Gendered pleasures: Time trends in pornographic displays of pleasure and affection

The Sociology of Emotions is characterized by a significant dearth of writing and research on positive emotions, including pleasure and affection. In this article, we examine gendered disparities in the prevalence and change over time of pleasure, climax, and affection in frequently watched mainstream free online pornography. Our systematic content analysis of 255 highly watched heterosexual videos, all uploaded to PornHub since the beginning of the new millennium, shows that the gap between male and female performers’ pleasure displays has closed in recent years, while the gap in displays of male and female climax remains substantial. The rate of videos depicting affection in mainstream pornography has roughly doubled over the last two decades. These findings suggest that frequently watched mainstream pornography may be gradually shifting toward more mutual and gender egalitarian portrayals of sexuality and pleasure.