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Klixxx Magazine Archive - For Women |
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Porn for Women: It's Not Just About Naked Men
by KarenJ, FortheGirls.com and PurpleDollars.com
When Neilsen
NetRatings released their statistics in October 2004, which revealed
that one third of porn surfers were women, many webmasters had to
rethink their assumption that women don't like porn.
This was an important step forward for the porn industry. Unfortunately
too many other assumptions remain about women and their porn viewing
habits.
The major one is that all women want to see is naked men. The Playgirl
magazine model is the best known example of "women's porn", so the
assumption is that we should offer more of the same on the Internet.
Thus, webmasters looking to tap into the female market buy a few gay
sets and whack them up on a free site. Link List owners create a new
category and call it "Naked Men". Owners of gay paysites put a female
friendly tour on an existing site promising "thousands of naked men!"
It's a reasonable enough idea, but it falls down in so many areas...
One problem is the content itself. A lot of the solo male sets are
old, and appear on so many gay sites it's well and truly marked as
being "gay". Not only that, many webmasters don't make an effort to
weed out any photos that are obviously intended for a gay audience.
I've seen so many "for women" sites feature naked men spreading their
butt cheeks, or wearing leather chaps, or, sticking a dildo up their
ass, or sucking another man's dick.
Aside from the obvious, there is a perception among some female surfers
that all solo male photos are gay. The popular website Fark.com regularly
links to solo male galleries and then readers post their comments.
I've yet to see one that didn't dismiss the model as being "totally
gay". For some women, a shaved chest is a sign of gayness. For others,
the poses aren't right. Still others think that a well-muscled man
is obviously gay (and egotistical into the bargain). And some simply
dismiss any (and all) naked man photo as being intended only for a
gay audience.
Then there's the idea that naked male models aren't "real enough".
Sweet Action, the new magazine for women, is aiming to capture a young
market through photos of "guy next door" types. They want to offer
skinny, angular, non-perfect men who are still unmistakably masculine.
Male beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder for these women.
On top of all this is the continuing blurring of the line between
"gay" and "for women" in this industry. So many webmasters seem to
think they're the same thing, and this results in the surfers becoming
disillusioned and distrustful. They begin to suspect that there is
no true 4women content out there.
These perceptions mean that simply whacking up any old naked men photos
in a gallery will not necessarily result in sales. Care is needed
in the choosing of your content.
If you are going to offer up photos of naked men, make sure he's alone,
relatively good looking and not doing anything that's stereotypically
gay. In your advertising, let your surfer know that they are going
to get straight male content. If you think your sponsor is offering
gay feeds or similar - don't advertise them! Your surfer wants straight
men, so you should give her what she wants. And for goodness sake,
don't use the word "gay" on the site anywhere (unless you are stating
that your content or sponsor is NOT gay).
If it all seems too hard, you can get around this minefield of perceptions
by simply offering heterosexual couples content. You can create galleries
featuring relatively softcore couples photos, ones that feature emotional
involvement like kissing as opposed to a selection of close-up shots.
It's not difficult to choose a few photos from regular hardcore content
that are both sexy and enticing to the female surfer. Just ensure
that you don't include facials or too many blowjob shots.
Or you can put up a naked men gallery but make sure your advertisements
feature couples. Ensure the surfer knows that she will get hetero
couples content as well as straight naked men. This will reassure
her that your sponsor is not just another gay site.
And - if you're male - it won't hurt to ask a woman's opinion on the
photos you're offering. She'll give you an idea if you're on the right
track.
Marketing to women is not difficult, provided you do your research
and give your surfers what they want.
KarenJ has been making sites for women for 4 years, and worked as a freelance journalist prior to that. She jointly runs For The Girls (www.forthegirls.com) a premium paysite
designed for women.
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