The deep breathless sounds of moans and ‘let it all out baby’ follow me around my local Tesco superstore.
It’s 6pm on a Wednesday and I’m in search of some tinned tomatoes, mozzarella and spaghetti to accompany my homegrown basil sitting on my windowsill back home.
A man asks me to bend over near the Italian seasoning, while telling me to ‘never forget’ that I belong to him.
Don’t worry, there isn’t some wildly inappropriate suitor following me around a public supermarket making everyone uncomfortable.
I’m doing something much more discreet: porn dosing.
Put simply, the practice involves listening to porn in short bursts throughout the week for a pleasure boost.
There’s something incredibly liberating about listening to audio erotica whilst rummaging through the yellow label reduced food section. What would normally have been a stressful post-work dash to the shops turned into a rather zen, if not mischievous activity.
It was such a success in fact, that the next morning on my TfL bus into work at 7am, I sat amongst stony-faced commuters with my headphones on, listening to another spicy soundtrack.
Sign up to The Hook-Up, Metro’s sex and dating newsletter
Love reading juicy stories like this? Need some tips for how to spice things up in the bedroom?
Sign up to The Hook-Up and we’ll slide into your inbox every week with all the latest sex and dating stories from Metro. We can’t wait for you to join us!
‘You’re such a good girl aren’t you, you just want me all the time don’t you baby,’ sounds in my ears as I pull in to Shepherd’s Bush station in a daze.
A text from my boyfriend lights up my phone screen telling me good morning, and as the erotic story continues, I smile and tell him just how much I miss him – in more ways than one.
I’m in a great mood after all, thanks to porn dosing.
I’m not alone in this either. The trend has rocketed in popularity on TikTok, with countless women listening to porn while at work, doing household chores, working out or, like me, grocery shopping and commuting.
Why are we doing this? Well, 98% of those who use the audio erotica platform Bloom Stories said that it’s good for their wellbeing, and I’m certainly inclined to agree.
I porn dosed for a week straight, in the shops, on my commute, on the Tube, and on my lunch break. My overall conclusion was that I found myself feeling much less anxious because, for 15 to 20 minutes, I felt detached from whatever stressful situation I was in.
It’s hard to worry about that dreaded work meeting when you’ve got Jesse Williams telling you he’s stripping for you.
About 92% of people believe their porn dosing is beneficial to their relationship too – after all, being turned on and horny is almost always going to do wonders for your sexual chemistry.
For Gemma Nice, an award-winning sex and relationship coach, porn dosing is a practice that many of her clients do, as she says it’s a great way to build connection between you and your partner.
‘I highly recommend it to my clients,’ she tells Metro. ‘It allows you to feel fully relaxed even doing the usual everyday activities.
‘By listening to porn, its allowing the dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin, your love hormones, to flood your body through relaxed blood vessels, which helps with your libido and heightens your sex drive.’
Gemma says it keeps the focus on happy feelings for you to bring into your sexual relationship, meaning more orgasmic bliss in the bedroom. All of this increases the sexual connection, the sexual chemistry and intimacy, and the sex coach is ‘all for it’.
People are even using it now to heal themselves or release pain, according to Gemma, because it brings the body out of fight or flight, switching you from your sympathetic nervous system, which puts your body’s systems on alert, to your parasympathetic which relaxes those systems.
Currently it’s largely women who listen to audio porn, with women making up 80% of the reported 740,000 user sessions a month on spicy audio app Quinn. While Frolic Me, an audio erotica app, reported that 61% of its audio audiences were women, and just 39% are men.
Amanda King, author and sexual mentor, who helps women to ‘feel safe in their own bodies and say f**k it to societal conditioning’ previously told Metro.co.uk that audio porn allows women to become absorbed in their own imaginations.
‘That’s why audio porn is so appealing to women because it allows them to create a fantasy that is tailored to exactly what they want, what they desire, with who they desire when mainstream porn is about two characters they have no type of connection to, they have no emotional intimacy with, just having sex,’ Amanda says.
It’s a form of escapism all to yourself when you put those earphones in and hear those moans.
‘They can be sat at their desk in their office and be listening to it on headphones after having a sh***y day, they can sneak away from their kids, they can sneak away from their husband and listen to it,’ Amanda adds.
