Be Ye Warned, HarperCollins has put an epic ton of books on sale today, including a pile of Barbara Delinsky's backlist, and some lovely books by Brenda Joyce. I'm sorry in advance.
But first, links!
I don't know how I ended up reading about women in the pornography industry, but this link came from Darien the day after I'd read for hours online about how women work in the porn industry – and not in front of the camera.
First, I read this article about women who work behind the scenes (no pun intended) including one woman who is the makeup artist for all the naked people, and another, Anna Span, who directs films:
In my teens, I was very anti-porn. I thought women were being exploited. But when I went to college to study fine art, something clicked.
Men were able to use their sexuality. Why not help women take advantage of theirs?
Now I’ve shot over 200 explicit scenes, and my films are among the most popular with UK women.
I use the camera to film from the woman’s point of view. It’s quite unusual for the porn industry.
Women like porn to be realistic, so I make sure there’s a strong storyline in my films.
Porn from the woman's angle, huh? Interesting. Then came Darien's link, and my brain percolated happily for hours:
Via Discover Magazine's DiscoBlog, an abstract from PubMed reveals that “Women's sexual and emotional responses to erotic films made my women were positive than the reaction to films made by men:”
Contrary to expectation, genital arousal did not differ between films, although genital response to both films was substantial. Subjective experience of sexual arousal was significantly higher during the woman-made film. The man-made film evoked more feelings of shame, guilt, and aversion.
Three things:
1. THE DEVIL YOU SAY. As “DarienG” said in the comments, “Scientists are saying what women have known all along: sexuality is more stimulating when it does NOT involve violence or degradation of women.”
2. I wonder what the differences are in a cinematic sense between erotic films made by women vs. men, and whether point of view angles play a significant part in the difference.
3. This is my new favorite phrase: “Photoplethysmographic vaginal pulse amplitude was recorded continuously.”
If you're curious (I was) a “photoplethysmograph” optically measures the change in volume of an organ, per Wikipedia.
And speaking of visual stimulation, via Jezebel comes this link: The Victoria and Albert Museum is hosting a new exhibit of Ballgowns, featuring gowns dating from the 1950 to the present day, from 19 May through 6 January 2013. UK Vogue online has a preview of some of the images.
Between that and the exhibit of Hollywood costume coming this fall, I think I want to fly over to London just to go to the museum!
According to the Verge article by Tim Carmody, “according to a new report from Nielsen, smartphone owners are now the majority of the US mobile market.“
The most popular mobile OS remains Google's Android, with 48.5 percent of the US smartphone market, followed by Apple's iOS at 32 percent. RIM's BlackBerry has 11.6 percent of the market and Microsoft 5.8 percent (4.1 percent Windows Mobile and 1.7 percent Windows Phone).
I found the breakdown of ethnicity fascinating as well.
And now, All of the Sales. I apologize to your wallet in advance. Note: if the price hasn't rolled down yet at your preferred vendor, it should soon.
- Brook Street: The Thief by Ava March * $0.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Let Me In by Callie Croix * .99 *preorder* * A | BN | K | S
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Guarding Jess by Shannon Curtis * $0.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Do Not Disturb by Ridgway, Christie * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
- This Perfect Kiss by Ridgway, Christie * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
- The Care and Feeding of Unmarried Men by Ridgway, Christie * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
- An Offer He Can't Refuse by Ridgway, Christie * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
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Wish You Were Here by Ridgway, Christie * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
- The Boy Next Door by Meg Cabot * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Just Desserts by Mary Daheim * $1.99 * A | BN | K | S
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An Unlikely Governess by Karen Rainey * $1.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Suddenly by Delinsky, Barbara * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
- More Than Friends by Delinsky, Barbara * $4.99 * A | BN | K | S
- A Woman Betrayed by Delinsky, Barbara * $4.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Together Alone by Delinsky, Barbara * $4.99 * A | BN | K | S
- For My Daughters by Delinsky, Barbara * $4.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Sweet Ember by Delinsky, Barbara * $4.99 * A | BN | K | S
- An Irresistible Impulse by Delinsky, Barbara * $4.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Passion and Illusion by Delinsky, Barbara * $4.99 * A | BN | K | S
- A Woman's Place by Delinsky, Barbara * $4.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Finger Prints by Delinsky, Barbara * $4.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Rekindled by Delinsky, Barbara * $4.99 * A | BN | K | S
- A Time to Love by Delinsky, Barbara * $4.99 * A | BN | K | S
- The Carpenter's Lady by Delinsky, Barbara * $1.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Gemstone by Delinsky, Barbara * $4.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Within Reach by Delinsky, Barbara * $4.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Shades of Grace by Delinsky, Barbara * $4.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Fast Courting by Delinsky, Barbara * $4.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Moment to Moment by Delinsky, Barbara * $0.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Sensuous Burgundy by Delinsky, Barbara * $4.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Search for a New Dawn by Delinsky, Barbara * $4.99 * A | BN | K | S
