Maybe it’s the monotony of lockdown, maybe it’s because millennials are finally taking over the “mid-to-late” 30s bracket— whatever it is, animated porn is finally getting the exposure we’ve always hoped for. Find me a millennial that can’t clearly define huge portions of their childhood with at least one (if not many, many more) Disney films and I will gladly produce a unicorn made of solid gold. Okay, maybe not, but the point is sound— millennials were raised by cartoons.
Whether it was singing away sorrows to any ballad in Beauty & The Beast, The Care Bears teaching us how to make friends, Captain Planet showing us how to take care of the earth, or The Magic School Bus teaching us how to take care of… well, everything, entire subsects of our personalities were built on cartoons. So it really shouldn’t come as any surprise that we’re now watching more animated porn than ever.
Animated porn has skyrocketed in popularity within the last few years, with some popular sites saying search queries demanding the digital dirty have jumped by over 200%. Some seem to believe that this new found penchant for a tale as old as time (sorry) is down to the fact that we’ve bred a generation of sexual deviants, determined to go further down a naughty rabbit hole than reality will allow, while other, saner, arguments suggest that people just enjoy watching cartoon characters get it on. What’s the real truth about animated porn, you ask? Well, let me tell you— it’s a whole new world.
What the Heck is Animated Porn Anyway?
Animated porn is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. It’s porn, that’s animated. Not exactly shocking, but not exactly defining either. The thing about animated porn is that it can really be almost anything, as the cartoon world is really only limited by the imaginations behind it. Sure, it can definitely fill out some alt fantasies involving old favorites from the movies and shows we’re all familiar with, but it can also push the boundaries of some of our more thrilling fantasies without ever putting any living being in danger. Which means that next to nothing is off limits.
From old favourites, to hypersexualized humans (of any and all genders), plants, sea creatures, animals, aliens, demons, personified furniture— you name it, and chances are there’s an animated porn out there dedicated to it. The fantastical environment that these animations exist within allows for them to defy the laws of nature. Physics, anatomy, society; none of these rules exist here.
Which means that it’s a medium that allows people to explore the unexplorable of sexual fantasies. While there are some more hardcore themes (like rape, bestiality, the demonic devouring of sexual innocents, etc) there is also some pretty chill vanilla vibes out there as well.
Which just goes to show that just because you enjoy diddling to a doodle doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re off the charts when it comes to standard sexual appetites. Animated porn offers something that is not only fun and relatable (to a degree), but it can also help to remove the gravity of sex from the situation.
Which means that you don’t have to cock block yourself by wondering if that steamy MILF really wanted to band her son-in-law, or whether or not the actors are being represented in a fair and ethical way— because the are no pornstars , the actors are cartoons. I.e., they’re not real people. I.e., it’s difficult to exploit the hand drawn visage.
Brief History of Porn in Cartoon
Animated porn has been around as long as porn, in fact, in many situations it’s often considered to pre-date traditional pornography, as the Japanese were slinging naughty wood carvings well before any of us ever knew who Asa Akira was. Moreover, back in the dark days when the cinematic porn experience was expressly taboo, many animators chose to instead draw their fetishy fantasies as opposed to face the legal consequences of acting them out.
Which is exactly how Hentai, perhaps one of the most famous forms of animated porn, came to exist. Hentai, short for hentai seiyoku, literally means “perversion” (or “sexual perversion” in its long form). So, it’s no wonder that it’s a word that has come to seemingly solely refer to Japanese style animated porn. While it’s commonly linked to anime and manga (types of Japanese animation and comics, respectively), hentai can actually be present in a number of types of digital media, including simple illustrations, artwork, video games, and others.
The genre has been around for millennia, and its exact date of origin is hotly disputed, but it’s largely agreed that the genre was created to circumvent wildly strict censorship laws concerning sexuality. Because it was explicitly forbidden to show copulation, penetration, or any of the other -ations that we’re looking for in a decent spank bank, Japanese artists and illustrators had to get creative when creating erotica made for public consumption.
So, instead of the standard P in V scenes that Westernized cultures are familiar with, these clever artists began drawing metaphors of sexual acts, often using animals, or imaginary characters ravaging sexually innocent bystanders. Hence— tentacle porn.
The popularity of the genre didn’t stop there. As hentai began to move its way around the globe, it expanded both it’s geographical and sexual horizons, leading the way for the myriad of sexual fetishes, positions, and partners that are depicted within the genre today. Giving way to more explicit drawings of acts that would otherwise be considered amoral or incredibly illegal (or just downright impossible), to actually engage in.
The Global Appeal of Animated Porn
Which leads us to why these spicy cartoons are so incredibly popular. Hentai and animated porn not only provide a niche area in which we can live out our wildest fantasies without reprisal or detriment to others, it also creates a fantasy landscape that protects us from the less than sex appeal filled world of real sex. Which isn’t actually a turn on for everybody.
While real sex can indeed be incredibly gratifying and definitely enjoyable, there are those (surreptitiously raises their hand) that don’t necessarily want to feel like the lead actresses gyno when looking to get off. The fluids, noises, expressions, and frankly— physics— behind real sex isn’t necessarily always what our sexual minds are craving. Sometimes we want to see porn without all of the pesky distractions that reality can bring with it.
I mean, isn’t that exactly why we watch porn anyway? Something clean and simple, or wild and unobtainable. With women whose curves rival that street in San Francisco, and men whose phallus would make the Washington monument blush. Sometimes, you just want to kick back and watch a sweet little woman be ravaged by a cyborg futon. Who knows, but animated porn will happily provide, and honestly— we’ll be watching.