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I’m not pro-porn. I’m not anti-porn. Porn exists and many, many people consume it.
The real question is: what are the consequences of the copious amounts of free pornography on our society?
A recent New York Times op-ed piece – written by Lux Alptraum, an editor of the Fleshbot blog- effectively states the anti-porn case:
“The arguments that show up in national publications today – and are often repeated by readers – are not so different from anti-porn screeds written decades before. A recent New York Magazine feature dubbed Pornhub, a top porn site, “the Kinsey Report of our time,” arguing that the breadth of perversity found on the site encourages increasingly exotic sexual exploration among its presumably vanilla viewers; other commentators, including Cindy Gallop, founder of the website MakeLoveNotPorn, have also expounded upon the power pornography holds over our sexual tastes and behaviors. Journalists still seem convinced that, first, if an extreme form of porn exists, it’s common and anyone who watches porn will eventually stumble on it; second, that viewing porn rewires our sexual preferences, often in damaging and terrifying ways; and, of course, that pornography gives children unhealthy ideas about sex.”
Sounds reasonable, right? But Alptraum says that such questions are based more on fear than reality. In fact, for the most part, modern porn sites are not creating more perverts, but rather, giving people exactly what they’re asking for:
For the most part, modern porn sites are not creating more perverts, but rather, giving people exactly what they’re asking for.
“Being exposed to the wonderfully diverse world of human sexuality didn’t seem to make readers more excited by unfamiliar kinks and sexual interests – if anything, it made my readers more interested in the various tags and filters that would allow them to quickly zoom in on the specific content that met their needs. Straight men who were accidentally exposed to gay porn didn’t suddenly turn gay; vanilla viewers who happened upon photo sets of extreme kink would complain that they should have been better shielded from, say, the sight of extreme bondage.”
Alptraum isn’t an ostrich, burying her head in the sand (yes, Lux is a SHE). She acknowledges the impact of porn but doesn’t blame porn itself.
“There is some truth to the anti-porn claim that it negatively impacts the sexual imaginations and awareness of young people. But that’s largely due to the fact that pornography – which, though sometimes educational, is more frequently a wildly inaccurate fantasy – is consumed in a culture where sex education is minimal, fear-based and often inaccurate; where parents treat the sex talk as a shameful task to be gotten over with as quickly as possible; and where pop culture promotes a confusing virgin/whore dichotomy that encourages sexual exploration while demonizing “promiscuity.” Given all this, it’s unsurprising that porn might leave young viewers confused or even scarred, and that it might negatively impact their ability to relate to future partners. But that says less about the nature of pornography than about the dangers of a culture that delegates something as important and essential as sex education to an industry dedicated to crafting fantasy and entertainment.”
As a casual consumer of porn, starting with supermodel posters and scrambled Cinemax in the 80’s, I couldn’t agree more. Maybe because I’m “vanilla,” but I’ve never sought out hardcore porn; if anything, I looked for videos that turned me on and got me off fast.
Maybe it’s pie-in-the-sky thinking, but I like Alptraum’s vision for the future of sex:
“If we create a culture where sexuality is accepted as a healthy, positive part of life, then we’ll be able to appreciate porn for the wild, unrealistic fantasy that it was always intended to be.”
Your thoughts, as always, are greatly appreciated, in the comments section below.
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