Pornhub has unveiled a new website designed specifically for female audiences who wish to exclude men from the pornographic content they consume. Called 'Pornhub Sapphic,' the platform exclusively showcases lesbian and non-binary content and creators. Free from male-targeted advertisements such as penis enlargement services, the industry giant stated that the decision was made 'in direct response to feedback from lesbian, queer, and straight women.'
The response to this move has been mixed. On social media, one user called the new site an 'improvement for everyone.' However, others are more skeptical, aware that a clever marketing ploy will likely do little to alter the existing toxic and exploitative nature of mainstream pornography. Despite the noise, Pornhub Sapphic represents an interesting development. Metro spoke with leading voices within this space to find out more.
Why Do Female Audiences Prefer Lesbian Porn?
The decision to unveil Pornhub Sapphic reaffirms a truth that most women, queer or straight, will be familiar with: lesbian porn has long held a particular appeal for female viewers. Whether over a glass of wine or huddled in a bathroom stall, it's a conversation many can relate to. In 2019, data from Pornhub indicated that one-third of daily users are women, with the platform's insights revealing that their female audience had an apparent preference for the lesbian category. A study published in 2025 identified major themes for this preference, including a focus on female pleasure, more 'realistic' portrayals of sex, relatability, and an overwhelming feeling that lesbian porn is 'less degrading.'
What Do the Sceptics Say?
'It's a bit like McDonald's selling apple slices,' Professor Clare McGlynn tells Metro. A leading expert on violence against women and girls, Clare has conducted extensive research on the porn industry. Her landmark research published in 2021, the largest ever study of online porn, revealed that one in eight titles on mainstream porn websites described sexually violent activity. In her opinion, 'this is not sexual freedom for women, or sexual freedom for men, because it's still presuming that for men it's the violent, abusive, humiliating, degrading material that's for them. And so we once again see this binary – separating men and women.' For anyone still having sex with men, Clare adds, they will encounter men 'who are using the mainstream site where choking, spitting, gagging, and exploitation remains.' She describes the move as 'like sticking a plaster over a stab wound.'
A Space Online for Queer Smut Could Be a Great Thing
Others, while still cautious, have a slightly more optimistic outlook. Ruby Rare, a sex and relationships expert with extensive knowledge in this space, tells Metro that her first reaction to seeing the news about Pornhub Sapphic was that 'it's wild this hasn't happened sooner.' She explains: 'Like many other sex educators, I have my criticisms of Pornhub in the past, and those will no doubt continue. But I'm intrigued by the plan Pornhub has laid out, and it's especially great that it's actively trans-inclusive – we need that from large companies more than ever.' For Ruby, she shares that what she'd love to see on site is 'smut made by and for sapphic queers.' The educator adds that it's distressing to see so much of the films shot under the lesbian category still 'under massive production houses where straight men call the shots, shoot and edit the films, and get a lot of say in how these fantasies are constructed.' 'A new pocket of the internet that's a queer gay haven sounds great in theory – I'll be curious to see if Pornhub actually manages to pull it off,' she says.
Metro also spoke with the teams behind two leading ethical porn sites to hear their thoughts. Ersties, a women-founded platform that has been creating female-focused porn for over a decade, shared that while this is an 'encouraging' step forward, for them 'sapphic content has never been a trend or marketing category.' Cat Lygate, head of creative, community and education at Ersties, adds: 'In some ways, it's surprising that the industry still talks about women or sapphic audiences as though they're a 'new' market suddenly needing a separate destination. Women and queer audiences have always watched porn, the issue has often been finding spaces where they feel represented, respected and comfortable exploring their sexuality without shame or guilt.' Paulita Pappel, founder of Lustery.com, an adult streaming platform dedicated to real couples' amateur porn, shares a similar sentiment. 'What Pornhub has done is actually launch the bare minimum: content filtered by the lesbian tag, with the penis enlargement ads removed. That's not a site, that's a tweak.' That being said, Paulita adds that 'for better or worse,' Pornhub has normalised porn consumption and brought it into mainstream conversation. 'And like any large platform,' she continues, 'they respond to market signals: women and non-binary people watch porn, they are a demographic worth designing for, and making that visible matters. With anything related to pornography, its industry and its social impact, nothing is ever simply good or bad, and Pornhub's new sapphic site is no exception.'
