Women’s Consumption of Pornography: Pleasure, Contestation, and Empowerment

This article draws on 27 interviews with women (with exclusive and non-exclusive sexual orientations) to understand the role of pornography in the construction of female sexuality. Building upon research that moves beyond the ‘negative effects paradigm’ in the study of pornography, we show that consuming pornography is both disciplining and empowering for women. Our informants recognise that pornography reproduces and promotes patriarchal discourses of sexuality, but they manage to use it to reach a state of pleasure (exercise of fantasy, sexual gratification) and perfection (optimal way of performing sex). We also show pornography’s role in cultivating a renewed understanding of female sexuality. In this process, aspects of the genre are questioned, negotiated and reconciled in order to continue using pornography to satisfy desire. We contribute to ongoing debates about the role of pornography in society by documenting the experiences of women whose voices have been hitherto underrepresented in the literature.