GOING TO A PORN website can be a bit overwhelming, and one might find oneself down an unexpected and possibly unwelcome rabbit hole, having cavalierly clicked on a thumbnail, word, or acronym that was unfamiliar. This kind of bold browsing can lead to amazing discoveries, but it can also end up killing your good time if you wander into territory that does not turn you on. So here’s a short list you can refer to while perusing your favorite porn site—or the pages of this book—to clue you in on what these terms mean. (Please note that this is a very abbreviated list of primarily mainstream porn categorizations and terminology; the world of kinky porn is vast and would require a far longer list than I have room for here, not to mention a writer with more specialized knowledge than yours truly.)
(Please also note that I apologize to anyone who’s easily shocked, and that I wonder why you picked up this book.)
Adult: In the porn community, “adult” is shorthand for the porn—or adult entertainment—industry.
Amateur: The word “amateur” in porn is nebulous at best. Most “amateur” videos that make their way onto porn sites are really not amateur at all, but rather filmed to look that way by professionals. However, with the rise of user-uploaded content on tube sites, the ratio is changing, particularly on free sites.
Analingus: Butt licking! Hooray!
ATM: Shorthand for “Ass to Mouth,” which refers to a penis or a sex toy moving from one body cavity to another, either being shared between two recipients or simply by moving from one end of a person’s body to another. (Note: This is a high-risk sexual activity, as fecal bacteria ending up in any other orifice can make you very sick. Actors who do this go through a thorough backdoor cleaning ritual beforehand. Do not attempt at home without serious preparation.)
Bareback: Sex with no condom. This term is often used in gay male porn.
BBC: Acronym for “Big Black Cock.” As with the term “interracial,” BBC most often applies to scenes in which the BBC in question is paired with one or several women of lighter complexion.
BBW: “Big, Beautiful Women.” Refers to larger, curvier ladies.
BDSM: Not just a porn category by any means, BDSM is a sort of umbrella term for many kinky sexual and lifestyle practices that involve “Bondage, Dominance and Submission, and Sadomasochism.”
BDWC: Another, more specific, term for interracial porn. Stands for “Black Dicks, White Chicks.”
B/G: A “Boy/Girl” paring, referring to cisgender men and women. These letters can be rearranged to describe many scenarios: B/B/G, for instance, or G/G/G/G/B, G/G, etc.
Bisexual: In most porn, “bisexual” refers to bisexual cisgender men, as mainstream producers more or less expect women to be bisexual on camera. So if you’re searching for bisexual porn, expect to see more penises than vaginas.
BJ: “Blowjob,” which means fellatio, which means oral sex performed on somebody with a penis! Huzzah!
Blowbang: Multiple people being given blowjobs by one person—like a gangbang, but only featuring oral penetration.
Bukkake: A blowbang or gangbang that ends with everybody ejaculating on the center of attention. This usually means cis men ejaculating on cis women, but there are certainly variations—like bukkakes in which people with vulvas squirt on somebody—too.
Bull: The bull is the man brought into a sexual encounter to have sex with a woman (see: “hotwife”) while her regular partner (see: “cuckold”) watches. Bulls are usually extremely masculine in looks and demeanor.
Casting couch: The conceit of this genre is that a young, inexperienced performer comes in to be considered for a role and is recorded giving sexual favors to improve her standing, without getting paid and sometimes without her knowledge. The majority of these scenes are, in fact, paid, but they’re based on unethical practices that many agree do go on in the industry. (An interesting side note: the “casting couch” trope goes all the way back to the early twentieth century in Hollywood. A softcore erotic film called The Casting Couch was made in 1923 to play on the already-rampant advent of producers preying upon young actresses’ desperation for roles. Joan Crawford played a small role in this film.)
Civilian: An industry term for someone who doesn’t work in porn.
Creampie: An internal ejaculation. Usually the ejaculate is squeezed back out of whatever orifice it went into for the camera.
Cuckold: There’s a large market for porn in which a man is either forced or chooses to watch his wife or girlfriend (see: “hotwife”) have sex with another man (see: “bull”).
Cumshot: The be-all, end-all of most porn scenes, when the person with the penis pulls out and ejaculates on camera. Also known as the “pop shot” or the “money shot.”
Cumswap: A cumswap can take many forms, but the basic idea is that after a person with a penis has ejaculated, two or more performers find creative ways of exchanging the semen, usually from mouth to mouth—but other orifices are definitely on the table.
DA: Double anal penetration, usually with two penises.
