Why Are Women Reading and Listening to Porn in Public?

Erotic novels have always been women’s domain. All those old paperbacks featuring a Fabio-esque shirtless man riding a horse in front of a castle you used to see at your grandma’s house — those were all smut. “Romance” novels are often just a nicer term for books about a woman getting dicked down, and the covers betrayed that. But as of late, the genre has taken on a new life. Paired with audiobooks and audio storytelling apps, women’s erotic content is more popular than ever. Not only that, women are conspicuously consuming it in mundane, public situations… and that’s kind of weird?

Several of the most popular, bestselling books of the last two years have been erotic, at least in part. Novels by Colleen Hoover, which are “rich with graphic sex scenes,” have dominated the New York Times bestseller charts with several weeks-long No. 1 spots. That these books are so popular in real life is, unsurprisingly, linked to their popularity online. On Booktok, one of TikTok’s largest communities, videos devoted to highlighting “spicy” content like Hoover’s are among the highest-viewed on the hashtag. Booktok has been critical in the success of romance/erotic books—not only in promoting the specific books themselves but in “normalizing” reading them. When videos of everyday women wearing Skims and slickbacked buns describing their favorite literary sex scenes go viral and the comments sections are filled with women who look the same, the implicit message for the viewer is that it’s all totally ordinary. 

Unlike the Fabio days, today’s biggest romance/erotic books have entirely nondescript covers. They’re covers that you wouldn’t think twice about if you saw them prominently displayed at the airport or in the hands of a colleague on their lunch break. Many of the more recent paperbacks appear no different than any other mass-market novel, replete with some floral motifs and large condensed minimalist fonts. Even older erotic novels are having their covers entirely recalibrated, replacing men who had perfectly chiseled abs with illustrations of women in mom jeans and messy buns. While women online seem perfectly happy to admit to routinely listening to or reading narrative sex scenes, their books’ covers suggest that, somewhat fairly, they don’t want the strangers around them to know it as it’s happening.

Meanwhile, apps like Dipsea and Quinn have capitalized on the erotica market through audio. Both feature women-focused explicit stories, ranging from intricate romances to something along the lines of straight-up dirty talk. Some are undoubtedly meant to be used for masturbation, while others may be more of a slow burn. Regardless, these apps and erotic novels can in many ways be interpreted like porn—in fact, articles explaining why women like erotica often explicitly detail why women prefer erotica instead of pornography. And thanks to headphones and subtle covers, they can be consumed anytime, anywhere.

Erotica may have some benefits beyond just being horny and hot. A 2022 study from the Journal of Sex Research found that women who read the genre have 74 percent more sex than those who don’t. Cool! It’s good for people to have sex. And perhaps these women are truly pressed for time, busy with all the other responsibilities of a career or family or relationship, so their morning commute may be the only opportunity they have to indulge!

Still, would we not consider it strange, at minimum, for a man to be doing the same? To be reading or listening to this content in the company of others? I get it, I get it—erotica isn’t quite the same thing as viewing hardcore pornography; women’s sexualities are often deprioritized; men’s sexuality has the possibility of being more threatening; etc. At the end of the day, I want women to enjoy erotica and enjoy their sexuality. Maybe, though, the end of the day is exactly the right time for it, in the privacy of your own home. Get your rocks off, ladies. Just not in public.