Anal

Once a taboo act, anal sex is now one of the most prominent themes in porn. While predominantly featured in traditional boy/girl scenes, anal has also become popular in lesbian porn (using hands and toys such as strap-ons) and other scenarios.

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 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. 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) is consistently among the top five. First anal scenes have become such a fixture that they have even inspired a category of their own.