This is actually a very interesting question which has many aspects to it. I will try to put all my thoughts on the subject here and hopefully we can get some reader input in the comments below.
Many porn producers use the description of ‘Real Sex’ to bring customers in so it must have some value. The first line from Sapphic Erotica’s webmaster, Bailey, on their ‘About’ page is, ‘What I like to see are pretty girls kissing and actually having sex with each other.’ The thought and the knowledge that the sex is really real certainly has a drawing effect which makes porn much more enjoyable to watch. However, we can pretty much all attest that the sex we see in porn is actually nothing like real life sex, as this discussion explores, and the porn industry doesn’t deny this. So what is this ‘Real Sex’ that we desire to see.
There’s an heated discussion about this on LezLove in regards to Abby Winters, an amatuer porn site that also plugs the ‘Real Sex’ aspect of their videos. When people watch porn they usually expect to see more than simply two people having sex infront of a camera, although there is a ‘home movies’ niche which provides exactly that. I think that people want to see videos where the participants are truely enjoying the sex as much as people in real life enjoy sex but they want it presented in a way which is most stimulating for them. This creates an interesting dilemma, as there are certain positions that a very enjoyable for the participants but don’t look like much on camera and vica versa. The director needs to make a decision about how much of a trade off to make between real sex and good visuals to produce the best product.
Is there a difference between sex that looks real and sex that is real? If the performance is significantly good to be beleivable, will the knowledge that its not actually real devalue the video? I would like to say yes but if we look at mainstream movies then the answer is obviously no, is it different for porn? Everybody knows that the Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker aren’t real people but that doesn’t mean the Star Wars isn’t enjoyable. However, despite what the characters in Boogie Nights want us to beleive, porn models are not actors. They may be able to throw in some fake moans here and there but I think it would take a very gifted and dedicated performer to reproduce the passion of really real sex and make it believable.
Even though there isn’t much Tribadism content in porn I’ve seen it mentioned in a few places that it is still over-represented in porn compared to the amount in real life. Therefore, in order to get the amount of Trib that we do see, some models must be faking it or they’ll do it but not get much out of it which is the opposite of what we want.