Since 2007 the porn market has really changed. Women are not only consuming more porn, they're also playing more of a role behind the camera and in the board room. The days of porn as the exclusive domain of men are long behind us.

That said, in my days working at a porn shop across the street from a middle school in Portland, Ore., I got to view a sort of bridge between the old ways and the new. My shop stood smack between the days of porn as a predominantly male pursuit and today's modern way of selling smut.

These were the four types of female customers I saw on the regular:

1. Lesbians

Lesbians were probably our biggest female constituency at the porn shop. As addressed in a previous article, they weren't there buying what you'd think.

I can count on a single hand the number of times women bought lesbian porn. Far more common was two lovely ladies looking like J. Biebs popping into the store to pick up some hot twink-on-twink action. I'm not entirely sure what the appeal is, but it makes a strange sort of sense.

I mean, they're already in the shop checking out dicks — rubber dicks, but dicks nonetheless. It can't be that big of a leap to wanting to watch porn with dicks playing a featured role. I got so adept at recognizing these customers that I would greet them before immediately telling them where the twink porn was at. I got a “thank you” every time.

2. Dildo Shoppers

Dildo shoppers aren't too far removed from teenage boys who try and get past the gatekeeper without an ID. They're nervous, uncomfortable and not terribly happy about being in a porn store in the first place. But they want a dildo and they want to pay in cash, so there you have it.

These ladies generally spend some time sheepishly poking around the store before finally asking me about the dildos they were eyeing. In this case, it's important to be a little extra friendly, though not in a creepy way, to make the woman feel a little more at ease.

Just about everyone masturbates. Why make such a big deal out of it?

3. Here With Hubs

Of course, porn isn't just for people spending a lonely night in their studio apartments — it's also for couples who want a little visual stimulation. And boy did we ever get a lot of them. The men generally looked more awkward than the women, who had way more of a sense of purpose in shopping for porn than I've seen in men. The couples were known to pick up a lot of bisexual porn or travel down the totally not offensive and racist road of interracial cuckold porn.

Oh, and for the most part, they were into renting and not buying. Of course, this group is separate and distinct from…

4. Booth Cruisin' Mamas

It's not just guys who want to show up and give a blowjay to a stranger. Some women are into it, too — though to be fair, they were always there with a husband. Did we have a lot of these women? No, of course we didn't. But on my final straw night, the night that I found a dirty needle in one of the booths, there was a line about 10 deep going out the door.

On their way out, the woman approached me with a proud look on her jizz-covered face and asked, “So how come I've never sucked your cock?” There were way too many ways to answer that question, so I just told her I had a girlfriend.

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