If you’re trying to masturbate or get turned on with a partner, and you want to look at some erotic visuals, you can’t just head to Google and type in “porn.” Or you can, but you won’t get very far; you’ll just be hit with a zillion sites that offer porn, and waaaay too many options to choose from. It helps to have a sense of what type of porn you’re looking for. Who do you want to see? How do you want the performers to look? What do you want them doing? What do you want them saying? Are you looking for a video with an outrageously unrealistic storyline, or are you just in the mood for hardcore P-in-V or P-in-B penetration? These are the questions you should probably ask yourself before you open your laptop or phone browser.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of porn categories. (You might have heard of "Rule 34": if it exists, there's probably porn of it somewhere on the internet.) But just in case you’re new to this whole porn thing, or you want to expand your spank bank repertoire, we’re here to provide you with some of the most commonly searched porn categories, along with a little description of what each one is all about.

This list comes from Pornhub’s most recent Year in Review statistics, where the online porn giant shared the most-searched porn categories in the United States. Here's what to know about some of the most popular types of smut.

Lesbian

Lesbian porn is two or more women having sex. Sex can include fingering, oral sex (eating out), or pegging (with a strap-on dildo). Note: There is lesbian porn that caters to actual lesbians, as well as lesbian porn that’s more performative and less realistic, catering to the male gaze.

Hentai

Hentai is animated porn that originated in Japan. The word "hentai" was not originally used to describe a genre of pornographic media—it actually means “pervert” or “perversion” in Japanese, and can still be used in that context. There is a wide range of subcategories within hentai, including teratophilia (monster fucking), tentacles (tentacle porn), kemono, (furry porn), yaoi (gay porn with effeminate-looking men), vore (being swallowed alive), futanari (transgender women porn), and ecchi (softcore porn).

Stepmom

Stepmom porn is absolutely everywhere, a subcategory of the fauxcest genre that's taken off in recent years. (FYI, the performers in fake incest porn are not actually related—they simply pretend to be, hence the term "fauxcest.") Part of the appeal is that it’s taboo. Stepmom porn, in particular, also taps into the popular fantasy of a hot older woman seducing a younger man.

MILF

Just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the stepmom genre is MILF, which stands for “Mother I’d Like to Fuck.” Often, MILF porn features a young man and older woman, like a best friend’s mom—or something along those lines.

Big Ass

The name of this porn category speaks for itself. This genre is for the porn viewers out there who love a big booty. But do note that "big ass" does not necessarily mean you're going to see anal sex. If you’re looking for anal sex with someone with a big butt, you’d need to type “big ass anal.”

Creampie

There’s a trend in porn to show a penis-owner ejaculating on their partner; often, the performer will shoot their load onto their partner's face or chest. (You can read about the history of the so-called "money shot" here.) If, however, you want to see a penis ejaculate inside a vagina, then the "creampie" category is for you. The word comes from, well, semen looking like cream and “filling up” the vagina.

Lesbians Scissoring

While lesbian was the most commonly-searched category on Pornhub in the United States in 2019, “lesbians scissoring” also made the list. Scissoring is when two women sit facing each other and cross their legs so that their genitals rub against each other. It’s called scissoring because the position looks like two interlocked scissors.

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