Can women enjoy the "Oh, ooh" of porn like men?

By Marie Bernard

For the Daily

If we went to a frat party at Blow Job University, a fine institution featured in a series of pornographic films, eight thirsty nymphettes would be ready and waiting to have their "pretty hot faces drenched."

If real life was anything like these movies, emotionless sex would run rampant through our campus. It could occur spontaneously in a chemistry review session or at a suspiciously female-dominated house party. In essence, all men would be permanently blessed with that awed after-orgasm gaze and all women would be ready for more. Life would be a non-stop orgy.

"Porn is a fantasy," LSA freshman Tom Dahl said. "It's not supposed to be truthful in any sense."

Although pornography promises Hooter Girls, Lesbian Sexxxx and those coyly deviant school girls, actual life seems to fall remarkably short of those expectations. However, men seem to be more attached to this popular fantasy world, whereas women are designated as having no interest or desire in such a wild form of entertainment. The relationship women have to pornography is more often a mixture of repulsion and exclusion, a sense that this genre was not constructed for their enjoyment and will never bring them the same pleasure that it provides men.

For men, porn is "a rite of passage. You're not a man until you've watched a lot of porn," LSA freshman Mike Borremo said. Men date their first experience with pornography back to a very young age, often as pre-pubescent as seven or eight.

Wheras men, in general, are able to cite their favorite flicks and often their favorite porn stars, it isn't even safe to assume that a woman has seen a porn movie. However, according to the Feminism and Free Speech Website, half of adult videos in the U.S are bought or rented by women or women in couples. But it's hard to find many college women willing to admit such an experience. Though some admit to watching it with a boyfriend or as a joke, not many women would admit to downloading flicks like "Eighteen and Nasty" from Internet server Scour.

"There's some porn that will show every women's body part but never the man's penis. The ones that show the male anatomy are hard-core disgusting ... they show everything," LSA freshman Lonnie Rappaport said. "My sex drive can be equal to that of a man, but I would personally rather watch the stuff that's more sensual."

Or, as LSA freshman Lauren McGuire said, adult videos "have women getting with women, and the women are always the pretty ones and the men are always nasty and sleazy."

The abundance of pornography seems to cater towards a male-only demographic, although that has been changing as American society becomes more progressive and liberal. However, many students seem to believe that women will never react to pornography in the same way that men do.

"Guys react better to visual stimuli, but girls need some sort of emotional attachment to a live being," LSA sophomore Judi Quano said.

The popular opinion seems to rely on the concept that women are not as easily stimulated by strangers. Ethan Sterling, an LSA freshman, said, "Men can get a sexual feeling out of just seeing a naked body and not knowing the person."

Tristan Taormino, an arts writer for the Village Voice, recently wrote, "Some straight women have no interest in porn, plot or no plot. The publishers may deny it left and right, but I still believe that the only reason 'Playgirl' stays in business is all the gay men with straight-guy fantasies."

Femme Productions, a new line of erotic videos for women, features films that have more realistic characters and story lines. They tend to focus more on the women's pleasure and passionate sex. Additionally, "slash," a genre of Internet-distributed pornography, features male-on-male homoerotic stories written by women and for women. This popular form of fan fiction features characters from popular television programs, such as Kirk and Spock or Starsky and Hutch. Apparently, women appreciate seeing two men in an equal and sensual relationship rather than one man getting it from both sides with whips and chains.

As many of society's sexual taboos are being broken down and the "hook-up" has become a college standard, perhaps it won't be long before women are able to find a release to their hidden "animalistic urges."

After all, as LSA freshman Matt Warren said, "I think it's just society's taboos. Women like sex too, don't they?"