Looking for amateur content in adult entertainment calls back to a core concept of human nature — curiosity. It’s a trait we are all born with that helped us evolve as the learning machines that we are. Curiosity was one of the driving forces behind our survival as a species.

The idea of maybe watching a girl next door in front of her cam or in a lewd video makes sense from a purely behavioral point of view. We love to compare ourselves to others and when it comes to how we do it in the bed, well, it’s even more true. While this is a generalization, there are a number of factors explaining why amateur porn remains so popular today, and not just to feed our inner peeping toms.

Amateur is, by definition, real

Chief among the reasons why people enjoy amateur porn is how they can relate to the scenes. To some, there’s nothing more distracting than some forced dialogue, full HD footage in 4K and perfect lightning. Amateur footage is sloppy in most cases for sure, but that’s pretty much part of its appeal. Watchers feel at home because what they see isn’t scripted, giving more legitimacy to the content.

In a word, amateur sex feels natural — quite the opposite of what you’d see/expect with pornstars.

In the 2011 book A Billion Wicked Thoughts by Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam, heaps of data revealed some of the mechanisms behind humans’ deepest ingrained desires. One of the highlights from such extensive research is that men prefer to watch amateur porn online. The reason? Authenticity. Turns out real footage really clicks, which explains why adult cams are all the rage nowadays — most of them being recorded from amateur bedrooms and featuring models with little to no experience in the industry.

It feels right

Overexposure to professionally-produced porn sets unfair expectations not only about your body, but sexuality as a whole. You don’t really see actors with needle dicks that last all but 2 seconds. No, what you see are giant-sized cocks and marathonian performances in front of the camera, with girls attaining ear-shattering, repeated orgasms from basically every single thrust.

While this might be fun for a while, it’s a very tainted view of sexuality that sets the bar unexpectedly high — and wrongfully so. Take for instance foreplay; it’s very rarely under the limelight in professional porn, even if it’s the cornerstone of sexual pleasure.

Here’s a very cool video from 2013 that explains the differences between porn sex and real sex (i.e. amateur sex)... with food!

It’s respectful

“(...) Amateur homemade adult videos posted on websites, celebrate sensuality and a joyful, mutually shared, playful and affectionate sexuality,” (The Porning of America, 2008).

On the other hand, professional porn usually feels rushed; actors are quick to get down to business. It’s more about framing that perfect “money shot” and less about the bond between two human beings. And that’s fine — there’s totally an audience for such content.

We also feel it’s important to note the perceived rise of aggressive, disturbing adult videos is just that— an educated guess.

In fact, a recent study from The Journal of Sex Research revealed how 269 of the most popular videos uploaded to PornHub over the last decade featured less scenes depicting what can only be described as aggressive behavior.

Contrary to popular belief, porn is not on an upward swing toward “harder and harder” content. But if you’re looking for delicate action instead of fake pillow biters, you can bet amateur videos deliver more on that premise.

Amateur porn is huge

Affiliates should be aware of just how popular amateur porn truly is. In 2017 alone, no less than 800,000 amateur videos were uploaded on PornHub, we might add!

The trend was particularly strong in Italy, with a 216% boost for the keywords “amatoriale italiano” (Italian amateur) making it the top trending search of 2017 in that country. Same goes for the “amatoriale italiana” keywords which saw a 143% bump and placed second out of the most trending searches.