Best porn websites: where to find ethical porn
You've probably heard the term ethical porn used quite often in recent years. While it's not a new concept, its popularity has been growing rapidly.
Ethical porn has become popular due to an increased interest in sexual wellness overall, especially from women who are looking to expand their sexual horizons and explore their sexuality.
According to PornHub's official statistics, even 36% of their site visitors are female. If you enjoy watching porn or are curious about exploring it, we have to talk about the porn that's available for consumption. You have mainstream porn, which is the largest category (and most problematic). And then there is ethical porn.
Let's dive deeper into what ethical porn is, how it's different from mainstream porn, and the best ethical porn resources worth checking out.
Your guide to better pleasure with ethical porn
What is ethical porn?
Ethical porn or feminist porn (sometimes also referred to as fair trade porn) is pornography that is produced in a fair and safe environment and focuses on consent and the well-being of performers and producers. It also showcases sex in a much more realistic way than mainstream porn.
Unlike most of the mainstream porn available to us, ethical porn is diverse – it often features all races, body types, and sexualities in a healthy and non-fetishized way. Also, ethical porn tends to be hugely focused on female pleasure and orgasms.
Feminist porn is also often more creative. Most videos have a storyline and showcase the building tension between the actors as they explore each other's pleasure. In mainstream porn videos, videos tend to be focused solely on the genitals, there is rarely foreplay or conversations involved and in most cases, it concludes with male orgasm, completely neglecting female pleasure.
A brief history
Ethical porn was born back in the '80s, so it's definitely not a new concept. In 1984 porn star Candida Royalle founded her adult film studio Femme Productions to produce porn catered to women. Porn movies produced by Femme Productions were different from mainstream porn – not only did it feature sex, but it also included other intimate activities like conversations, laughs, and full-body massages.
Why choosing ethical porn is important
Now that we discussed what ethical porn is and how it's different from mainstream porn, let's discuss why choosing to watch ethical porn is important.
Celebrates diverse bodies
Ethical porn celebrates diversity in many different ways. You get to see bodies of all sizes and shapes, as well as genitals that are not picture-perfect. Mainstream porn can seriously harm our perception of what types of bodies are worthy of experiencing pleasure, and ethical porn helps normalize pleasure in all share, size, and look.
The same goes for race. In mainstream porn, most actors are white, and in those videos where you find actors of other races, most often their features and sexuality are fetishized.
Feminist porn also celebrates queer relationships. Often, mainstream lesbian porn can still be produced with the male gaze in mind, portraying unrealistic bodies and pleasure. Ethical porn shows different sexual orientations without fetishizing them for male pleasure.
Promotes sexual consent
Consent is the most important part of any sexual encounter, porn included. Netflix's documentary Hot Girls Wanted shows that young girls in the porn industry don't always have a choice in what type of porn they film due to the way the mainstream porn industry is.
Also, sometimes you can find porn online, especially in the "amateur" section where the videos of sexual acts might not be taken with all parties consenting. Young women on social media share that sometimes, their partners film them without their consent during sex.
When you choose to watch ethical porn, you know that all parties in the video consent to being there and are comfortable with the acts performed.
Supports the industry
Ethical porn is most often not free. While that is a reason why some people might not watch it, it's also what helps ensure that the performers and producers get paid fairly for their work.
Most mainstream porn companies exploit their performers by paying them very little money despite the porn videos making the studios millions of dollars. Ex-porn star Mia Khalifa has shared that despite being one of the most-watched porn stars in the world, her contract was only for $12,000.
Portrays real sex
As we briefly touched on before, ethical porn always portrays sex in a real, authentic way. The performers are diverse in bodies, sexualities, and race, which helps normalize pleasure for all people. The pleasure acts are also not faked. Even though the performers are performing in front of cameras, it's showcased in a natural way.
Feminist porn also finds creative ways to empower female pleasure and sexuality. In a short porn movie, Lip Service, by an ethical porn company Afterglow (you can watch it for free if you sign up for their email list), you get to see a woman taking control of her pleasure in an erotic yet very realistic way.
Some people watch porn because they're curious to learn about certain acts. Watching porn that portrays realistic ways to have sex, express your desires, and communicate with your partner can serve as a great learning tool to inspire you to speak up about your wants and desires.
