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That’s the title of AVN’s cover story this month. In a nut shell, the article seems to suggest that since women (mostly) don’t buy what Chatsworth is selling, the women’s market is a niche market where the usual rules of making and selling porn don’t apply. Says Meredith Christopher, head of production at Adam and Eve:
“I really don’t think there’s a true women’s market. About 30% of Adam and Eve’s online customers are female and they buy primarily toys and lingerie. We think about 7 percent of women buyers actually buy video, which is a fairly small number. Women are happy with their toys. They don’t necessarily need the visual as much. My theory is that they’re open to adult video, they enjoy watching it with a spouse or a boyfriend, but I don’t know that they purchase it for solo use like men do.”
50 years ago, before most people had ever heard of Napa, or Sonoma, or Pinot Noir, one might have concluded that the American wine market was also a niche market where the usual rules for selling alchohol didn’t apply. True as that might have been, it misses the broader truth that American wine wasn’t very good, and Americans’ taste in wine wasn’t very sophisticated, and that people can’t ask something if they don’t know it exists.
I reckon that right now, all we really know about what women watch is that (most) women won’t watch crap, and that until we see erotic films that are made as well and thoughtfully made as the work of coming Njoy Toys or Fun Factory, we’re not going to have much of a clue what women do or don’t want to watch when it comes to sexually explicit entertainment.
Meanwhile here at Comstock Films, women continue to be a very important part of our audience. About half the people who buy DVDs directly from us are women, and our films do very well at stores that cater to women. We know from the letters we get that these women are enjoying watching our films both alone and with their lovers. (Hences Peggy’s tag-line for our new affiliate ads, “Women love real sex.”)
Also, while we like to think we’re equal opportunity arousers here at Comstock Films, the fact is, when I’m editing, it’s usually with a woman in mind as my audience. Call it my heterosexual bias, but when I’m cutting a film, I imagine the effect it’s going to have on a woman, particularly the effect it’s going to have between her legs. I’m not ashamed to say that making films that turn women on turns me on. It gets me fired up creatively knowing that my films are causing women to have gushy afternoon wanks, or inspire women to try new sex position with their husbands.
Does that mean I know what women want to watch? Well I suppose I know what some women want to watch. But I do know what films I want to make, and count myself lucky that enough women (and men) like watching them that I’m able to keep making them!
