Understanding porn without actually having to watch it. S is for shaved, shemale (and yes we’ll be talking about transphobia), solo, squirting, straight and swallow.
Shaved
Just like there’s a category for ‘hairy’ there’s a category for ‘shaved’. As you might have guessed the ‘shaved’ category in porn (‘straight’ and ‘gay’ porn) features performers that have shaved pubic hair. It’s often assumed that most people shave their pubes in porn. Actually it’s not as common as people think.
Performers either have shaved pubes because they choose to (because of the way it looks or feels) or sometimes do it for a particular scene where they are being shaved in the clip or because the scene specifically calls for a shaved pubic area.
I’ve written a lot more about pubic hair here. You probably won’t be surprised to learn that porn doesn’t make you shave your pubes.
Shemale
[Edit – June 2025 it looks like the most popular porn website has got rid of this category now. I think that perhaps porn sites are a lot more trans inclusive than they used to be. I’m leaving this section in for now but might delete it at some point.]
Shemale is a term that a lot of people find very offensive. Performers in porn that are described as ‘shemale’ may well describe themselves as something else – usually trans women. In ‘shemale porn’ the focus is on the bodies of the performers – typically this might be someone with breast implants and a penis.
The stories in this kind of porn often depict a woman who ‘passes’ as a cis woman and then is ‘revealed’ to be a trans woman – thus tricking guys who thought they were cis women, into having sex with someone who has a penis.
As you can see, there are a lot of problems with these kinds of depictions. Trans women are not just a collection of body parts to be looked at. Also the idea that trans women might somehow ‘trick’ straight guys into sex is a harmful stereotype. It’s also a harmful stereotype that guys would need to be deceived into having sex with a trans woman. As I say, there are a lot of problems with how trans women are depicted in porn. Yet, this category is a very popular one.
Many people have been critical of trans women for making this kind of porn. Not me. It’s a fact that trans women (and trans men and non-binary folk) face lots of discrimination. Getting ‘regular’ jobs can be very difficult for non-cis folk and workplaces are often not friendly to trans/non-binary people. Some places in the world even seek to restrict trans folk from using public toilets. So porn and sex work has been a place where marginalised people like these can get work and also some status. Here’s an amazing article about this.
Just like the topic of race in porn (I have a few thoughts about that here) it’s complicated. The depictions and the descriptions of these scenes can be well wrong, but also people are at least being represented. Sometimes these representations are positive. Also there are trans porn stars who then have power to depict themselves positively outside of porn as activists and cool people. Such as Bailey Jay, Buck Angel and Jiz Lee.
If you want to find out more about the terms I’ve used in this bit, spend a couple of minutes reading this about sex and gender.
Solo girl/Solo male
‘Solo girl’ is women, over 18, masturbating. ‘Solo male’ is men, over 18 doing the same. It shows masturbation as being very exciting. Solo sex can be just as exciting (and sometimes more exciting) than sex with someone else. Read more about how to enjoy solo sex more.
Squirting
This refers to people with vulvas ejaculating fluid from their urethra. Squirting doesn’t mean that people are enjoying sex more, or are even having an orgasm. But porn is all about how things look right? So the viewer might watch this and think – oh, they’re really into this.
As you can see in this image I made some time ago, it’s not consensual to try to ‘make’ someone squirt. Also of course many people with vulvas don’t use the pronoun ‘she’. This is in response to a question I had ‘how do I make her squirt?’
You can also find out more about the clitoris and vagina here.
Straight Sex
This refers to men and women having sex (which, is very popular in porn). Or it refers to straight guys having sex with other guys. No, that doesn’t make them gay. There are lots of straight guys who enjoy having sex with men. So this porn is for people who like the idea of straight guys doing guys.
Swallow
Porn where people swallow someone else’s come/cum/ejaculate. Some porn actors do this, but most not. Just like in ‘real life’.
Read A – Z of Porn R
© 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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