Is audio porn the perfect feminist offering?

While traditional porn is here to stay, audio erotica offers a comparatively focused experience

In our current hyper-visual, hyper-sexualised online existence, deep penetration videos and cum shots form a chunk of most of our sexual lives. Such indulgence is often accompanied by a touch of guilt where sexual pleasure exists alongside concerns of sexual health and the ethical treatment of sex workers. But can audio porn be a guilt-free alternative?

Audio porn is not a new concept. It has existed in various forms for as long as the technology that enables it has—from phone sex lines to hidden websites. But over the last few years, a polished new crop of platforms like Quinn and Dipsea have been relighting interest in the genre.

While this doesn’t mean that traditional porn is being replaced, it does mean that people are opting for more non-visual options. A large portion of these people also happen to be women. Take, for example, Quinn’s subscriber base, comprising 81 per cent  female users. What is it about the charged dialogues and scripted narratives that appeals to women?

A far cry from visual porn

“It allows the user to use their imagination more than a video does,” says sex positive content creator Leeza Mangaldas. She elaborates to say that it is similar to reading erotica but it gives you the freedom to experience that without having to hold a book or device. “I also think voices isolated from visuals are uniquely pleasurable to listen to because you can really focus on what’s being said,” she adds. "You can tune into those more subtle aspects of what can elicit your arousal other than the visual. Since you don’t have to look at a screen, there isn’t the temptation to scroll to something else or the distraction of notifications. It tends to be a comparatively focused experience.”

Sexual health educator and author Seema Anand believes that women are more drawn to audio erotica because their experience of pleasure is intrinsically different to that of men. “For women, when they see something erotic, they do get a certain spurt of arousal but we're talking about sustained arousal, something that marinates in your mind and keeps you going for a while. The moment you have a visual, I find that it takes the excitement out because it's quicker. With audio erotica, you have to build it up.” This build-up appeals to women because it allows them the space to imagine the details of the scenario in exactly the way they prefer. 

Another seductive aspect of audio porn is its almost secret voyeuristic quality. Unlike visual porn, you could potentially listen to a sexy bodice-ripping tale on your daily commute without having anyone be suspicious. “I am able to consume audio porn in a way that a lot of women consume Mills & Boons, but it’s more innocuous,” says HR specialist Akshata Narayan who enjoys listening to erotic fan-fiction. “There’s definitely a mystery that gets added to it because we are able to do this without anyone finding out what we're doing. How would you know I'm not listening to music or a podcast? That often makes it very exciting.”

Tailored for the female gaze

Mainstream porn often mirrors a looming complaint most cis-het women have when it comes to their sexual experiences—not enough foreplay. The graphic, badly structured narratives of mainstream visual porn are tailored largely towards men.

Audio porn, on the other hand, is produced primarily keeping straight and queer women in mind. “No matter who writes erotica, whether it's a man or a woman, when they describe sexual acts, at least in heteronormative equations, they usually describe a woman’s orgasms and never really a man’s,” says Anand. “So I think the vocabulary resonates with women, making it more effective.”

As opposed to visual porn, audio erotica is more sensual. Rather than being a distant voyeur to animalistic grunts and thrusts, audio erotica allows more space for an intimate experience, one where you're peering into the emotions of the characters involved in addition to their physical acts. “There’s also the fact that you’re not being told what something should look like,” says Anand. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re a particular body type or age; your imagination can let you be the protagonist.”

With audio erotica, the oft-exaggerated moans and groans of mainstream porn that elicit cringe also disappear. “It’s not all ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’,” says Narayan. “It’s more ‘and then he held me by the throat and whispered dirty nothings in my ear’. As a woman, you can often tell when someone is faking it, which is often the case with visual porn. As a queer woman, it is all the more interesting to me because I know these women performing audio erotica are really into what they're saying.”

An ethical alternative? 

“Ethical pornography” may sound like something of a paradox, but that is precisely where audio porn resides. “Audio erotica platforms do seem to allow for a significantly more wholesome experience because the content is recorded like a podcast or audio book with writers creating the scripts or stories, and voice artists sitting at microphones,” says Mangaldas. “So questions around whether the performers are exploited, whether consent has been established both in the filming and in the dissemination of clips, whether things like performers’ sexual health and safety are taken adequate care of, the fetishisation of certain bodies and communities, that arise in the production and consumption of free internet video porn, tend to be mitigated.”

The fact that audio porn features characters only voiced by real people, offers a level of distance. “It's easier to detach yourself when it isn't visual,” says Narayan. “For example, it’s easier to be sexier with a stranger than it is with a lover because with a partner you have to wake up with them the next morning and live a life with them. How are you supposed to look them in the face knowing what they’re into? That respect factor goes away with a one-night stand. You don't have any real time consequences which is what happens with audio versus visual porn.”

This detachment creates a safe space that lets women truly explore their kinks and fetishes. For Anand, her personal experience with erotica is marked with one standout story she read featuring a captive female sex slave. While some people might find that sexy, it wasn’t for her, and the fact that she read it allowed her to safely explore the idea. “I wasn't watching it, which was really important because if the girl is not liking it, it's going to show up on her face and in her body language. It would have been very triggering. Reading it or listening to it means that you can still explore it a little bit more without getting overwhelmed.”

Audio porn to spice up your sex life

Porn can be a fun addition to your sex life, and audio porn can enhance that experience as well. “The arousal is slower and more long-term with audio porn,” says Anand. “ If you’re watching porn as part of foreplay with your partner, when you start getting intimate with them, you still often keep one eye on what’s happening on the screen. With audio porn, you can push it to the background.”

While you can find interesting audio erotica on platforms like Audible, Emjoy and even Reddit, apps like Dipsea and Quinn go further and offer guided self-love sessions, guided massage instructions and other educational erotic content which can add a fun dimension to your sexual pleasure. 

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