Audioerotism: The Soaring Popularity of Talkie Porn
In a world where visual pornography is readily available at the click of a button, some people are turning to audioerotism, or talkie porn, as a fresh way to explore their sexuality. Laurel Zoff Pelton, an American voice actress and ardent fan of talkie porn, discovered this unique form of non-visual pornography on Tumblr in 2017. Unlike visual porn, talkie porn provides an extra layer of privacy as the content requires listeners to close their eyes and use their imagination—the podcast format also gives the impression that the speaker is addressing the listener directly. For Pelton, talkie porn has not only been an outlet for sexual pleasure, but also a tool for exploring different parts of her non-binary identity.
While phone porn lines have been around for decades, the rise of mobile phone usage has made it even more accessible for enthusiasts. The audioporn industry has seen exponential growth in recent years, with millions of subscribers globally. Many start-ups now offer a variety of erotic fiction with genres ranging from science fiction to fantasy. The majority of these platforms are created and run by women, who focus on producing content for women and non-cisgender viewers.
Femtasy, a Berlin-based erotic audio website, produces hundreds of erotic audio pieces for their subscribers in the UK, Germany, and France. Femtasy’s content is divided into three categories: stories, sounds, and guided masturbation. To achieve a more immersive experience, they use binaural audio recording techniques for some of their stories, which allow users to hear what it would sound like to be in the middle of a bedroom scene.
The editorial strategy of Femtasy is to find the sweet spot between authenticity and immersion. According to Lisa Demma, the editor-in-chief of Femtasy, people tend to prefer hearing the “unpleasant” parts of sex. Yet, polished content tends to work best. Furthermore, cultural preferences vary when it comes to sound eroticism. The Germans tend to be straightforward, while the French prefer a more poetic narrative. The British audience, on the other hand, may be more indirect and smooth in their communication.
As talkie porn continues to gain popularity, more consumers are using it as a safe space to explore their sexuality, identities, and desires. Leigh Norén, a sex therapist, has begun to recommend audioerotism to her clients as a way to explore their sexuality in a less explicit way. For many, talkie porn has become a refreshing alternative to conventional pornography, which can often be exploitative and lack ethical representation. As the trend continues to grow, producers are finding ways to improve the quality and diversity of content to meet the growing demand.