Selling female pleasure: women’s adult industry and its podcasting in mainland China

Emerging in the wave of adult business expansion since 2015, women's adult companies in mainland China have sought to 'cleanse' the previously male-dominated industry and establish new norms. To do so, they have used a strategy of de-erotisation, distancing themselves from the sexually provocative marketing of sex products and sex aids. More than being guilt-free, the consumption of sex toys is associated with liberal progressiveness, promising the return of orgasmic rights to women. I argue that, by elevating sexual morality within the pleasure industry, women's adult companies have sought to educate and reshape female sexuality necessitating consumption of sex toys and sex courses/therapies. In their sex education channels, podcasting is important, and an increasing number of companies sponsor sex-positive podcasts to promote brand value. Influenced by sex-positive feminism, women's adult companies have sought to foster female agency and desire. However, operating within the capitalist system, they are not motivated to change existing power relations; rather, as I will show, reversing the rhetoric of sexual objectification to subjectification sometimes has served as a short-cut to sustain feminist progressiveness while expanding their consumer base.