Since the explosion of growth caused by its arrival on the Internet, pornography has also become a super-giga-business: in 2020, the revenues of the industry were estimated at 60 billion worldwide. These figures whisper to us that porn is now a common culture, whether we like it or not.
“I would like you to ride a pillow. You will imagine that I am your pillow. While you’re getting settled, I’ll tell you about my cock,” John whispers in a low, suave voice in your ear. John doesn’t really exist, he’s just the narrator of one of the podcast’s naughty scenarios Voxxxwhich helps women experience their fantasies by offering them something other than classic porn movies.
Launched in 2018 in France, Voxxx offers to date more than 200 episodes narrated by actors, porn actors and sometimes simple amateurs. Between the fictitious stories told by sensual voices, the recordings of torrid sexual intercourse and the guided sessions to discover your body, we cast a wide net to arouse the excitement of women and accompany them towards orgasm.
With more than 19 million listens in total reached last fall, it goes without saying that the credibility and success of Voxxx no longer need to be proven. “Our strength is to offer invitations to masturbation, but leaving a lot of space for everyone’s imagination and fantasies”, notes in an interview Olympe de Gê, co-creator of the podcast with Karl Kunt and Lélé O.
Imagination is the key word for this type of podcast, the very secret recipe. “When you refrain from looking at images, it allows you to make your own erotic films in your head, it’s precious. Otherwise, we only have the fantasies of others imposed on us, ”she continues. The listeners therefore become the heroines of the story instead of being mere spectators, as is often the case in porn videos.
Not offering images also allows us to be more inclusive and to fight the stereotypes that dominate in classic video pornography. “Everyone can imagine the shape and colors of the bodies that excite them,” says Olympe de Gê.
Even if it remains a niche, Voxxx isn’t the only podcast to rely on aural porn. Among the most popular in the French-speaking world are The sound of desire, an immersive podcast that offers a benevolent erotic universe to women, making them the heroines of adventures just with this simple “Hello my darling? which begins each episode.
Others, like The lock And Ctrl-X, have chosen to put in sound the already existing erotic literature. They thus make rediscover classic texts signed by Boris Vian, Guillaume Apollinaire, Mirabeau, Anaïs Nin and many others, offering listeners the opportunity to abandon themselves in a moment of intimacy.
UQAM sexology professor Julie Lavigne sees the emergence of the erotic podcast as a consequence of the “saturation” of the offer on sites like Pornhub and YouPorn. There is also a large female clientele likely to turn to this hearing offer. “Women are more into erotic literature, audio becomes an extension, more embodied for them, more stimulating. »
A market to take
In Quebec, however, apart from the Quebec component of Voxxx which was launched last November — and which currently offers eight episodes with a Quebec accent — the sector remains largely uncovered.
When we talk about sexuality in a podcast here, it’s mostly in an educational form, through discussions and reflections. In the popular podcast oral sex for example, hosts Lysandre Nadeau and Joanie Grenier discuss sex without taboos with a different guest each episode. On the program: female ejaculation, sextingtranssexuality, fantasies, masturbation, polyamory, STBBIs, abortion… In this same register, there is also the podcast What are you enjoying? Club Sexu, led by Laïma Abouraja Gérald and Justin Roy.
There is still the podcast Ferry, erotic crossing — produced by Radio-Canada — which offers testimonials from strangers on an episode that is out of the ordinary in their sex life. A man recounts the time a stranger masturbated him on a plane, another details his rather comical and expensive first time, while a woman looks back on her first relationship with another woman.
“I think we still have a certain modesty in Quebec,” says Sylvianne Rivest-Beauséjour, who co-directs this podcast, to explain the low supply of auditory porn stories in Quebec. “While making the series, we realized that it’s still a very big taboo, sexuality. People are embarrassed to talk about their experiences, even when it’s positive. […] We seem to be ashamed to name our desire. »
For her part, Julie Lavigne, art historian and professor in the Department of Sexology at UQAM, believes that it is only a matter of time before this type of podcast multiplies. “It’s still recent as a form of pornography. In general, whatever the subject, the podcast is much more developed in France or the United States than here. It will take a little longer, but it will come. »