Mum-of-one Jaimee Bell, has been porn dosing for a few years now because it gives her an ‘energy boost’. She initially discovered it after writing some audio erotica herself.
‘I’m more productive, energised and engaged in my work when I’ve watched or listened to something spicy,’ she tells Metro.
‘I find it’s a fun way to spice up a coffee break or give myself an afternoon boost and it has definitely improved my intimate relationships by keeping things fresh and getting me in the mood for intimacy, even after a long day.’
Jaimee, a 31-year-old producer from Germany, particularly loves how easy porn dosing is to balance with childcare, and she loves to listen to an audio while cleaning up after them.
‘If your children are in bed, or busy in another room, you can play something through your headphones for a few minutes and enjoy a subtle moment to yourself. If you’re suddenly interrupted, nobody needs to be any the wiser,’ she says.
Sex coach Gemma thinks that porn dosing is especially valuable to women like Jaimee, who are stretched thin with childcare.
‘Mums have no time to themselves and are on call 24/7 so it’s a great way to have a little bit of ‘me time’, even if its listening to this while doing the chores at home,’ she explains.
‘They are sleep deprived so a little boost of serotonin and dopamine can really help to calm the nervous system.’
She also says that listening to spicy audios can be a great way to build up confidence again after giving birth.
Gemma adds: ‘You can picture yourself in this situation and you may feel flutters in the vulva. This is releasing the happy hormones making you feel more connected to your partner.
‘Even going for a walk in the park trying to get your little one to sleep in the buggy, while listening to one of these, you are getting fresh air, exercise so moving the body and feeling good because you are taking in the erotica bossing your mental health.’
For mum-of-one Jaimee, her favourite audio porn tracks to listen to are from Bloom’s kinky boss and employee relationship series, Alpha Dom Boss.
‘One of the standalone episodes I love revisiting is Smalltown Connection – a very simple premise of a travelling journalist falling for the small-town-guy-next-door, and the chemistry the actors have together is just so great at any stage of the story,’ she says.
It’s improved polyamorous Jaimee’s intimate relationships too, giving her new ideas for sexy acts to try and getting her in the mood.
‘It’s also a good reminder that sex is supposed to be fun. It can be easy to get into a rut and to not make time for sex when life gets in the way,’ she adds. ‘But I find porn dosing with ethically produced erotica is a great reminder that sex and pleasure are things to be embraced and enjoyed.’
So, you want to try porn dosing because it sounds positively orgasmic? There’s just a couple of considerations you need to make before you start.
Gemma says: ‘Discuss this with your partner and see what they think of it. If you hide it from them, it may become a secret you hold from them, which will later turn into or may be perceived as infidelity.’
If you have an open and honest relationship as a couple, this shouldn’t be a problem; just communicate.
You also don’t want the practice of listening to spicy audios to become too prescriptive.
‘It may become an addiction,’ explains Gemma. ‘You don’t want to be relying on it to get that fix. Yes, it started off okay but then you have to be careful not to access it at work or be caught. This could cost you your job.
‘You don’t want it to become a thing where you need to go into the toilet and masturbate. That’s taking it too far, especially if you are at work.’
It’s important to be aware of your thoughts and feelings, and if it starts to feel addictive, don’t listen to it for a few days.
With all that in mind though, here are some of our favourite spicy audios to get you started, if the thought of porn dosing has given you the flutters.
Metro’s favourite spicy audios:
- Possessive by Naudio on Quinn – this is a hetero dynamic, suitable for those who like to be submissive to a male dom. Think kinky bathroom sex.
- A Secret by CallMeld on Quinn – this is a lesbian dynamic, suitable for those with a praise kink who enjoy oral. Think old flames to lovers.
- Face The Music, Sophia and Joel on Bloom Stories – a romantic hetero dynamic, which feels a little like a certain scene out of Pretty Woman.
- Got The Vibe on Frolic Me – A female solo masturbation audio.
Do you have a story to share?
Get in touch by emailing [email protected].
MORE : Strictly Come Dancing star, 21, ‘splits’ from rapper 12 years her senior
MORE : My wife inherited £20,000 from her dad’s death. We’ve never been poorer
MORE : I asked a man not to cough on my son and his response terrified me
Sign up to our guide to what’s on in London, trusted reviews, brilliant offers and competitions. London’s best bits in your inbox
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.