DP: “Double Penetration.” This can refer to a variety of sex acts that include two people penetrating another person. In straight porn it most often means a woman being penetrated anally and vaginally at the same time by two penises. (Note: By all accounts this is not as easy as it looks, so proceed with caution if you want to try this at home.)
DV: Double vaginal penetration, usually with two penises.
Eurogirls: European women, often portrayed as prostitutes.
Facesitting: Pretty much exactly what it sounds like, but possibly with less cunnilingus than you might expect. Facesitting videos are focused more on the power dynamic of a woman sitting on a partner’s face than on sexual gratification.
Fauxcest: Simulated incest, almost always taking place between fully adult members of on-screen extended families. Probably the most common pairing is stepmom with stepson, but stepbrothers, stepsister, stepfathers, and so on are also popular. Also called “taboo relations.”
Femdom: A woman in the dominant role in a BDSM scene. Also called “sub-male.”
Fetish: A term that you’ll see much more of in kink-specific circles, a fetish is a specific item or act that some folks need in order to feel sexually fulfilled. Fetishes can take almost any form, but the more common ones revolve around body parts (feet, for instance) or objects (stockings, balloons).
FFM: Two females, one male in a threesome.
Footjob: Exactly what it sounds like. Requires quite a lot of foot-eye coordination, I would imagine.
FTM: A term for a trans man—person who was designated female at birth who identifies as male, and who is usually transitioning (or has transitioned) to living as a male. (The inverse—MTF—could be applied to describe a trans woman, but isn’t as commonly used.)
Gangbang: Multiple people having sex with one person, who’s the center of attention.
Gay: In porn terminology, this word is almost never used to describe lesbians or others who fall under a six on the Kinsey Scale. It’s applied almost exclusively to gay cisgender men.
GILF: “Grandmother I’d Like to Fuck.”
Gokkun: Similar to bukkake, except after everybody has ejaculated, the recipient of their donations eats it all, usually out of a container of some kind.
Gonzo: An in-the-action genre of porn that usually eschews scripts and plot in favor of all-sex scenes, often filmed from the “POV” perspective and tending toward rougher sex.
Handjob: Manual stimulation of the penis.
Hentai: Japanese animated porn.
Hotwife: A woman who has sex with another man (see: “bull”) for the edification, or humiliation, or both, of her lover (see: “cuckold”).
IR: “Interracial.” Usually refers to black men paired with light-skinned women—most often white women. (See also: “BBC” and “BDWC.”)
Kink: A broad term that covers a huge variety of “atypical” sexual and sensual behaviors. For some, “kinky” means having sex on the living room couch instead of in bed. For others, kink sets in somewhere between the third and fourth milk enema.
Lesbian: Most mainstream porn labeled “lesbian” will feature straight or bisexual cisgender female performers who look classically “femme.” A better term for this, which is often used instead, is “girl/girl” or “G/G.”
Maledom: A man in the dominant role in a BDSM scene.
MILF: “Mother I’d Like to Fuck.”
MMF: Two males, one female in a threesome.
Orgy: Multiple people having sex with one another (usually four or more). Not to be confused with a gangbang, in which everybody is having sex with one central person.
Partygirls: This is a chip off the Girls Gone Wild block. These videos are often portrayed as amateur, and it can be pretty difficult to tell whether that’s true or not.
POV: Acronym meaning “Point Of View.” This is a filming technique that makes it look as if the person holding the camera is the person having sex. Sometimes it is! But often it’s filmed over that person’s shoulder by a cameraperson or director.
Raw: See “bareback,” but used more universally.
Selfsuck: People with penises and incredibly bendy spines can do this. Use your imagination.
Smothering: See: “facesitting,” but with a bit more of a Dom/sub, kinky focus, as this smothering is a form of breath play. (Note: As with any form of erotic asphyxiation, smothering can be dangerous. Please be careful and do some research on the subject should you want to experiment with this.)
Str8bait: Straight cis men, usually masturbating for a presumably gay male audience (though lots of people who aren’t gay men who love this genre).
Straight4Gay: A porn category in which a straight person is brought in to have sex with a gay person in order to “convert” them to straightness. In my opinion, this category ranges from fun to really, really awkward.
Tickling: There is a huge market for tickling videos. These rarely involve sex, and are often fully clothed, but they count as kinky porn because watching tickling gets lots of people off.
TS: Shorthand for “transsexual.” Usually refers to trans women.
Watersports: Pee! Yippie!
Part of the crowd at the opening of “Consent” at apexart in March 2012
(PHOTO COURTESY OF APEXART)