"[7][8] In 2015, scholar and director Ingrid Ryberg said that feminist pornography is defined "less by specific content or style and more by the ways in which it is based on a political critique of and challenge to dominant notions of gender and sexuality and aims to empower women sexually.
[10] As a result, the focus emphasizes women as subjects of pleasure reaching real orgasms.
[11] Women's pornography audio emphasizes what is being felt; the use of the female voice to display pleasure enhances the performance of orgasms.
[11] Director Erika Lust says mainstream porn is fake and "crappy", and she wants to show "real sex".
[13] Lust got her start in directing and producing feminist adult films because she found mainstream porn "unrelatable, unimaginative, and unattractive", so she wanted to do something about it.
"[15] Angie Rowntree is a director, writer and producer of women's pornography who got her start in the 1990s, launching her flagship site, Sssh.com, in 1999.
[18] The project is open to anyone who is willing to perform, regardless of prior experience in the porn industry, gender, body type, race, or age.
[17] Most pornographic movies are filmed by men in a way that allows their target male audience to portray themselves in the role.
They care about making films that do not include lustful schoolgirls, naughty nurses, or "bad step-mom and daughter" relationships.
They also banish stereotypes about women's sexuality and expectations surrounding body shape and size.
[23] It is a common misconception for people to assume that women are not as easily aroused by sexually explicit images as men.
[24] Pornography produced by women is placed in the category "romance" by the Adult Video News (AVN) awards.
Women's porn directors focus on different styles, but pay particular attention to the actual story, the actors, music, locations, and aesthetics of the scenes.
Madison Young feels that most mainstream adult film videos lack substance and send confusing and potentially harmful signals about sex and body image to viewers.
[27] While praising sites including Bellesa, Sssh.com and ForHerTube for presenting "adult content that centers women's agency and portrays them as active, consenting players enjoying realistic sexual experiences", Sofia Barrett-Ibarria of Vice wrote that the narrative of "porn for women" makes harmful generalizations about what women enjoy, presents porn not labelled as such as for male consumption and can exclude queerness and cisgenderness.
Pornographic actor Courtney Trouble suggested instead having labels to describe which videos "depict masculine domination, or other factors that may present themselves to be undesirable to an audience that's seeking something 'feminine focused'".