Softcore vs. Hardcore Pornography: Origins, Rules, and History

Softcore vs. Hardcore Pornography: Origins, Rules, and History

Grayscale woman silhouette by John Rocha

                The main pornography work, whether photos or video is divided into two major categories, softcore porn and hardcore porn. Just as there is an array of porn genres satisfying everyone’s desires and preferences, these two categories are where pornography differs largely. To explain the main differences, let’s talk about history a bit.

Where it all started?

                First, there were magazines with nude photos like Playboy or Hustler that were popular from the 60s and onward. Those were the soft porn type where you see nude photos of women, sometimes even with their genitals covered leaving the rest to your imagination. These were mainly the beginnings of porn in general. However, as time passed and preferences for something more have appeared, especially after porn movies, the photos became more and more explicit revealing the woman’s body completely. After the 1990s we can see this trend for hardcore porn rising and reaching its peak with the help of the internet. Photos were no longer enough, not even the hardcore ones, as people have had the chance to see something as interactive and engaging as video.

                Video pornography reveals everything and leaves nothing to the imagination. People like that because they get to see things they haven’t seen or done before. Different sex poses, different types of bodies, sizes, etc. However, even though on the decline, there are soft porn videos where actors don’t really have actual sex penetrating the woman, but they do well covering it up and pretending. This is also exciting enough and popular among many, but as we said before, not as popular as those hardcore videos that show everything.

So, what’s the difference between soft and hard porn anyway?

Photo by Mahrael Boutros

                There are certain rules that need to be respected when it comes to making soft porn or hardcore porn videos. Namely, in soft porn, you can rarely (if ever) see the male or female genitalia. There cannot be real oral sex too, so when the male actor goes down on a woman he usually pulls down to the pubic bone resting his forehead on it while the woman lifts her leg and braces him with it just enough to cover what’s truly going on. Of course, soft porn is not short of the moans and cries a woman does while real sex happens in the otherwise “normal” sex videos also known as hardcore porn.

                While soft porn is more secretive and intimate, hardcore porn leaves nothing hidden and shows the actors completely from every angle in every pose. Hard porn exposes their genitals and while in soft porn there cannot be penetration shown, hardcore porn relies on it. The videos also show a close-up on oral sex with the man coming on her fully. This type of porn has become very popular in the first decade of the 21st century and with the internet, it has been booming ever since.

The future of softcore porn

Many believe soft porn has become the black sheep in the industry simply because with so many rules on intimacy and pretend penetration, you can only get so much. The videos are mostly heavily-oriented on scripts, with pretty cheesy conversation and acting where the female actor gets into sexual situations with one or more people throughout the video. There isn’t a lot of variation to be had, so many different poses and other activities. The stimulated sex and all the acting are very role-oriented hence sometimes there isn’t much flow to it. While still able to arouse the viewer, it sort of hit a wall and hardcore porn was the only logical step forward.

That being said, the porn industry is ever-changing and follows through what viewers want to see more of. This leaves a lot of room for the comeback of soft porn as many studies have confirmed it does not get you hooked as the hardcore. There are also people who prefer soft and never watch the hardcore stuff as it’s more aesthetically pleasing to them and leaves a lot of room for imagination and learning new foreplay methods.

For more on how softcore porn is as satisfying as hardcore porn (if not more), read all about soft porn here.

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