Jenna Jameson, and Lisa Ling with Why Women Watch Porn - Show Recap

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

• Lisa Ling
• Jenna Jameson

Oprah special reporter Lisa Ling returned to share her findings on why women are watching porn and erotica to spice up their sex lives. With one third of all online buyers of porn being women, it is definitely more common than most people think. In addition to Lisa's research and clips from her Nightline report, Oprah also sat down with Jenna Jameson, the world's most famous porn star. Jenna Jameson is now retired from the sex industry and is a stay-at-home mother to her twin sons, but she still has strong feelings about the market she helped change.

This episode featured the following highlights:

• 1/3 of all online consumers of porn are women. 70% of women who watch porn keep it a secret.
  
  
• Lisa Ling spoke with Steve Hirch of Vivid Entertainment who found an untapped market for pornography targeted towards women and couples.
  
  
• Oprah welcomed Kari from G Boutique in Chicago to share why she opened a store to provide sex products aimed at a female audience.
  
  
• Jenna Jameson, the world's most famous porn star, spoke with Oprah about her career, retirement and family life.

• Jenna first recognized porn appealed to women when she went on a book tour in 2004 and much of the audience was female.
  
  
• While many women assume Jenna has been with hundreds of men, most of her porn career was filmed with her then husband and only 3 or 4 other men she knew well.
  
  
• Jenna's life now that she is retired revolves around raising her twin sons Jesse and Journey. Jenna says she doesn't worry about what others think, but wonders what she will say to her sons when they are older.
  
  
• Even though her career was in an unrespected industry, Jenna is very proud of the contributions she made as a businesswoman.

• Violet Blue, from the SF Chronicle, has reviewed thousands of films and authored The Smart Girls Guide to Porn and shared that the average woman is watching erotica because it is layered with story line, plot and romance as well as sexual fantasy.
  
  
• Violet added that erotica is as useful of a tool for women to explore their sexuality as a vibrator or lingerie.

Oprah said it all when she told to the audience that even if they personally don't consume erotic materials, someone they know does. With 1 out of every 3 online buyers of porn a woman, this adds up to millions of average women in middle America viewing erotica regularly. While this subject may seem too risque for some viewers to see Oprah tackle, I commend her for broaching a topic that is rarely discussed, especially on daytime TV. While Lisa Ling and Jenna Jameson didn't go far into detail about the industry or how women are using the materials in their lives, the show was helpful as a start to the conversation.