MONTREAL – A seminar presented by a Canadian consultant explored an interesting, if familiar, question: Is porn dying, or can the adult industry stop the bleeding?

Edward Shorter PhD, president of Edward Shorter Associates in Toronto, took the latter position. As he noted before an audience of about 20 Qwebec Expo attendees, the reports of porn’s death have been greatly exaggerated. In fact, Shorter believes the adult industry is on the brink of a new revolution.

According to Shorter, the internet has changed the way both men and women think about and engage in sex. A recent poll indicated 44 percent of men and 35 percent of women have tried anal sex with the opposite gender. That’s a significant increase over 1992, when only 28 percent of men and 20 percent of women admitted to the act.

Of much more significance in the coming revolution, Shorter said, is the role fetish and BDSM have assumed in sexual role-playing and sexuality itself. Shorter made a distinction between the two, saying BDSM and fetish have separate histories and separate-but-similar future prospects.

The writings and behavior of the notorious libertine Marquis de Sade generally are credited with sparking public awareness of BDSM in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Shorter indicated BDSM is a learned or environmental behavior. Fetishism, on the other hand, seems to have a genetic component: People are born with tendencies to embrace certain fetishes, and fetish interests may evolve throughout a lifetime. Although BDSM was an integral part of de Sade’s pornographic writing, fetishes were not seen in porn until about 1870, and even then the material was the exclusive purview of men. “Good women,” as opposed to prostitutes and other females of questionable virtue, were expected to be only passive participants in male pleasure.

A shift in cultural attitudes that began with the sexual revolution of the 1960s gained momentum at the dawn of the Internet Age, when both BDSM and fetish material enjoyed increasing popularity. The internet made porn of all kinds more widely accessible not only for men, but also for women. The distaff side of humanity suddenly discovered a whole new realm of sexual expression — one in which those who previously felt powerless and marginalized were not only allowed but actually encouraged to be active, aggressive participants.

The publication of E.L. James’ surprise bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey gave women across the spectrum permission and inspiration to expand, openly, their sexual horizons beyond the vanilla. About 100 million copies of Fifty Shades flew off the bookshelves, creating a phenomenon Shorter described as “like a hand grenade thrown into porn.” The novel’s frank depiction of formerly taboo behaviors caused an enormous shift in sexual power dynamics … and consequently expanded the market for adult entertainment yet again.

According to Shorter, Fifty Shades introduced millions of women and their partners to sexual dominance and submission, a type of play that once “terrified” even the most libertine. After reading the novel, women felt empowered to take charge; men realized submitting to dominant women satisfied their fantasies, as well. Open discussion at dinner parties and in the media normalized what once was considered a perversion.

Can the adult entertainment industry take advantage of the unprecedented shift in public perspective? Shorter thinks so, but only if the industry addresses BDSM and fetishes in terms of women’s no-longer-hidden desires.

He suggested a few underserved markets in which porn producers might focus their attention:

• “Pegging,” or women employing strap-on dildos to penetrate men, thereby turning the tables on the traditional male fantasy of anal sex.
• Forced sissifying with an emphasis on some men’s compulsion to reverse traditional roles.
• Forced male bisexuality, another role reversal that upends a perennially popular-among-men theme.
• Male chastity, which could be “a huge future trend” considering a male chastity toy was included in the 2014 Emmy gift bags.

Retired porn producer-director Paul Markham agrees with Shorter … to a point. In fact, a post he made in the YNOT.com forums was quoted in the slide show accompanying Shorter’s presentation.

“Women have a very different mindset about porn,” Markham wrote. “They don’t need to see sex; they use their imagination. For many, that’s better than the reality.

“If [porn meant to appeal to the expanding women’s, BDSM and fetish markets] is shot, it has to be very well-done and on a budget that was possible 15 years ago. Producing something for women to jerk off to on today’s budgets is a non-starter.”

And that, Shorter indicated, is the biggest challenge the adult industry needs to overcome. There is no doubt new markets and rethinking approaches to old markets could prop up flagging porn revenues. The question, according to Shorter and some inside the industry, is whether adult entertainment producers are willing to divert a larger percentage of profits into increasing production values and developing new content themes. To do that, producers and distributors may have to tighten their belts in the short run in order to secure a reinvigorated industry over the long haul.