I’ve managed to find a way to over-intellectualize just about every sex thing. People like cock-vore porn because they want to be metaphorically devoured by their partners. Some are into illustrated airplanes imagined as bodacious women because aircraft are a source of fascination and awe. Seems pretty straightforward to me!
But every so often, I come across something so seemingly simple that I struggle to understand what the appeal is. Such is the case with r/ArmsUpPorn, a subreddit where, basically, women have their arms up.
At first glance, there’s nothing very distinct about the sub — it’s mostly run-of-the-mill, mainstream penis-in-vagina stuff. If you weren’t already looking for it, you’d never even think that it featured a specific fetish beyond the general appeal of seeing two people have sex. But each video or GIF features one special component: At some point during the act, the woman will have her arms up above or behind her. For example, if a woman is having sex on her back, her arms will be strewn across the bed above her head. If she’s riding a guy on top, she might have her arms planted on a wall across from her.
Beyond the woman simply having her arms up, the content also shares a few other themes. Most often, the woman has large boobs, and she’s in a position where her armpits are visible. Having her arms up, then, offers the opportunity for both her boobs and armpits to be on display. Perhaps the subreddit is as simple as that — some are in it for the bouncing titties, others are in it for the armpit visibility, and that’s all there is to it. And yet, I still wonder if there’s more going on. After all, the subreddit currently has almost 85,000 members and is only six months old, meaning it’s grown relatively fast for something so specific. What else could be at play?
Almost all of the comments on the subreddit do indeed pertain to lovin’ the breasts, a desire to lick her armpits or something in between. The majority of posts originate from u/armsupthr0waway, the sole moderator of the sub. Unfortunately, they didn’t respond to my request for comment, so I’m left to speculate on my own. While the boob/armpit dichotomy presents one split amongst the subreddit, another is quietly present. In videos where the woman is being fucked on her back, having her arms behind her head represents her succumbing to pleasure, yielding to the man doing the fucking. In these cases, having her arms above her head suggests submission. But in videos or GIFs where she’s on top, particularly when her arms are above the head of the man, she seems fully in charge. Here, having her arms above her head places her in the dominant role.
There’s a type of video on the subreddit that doesn’t quite fit into either camp, though. In these, the woman is again typically on top, but her hands don’t appear to be up to signal a sense of control. Maybe she’s playing with her hair, again performing a physical indication of her surrendering to pleasure. But I think it’s possible that the instinct to raise one’s arms during sex isn’t itself a sexual urge. Instead, she has her arms up because she’s just having such a good time, just as she might at a concert or riding a roller coaster.
Like much of porn, r/ArmsUpPorn may simply be about enjoying the sight of a woman enjoying herself sexually. Whether she appears submissive, dominant or something in between is almost irrelevant — when her arms are up, she’s involved and in-the-moment. Or maybe, everyone just likes getting a good look at her boobs, armpits and, most obviously, her arms.
I’d raise an arm to that. Wouldn’t you?
Magdalene Taylor
Magdalene Taylor is a staff writer at MEL. She covers internet culture, sex and the online adult industry. She lives in Brooklyn but is from God's Country, Western Massachusetts.
