LOS ANGELES — Slate published an interview today with a freelance writer who pens audio descriptions of adult content for Pornhub.
Kathryn Simpson has written audio descriptors for 35 Pornhub videos since the site started its "Porn for the Blind" program in 2016. In an interview with Slate writer Marissa Martinelli, Simpson speaks about how she broke into the business, how she goes about writing a script and the ways she describes different genres.
"Pornhub actually reached out to me," Simpson tells Martinelli about how she got started. "I had just finished my Ph.D (in art history) and was looking to start freelancing. I’d had a really successful academic career, but it just wasn’t the life I wanted anymore, so I wanted to focus on writing."
She speaks about choosing her first 25 videos to describe from a list Pornhub provided, and the first video she described — a step-sibling fauxcest video as an audition.
"The first few minutes … well, there was obviously an acclimatization period, because I wasn’t sure how best to start," she tells Slate. "But I learned quickly. You have to pick up the right language and the right mood to match the genre."
Simpson describes her process and the type of language that she uses in her descriptions.
"The videos are not about me and my writing and my ego, so, in that sense, the language should be basic and straightforward," she says. "A little bit of repetition isn’t the worst thing in the world. It wasn’t the time for me to be busting out a million different flowery adjectives or getting all Proustian. It was important to be succinct. At the same time, sometimes using the same word over and over again can actually get distracting. I tried to change it up just enough for variety."
And when it comes to different genres, Simpson talks about how she approached Brazzers' "Sexy Threesome in the Office" differently from Nubiles' "Sensual Fuck and Facial for Extra Small Babe."
"It’s clear that these are different genres, so I tried to take that into account when I was writing," she tells Martinelli. "There were quite a few details in that 'Sensual Fuck' video that I described in detail, like I talk about a decorative glass bowl on the side table. And I was a little bit more descriptive — I was rereading the script just now and I chuckled at the 'long, gazelle-like legs,' but you know, I think it was appropriate for that video."
Read the entire interview here.
Image source: Slate