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Variation on a Theme by Delinsky, Barbara * $4.99 * A | BN | K | S
- One Reckless Summer by Blake, Toni * $0.99 * A | BN | K | S (SBTB Grade: B-)
- Secrets by Joyce, Brenda * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Firestorm by Joyce, Brenda * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Innocent Fire by Joyce, Brenda * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Violet Fire by Joyce, Brenda * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
- After Innocence by Joyce, Brenda * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Beyond Scandal by Joyce, Brenda * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
- The Fires of Paradise by Joyce, Brenda * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Promise of the Rose by Joyce, Brenda * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Captive by Joyce, Brenda * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Scandalous Love by Joyce, Brenda * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
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The Game by Joyce, Brenda * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Mail-Order Bride by McKade, Maureen * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
- His Unexpected Wife by McKade, Maureen * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Outlaw's Bride by McKade, Maureen * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Untamed Heart by McKade, Maureen * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
I’m just going to throw this out there. If it’s TMI, please don’t sue me. I’m a broke college student.
My favorite female porn director is Erika Lust (http://lustfilms.com/). She does incredibly beautiful work that’s very much art-house, and yet remains very much erotic at the same time. Also, Wikipedia describes her as a “pioneer of feminist pornography,” and as we all know, Wikipedia is never wrong.
So different from the scary stuff involving horses I accidentally stumbled upon one day. Some things cannot be unseen. O_o
This is interesting. Whenever the topic of porn comes up with my female friends, most of them express adamantly negative views. It usually involves finding their significant others’ porn and how angry they are about it. And all I can think is “What’s wrong with porn? Maybe he’s getting ideas. Maybe YOU could use it to get ideas.” Porn from a woman’s POV? Doubly useful.
Whoa. That’s a lot of links! It just sort of dawned on me how tedious programming this kind of page might be (with all the different links to the different retailers). With that in mind, thank you Sarah for compiling these sales and then linking them to different sites for us!
I’ve always thought that the “women don’t like porn because they are not visually sexually stimulated” was a bunch a crock. Women don’t respond to bad porn which is 90% of the current market and still includes a lot of degradation, but there is good porn out there made by women for women (and surprise, surprise, men still find it hot). Le sigh. A thoughtful discussion about porn would be pretty cool.
I’m plugging this YA novel, free through today for Kindle. Tim Pratt is a favorite author of mine.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Nex-…
That’s not TMI – that’s awesome! Thank you for the recommendation. I’m fascinated by the idea of porn from female POV vs male POV, especially since I’ve been trying to pay attention to which POV is used during a sex scene in a romance. If there’s been any use of male POV, often I find the sex scenes, especially the first one in the book, are from the male perspective, and I’m trying to keep a tally of which ones and how many from each POV.
For more gown lust: Online exhibition of Worth and Mainbocher from the Museum of the City of New York:
http://collections.mcny.org/C….
Ridiculously high-res zoom so you can see every teeny tiny little stitch. Now please excuse me while I go geek out at the V&A site….
There is an obvious potential for a BIG discussion on the whole issue of porn for women. I was just having this conversation with my husband on the weekend. He didn’t buy the whole women-are-not-aroused-by-visual-stimuli argument either, though I have to say I think there may be some truth to it. I’m not sure, though, given that I think there may be a lot to the theory that the visual stimulation that is generally available in the market is not geared towards women. If there were more women-centred porn, maybe the argument would become more about women being stimulated by this type of images, but not that type… From a personal perspective, I find that the written word (when well done) is better than the available visual stimuli, but maybe that is just because I haven’t generally been able to find good porn for women.
All food for thought…
Hi, not TMI. I agree that Erika Lust films are in a whole different class of “porn” than what is the other 99% out there. Anna Span’s films are also female friendly (but British format?). I found these films after reading about the Feminist Porn Awards ( http://www.goodforher.com/femi… ) and realized that there were options available without the squick factor usually found in porn.
And in a similar TMI observation. The female POV films I’ve seen while no less explicit differ in that generally they’ve involved finding true love and don’t focus on the “money shot”. I don’t know what it is about the male brain that requires it, but it seems they need to see body fluids spraying for porn to work for them. Something about otherwise the guy could be faking it. Seriously. I have a friend (hetero male) who actually said that. To which I responded “And you care about that why? You are watching it for the naked girls, right?” And thus ended our discussion of porn.
