Straight Women Can Like Lesbian Porn Too

You identity as a straight woman—but enjoy lesbian porn. Congratulations! An affinity for same-sex porn when you’re straight is more common than you might think—and more importantly, it’s totally normal. According to 2018 user data from Porn Hub, “lesbian” was the number one used search term for female-identifying users.

So, if you identify as straight, why the attraction to same-sex porn? For anyone who’s ever watched heterosexual porn, girl-on-girl or even boy-on-boy can be a nice break from the performative aspect of girl-boy action. It’s an especially nice change from that all-too-common immediate orgasm women in heterosexual videos often portray. “That authenticity is a big turn on for a lot of people, especially women,” says Jenni Skyler, Ph.D., a therapist and sexologist at the Intimacy Institute in Colorado and resident expert at Adam & Eve. “Women’s pleasure is more elusive if authentic at all, and so a little bit more reliability or at least presumption of authentic pleasure,” can go a long way, says Skyler.

There’s an aspect of safety that’s incredibly attractive in lesbian porn. The actors’ bodies are as familiar to female viewers as their stages of pleasure—it’s all about female pleasure. That’s a major turn on. In fact, lots of women develop a healthy and consistent self-pleasure practice—aka a masturbation routine—from watching same-sex porn. “It can give you permission into your own body,” says Skyler. Ideally, all women would feel and enjoy free entry into their sexuality—but that’s not always our world. Girl-on-girl porn could help you get there.

Watching same-sex porn isn’t cause for an identity crisis. It could signal the beginning of your journey into experimentation—in which case, relax and happy travels!—but not always. Just because you enjoy women pleasuring each other in a video, audiobook, or juicy piece of erotica, doesn’t mean you necessarily want to do it in your next hookup. “Women aren’t necessarily turned off by looking at other women even if they’re not queer,” says Nan Wise, Ph.D., a certified sex therapist, cognitive neuroscientist and author.

It comes down to a biological construct called “erotic plasticity,” which describes the ability to easily change your patterns and sources of sexual arousal. Turns out, women tend to have more erotic plasticity. In a study conducted at Northwestern University and the Center for Addiction and Mental Health, researchers found that straight women experienced arousal from both male and female sexual stimuli (straight men in the study were more aroused by female than male stimuli). In other words, women are just straight up (no pun intended) more receptive to various forms of sexual arousal than men.

At the end of the day, what turns you on is what turns you on. It’s hard to throw away your preconceived notions of what is “normal” and “not normal” for your gender identification and sexual preference—but it’s really important to do! Own your porn preferences—especially if you identify as a woman. Porn isn’t just for prepubescent boys and their tube socks; it’s also for you, whatever stage of life you’re in, and in whatever combination you’re looking for.

Haley Swanson is an essay and women’s issues writer based in New York. Contact her at haleyswanson.com or follow her at @haleyaswanson.