It’s No Joke; It’s Porn for the Blind
CYBERSPACE — Initially, it sounds as logical as radio for the deaf, but porn for the blind is no joke — at least not on PornfortheBlind.org. Whether it’s an unseen flash in the virtual pan or the ear of things to come is still unknown, the fact that BBC’s Brazilian service says 150,000 unique visitors sampled the auditory erotica of PornfortheBlind.org during May alone.
The key to the site’s success lies in its volunteer-recorded descriptions of X-rated videos, website layouts, and website clips. The site does not provide reviews of content, but, instead, serves up short, calmly intoned, matter-of-fact narrations of the action.
Although launched in 2006, a blogger for the Montreal Gazette explains that the site experienced a growth spurt when the site added an on-site recording tool. According to the blogger, Elmer, the site owner, reports that visitors want higher quality recordings, and he’d love some of those to come from women. Currently, the vast majority of recordings feature male voices, several of which sound bored or like they don’t take what they’re doing seriously.
Given that 22-percent of respondents to an American Foundation for the Blind survey indicated an interest in adult videos with audio descriptions, this genre could be a micro-niche goldmine.