When it comes to the type of porn we enjoy, women are leading the charge into the audiobook frontier.
Women now count for a third of porn users, and audio porn especially is on the rise among women – potentially because women don’t want to watch strangers that don’t represent their body type or real life, but prefer to visualise a story for themselves.
We can see how women consume racy material differently from the popularity of the book (and later, film series), Fifty Shades of Grey going on to become the best-selling book of the 2010s. The first book sold a whopping 35 million print and e-book copies from 2011-19.
And a quick search on Tumblr will reveal thousands of women posting racy ‘fanfic’ stories of everything from Harry Potter (sincere apologies if you’re now picturing Harry Potter in the buff) to Dr Who.
The ‘Headspace of erotic content’ website Dipsea also reported 5.4 million listens in 2022 compared to 4.9 million in 2021, showing that there’s a growing appetite for sexy audiobooks.
And science is backing it up. Research shows that 90% of women prefer to visualise or create scenarios in our heads to get us turned on, yet the erotic material available to us (traditional porn) focuses so much more focused on our bodies rather than our minds.
An audio revolution
But sex-positive podcaster, Florence Bark is trying to turn things around with the release of her new digital and audio book called This Book Will Make You Feel Something.
It serves as the ultimate guide to female masturbation through 25 erotic stories designed to be masturbated to (great timing, with the month of May being dedicated to self-love).
“The majority of accessible porn out there is made by men for men,” she shares exclusively to HuffPost UK about why she created the book. “We grew up with all the free sites and I don’t think I ever saw anything that represented what I wanted to be watching as a young female.
“51% of British men say they watch porn, compared to only 15% of women, so we know that women watch it far less than men.”
She says it’s due to this society thinks that women have less interested in sex: “There’s been an assumption for centuries that men are more sexual than women, which actually might still be keeping women away from exploring their sexuality, including through porn – as they likely don’t feel it was intended for them.”
A book designed to help you orgasm
Flo’s book is a bit different from traditional erotic fiction, though. “There’s a lot of erotica out there for women, but no ‘book porn’ that you can explicitly masturbate to,” she explains.
“Considering there’s so little material out there that’s tailor-made for women with it comes to porn, this was a space I really wanted to fill with my new book”.
“The short stories in my book are very different from this in that I want people to be touching themselves from the very beginning! I’ve written the stories to lead up to a climax, should someone be aiming for that.”
She says her ambition for the book is to make sure everyone knows how good masturbation is for their mental health. “I think the fact that there is literally a ‘sexual wellness’ industry now says it all – there IS an appetite from women.
“Whilst we are seeing more porn for women than ever, the industry around turning people on is still hugely male-dominated and more accessible for men. It’s time we changed that.”
So, what kinds of erotic fiction are women enjoying most? Flo says it really depends on your personal tastes, and her book covers ALL bases: “There’s literally something for everyone”, she explains.
“I know in my publisher’s office, they were quite surprised at how turned on they were from the ‘monster’ story in my book!”
“I had so much fun coming up with wild ways to tease your mind.”
Good sexual health starts with education
With the government spending less on sex education than before, a lot of young people can be confused about what turns them on, especially young girls feeling pressured to try stuff they’re not into.
“The more we become comfortable with the role that sex plays in our lives, the more confident we’re going to be when we make choices around what turns us on,” agrees Bark. “There is such a need for good sex education and a desire for pleasure.”
This drive for education is what inspired her to write the book, she says.
“I think we’ll be seeing the educational benefits of porn becoming a lot more apparent. I hope my book starts this revolution!”
This Book Will Make You Feel Something by Florence Bark, £14.99, published by Sphere. On sale from May 18.