Tim was really nice and helpful when I emailed him about getting epubs of his books here in Oz. I love his Marla Mason urban fantasy series and he is publishing further books in that series (not continued by Agency publisher) himself his website is http://www.timpratt.org/ if you want to find out more
It’s occurred to me that a lot of studies of arousal fail to get to the question of what does arousal mean? When a guy gets an erection, it’s a cue that he’s aroused and in the market for sex. When a woman’s measured “Photoplethysmographic vaginal pulse amplitude” is high/aroused/whatever, it doesn’t mean she feels turned on because vaginal pulse isn’t where women start and end their sexual feelings.
So, before measuring penis length or vaginal pulse amplitude, we need to discuss what arousal means. Is it a merely physical response or is it an emotional response?
I know as a woman I AM visually stimulated, just not by men who have nothing to recommend them but the size of their tool. I recently came across some links to James Deen, this kinda skinny Jewish kid who’s blowing up as a porn star because women love him. He’s really cute, not roided out, and makes eye contact with his lady partners. I think women are aroused when they watch guys they would find attractive with their pants on get it on with women they identify with in a more “natural” fashion (ie “let’s get dirty together” vs “here is my giant #%^*, it will now pound you”).
I just realized my comment was very heterosexual-centric. I was thinking from only my personal perspective, so my apologies.
The guys who say that “women aren’t visually stimulated” are usually guys who couldn’t, er, visually stimulate a blind girl in a dark room. In my experience. It’s like Round Seven of Reality vs. La La La Women Can’t Have Physical Standards Because I’d Have To Put Down the Cheetos and Change My Shirt Once In a Blue Moon.
But yeah. Straight chick. Visual stimulation? Yes. Guys in porn for straight guys? Opposite of visually stimulating: either they look like recent ex-cons or they’re…Ron Jeremy. And all the women have super-long nails, which are the last thing I want to see anywhere near delicate bits—yipe!
Yes to the long nails comment! WTF? Those things look like they would enact serious damage to parts I’d rather remained intact.
You raise an interesting point. I’ve always thought of it as two relatively separate types of arousal—the objective, physical things caused by seeing or smelling or tasting or being touched in a certain way, vs. the emotional things that involve mood and attachment to your partner and so forth. And good luck measuring that objectively.
And the thing is, unlike with men, women don’t work like an on/off switch. Men are either sufficiently aroused or not. And once they orgasm, the switch goes back to off. Not so with most women. So, without that on/off switch, you have to measure things on a range. My understanding is that scientists have been driving themselves bonkers for years trying to figure out female arousal.
“sexuality is more stimulating when it does NOT involve violence or degradation of women.”
I thought the study proved the exact opposite of this? That both films were equally (and copiously) arousing, but that the arousal experienced during the man-made films caused shame in women. Not too surprised about the shame aspect, but I am actually surprised that arousal was the same.
Maili contacted me with a comment, which Disqus wouldn’t let her post. I’m posting it here:
===
I met an American female director during the early 2000s. She’d
produced and directed a number of heterosexual pornographic films
under her ‘for women by women’ AV company during the 1990s.
Her philosophy were that women can enjoy pornography if done well, and
that women and heterosexual couples would want some spice in their sex
lives, so she made films based on popular women’s sexual fantasies.
She gave me a couple of copies. My memories are fuzzy now, but if I
rem right: one with a couple on a farm – a drifter seducing a widow –
and another with a woman and a man in corporate clothes in a
lift/elevator. Both times, the couple seemed strangers, but it was
revealed in the end that they were just a couple having a fun game.
Again both times, the couple ended it with affirming their love for
each other.
It was like watching a Harlequin category romance on screen. 😀 A bit
cheesy and corny, but both had a streak of feel-good humour. She had
plans in the works to develop and produce two similar ranges, one for
lesbian couples and another for gay couples.
I can’t remember her name now, but I’m reasonably sure her company was
called Royalle Productions. Actually, I think her name may be Candy
Royalle? Either way, she was pretty awesome.
====
Totally off the pr0n topic, but I recall Sensuous Burgundy by Delinsky as being rapey. The copy I read was a reissue and she alludes to that in the intro as sort of being par for the course at that time. Just wanted to give fair warning before anyone spends $4.99 and then their head explodes. But if you like old skool alphas it might be just what you’ve been waiting for.
And since we’re talking old skool now I just might have to buy some Brenda Joyce.
I want to hear you say your new favorite phrase 3 times fast. 😉