The porn industry is plagued by ageism. This is typically reflected by its content, with the largest study on the subject, the Internet Adult Film Database, finding that the average American female porn star gets into the industry when she is 22 years old and stays for an average of three years, and the average male porn star starts at 24 and stays for four years.
But according to PornHub’s age demographics, viewers want to see material that reflects what they seek in their own lives, with “mature” being in the top five keywords for users aged 45 to 64-plus, and it is the number one search term for the over 65s.
Check out this advert for Pornhub's "lifeplan" membership:Now, a new wave of mature porn stars are encouraging people of all ages to embrace their sexuality. This comes as the coronavirus pandemic has put the 50-plus demographic at a greater risk and simultaneously presented an opportunity for them to embrace digital play in a world where the median porn user is 29.7 years old, according to PornHub.
To explore the opportunity the pandemic presents to 50-plus consumers as porn use has increased, with PornHub noting an 18.5% spike in traffic on March 24 when they made their premium content free to encourage people to stay at home, VT spoke to three mature porn stars: Morgana Muses, Amanda Ryder, and Beth McKenna.
Explaining why she got into sex work, Morgana Muses, 55, said: “I didn’t have the confidence to go out and meet people after my divorce, so I ended up hiring an escort to help find my way back to a sexual life. I was very inspired by the experience.”
Meanwhile, Amanda Ryder, 56, had been a swinger for a decade before she decided to try porn after being encouraged by a performer on a playdate.
Beth McKenna, 52, got into the industry giving up her law career at the age of 51. She was motivated by boredom and the realisation that porn was a safe place to explore her sexuality because of the rigorous STI testing conducted.
All three also admitted to experiencing or witnessing sexual repression. For Muses, it was a sexually repressed childhood and marriage. Whereas Ryder said that her parents were never intimate, and McKenna was brought up in a very religious household.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, business is booming for these women, with Muses noting that pornography, webcamming and remote sex work all have the potential to alleviate loneliness caused by the pandemic. Ryder said she is interacting more than ever before with her fans through premium services like OnlyFans and Skype. McKenna similarly said that she plans to webcam to help keep connected with her fans.
But general attitudes of the over 50s towards pornography aren’t always positive and an anonymous survey of 2,000 50-plus men conducted by Tim Rollins of Stop Procrastinating found that 45% of respondents admitted that porn consumption makes them feel guilty and 58% said that they disagree with porn its entirety because it objectifies women, although this doesn’t stop them from consuming this content.
Ethical porn such as that found on premium sites like OnlyFans, however, presents a solution to the problem created, in part, by the explosion of free pornography, the majority of which is stolen, which drives performer’s wages down and provides a reason for viewers of free adult content to feel guilty.
The issue of porn objectifying women was explored by researchers from the University of Amsterdam. They found that it equally objectives men, albeit in a different way, and a way around this objectification was mentioned by all three women: representation.
Muses said: “I am interested in representing mature sex in all its glory, across fetish and BDSM. I want to show people that there isn’t an expiry date on our sexuality and that after a certain age you don’t have to just disappear.”
Ryder added that she aims to set “an example for all women that all bodies are beautiful and are appreciated! I have worked with experienced female talent and had the pleasure of teaching her about her G spot and how to squirt.”
Beth McKenna said older performers bring a levelheadedness to the industry which is beneficial to their younger counterparts who are likelier to take negativity on social media to heart.
“Maturity, honestly. Rationality. Most of the most mature sex workers that I’m friends with have lived through the crap, so they don’t react to every little stupid thing. We can talk the younger ones down from proverbial ledges.”
Emjoy, an intimate audio app for women, which has seen an increase in usage of 160% during the pandemic, told VT that while their mature users have a greater awareness of their sexual wants, they are less inclined to talk about sex, which could be another reason why the average viewer of porn is just 29.7 years old.
That’s why the conversation mature porn stars are willing to have about sexuality is more important during this isolating time than ever, with Alix Fox, a sex and relationships expert, telling Good Housekeeping that the reduction in oestrogen after the menopause thins the vaginal walls and makes the g-spot easier to access.
Muses said: “Now is a great time to have a play and explore your sexuality. The downtime can be great for reflection. If you've always wanted to see what else is out there, google ethical porn, feminist porn or just start to ponder what really turns you on.”
Ryder added: “Explore your body, see what feels good, purchase a variety of toys for both clitoral, vaginal and anal pleasure. Play with different lubes. Pay for your porn and watch different porn to see what style/genre gets you intrigued! Reach out to your favorite performers for custom videos and online sessions to learn and explore.”
McKenna tapped into the taboo of female masturbation and said: “Be gentle with yourself, [and] explore your body. I have met women through Twitter and this career who have never masturbated.
“I actually worked with another sex worker who didn’t know where her g-spot was. For a woman to go into her 50th year and not know her body and what that kind of pleasure feels like was just profoundly sad to me.”
This is a reflection of relationship expert April Masini’s comment to Medical Daily that female masturbation simply wasn’t discussed in previous generations.
VT recently spoke to director Erika Lust, who is exploring how intimacy can be made interesting during the pandemic, about mature pornography after she debuted her film Soul Sex last year.
Soul Sex stars a couple in their seventies, John Campbell and Dr. Annie Campbell. It was the most-watched film on Lust’s XConfessions series for four months and received a surprising reaction from younger viewers.
“I received a lot of feedback from people in their 20s or 30s commenting that, even though John and Annie are in their 70s, ‘Soul Sex’ is actually not only about senior sex. They talk about a different, slow way of having sex, which is gentle, communicative, yet genuinely sensual. They inspire us about deep pleasure and connection with a partner as well as to enjoy the journey, having fun instead of rushing to climax!”
Lust also shared her thoughts about how the industry can share consumers to enjoy material featuring performers of a variety of ages.
“We rarely see older people being represented in the media as people who seek sexual connection or are curious about exploring their bodies. We’re most likely to believe that they have already ‘past their prime’, and that in general our interest in sex diminishes as we age.
“Older bodies are largely missing in the adult industry in a time when seniors everywhere are daring to explore their sexual desire in different ways. Many are embracing sexual freedom that they didn’t have before.”
This embracing of sexual freedom is reflected by the fact that Muses and Ryder have vanilla jobs. Muses said this has allowed her the luxury of being able to pause her porn work until it is safe to shoot. On the other hand, Ryder said that while she is limited on when she can return to her vanilla job, if the pandemic continues, she plans to come up with creative ways to bring happiness into her fans' lives.
On the subject of embracing sexual freedom, VT asked each interviewee what is the one thing they want people to know about mature porn stars.
Ryder said: “I enjoy performing and pleasing and love to get myself and other people off. Orgasms are a mental and physical release that improves one’s sexual and well-being!”
McKenna added: “We can do anything the younger girls do. The guys in porn shoots tend to take it easy on me because I’m older. But no, I’m really fit.”
Meanwhile, Muses dispelled the myth that older people aren’t having sex: “Sex after a certain age isn’t a joke. You will be old one day, and trust me, your desire for fulfilling sex likely isn’t going anywhere.”
The coronavirus pandemic isn’t subsiding any time soon, which is why now is the perfect time for everyone to enjoy their bodies thanks to the existence of diverse pornography and the conversation those in the industry are willing to have about sex at every age.
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