing sexually explicit materials with their own sexual desires in mind. In many ways this has contributed to a healthy sexuality for women that is important to acknowledge,” said Parry.

In April, Parry will facilitate a workshop with producers and stars at the Feminist Porn Awards hosted by Good For Her in Toronto to further probe the links between feminism and sexually explicit material.  Parry expects her research team to begin publishing findings from the research in the coming months.