Facettes de la Petite Mort

Pulling in billions of dollars annually, the online porn industry is booming. You can surf the Internet and find whatever kind of porn you like — from girl-on-girl to golden showers. But what if you prefer something more subtle and erotic? It can be overwhelming and discouraging to sift through all the hardcore sites to find something more soft and intimate.

BeautifulAgony.com is a different breed of adult site — and my new obsession. Noticing a severe lack of true erotica on the Web, Richard Lawrence and Lauren Olney created Beautiful Agony in 2003 with the help of a few willing friends. The site features hundreds of homemade videos of men and women masturbating, but you can only see them from the shoulders up — as the site creators say, "That's where people are truly naked."

Personally, I find the facial expressions, heavy breathing and orgasmic straining of the participants truly erotic. Many of the subjects will look directly into the camera positioned overhead as they work themselves into orgasm, giving viewers a sense of raw intimacy generally only found behind closed doors. The participants cross many races and orientations — and many of them also provide more candid, fully-clothed interviews, further adding to the intimacy of the site. My only gripe — the site doesn't feature a diverse range of ages. Perhaps middle-aged and older folks are too smart to plaster their O-face on the Net?

If you're not a fan of standard Internet porn fare, or if you're looking for something new, watch the preview videos below. They're not too racy, but if you're at work, you may want to put headphones on.

play windows media play quicktime beautifulagony.com

play windows media play quicktime beautifulagony.com

play windows media play quicktime beautifulagony.com