Benefits of watching porn
Porn and watching porn is still quite a taboo topic that most people feel uncomfortable about. It's understandable, knowing how much stigma still surrounds porn. So, let's look at some of the benefits of watching ethical porn.
Healthy for exploration
We all have sexual fantasies. It's a natural and healthy part of our sexualities. Dr. Justin Lehmiller spent years researching what people fantasize about when it comes to sex and he found that people have all sorts of fantasies, from threesomes to BDSM.
While all sexual fantasies are healthy and normal, not all might become a reality. You might not even want to bring some of your sexual fantasies to life. This is where porn comes in – it can serve as a safe space to explore all sorts of sexual fantasies.
Enhances intimate connection
A large portion of people who watch porn, do so together with their partner. And truly, watching porn with your partner, either as a form of foreplay or a way to spice things up during sex can be a great way to enhance sex.
Porn is arousing, not only because of the visuals, but also the audio aspect of it. The moans and other sex sounds that happen during sex can be a turn-on for both of you.
Also, maybe you have a sexual fantasy you'd love to explore but are too shy to communicate with your partner. Watching porn together with your partner can be a fantastic way to share those fantasies and see if your partner is into them before you attempt to explore it with them.
Fights the stigma
Despite popular belief that porn encourages violence (especially violence against women), some research shows that watching porn has quite the opposite effect.
In 1992 Richard Green, a psychiatrist at Imperial College London, published the book Sexual Science and the Law where he disclosed that sex offenders he worked with often said that pornography helped them keep their urges at bay.
Now there are no conclusive studies that would prove that porn does harm people's views on women or encourages violence. And there are no conclusive studies that prove the opposite. But it's safe to say that watching porn doesn't have the negative effects we often tend to fear due to misinformation in the media.
Improves your health
It's no secret that sex is good for your health and overall well-being. When you have an orgasm (whether solo or with your partner), your brain releases a few different hormones like oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin that make you feel good and happy.
Oxytocin also helps reduce cortisol (the stress hormone) levels in your blood. And it promotes better sleep, so you can sleep well and wake up rested, which is incredibly important for a healthy and happy life.
Watching porn can serve as a tool to get you excited and aroused to have sex, either solo or with a partner. And more sex leads to more orgasms, which in turn leads to all the beautiful health benefits we just discussed.
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Best ethical porn resources
You might be thinking about how and where to find good ethical porn. We put together a list of the best ethical porn resources (audio and video) you might want to explore:
Bellessa
Bellessa is one of the most popular ethical porn websites. They offer a wide selection of free ethical porn videos as well as a paid membership, Bellesa Plus. You can even find written erotica stories and educational articles on sex and sexuality, as well as browse their sex shop for sex toys and accessories.
When you're browsing through their library, you can select categories, and performers you want to see and even filter the videos by length, depending if you're in the mood for long or short videos.
Dipsea
Dipsea is an audio erotica platform that's focused on bringing the best sexy stories to your phone. Their company is very female-pleasure-focused and offers a wide selection of erotica stories for everyone's taste. You can find realistic erotica stories, and special audio created to help you sleep. Also, Dipsea has started dipping their toes into a fantasy world, with the new erotic vampire series "Night School."
Quinn
Quinn is another great audio erotica platform offering a wide range of sexy stories to listen to when you want to get turned on. Their audio library has not only erotica stories but guided masturbation audios, dirty talk audio, and other things.
Erika Lust
Erika Lust is one of the pioneers in the feminist porn space known for her plot-driven feminist porn movies. Her erotic movies all have strong erotic and creative storylines that explore a huge variety of different sexual fantasies people have.
Afterglow
Afterglow is another modern feminist porn company that has a library of beautiful, creative porn videos in a very distinct style. Afterglow is one of the most diverse porn companies, working with performers of all body shapes, sizes, races, and ethnicities.
They are always coming out with new videos exploring various sexual fantasies. And they also have a huge library of expert advice and even pleasure exercises that help women explore and get more comfortable with their sexuality.
Frolicme
Frolicme was one of the first feminist porn companies and they have acquired a large library of erotic material. You can find erotic videos, erotica stories, and audio, as well as erotic photography.
PinkLabel
PinkLabel.TV was founded by filmmaker Shine Louise Houston and is an ethical porn company that's focused on exploring the fluidity of sexuality and works with a very diverse cast of performers from all perspectives – age, sexuality, race, and body types.