Aural Sex: Porn for Your Ears

A version of this article ran in the October issue of AVN magazine. Click here to see the digital edition. Above, photo courtesy Dipsea.com. For women who “are not in the mood,” audio erotica apps help get them there faster than a two-minute premature ejaculation. If you want to get all hot and bothered, according to sex therapists, listen to some erotica. It’s a form of audio porn for girls that is more focused on female pleasure. Apps take erotic literature to the next level by offering sexy short stories that can be listened to anywhere. (Now women can listen to audio porn at work while their male counterparts watch it, which explains why nobody is getting any work done.) And science agrees. In a study published in The Journal of Sex Research, researchers measured physiological sexual arousal by means of a “vaginal photoplethysmograph” (our new favorite word). It found that reading “sex related” stories that were either erotically realistic or classified as “hardcore pornography” produced sexual arousal. The difference between watching porn and reading porn, however, is that your imagination “customizes” the story for your own arousal, as opposed to watching a scripted scene. (“He strokes me slowly, licking until I am almost out of my mind, making his way to my aching….”) Vibease Your Way to an Easy O and an OMG Vibease combines fantasy sex stories with a hands-free vibrator that slips into a panty, for a relaxing, but exciting erotic experience. The user just sits and listens to the story and lets the vibrator do all the work. The vibrator is designed to vibrate in sync with the pulsating erotic story line as the sexual arousal builds up. Vibease co-founder Dema Tio says, “Multiple studies have shown that women are aroused by mental and emotional stimulation. Erotic audiobooks are popular because they encourage women to explore their fantasies, which is a major part of female sexual pleasure and satisfaction. Our fantasy audiobooks take this one step further—by enhancing the masturbation experience and helping users to get in the mood with our Vibease smart vibrator. Because the vibrator is wearable and vibrates perfectly in sync with our fantasy audiobooks, users no longer have to stimulate themselves manually while listening, allowing them to fully enjoy an immersive hands-free experience as if they were in the story.” Tio explains, “Although it may seem that Vibease caters to solo play and single folks, many of our customers are married and have shared with us that listening to our fantasy audiobooks has become part of their foreplay routine before having sex with their partner.We have also received queries from women who were in doubt that our small vibrator would provide strong vibrations. But once they tried it on, they understood that size does not matter.” Visit Vibease.com. Above, the Vibease. Dipsea Dips Into Fantasies DIpsea, a female-founded startup tech company from San Franciso, offers this statement: “Feeling turned on is more than a wind-up to sex. It’s a way to feel more alive, heighten intimacy, unlock confidence, and cultivate your wellbeing. Dipsea empowers you to tap into those feelings whenever you damn well please. We’re proud to create audio stories that are real, elevated, and feminist.” After downloading the app, the first free stories are free, and there is a monthly ($6) or yearly subscription fee after that. Stories range from seven to twenty minutes and the app now has about 130 of them, ranging from one about randomly meeting someone new while waiting at an airport gate, to a woman’s first sexual experience with another woman, and another one where you can listen in on a threesome going down with the hot neighbor. Dipsea likes to keep it real: “We want women to hear themselves in our stories, so we include a broad range of preferences, perspectives, and interests. We always ground fantasy in reality because we think the most exciting, intimate, immersive moments are the ones we can all relate to. We portray women as empowered in their sexual, social, and romantic experiences. Stories prioritize female pleasure and show sex as communicative and unperformed. To use, feminism in sexuality means women feeling able to be real in the sheets.” Visit DipseaStories.com. Make Your Sex Life Rosier One of the most innovative app concepts for women is Rosy, “an app for women with decreased sexual desire.” Founded by Dr. Lyndsey Harper, a gynecologist from Dallas, the app was created “out of frustration” she says. “Over 25 million women in the U.S. have decreased sexual desire,” she says, and there are few resources for them. The site combines expert-level solutions to low libido, with articles such as “5 Libido Killers” and a “sexual wellness tracker” to track a woman’s progress back to Orgasmville. The site also offers a section with sexy short stories designed to raise that low libido. Try raising your own libido with something like this: “He makes his way to my aching clitoris, alternating long, slow strokes with quick flicks, until I’m gripping his hair and arching off the carpet like I’m electrified. ‘Woman,’ he goes, ‘You’re killing me.’ He goes deeper, and I can only whisper Oh My God.” Visit MeetRosy.com.