TORONTO – Edward Shorter PhD pulls no punches when it comes to defining where he believes the adult entertainment industry is overlooking potential profit: BDSM content that appeals to women.
According to the University of Toronto psychology professor, author and president of consulting firm Edward Shorter Associates, the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon has opened the eyes—and libidos—of middle-class women to a whole range of sexuality they either didn’t realize existed or misunderstood. Shorter said he believes the group is willing to pay for porn…but only if the material is properly packaged and marketed.
In a world dominated by men who would rather brave the risks and download pirated porn for free, the possibility women might pay is intriguing.
YNOT: Why do you see adult industry opportunity arising from Fifty Shades?
Edward Shorter: Fifty Shades opens up the whole question of transfer of power. This is something that has never occurred to many couples, especially women—that they could be either bottoms likes Ana or tops.
What attracts women to this kind of content?
The enthusiasm for Fifty Shades has been incredible: More than 100 million copies have sold worldwide. The movie will be the blockbuster of the decade.
This is a huge new market—women who desire ardently passionate relationships, as Ana and Christian have, and who will come to the same realization as in the novel that BDSM opens a large new space for psychological interaction.
Be specific: What are the business opportunities for adult?
The opportunity is to help ease women into the roles of either dominant or submissive, depending on their individual choices. This new audience needs images to help them get into exciting but unfamiliar possibilities. What do you do as a dominant? How do you dress?
The material can be presented either in a fictionalized manner or a fun, instructional way. But these women, I think, are probably willing to pay for content of this nature, since it’s not available in a palatable form elsewhere.
It’s up to content providers how to tap the market, but the content must be aimed mainly at women rather than men. If fictionalized, it must have a plot and female leads with whom women can identify.
Is the Fifty Shades attraction affecting other areas of porn?
The reverse side of the coin of female dominance is male submissiveness. Several new themes of interest can emerge from that, namely “forced” themes: forced bi[sexuality], heterosexual forced sissies and forced chastity. Of course, none of this is really forced. The men who get into these submissive roles yearn for a dominant woman to “force” them to do these things. But it is the flipside of this new female dominance.
Has Fifty Shades of Grey really made porn more acceptable to middle-class women, or is that a myth?
Let’s not call it “porn.” It’s adult entertainment, and it’s perfectly legitimate because it encourages people to innovate sexually. This is part of personal growth, a positive social value.
Will women embracing their own kind of porn make porn-loving husbands’ lives easier?
Husbands may be very pleasantly surprised to see their wives developing exciting new sexual interests.
