Literotica vs. Visual Porn, And The Difference Between Women And Men

It is commonly accepted that the porn industry caters largely to men.

It is also common knowledge that the online porn industry is enormous, with more than 60% of online downloads and traffic coming from adult sources. While it's not all aimed at men, you've got to wonder: 'where do women get their jollies?" Yes, there has been much evidence to suggest that women can enjoy porn too, with the misconception that all women are too prudish to enjoy smut long since dispelled. That being said, research suggests that it's not visual porn that women turn to for their arousal, but literary erotica.

Recent statistics put the number of romance novel readers in the USA at 64 million, 78% of which are female. Other interesting statistics include the fact that 1.3 billion dollars in sales were generated by the sale of bodice rippers in 2010, with no less than 8,240 new novels released in the same year. That's huge. With numbers like that, the romance novel industry is comparable to the online porn machine.

Still need some convincing? Literotica was the largest share of the U.S. consumer market in 2010, not only surpassing the sales revenue generated by other literary genres but standing out as a solid 13% of what consumers spent their money on. Granted, the sheer proliferance of online pornography translates into much higher numbers in terms of total revenue (a staggering 13 billion per month in the states), but bear in mind that visual erotica requires little more than willing bodies and a camera. Bodice rippers by comparison take time to write, with Nora Roberts' ability to churn out a book every 45 days considered to be an impressive feat. With interest levels what they are, if the means of production were the same, one can imagine that romance novels might outstrip smut films entirely. Why is this the case then?

It would seem then that whilst men favour visual pornography, women turn to erotica, with both genders indulging their desires with equal fervor. Research has suggested that men are primarily visually-oriented, taking pleasure in what they can see. Women by comparison are far more cerebral, notably so when it comes to sexual matters. With the brain being the primary sex organ, men revel in the imagery their brain recognizes as appealing, whilst women enjoy the fantasies which erotic written scenes create, conjuring up the imagery for themselves. This doesn't hold true across the board, with many men enjoying written fantasies (even buying bodice rippers) and women taking pleasure in visual stimulation, but men as visual and women as cerebral would seem to be the norm.

What's important to take away from this is that women are anything but prudish when it comes to pornography, despite what you may have been told, or taught to think. The saucy written word is snapped up as readily, maybe even more so, than the online porn flick. Ladies are as passionate and even perverted as their male counterparts, they just like their pleasures packed a little differently.

By
    Stace