For Jennifer, it began with “the tingles” — a euphoric tickling that crawled from her scalp to her neck and spine. From the start, that pleasurable prickling got her hooked on ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) videos.
But eventually, Jennifer began feeling something much more intense than a subtle tingling. The sounds of beautiful women whispering and tapping their fingernails could give her such a powerful sensation, it felt nearly sexual. So Jennifer started masturbating to ASMR videos.
“It’s true… I’ve been guilty of masturbating to an ASMR video or two,” she confesses over the phone.
Jennifer knows she’s unique in her high sensitivity to ASMR content. When she shares ASMR videos with others, like her friends and her boyfriend, she often finds that they aren’t as excited by its delicate, sensual sounds.
“Especially now that I know not everybody has such a strong arousal response, I’m starting to own it as a kink,” Jennifer says. So she’s started incorporating ASMR into her sex life. She plans on creating an ASMR-themed porno. And she certainly won’t be the first (or the last) person to seize on ASMR’s sexual nature.
In its humble beginnings, ASMR content was generally meant to relax its listeners and put them to sleep. But many modern ASMR videos are clearly not intended to calm us — they’re intended to arouse us.
As the genre grows in popularity, it’s sparking a new wave of ASMR erotica: seductive roleplay. Hushed dirty talk or soft-spoken jerk-off instructions. Full-blown pornos focused on the explicit sounds of kissing, wet pussies, or blow jobs.
Communities have formed to curate the best erotic ASMR content. Reddit’s r/NSFWASMR, for example, includes a healthy blend of filthy PornHub clips and subtly sexual, authentic ASMR.
Then, there’s the videos that fall somewhere in the middle. Often, it’s difficult to draw a line between the content creators who are purposefully flaunting their sex appeal and those who have an inadvertent sexual energy.
“It’s really not hard to take ASMR to a place where it’s sexual,” explains Mary J Lee, a prominent ASMRtist on the streaming platform, Twitch. Lee tries her hardest not to eroticize her ASMR stream, but by virtue of being a beautiful young woman, that’s been pretty damn difficult.
What’s worse, some popular ASMR sounds are nearly impossible to make without arousing some listeners. Ear-licking, for example — an ASMR trigger that simulates the sound of a wet tongue in your ear.
“Ear-licking videos turn me on,” Jennifer says. “With those ear microphones that they use, they lick the right ear mic and you hear it in your right ear. They lick the left ear mic and you hear it in your left ear. Especially if you listen with headphones, it starts to feel like they’re your ears. Such a strange, wonderful, realistic experience.”
Ear-licking is highly requested by Mary J Lee’s audience. So Lee tries to walk the tightrope of making erotic sounds while not appealing to the perverts.
“The reason I started doing ear-licking is that there really isn’t anything that replicates that sound. I try to lick the mic in a way that’s not sexual. I cover my mouth or angle the camera in a way where you can’t see my mouth at all, and you’re just focusing on the sounds,” Lee says. “Still, people will accuse me: ‘you’re just doing this because it sounds like a blow job.’”
Mary J Lee is nearly the most-famous ASMRtist on Twitch. The woman with the biggest following in the Twitch ASMR community, Amouranth, differs from Lee in one notable way: she capitalizes on her sex appeal.
As ASMR becomes more mainstream, it’s becoming subject to that timeless, universal law: sex sells. ASMRtists can gain millions of YouTube hits, millions of Instagram followers, and millions of dollars by attracting viewers’ eyes (and ears) by using every tool at their disposal, including their tits and ass.
Amouranth is a horny Twitch viewer’s wet dream: A big-boobed beauty. A nerdy cosplayer who poses in skimpy lingerie. A streamer who will eagerly sell her viewers pornographic ASMR videos.
[Amouranth's Patreon, where fans can purchase her sexual content]
Mary J Lee may find herself at a disadvantage when competing among ASMRtists like Amouranth. Not only do overtly sexual ASMRtists attract the lion’s share of viewers — they also delegitimize ASMR as a tool that can be used for mental health issues like anxiety, insomnia or PTSD.
“It definitely doesn’t help me because I’m trying to make ASMR professional. I want to appeal to professionals who want to listen during work. I want to take ASMR to schools and help children with special needs,” Lee says.
With an endless supply of free porn on the internet, it’s baffling to see such a demand for sexual ASMR content. What makes ASMR appealing to the masturbators, both Jennifer and Lee assume, is the feeling of intimacy.
Many ASMR videos often incorporate a sense of tender personal attention. An attractive ASMRtist might pretend to brush your hair or massage your back while gently whispering to you.
“A lot of the videos aren’t overtly sexual, but they’re sensual,” Jennifer explains. “Sometimes they don’t give me an intensely erotic response, but just a comfortable, pleasant feeling that seems to go hand-in-hand with sexuality.”
It’s not clear whether most viewers find the content sensual or sexual. What is clear, however, is that there is an underground, untapped market for the sex industry in ASMR.
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