Trends (2002): Anal Obsession

In celebration of Adult Empire’s 20th anniversary, we look at some of the porn trends and genres that shaped the company’s history. In this edition: ANAL OBSESSION.

Is there any porn sex act that holds as irresistible an allure as anal? It’s forbidden, and that’s why we love it. “When it comes to sex, there’s something animalistic and dirty about mounting from the rear,” sex expert Eric M. Garrison said in 2014. It’s also been the author of scores of stupendous porn bestsellers over the years.

Anal sex itself is, of course, as old as humanity, and it’s not even particularly new in pornography. Some of the earliest photos of sex acts contained anal themes, but these illicit items remained largely in the shadows. Anal first began to catch on in erotic movies in the 1950s and ’60s, according to Written in the Flesh: A History of Desire.

Even so, many of the major female stars of the 1980s were often reluctant to shoot anal scenes. “When I started, only a few specialists did anal and it was not a requirement to become a popular performer,” long-time veteran Nina Hartley recently told Men’s Health. That began to change with Ginger Lynn, whose enthusiasm for anal scenes, starting with Bun Busters in 1984, became her calling card. John Stagliano‘s Buttman series is also often credited with helping generate porn’s interest in the previously taboo domain of backdoor fun. This set the scene for the anal-centric decades to come, reaching a fever pitch in the middle of the last decade and scarcely subsiding since. John Milward’s famous 2013 pornstar study found that a full 62% of female performers are now willing to do anal scenes, and some of porn’s most popular series come from butt-focused brands like Tushy. You don’t have to go very far on Adult Empire’s list of all-time bestsellers to find an anal-themed movie: All-Star (featuring Rocki Roads‘s first anal scene) comes in at number four.

The media’s obsession with booty has only fueled the fire. “Pop culture is celebrating the butt more and more these days,” Ava Cadell told Men’s Health in 2014. “With the mainstream appeal of celebrities with big butts like Jennifer Lopez and Kim Kardashian, women want to emulate the way they look and flaunt their own booty to get attention.” Will all this exposure ever make the thrill of anal subside as it loses its taboo status? Somehow, we doubt it . . . anal obsession is here to stay!

Browse Anal porn >>

Feature (1997) | Shaved (1998) | Interactive DVD (1999) | Contract Girl Era (2000) | Compilations (2001) | Anal Obsession (2002) | Reality Porn (2003) | Gonzo (2004) | Cuckolding (2005) | Oiled (2006) | Celeb Sex Tapes (2007) | MILF (2008) | Parodies (2009) | Firsts/ Doubles (2010) | Rise of the All-Natural Girl (2011) | Family Roleplay (2012) | Threesomes (2013) | Interracial (2014) | BDSM (2015) | Star Showcase (2016) | High-End Erotica (2017)

Additional sources: The Poignancy of Old Pornography from The School of Life;
Pornocopia: Porn, Sex, Technology and Desire by Laurence O'Toole