A – Z of Porn. ‘C’

Understanding porn without actually having to watch it. C is for couples and cumshots

Couples

Some porn features actual couples who have sex with each other on camera. Sometimes they are both professional porn performers, or sometimes it’s one porn performer doing it with their civilian partner. Some porn performers only have sex for the cameras with their partners. Much amateur porn features people who are couples who are just making their own sex tape. There’s more of this than there used to be: see also ‘hot wife’ or ‘wifey’ porn.

‘Couple’ porn may also refer to porn which is made for couples. Some couples do watch porn – as a way of fulfilling fantasies, or exploring new ideas, the feeling of having sex with other people nearby, or just because they find it hot. However as so much porn is so designed to be watched by straight (and cis) men that it often a turn off for anyone who isn’t. People who make porn for couples try to counter-act this by:

• having the performers look at each other and not at the camera
• focusing the camera on both (or everyone) rather than on just one person (in straight porn the focus is on the woman)
• making the sex seem more intimate and real by featuring kissing, talking, smiling, giggling and some gentle as well as hard sex

This doesn’t mean that all couples find this sexy of course.

Read the Educational Guide to Porn 

Cumshots

In virtually all porn with penises in, the scene ends when the penis(es) ejaculates. Cumshots are so common that I really don’t know why it has a separate category.

Ejaculation has to be very visual and this is a very important part of most porn. I would only be guessing as to why this is, but I suppose orgasms are very exciting to experience in sex and the only way to represent them in porn is visually and aurally – this means visual cumshots and very very loud screaming and moaning from women. It’s so central to porn that it’s been known as ‘the money shot’ for many years, the idea being that this is how the person with the penis gets paid.

So the cumshot has to be seen – this mean that it usually happens on someone (face, body), which the person being ejaculated on seems to like a lot. Occasionally it happens in someone, but even then it is shown on camera (this is called a creampie if ejaculation is inside someone’s vagina or anus).

Just like male porn actors have much bigger than average penises (and use far too much hair gel) they also happen to cum lots. Being able to cum a lot (and having a good aim) are the kind of things that a potential porn actor has to put on their CV. So if you don’t seem to cum like they do in films, try not to worry, lots of people don’t. Sometimes the cum is faked, with a hidden tube on the side of the penis you can’t see, or it’s applied separately for a photo.

As with all things in porn, just because it’s popular on Planet Porn doesn’t mean it’s popular on Planet Earth. Some people like being ejaculated on some don’t. Some people like ejaculating over people, some don’t. Some think cumshots and orgasms are a big deal, some don’t.

Read more about Orgasms

Read the other A-Z of Porn

© Justin Hancock, 2026 Find out more about me and BISH here. If you’re an educator, head to my website BISH training, to find out about my resources for SRE and training for practitioners.

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