Pornography 101: Our Sexpert's Guide for Porn Lovers

Whether it is movies or television, there are certain styles of filming and directing that can help to create not only the type of “atmosphere” wanted for the show, but that also works to define certain genres. The hand-held, shaky camera style that makes horror movies like Blair Witch and Cloverfield so appealing, for example, or the “look-to-camera” comedy style of shows like Parks and Recreation and The Office are great examples of specific filming styles, and when it comes to pornography, it’s no different. Certain styles and ways of filming have started to become more and more popular in the adult film world, opening up a whole new world of erotic film for a whole new experience. Our sexpert breaks them down for you.

Amateur Porn

Amateur porn is pornography that has been shot and performed by people who are not professionals (although some professional companies do produce “amateur porn” as a style. Many Abby Winters films fall into this category for example). It’s usually filmed on one camera from one angle and gives the impression it’s been “filmed at home”. The word “amateur” comes from the Latin word “amator” which basically translates to “one who loves” and so an amateur (in any field)  describes anyone who does something “for the love of it” and that is exactly what amateur porn is all about… Made especially to look and feel like a home-made video rather than anything cut and polished in a proper studio, amateur porn is one of the most searched porn categories on sites like Pornhub.

POV aka Point of View

POV stands for Point Of View and is the porn style you see where the camera acts as the viewer’s “eyes” and the performer treats the camera as if they are the only person in the room. Quite often filmed with head cameras and go-pros, it is super popular on sites like Pornhub, allowing the consumers and watchers to feel like they are the star of the show. One of the more popular and growing trends of POV porn is the addition of virtual reality, which is a whole new style within itself.

VR aka Virtual Reality

VR stands for Virtual Reality and, as technology gets better and better, so too do the VR porn clips. Forget trying to jack off to super-bad Lawnmower Man graphics, VR porn is mostly filmed using real people, or much more superior graphics than ever before. Even more involved than POV porn, the wearing of the VR glasses/helmet allows a 360 degree view of the action around you, and with the addition of sex toys connected to them to emulate the actions on screen (Fleshlight are leaders in this tech) it really can be a hand-on, realistic experience.

Gonzo Porn

Gonzo porn and POV porn are pretty much the same thing, with a lot of companies and porn connoisseurs admitting they have added the POV tag because many people (especially those under around 30 years old) don’t quite understand the term “Gonzo” and they don’t want to confuse consumers into thinking they’re going to see a chicken-loving Muppet doing unspeakable things. Gonzo is actually a direct reference to the journalistic style, made famous by Hunter S Thompson and his cohorts, where the writer, instead of taking an objective, outside view as is the norm, fully immerses themselves into the story and events happening around them. Gonzo porn is pretty much a visual version of this where (like in POV) the viewer is the “eyes” of the camera and the action on screen is made to look like it is happening to them.

Feminist Porn

No, feminist porn is not videos of angry, unshaven women wearing dungarees and comfy shoes and hating on men, feminist porn is pornography that has been written and created by women for women and that focuses on women’s pleasure. Yes, it can have penises in it, because many women love penises, and yes, it can be BDSM based too because many women love that. All it means is that it has been made by women centring women’s pleasure as important, necessary and central to the action. There is also usually a bit more “reality” to the people and scenes too with wobbles and stretch-marks and hair and all those actual real things most humans have being celebrated and loved. Also, whereas a lot of mainstream pornography exists within an industry of exploitation and unethical practices, feminist porn works to break down those systems and give women’s sexuality and sexual enjoyment a place of self-ownership and self-love as opposed to something that is done for the sole pleasure of men. For some really excellent feminist porn that also happens to be Australian check out companies like Light Southern, Bright Desire, and Permission for Pleasure.

Ethical Porn

Ethical porn is just that. Ethical. As mentioned above, the mainstream porn industry has a long history of abuse, exploitation, unfair and unsafe work practices, and not a lot of laws and regulations to keep it in check, but ethical porn companies (like Pink Label TV or JoyBear) are working to fix that. With proper pay, proper work, health and safety practices, and proper screening of performers, ethical porn looks at connection and fantasy and diversity, creating not only some gorgeously intimate films and clips, but also a brand new and much needed re-jigging of our attitudes towards pornography, sex, sexiness, and indeed who is worthy of it. (hint: it’s all of us; young, old, fat, thin, POC, white, trans, cis, disabled, able-bodied… All of us)

Educational Porn

While we often say one should never use porn as a way to learn about sex, there is one very big exception, and that is porn that is literally filmed as a sex education tool. Using professional porn stars and professional sex educators, some mainstream porn companies have delved into the sex ed market (Wicked Films have an entire sex ed series starring awesome porn star Jessica Drake), while on the other side some well known sex educators have delved into the porn market (Tristan Taorimino has an amazing series of videos on all sorts of different sexual practices from Tantra to anal sex). Then there are the incredible mixes of professional and amateur sex education videos like those on OMGYes. OMGYes is an amazing masturbation app where professional sex educators and civilian women alike speak about, and demonstrate, their preferred masturbation techniques. It’s truly amazing and, like a good vibrator, should be part of every women’s sex-essory box.

3 comments

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• 

  Nadcar69

  More than a month ago

  Color Climax that is all

  Reply
• 

  Mike01974

  More than a month ago

  Tangible porn. Me
  Decent collection. SCORE. Vmag. from the 90s.. I still buy when i come across. Rarely.
  Why.. apart from obvious. Lol.

  Reply
• 

  Blackdiamond01

  More than a month ago

  This article is very interesting and equally educative
  The home video is so real and fascinating.
  Love the article so much.

  Reply