Cyberspace — In a stated effort to expand the “Porn for Women” genre, xHamster is launching a new development fund for women filmmakers to create original content aimed at women consumers.

The company sees women as one of the last major growth markets for adult content. Consequently, they will be committing over $25K in awards and grants for both amateur and established filmmakers throughout the forthcoming year. Access to these funds will range from small contests to large development deals.

“Over the past few years, we’ve seen the number of women coming to our site skyrocket. Women make up more than a quarter of our fans but 95% of production is intended for a male audience,” said Alex Hawkins, Vice President of xHamster. 

“We want to launch a revolution in content made by and for women, and we want to see it on xHamster,” Hawkins added.

In a statement posted online, the company claimed “This isn’t as much about gender, as it is authenticity. Our first priority is to see what turns [women content creators] on! Whether you shoot it with an iPhone or a RED camera, we want you to send us short clips showing us what you’d like to see. Every month, we’ll award select submissions $500 for exceptional content.”

Submissions can range from short clips to full-scale productions. Smaller, amateur clips will compete in monthly showcases for judged awards. More established productions can apply for grant money to help supplement their productions and pay performers a fair wage. Larger productions can apply to xHamster for co-production status. In contrast to industry practice, xHamster is not requesting or retaining any ownership of the content.

A rotating panel of women, featuring performers, journalists, academics, directors and xHamster staff will judge the submissions.

“We’re hoping to see strong ‘xHamster for Women’ submissions at every level of production, from homemade phone clips to sex tapes to large-scale productions,” Hawkins said. “We’re hoping to use this fund to help better understand what women respond to, while giving them the financial incentive to create it.”

Application instructions and information about the xHamster for Women Fund are available here.