The Dutch import is promising a new kind of dirty movie: porna.
The word "porn" has never really been synonymous with women, but for the last four years, two Dutch men have been trying to change that. Martijn Broersma and his partner in the Netherlands started a 24/7 porn channel for women called Dusk (NSFW). It's been so widely popular that it's set to launch in America by 2014. Dusk is a hit because it has manufactured its own amalgam of female-friendly flesh flicks, which they've dubbed "porna". The umbrella term "porna" was invented to welcome viewers thrown off by male-targeted pornography, to rid the channel of that "ew" factor.
According to Fast Company, who spoke with the Dusk creators, porna's most common elements are normal looking actors, "extensive foreplay, nice scenery, good lighting and camera work, and sex that is explicit without being overly rough." Porn for women is largely an untapped market. National surveys at the launch of Dusk estimated that 60 percent of women watch porn (a 2007 study found 13 million women watch porn a month in the U.S.)
To ensure they can actually create programs that meet the desires of their audience, the male creators are flanked by a panel of 2,000 women, all with their own personal preferences, selecting and recommending Dusk's content. The panelists sign up to participate online for free, and they're provided with Dusk clips they can up-vote or veto. In that way, Dusk is completely female and audience-curated, with the content hand-picked by the people who will end up enjoying it.
A Dusk user review.
Not only is the content aimed for and cherry-picked by women, but the large majority of the films on Dusk are made by female directors, a rare breed in the male-monopolized porn industry. In fact, 8 out of 10 of the most popular films on the site are led by a team of women. While users by and large prefer heterosexual films (while lesbian films haven't quite taken off), the most overarching theme amongst Dusk content is a sense of authentic pleasure from the actors. Something that American women have already created a taste for with the likes of boy-next-door James Deen.
Will Dusk be as panty-dropping on our shores? In the U.S., we already have female-friendly porn providers like ifeelmyself.com, Make Love Not Porn, For the Girls, Under-Her-Boots, Candida Royalle, and Hot Movies For Her, to only name a few. The only way the U.S. version of Dusk could survive when it launches next year is if the idea of TV porn—and not internet porn—appeals to women. And, of course, their partners who share the remote.
Image via Veer.
