Another Pointless Pondering: the hissing inhale thing

I think she is making that noise at this very moment.

The post I wrote last week about how I generally dislike watching people exchange spit in adult films got me thinking. There are a bunch of things I see in the pr0nz that I’m not a big fan of, personally, and I’m interested in getting feedback to see what other people have to say about them. Not that anybody ever comments on blog posts about pornography, but… it’s worth a try.

Anyway, here’s another thing I find not-so-sexy in my porn viewing: that particular noise that some performers make, in which they suck in breath through their teeth. It makes this sharp hissing noise when they inhale. And it irritates and distracts me.

Like, who breathes like that? Why breathe like that? Is that person ok? Should they have an inhaler nearby?

I’m serious. I find it enormously distracting, because I get caught up on why they’re making that noise. It seems fake to me and I can’t concentrate when I hear it. Like when you’re watching a TV show and you catch a gaping plot hole that nobody is addressing. It drives me nuts. Why do they do this?

Is this sound supposed to indicate pleasure? Is it to show that they’re impressed by what’s happening to them? Is it because the performers want to show that they’re breathing hard and are thus doing a good job? I don’t even know how to place what that noise is supposed to indicate because it’s not something that one hears or encounters in normal life. It seems to be an almost-purely-porn phenomenon. Unless maybe there’s some sport somewhere in which they do it a lot? I don’t watch sports so I might be out of the loop. Maybe it’s a showing-off-during physical activity thing?

The inhale, in most cases, is followed by a loud exhale through rounded lips, so you get a sort of “hiss…hoo” overall sound. It’s distinct. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, just pop some porn on your computer. Click/scroll/whatever through five scenes made by a big company (Vivid comes to mind) and I guarantee you’ll find it in at least one. It’s most prevalent on Barbie-N-Ken style mainstream porn where the showmanship of the performers is front and center, which leads me to believe that this is a learned, porn-performer-specific behavior. I can’t recall a single time in my private sex life in which I’ve heard or used this sound. And, unlike the spit thing I talked about last week, this hissing inhale deal seems to take place most often when the action is not at a particular peak of passion or ecstasy. It’s more often in those in-between moments, when a sound of some kind is welcome because the action is sort of dragging. So I suppose this is sort of a space-filler.

I’ve heard it a lot when women are showing off their private parts to their male partner, or when their partner is going down on them (for the, like, two seconds that it usually happens in the films I’m thinking of). When what’s happening on screen isn’t the most exciting it will get, but it needs to be punctuated by something to show that, yes, this is fun and verrry sexy. And apparently hissing is… sexy?

I dunno. I find it baffling. Like, why not moan or grunt a little, or just breath heavily? Why this weird tooth-sucking hiss thing? Does anyone out there have an answer, or speculation? I’m really curious about this phenomenon. And I’m also curious to know if anybody really likes it or does it in their personal lives. Maybe I’m the weirdo.

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3 thoughts on “Another Pointless Pondering: the hissing inhale thing

  1. Anita says:

    I thought it was just me. It’s very offputting and stupid imo. Soon as I hear a female start that crap up it’s over for me. Hope someone can explain the logic behind it.

    Reply
  2. Jet Li says:

    There is nothing wrong with you. Its called the porn hiss because its everything you described above, for faking moans and emotions. Its extremely irritating but thankfully plenty of people are becoming more aware of it as shown by the thumbs down in hissing videos, I dont think the industry will eliminate it because its cheap and effective for retarded audiences that have been trained to just jerk off and not care. I have deep theories as to precisely why this hiss exists but you would easily label me as insane if I were to share why. So I’ll just play it safe by not sharing.

    Reply
  3. Doom187 says:

    What an old post but I looked it up out of curiosity. I started to really notice it in trans porn but it is prominent in straight porn as well. Definitely a wtf moment and the number one reason I watch on mute which is sad since I’m only stimulating two senses instead of three. Sure wish they’d all just stop.

    Reply

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